PT20J

If the high oil consumption is due to worn valve guides, it's possible that one exhaust valve stem might have enough deposits to cause the valve to stick intermittently.

Ross, I pulled this from the seminar handout I got when I attended the APS seminar in Ada back in 2007. Someone who has taken the online version might have more recent info. Since the seminar, I've had a couple of email exchanges with Walter Atkinson and quite a few with John Deakin, mostly regarding radial engine operation, but I wouldn't say I have any special connection. The APS team does a really good job of simplifying some complex ideas. But, as I have certainly learned by humbling experience here and elsewhere, simplifying complex issues has its pitfalls. It's great when people take the time to really understand what APS is trying to teach. It's not so good when people take concepts like the red box, without fully understanding the underlying principles, and loudly proclaim that running at peak (or 50F ROP, or take your pick) EGT will destroy your engine. It's not that simple. I think it's been clearly shown that running LOP has certain benefits perhaps including improved cylinder longevity. But, much of the LOP operational experience has been at lower powers: Normally aspirated engines can't cruise very high and put out more than about 65% power LOP; the airlines ran the big radials LOP at about 55% power; I think I remember Mike Busch saying he runs his 310 LOP at 65% or less. So, I'm really curious to know if engines continue to show longevity improvement when run LOP at high powers. I believe John Deakin was running his turbo-normalized Bonanza at 80+% deeply LOP before he quit flying and claimed no ill effects, but I don't know how long he did that and it's still only one engine. Maybe over time we will get more data on this. Skip

Great summary. Here's some actual APS data for one operating condition for one (unspecified) engine. It's a little hard to read, but the original wasn't all that good. The graphs are internal cylinder pressure curves for the same engine at the same power output with the only difference being mixture. Left graph: 27.2"/2500 rpm / 75F ROP / 390F CHT / 18.3 gph / 244 bhp / 140.5 BMEP / ICPmax= 825 psi Right graph: 29.9"/2500 rpm / 50F LOP / 365F CHT / 16.4 gph / 244 bhp / 140.5 BMEP / ICPmax= 740 psi Note that BMEP is not a "real pressure", but an average. It is equivalent to torque times a constant. As shown below, you can achieve the same BMEP with different shaped curves. Skip

It takes more than removing a seat to install a parachute. The descent rate with the parachute is too great for a touch down that won't break your back without additional shock absorbers. In the Cirrus, the landing gear and seats are designed to crush and cushion the "landing."

Expect the next few years to be expensive due to all the recent headline aviation accidents: 737MAX + 3 Alaska accidents (one killing a pilot I used to fly with in Ketchikan). Aviation insurance is all one big risk pool. Got a good quote from my current insurer Allianz; not much more than last year even with the hull increase for the new engine. Then, as it was about to be renewed, Allianz informed my broker (Falcon) that they had decided not to bind or renew any "pleasure and business" aircraft insurance. Fortunately Falcon was able to negotiate a similar premium from Old Republic Aerospace that had previously quoted about 10% higher than Allianz. This happens every few years: Insurers who suffer too many losses decide to take a breather from the market. Eventually, with fewer competitors, the remaining companies raise rates. I dodged the bullet this year, but next renewal may be interesting. Fasten seat belts. Skip

To understand the big pull and red box, it might be helpful to review their origins. If you lean according to Lycoming and Continental recommendations, that is set power to 65% to 75% (depends on the engine and installation) and then adjust mixture, you can set it anywhere you like without hurting anything. There isn't really a red box that you need to worry about. (Yes, I know maximum pressure and CHT occurs at 50F ROP. As long as CHTs are 400F or less - or maybe a little higher - you will still be well within the design limits of the engine). This worked great when everyone was running ROP, because leaning doesn't affect the power more than a few percent when ROP. But, when you get LOP, the power drops off rapidly with decreasing mixture strength. If you start at 75% power on the rich side and then lean to well LOP, the engine will be producing much less than 75% power. The fuel flow is impressively low, but the airplane slows way down. You can't sell a lot of injectors if they turn your Bonanza into a Cherokee. The solution is to increase MAP and perhaps RPM to get the power back to 75%. This procedure is a bit cumbersome: 1) Set power ROP to 65-75%. 2) Lean to LOP. 3) Reset power. The engine is most efficient at WOT. Why not leave the throttle full open and just pull the mixture back to LOP (big pull) to get the power you want and be done with it? If you do this in a turbo, or at low altitudes in a NA engine, there most definitely is a red box that you want to avoid and the big pull neatly avoids dwelling there. Skip

One last point: I put 1.5" extensions on my '78 J years ago and didn't notice much change in angle of the top of the pedal. My '94 J came from the factory with 1.5" extensions installed, and I didn't notice a problem until I removed them and installed 3" extensions. After that, the top of the pedals were noticeably too far aft making it easy to ride the brakes slightly. So, I think perhaps Mooney messed up the angles of the 3" extensions. Anyway, it's fairly easily fixed with the adjustment at the brake cylinders. Skip

You might try aligning the elevator with the stabilizer for a few takeoffs. You will have to pull back a bit to lighten the nosewheel for takeoff (piston planes don’t really “rotate”) and relax the pressure as it accelerates in climb, but you shouldn’t need to touch the trim until you raise the flaps.

My '94 J has electronic tones that sound through a second overhead speaker as well as the audio panel for stall (steady tone) and landing gear (on-off-on-off tone). But the KAP 150 has a sonalert in the overhead. Skip

Well, I actually thought about that. Interestingly, the rod end for the right brake has a couple of spacing washers, but the left does not. And, neither master cylinder had washers on the rear end attachment. The IPC doesn't call out any washers. If I'd had someone to step on the brakes while I watched the motion of the cylinders, I might have changed something, but I decided to leave well enough alone BTW, there are a few rod ends in this area for the rudder/steering that never get Tri-flowed. Skip

Anthony, I didn't actually measure it but as Andy said, there is a lot of leverage. Due to the tight space to work in, I could only move the nut one flat at a time. I'd guess I turned the nut about 2 revolutions and I would guess that moved the top of the rudder pedals toward the firewall about 1/2 inch, maybe a little more. The red is paint overspray that came through the hole in the skin for the pump drain. Skip

Thanks for the tip, Andy. The service manual doesn't mention this adjustment. I did it on my '94 J today. A bit of a PITA -- had to remove the cowling to get to the fasteners on the front of the left exhaust cavity and also had to remove the left nose gear door since the piano hinge is on top of the inboard side of the cavity, and, of course, someone had cammed out one of the screws, so I had to drill and extract it. But, after that the brake cylinders are easily accessed. At first I thought I'd have to remove the clevis pins to rotate the threaded rod end, but since the brake cylinder shaft is round, all I had to do was adjust the jam nut which rotates the shaft while the clevis pin keeps the threaded rod end from rotating thus allowing the length of the rod to be adjusted. There are flats on the brake cylinder shaft just behind the nut that, after compressing the spring, you can put an open-end wrench on to keep the shaft from turning while you check the torque on the jam nut when done. Brake pedal geometry is much improved. Skip

My KAP 150 sonalert is mounted overhead and I can easily hear it with either my Lightspeed Zulu or Bose A20 headset. Maybe the stall warning sonalert is weak. The SC628 is rated at 68 dBA.

The gauge looks to be about 3/4 of the way between 100 and 245. Assuming the gauge is linear that would be 208F which is a little high but not way high. However, the oil pressure is low. Maybe it's the instrumentation, but I would have it checked. Check the oil level first. I've noticed Lycoming 360s will show an oil pressure decrease and oil temperature increase when the oil quantity is 4 qts or less. Oil is part of the cooling system. Skip

These are drain holes. Should be at the bottom. Looks like your lens is upside down. Skip

PMA, TSO, Owner produced parts. It can be confusing and it always seems to come up whenever LED lights are discussed. Here's a pretty good summary: https://www.aviationpros.com/home/article/10385867/parts-primer

Sonalerts are pretty simple devices and rarely fail -- especially intermittently. Before replacing it, I would test it by disconnecting it from the autopilot and applying power to it. It may be that the driver in the KC 295 is faulty, or there might be a bad connection. If the autopilot disconnects in turbulence, I would suspect it might be related to the KI 256. The KC 295 doesn't know whether it's turbulent or not; the computer is just responding to inputs it receives. Skip

In case some of you missed this (really, who can keep up with all this stuff?), the FAA changed position on transponder use a while back. It used to be that FAA didn't want you squawking on the ground and the standard procedure was to put the transponder in standby mode after landing and until just before takeoff. Garmin added a feature to its transponders called Ground Mode that would do this automatically. Then the FAA decided that with the coming of ADS-B, it really wanted transponders in ALT mode at all times. Recent installations of Garmin transponders will have Ground Mode disabled. See attached Safety Alert. Skip SAFO15006.pdf

If the override button lights and holding the button in allows normal retraction, it’s the airspeed switch. Not a good idea to blow into the pitot. Use a rubber hose with rubber bulb to gently pressurize pitot system. Basic troubleshooting would be to jack up plane, jumper across airspeed switch and see if gear operates normally. Skip

Great idea. Wish I’d have thought of that last time I extricated myself from under there

Jimmy buys some inventory and brokers others. Never mean’t to imply a specific spread. It’s what you negotiate.

+1 for Jimmy and David at All American. Have bought and sold with them. Straight shooters. Fair valuation. Just remember, you sell at wholesale and buy at retail. But, part of what you are paying for is to get the deal done with minimum hassle.

Interesting. As near as I can tell, most M20C-E tend to cruise with the elevator nearly in alignment and the M20F-J cruise with the trailing edge down, so it makes some sense that the takeoff trim position might be opposite. It doesn't really matter. The drag contribution would be small from such a minor elevator deflection. Most of trim drag comes from the induced drag of the tail generating a tail down force and the incremental induced drag of the wing caused by the additional lift necessary to offset the tail down force. Skip

Back when I had a new-to-me '78 J with a KFC 200, the altitude hold was very erratic. I removed the KC 295 and then removed the PC board that had the static pressure transducer and found that the transducer had water in it -- probably from aiming a hose at the static ports when someone washed the airplane. I shook all the water out and let it dry for a couple of days, then reinstalled it and it worked flawlessly for the next 7 years I owned the airplane. Skip

Mooney's up through the J's have trim assist bungees that bias the elevator as the tailplane angle changes with the trim. That's why the yokes move. On airplanes with trim tabs, the proper takeoff trim setting generally results in the trim tab being aligned with the elevator. On the J (and I would think this would apply to the C, D, E, F, but I haven't verified that) the proper takeoff trim setting results in the elevator being aligned with the stabilizer. It varies slightly with CG location, of course. Skip