Prior owner

IMHO a cursory look will be almost meaningless, if you are looking for a plane to restore and fly- this aircraft has spent time outdoors in a highly corrosive environment, and might have been neglected to some extent. Somebody is going to need to go through the plane with a fine toothed comb to inspect for corrosion everywhere, prior to it having any real value over salvage parts. The steel tubes are only one small area of concern…. If you want to consider buying the plane, read up…here’s 127 pages on corrosion: AC 43-4B Sometimes the corrosion is obvious, other times it is insidious, working its way along the inside seam of a spar- the only way to know is to take the time to look at everything and to know what you are looking for.

Buy it for 20k and part it out.

Not sure that’s actually a 201 windshield…. I think it is just a one piece windshield and an ARI cowling mod. It’s upsetting that some sellers aren’t interested in full disclosure. Not answering questions would be a deal killer for me, no matter what the asking price. The flat tire says it all- “the next guy can deal with it”.

I forgot to mention one other thing- It is not all that uncommon to find the elevators are not equal (one of them 1/2 degree or more higher than the other) on the vintage Mooneys. This too, will give you a rolling tendency. Find an A&P who has travel boards and some experience sorting out a Mooney. And if you truly do have a horizontal stab that is not level, you should stop flying the plane until it is sorted out!

I do not believe that there is a “certification” that is necessary to either become, or continue to be, a Mooney Service Center. If there is a certification to become one, there certainly must not be any requirement to re-certify over time, or when the business is purchased by a new owner, that you still have trained and qualified people in place. You can find yourself at an MSC that is run by someone who has limited, or no experience working on a Mooney, that has A&P’s who have never worked on a Mooney, and has non-A&P’s working on your Mooney…. Some of the more knowledgeable Mooney mechanics I have met don’t work for MSC’s. Choose wisely.

Here ‘s what I like to do before starting any rigging job: 1. fly in the plane myself to confirm where it’s at before I touch it. 2. make sure the gear doors are closing completely and the step is retracing fully. 3. If you’ve had any panel work done (such as a new G5), and the original turn coordinator has been removed, I like to level the aircraft per the manual to see whether the instrument‘s “ball” is calibrated properly. 4. closely examine the trailing edges for damage or evidence of having been bent for “rigging” by somebody else. The aileron/rudder interconnect spring setup can also cause problems, and I have seen a number of aircraft where those springs are not rigged properly, or where one spring was more tired than the other. And remember, a Mooney won’t fly level hands off for very long, even after it is rigged properly!

Here’s the one that fit my plane: MS35059-22 Master switch, toggle

You may want to put your year of manufacture, as well as your model, in your profile..it will help others help you. I purchased my replacement master switch through Spruce. If I remember correctly, the Mooney parts manual listed the switch number (not a Mooney part). Your year aircraft might be different. I also think that my switch number was superseded or converted to/from an MS number. I’ll see if I can find the number and I will post it here later.

Replacing the oil pump gears while the engine is in the plane will usually require that the portion of the sump gasket that is under the accessory case is cut away and a new section of gasket is put in there (unless the entire sump is removed). You can get leaks at the two bottom corners where the accessory case cover, the back of the engine case, and the sump all meet. A good practice is to dab pro seal in Those two corners just before re-installing the accessory case cover. Sometimes people use silicone. Sometimes nothing at all…. It could be your culprit. If so, you may want to super clean the corners and dab pro-seal over them to try to seal it. Oil dipstick tube bottom gasket can also leak and drool towards the rear of the engine. The tach drive can leak (not very common). If the mags were re-timed at annual without pulling them and replacing the gaskets, that might be your issue. Good luck…chasing engine oil leaks is not much fun. Cleaning the entire engine until it is bone dry is the first step.

When I worked out of Yakima, WA many years ago, the owner of the aircraft used something like this to warm the recip engine in our helicopter outside in the winter. It worked very well- he attached a length of steel duct on the end and directed it under the engine. Your could probably get a piece of cheap steel duct with a divider and run two large scat tubes from it plugged into each cowl vent…? If you are outside and don’t have access to any power. Cordless Forced air propane heater

you can also take the exhaust from the vacuum cleaner and use it to detect leaks in the intake… open the ram air and insert the vacuum hose, being sure to open the throttle all the way. Stuff a rag around the hose and spray soapy water mix over your intake flanges at the top, and lower intake tube seals. Yes, it’s pressurizing rather than sucking, but if it’s a bad Intake leak, it’ll usually show up bubbling. Just don’t use too much pressure- intake boots are sometimes worn out and very expensive to replace! A common problem with aging Lycoming engines that didn’t get overhauled at the lycoming factory is that the face of the intake tube is no longer sitting above the flange, as it should, in order to compress the gasket around it- the shoulder of the tube gets worn, as well as the flange, and now they are equal in height, or worse- the tube is sitting below the flange! Getting it to seal properly will be difficult after that happens.

It appears that I was a bit confused- my AP friend had walked into the FSDO after having been out of AP school for 3 years, wanting to become an IA…. If you have held an AP certificate for 3 years, but the last 2 years you must have been “actively engaged” as a mechanic, which the FSDO interpreted to mean “full time” mechanic. Which actually makes a lot of sense to me, as I really wouldn’t want IA’s wandering around the airport who only have held an AP without actually using it extensively for at least a couple of years… § 65.91 Inspection authorization. (a) An application for an inspection authorization is made on a form and in a manner prescribed by the Administrator. (b) An applicant who meets the requirements of this section is entitled to an inspection authorization. (c) To be eligible for an inspection authorization, an applicant must - (1) Hold a currently effective mechanic certificate with both an airframe rating and a powerplant rating, each of which is currently effective and has been in effect for a total of at least 3 years; (2) Have been actively engaged, for at least the 2-year period before the date he applies, in maintaining aircraft certificated and maintained in accordance with this chapter; (3) Have a fixed base of operations at which he may be located in person or by telephone during a normal working week but it need not be the place where he will exercise his inspection authority; (4) Have available to him the equipment, facilities, and inspection data necessary to properly inspect airframes, powerplants, propellers, or any related part or appliance; and (5) Pass a written test on his ability to inspect according to safety standards for returning aircraft to service after major repairs and major alterations and annual and progressive inspections performed under part 43 of this chapter. An applicant who fails the test prescribed in paragraph (c)(5) of this section may not apply for retesting until at least 90 days after the date he failed the test. [Doc. No. 1179, 27 FR 7973, Aug. 10, 1962, as amended by Amdt. 65-5, 31 FR 3337, Mar. 3, 1966; Amdt. 65-22, 42 FR 46279, Sept. 15, 1977; Amdt. 65-30, 50 FR 15700, Apr. 19, 1985] AND- Here is where Mike Busch laments the fact that AP’s have no real recurrency requirements- Mike Busch article on differences between Pilot & AP currency requirements. lastly, I apologize for contributing massive thread shift!

Our local FSDO told my A&P friend that this was fine, provided his aircraft was part of a group LLC…and not solely for his own pleasure. I thought that was an interesting line to draw. But FSDO’s are like belly buttons- they are all different. I’m sure there’s an administrative board decision out there that clarifies the AP six month currency requirement. I have always understood “active” to mean “full time”, but I’ve been wrong before…!

There are Community College programs that go for two years. Mine was 3:30pm to 9:00pm Mon-Friday. $3800 total for 2 years of full time tuition, plus books, and then fees for the A&P Practical Exams. I worked a 40 hour job that started at 6:00am that made it possible to attend school in the evenings. No life for two years, but a great experience, and a great deal… there are quite a few Community College A&P programs out there. Some are better than others. Also, be sure to plan for a way to maintain your currency- within the preceding 24 months, you must have worked 6 months full-time (40 hrs a week) as an A&P…that means if you are solo that you are booked solid each day, M-F, or you will have to work for a shop full-time, either hands-on or supervising. As far as rates, from what I have seen, most A&P’s are making between $25 and $35 an hour working for a shop, depending upon experience and the type of shop…. Mobile A&P’s make more, perhaps $50-65 an hour. Most people don’t want to pay more than that, as the usual reason that they are paying you is because they want to avoid the shop rates $110-$130 an hr, and are willing to roll the dice regarding the quality of work they might get at $50-65 an hour. IA’s cut their own deals for 337’s and Annual Inspections. There’s an IA in my vicinity who does annual inspections for $200… so the real CB’s out there aren’t going to pay me $500-$800 or more for an owner assisted annual! This is my opinion based upon my local and my limited experience…. It’s an interesting landscape for an A&P days. Finding your own shop space to lease or buy is practically impossible in some areas. Tough if you’re in one of them, and you don’t want to move! I enjoy the work, however, and so I have no regrets. Good luck in your journey!

And what about insurance? It’s not easy to get mobile A&P liability insurance these days- Most companies won’t write a policy anymore unless you have a fixed base at a field and will be doing at least 50% of your business at your fixed base. Insurance for a solo A&P can be anywhere from $5k-12k a year… something to consider.

Commanche vs Mooney will be different operating costs, with the Commanche coming in higher for fuel, maintenance, and annual inspections. The Mooney is a simpler design, and easier to care for (fewer moving parts) IMHO. Whatever you do, don’t buy an aircraft that has been sitting for years, unless you enjoy the idea of owning a project…and most shops are very busy these days- longer wait times to get the plane in and get things taken care of. Whatever you decide, be sure to pay for a thorough pre-purchase inspection. The best money you will ever spend on a plane, is the money to find out that you need to walk away from a particular plane.

Carefully remove the plastic panels, clean them thoroughly and scuff with scotchbrite, then paint with black wrinkle paint. They will look 300% better, and it will save you some bucks. Oh, and your tach and prop RPM placard don’t correspond with one another after someone painted the tach glass with a solid green stripe..! Either the tach or the placard is wrong.

I replaced the entire left fuel line in my plane from the tank pickup interconnect hose to the fuel selector. I chose to do it in two pieces with a flared union in the middle where it comes out of the cockpit, under the floor. I swear that line looked hand formed from the factory….and I continue to wonder whether two people working together from above and below, given enough tries (wasted tubing), could manage to run it from above to below the floor, hand forming it into place. I tried twice doing it by myself and ultimately gave up, putting a flared union under the floor, instead. The ideas above from 47U and M20Doc are good solutions. These are pretty much the only solutions if the problem is with the right fuel line, as that will require a whole lot more work on the older models to replace.

This is the best stuff out there for exterior steel IMHO- I have used it extensively on automotive restoration projects for the last five years and It dry or wet sands well, bonds well, and lays down very nicely. It requires no sanding before the top coat if you topcoat inside the specified window (24 hrs, I believe). The only caveat is that you can’t use an acid etch primer underneath it.

Having recently witnessed a few maintenance nightmares, I feel compelled to give a word of warning to those seeking the “cheapest” overhaul…all engine overhaul shops are not equipped or staffed equally; this means that some may not have the equipment to run the engine in, or re-surface a Vernatherm seat in the case properly, clean the case properly, check certain tolerances, or countless other small but important items… and “Certified Repair Station” can sometimes mean absolutely nothing in regards to the level of expertise, experience, or caliber of work that produced by a shop. Many Repair Stations don’t even have an A&P on the premises (or on staff)- many avionics shops operate this way, and yet they are installing autopilot systems- removing and installing flight controls, drilling into the airframe, installing brackets, tensioning control wires, etc. Some of these people have no practical training at all when they are hired, and there they are during their third day, assembling flight controls that somebody else took apart, without even knowing how to read a maintenance manual, or even how to access one. It's downright scary. if you choose to go with a shop that does not provide the break-in run prior to shipping the engine back to you, if problems arise after it is installed, it will have to be removed, shipped round trip again, and re-installed…..and very likely on your dime, as shop installing the engine for you shouldn’t have to eat that time if they didn’t choose the overhaul shop. if the engine has been run in on the right equipment, you will know that it makes oil pressure, that initial break-in was performed properly, and without having the engine overheat. I was working for a shop earlier this year where the owner went with the lowest quote he could find. Now he is staring at a bill that will be higher than the most expensive, premium overhaul shop. And he’ll have nothing to show for it, except an engine from the lowest bidder in the business who could get the job done a month quicker than the next shop. Sometimes there is a good reason why people are waiting line for certain services…. Sometimes we need to step out of the CB clubhouse to get some fresh air, especially with the larger purchases, such as an airplane or an engine overhaul. I’ve witnessed far too much heartache lately. I think the OP is making some good choices here- it’s refreshing, and I’m looking forward to watching it all come together nicely. The odds are with him.

Aeromotors is the way to go- not only are they a quarter of the price of a new one, they overhaul it and get back to you very quickly. Pump has performed flawlessly ever since.

As long as the rest of the switch is airworthy (the key cannot be removed in any position other than “off” and the switch operates smoothly) the rebuild kit is a great way to go. They periodically come up on eBay as well… IMHO quality control on the new TCM switches is hit and miss- so if you elect to buy a new one, I would recommend testing all functions (including having the lock cylinder smoothly return to “Both” after pushing to start) prior to installing it in order to avoid great frustration…

Although I tend to agree with the above regarding icing, you may want to rule out there being an obstruction at the aileron center links- if you have a manual gear, what is the state of your Johnson bar boot? A pen or flashlight or tool that falls through a hole in the boot can cause aileron issues… there’s a very interesting NTSB report where a pilot had his ailerons locked in a bank, and also had some trouble getting his gear down because of this. [Edit] never mind- I just re-read and saw you have elec gear….next time I’ll wait for the morning coffee to kick in!

My trim indicator also had what looked to be an electrical terminal soldered onto the end of the wire…the inside of my indicator looks like this:

WD40 is a pretty good solvent. If the cable/wire controls are really gummed up, IMHO WD40 can help to break that gum up. But you’ll still need to lubricate the cable/wire afterwards with a lubricant, such as Triflow, as recommended above. WD40 is also excellent for cleaning gummed up oil on the belly, inside and out.