ArrowBerry

Thanks everyone for the pictures and posts of interest to read. I've been educating myself on this today, it's amazing how much we take for granted when systems work! Nevertheless, I never learn so much about something as I do when its broken lol Anyways, we took the panel off the bottom today. It looks like there is some seepage and blue dye at the top where it would go through the floor, likely how we noticed it. And also a small amount where the RH wing fuel line comes into the selector. There was a very old sticker on it which identified it as an A&E selector, but no readable part or serial number. I've reached out to LASAR about this seal kit, whether it's the correct one, and the costs associated with rebuilding it here with the kit or just sending it in and having them make it like new! https://lasar.com/seal-kits/complete-seal-kit-drawing-for-he769-fuel-selectorgascolator-he-fuel-selector-seal-kit-complete?rq=fuel selector seal

What did that run you for cost to send it in? Did you disassemble it yourself to send it in? What's the best way to access it? Do you gotta remove belly panels and crawl underneath?

Sorry that could have been clearer, I said "yes" it does make a difference in the cabin even if you don't feel it immediately when you sit down after having the door open. We run our buddy heater in the cabin for about an hour before we show up to the airport. Plus, even being in an unheated hangar nullifies the effect of wind and other reasons the heat might get blown away. The forced air heat directed towards the front seems to work good.

Thanks for your input. I've also got a picture to share. Its wet in the little cup where the selector sits.

Our solution. To the question regarding whether it makes a difference to preheat the cabin if you let out all that heat as soon you open the door--yes. I think so. It may release the warm air thats in the cabin but the avionics, cabin furnishings, etc all have residual heat that lasts longer than the amount of time it takes for you to do a walk around and get strapped in. When you turn on the avionics master the screens are all bright and ready, the throttle/prop/mixture controls are not stiff, and your plastic cabin furnishings are not so cold and brittle that they crack when you touch them. Although, we rarely fly when it gets really cold. Not worth the risk of breaking something, or surviving an engine out just to freeze to death.

In Manitoba we have an unheated hangar, insulated engine blanket, and an EZ heat oil pan heater. Plug it in the night before and in the morning the engine feels warm when you stick your hand through the oil door to unplug it. The oil pan heaters are most effective IMO if you have them running for a longer period of time. In a couple hours your oil might be warm, but overnight the heat will spread upward and warm the top of the engine as well. You will have a more thoroughly heated engine. I don't think turning on the hangar heat for 1-2 hours is going to make much difference, it doesn't give enough time to warm the important components. I made a post last year with our engine and cabin preheating ideas.

Hey everyone, question regarding the options to repair/replace a leaking fuel selector valve. 1967 M20E. From my research today it sounds like the first step is differentiating whether it's coming from the sump with the ring which you pull to drain, or the actual left/right/off position handle. We think it's coming from the actual selector handle and not the sump, and I've been reading that these are not overhaul-able? Whereas the sump drain is? Can anyone confirm or give some guidance on this? Does LASAR have a kit with the O rings to replace on the selector itself? Possibly a fix is to have our mechanic take it apart, clean, and reassemble with new O rings? Are new ones available, and from where?

If I were adding both some scratch I'd agree with you about having the 275 instead. We bought the plane with one G5 already installed, and added the second when our vacuum pump failed two years ago.

1) GNX375 2) That's really good to know, I see a lot of different panels which have the G5s either slightly left or right of centre and I've always wondered how noticeable it is. 3) The radios in the picture are not exact representations of what we have in the plane, best we could find in that builder. But definitely as actual units get finalized we'll be measuring that out. 4) I'd really love an SL30, I have the SL40 in a different plane that's VFR only and it's great. They are worth a lot on the used market though. Maybe something to consider once the "ouch" of the autopilot bill fades. Another big consideration for us is what we want to add in the future, without cutting a new panel again in 2-3 years. But it's really hard to decide how to cut a panel within a budget, while also thinking what you want to put in that spot later! I guess that's the real challenge for everyone. I really like the 275 EIS in the future because it will fit into existing space. The PAR200B audio panel from PS Engineering also looks great by combining two units and relieving space issues in the centre stack. Regarding the AP on top of the stack, I also fly King Airs as a day job that have been retrofitted with the G1000 and all of them have their AP on top. I guess it's what I'm used to. The older, steam gauge planes had their AP down in between the seats on a pedestal and you always have to look down to change a setting.

We need two nav sources. Either GPS/VOR, GPS/ADF, GPS/GPS... any combination of the two. That's a Canadian thing, maybe the rules are different. Its not specifically related to the G5, it would be the same with the 275. If we removed the antique ADF we need to keep the VOR... or add a second GPS. One day I think I'd like to have something like a Garmin 225 nav/com, which can give a digital nav source to have green needles on the G5. Come to think of it though, it feels like there's practically no operational VORs in Canada anymore anyways so maybe that's just a waste of money. Just to do an ILS? I don't know if any airport nearby that has an ILS without also an LPV to nearly the same minimums.

The transponder is in the GNX375, the GPS in the centre stack. Honestly the only reason we considered the ignition on the bottom is because it's on top right now, and the key chain always hangs in front of the VSI... not really a big deal I guess? If the positions were reversible, the key chain would hang lower down out of the way. Or just ditch that and have a single key works too!

Can I get some input on this sketch layout of a new panel? What looks good? What doesn't? Are any items in places that they will likely not fit due to structure behind the panel? We're looking at taking out the current ADF and DME, and adding the GFC 500 while improving and organizing the layout. Some notes, the digital VOR on the sketch is actually just an old analog standalone VOR head/reciever which is currently in the old panel (the panel builder didn't have a closer looking picture). This cannot be changed right now because we need a nav source to be IFR legal without a digital nav/com radio talking to the G5. In the future, I'd like to change out this instrument to the Garmin 275 EIS as it would fit in the same hole and eliminate everything on the righthand side--once a new nav/com capable radio is in the budget! The two smaller instruments on the right side are a volt meter and EGT.

I tried something new this week. Always looking for "missions" for the plane... I love going out to fly from A-B with a purpose. I recently signed up with an organization called Canadian Wings of Rescue, sorta the Canuck version of Pilots n Paws. I gotta say, I absolutely loved it. Very impressed with the quality of communication, flexibility, and generosity of everyone who was involved. Using the plane to accomplish something real and useful for someone else was awesome. The folks who came out to the airport and seen the plane were so happy and excited to move these cats, and thought "wow what a beautiful airplane" I'm still smiling! I flew two hairless Sphynx cats from Saskatoon to their new home in Fort McMurray. Took me the entire day, based out of Winnipeg and fought a 50 knot headwind all the way west... although enjoyed grounding over 200 knots on the way home. Anyways, here are some pictures! 10.5 hours of airtime, I love our Mooney!

Why does this range from peak to 100 degrees ROP put you in the danger zone? For those who don't have engine monitors, what EGT value should we be leaning for? It seems like leaning to peak, and then enriching past 100 degrees ROP would nearly put you back at full rich?

This topic I started last winter to show our preheating set up. We have an EZ Heat oil pan heater and a forced air buddy heater inside the cabin. Really slick to be able to control everything from your phone and just "show up" to go flying.

We have a 67E based in Winnipeg. To my knowledge there is not a "winter kit" for the Mooney like you find in Cessnas. We have had success in covering our oil cooler, which is front mounted, with aluminum tape. I'd say below -15C is when we start using it, about 1/3 of the cooler at first and then see what oil temps you get. Always easier to come back and add some rather than have uncontrollably high temps. When it gets really cold, -25C or so, we cover it close to all the way. We add and remove strips as the OAT changes from day to day. I find this helps keep the oil temperature in the 180-200 degree range, but doesn't change the CHT very much. I'm trying to remember, but I think 280-330 is pretty normal for our plane too. If you fly on a really cold day it might be better to run a higher MP if that keeps the CHTs a little bit higher and just plan to fly a little bit further to get the same amount of hours out of a flight.

Can anyone tell me how much total brake fluid is in the system? We have a leaking brake and I have a new O ring to try and fix it. Assuming that we still have the old style 5606 fluid, is it possible to drain as much as possible of that out of the system before trying to bleed the brakes, and then topping it up with the newer 83282?

Canada has a 10 year requirement to overhaul constant speed props regardless of use. We went through one on a different plane in 2020 and I learned a little bit from the shop doing the work. They told me that most blades or hubs fail inspection because of corrosion on GA planes. Typically they come off of birds which spend a lot of time sitting outside without use. The owners are usually sticker shock at the price of repairing something they don't use often, which is why the corrosion existed in the first place. They will also check the pitch of the blades and "rebend" them back to spec, plus strip and repaint. I couldn't tell you if 10 years is a good time or not to look at a prop but its what we have to do here.

A cable from Mooney is on the way now, probably due to arrive about the same time as the spinner. Once it's all here we'll spend a day doing the alternator conversion, spinner, and prop cable. Thank god, you don't realize sometimes how much you rely on something until you don't have it. Then we'll have about one month to fly before its due for the annual of course! But... opening the hangar to this makes everything worth it!

I completely agree, if I was spending 50k on a new engine I would 100% add these relatively insignificant extra costs in order to modernize and improve reliability on an old design. We bought our Mooney with a brand new engine, 10 hours SMOH, and its been solid. But additional upkeep is still a constant concern obviously. For example, a cracked spinner recently brought up questions of vibration and we found the generator bearing to be bad--the whole unit was loose and wobbling in its mount. Que a $2100 Plane Power alternator conversion, and a $500 spinner. Upon opening the cowling our frayed prop cable was discovered, its a never ending love/hate relationship. Although, mostly love! We're in a position now that one failure has uncovered a secondary fault in the prop cable, and we're trying to correct it as quick and efficiently as possible. This is an airplane that flies 100 hours a year.

Are the parts from Mooney itself also pretty decent? McFarlane says it takes about 4 weeks to turn around a new cable, plus the shipping time to send ours in. It's a lot of downtime. Lasar sourced a cable in stock at Mooney which is a little bit more expensive but ready right away, we can install it as soon as the old one comes out and remove any extra downtime.

Does anyone have experience with sending in your throttle/mixture/prop cables to McFarlane to be reproduced? We're specifically in need of a prop control cable, and possibly looking at upgrading to their vernier style throttle cable. In talking to them, a produced cable for our particular year and serial number is not available--but a custom made one is. Is this a good way to get new cables? Or should we be trying to source one from somewhere else? Lasar?

I have flown a C182 without electric trim and completely agree, the constant messages requiring trim are annoying. One more thing blinking at you and needing attention during a potentially high workload time. I'm not debating the need for it, more looking from an installation and financial perspective as whether the initial AP installation can be completed without electric trim--fly for a year, and then add the trim at the next annual, for example.

Thanks everyone for the input. I've ordered a used one off eBay... now the wait!

Good catch, thanks for pointing that out. They did have nylon washers but in poor shape, we'll definitely be replacing those.