0TreeLemur

According to the log books for my '83J the NBS was replaced in Oct. 2002: "C/W Mooney SB M20-279 installed ModKit-1 P/N M20-279-000" The sticker on the actuator labeled "Maintenance record clutch spring replacement A 10-85" has a "1" punched in the the first square. It seem that in 2002 Mooney sold a kit.

Nice thread here-

If eBay didn't charge so much commission, I'd buy this thing and list it there. This is a great price for a great engine monitor. IIRC when I bought this same system for my J a couple of years ago it cost closer to 6 AMU's. Somebody buy this! It's primary for everything. You can take out all your old analog fuel gauges, tach, and MP.

Follow up: I bought a 10-32 Helicoil insertion tool off eBay. I put in some oil, and ran that tap in/out a couple of times. Degreased with some brake cleaner. Loaded a short (5 thread) Helicoil insert into the machine- zipped it right into place. Those insertion tools are the sizzle. Problem solved.

That's not terrible. That still makes this system a good deal IMO.

I sold an EI engine monitor when I upgraded our J to a JPI ED900. EI gave me an estimate of a couple hundred $$ to do the reprogramming. Curious- is JPI much higher than that?

When I was troubleshooting the A/P in our J, I replaced that switch to negative effect. When I was studying it I read that the high failure rate is caused by the fact that under trim servo load, the switch is operating near its rated current. A good way to extend the life of that switch is to never use it (except in case of emergency). If you never use it, it never disconnects under load, and doesn't damage the contacts. Not my informed opinion, just something I read that kind of makes sense. It is a minor pain to replace but not a major pain like it seems replacing the trim switch would be.

Mouser part number MB2061SS1W01-BC If you have trouble finding it in stock elsewhere.

Is your C equipped with a PC system? If so, Is it working? Adding an Accutrak II to a working PC system is relatively straightforward. My C model had a working PC system when I bought it. I added Accutrak II (NAV mode), Accuflite II (HDG mode) and PC-AH (altitude hold). The Accuflite and PC-AH parts are damn near unobtanium. I've got spare parts for the Accutrak II left over. Others might have more parts. If you don't have an installed PC system, then doing any of this would probably not make sense.

That is an excellent question. If yes, then the question becomes are you willing to live with a reduced margin of safety on CHT that prevents your engine from self destructing?

The credit for introducing tetraethyl lead (TEL) to gasoline as an octane booster belongs to Thomas Midgley Jr.—an American mechanical and chemical engineer working under Charles Kettering at General Motors in the early 1920s. BTW he also invented Freon. Better living through chemistry!

Follow-up. Used contact cleaner on connectors. On runup, pressure in normal range. Seems to be a connector issue. Odd though- the metri-pak connectors are well sealed. When I disconnected they made a little 'pop' sound like they were pulling a partial vacuum as I disconnected them.

I tried the Helicoil. The kit I bought had a slotted insertion tool that exhibited a strength similar to plastic. Somehow as the Helicoil started to get harder to turn- the tool end stripped. It's toast. A search for another insertion tool turned up $150 pre-winding units that I"m sure would work.

Exactly. WWII pilots routinely ran tanks dry. Nothing quite as worthless as an unknown quantity of fuel sitting in the bottom of a tank when you are trying to get somewhere. The POH for the older Mooneys more or less says: Take off and fly 1 hour on one tank, then empty the other tank, and land back on the tank you took off with.

So do spouses! When we flew a C model I used to like to run a tank dry when doing long cross-country flights so I was left with all useable in one tank. Normally I noticed the fp drop and switched without anybody else knowing. That one time I didn't, I got her attention. From that point forward, when I would work to dry a tank I'd tell her. Man, she was all over that fp gage. Never happened again. In our J with LOP ops burning 8-8.5 gph and 64 useable, I practically never need to run one dry. Six hours is about the longest leg I want to fly.