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By optical tachometer, this is what they mean: https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/topages/trutach.php It will help diagnose whether there's a problem with the instrument or not. A local mechanic probably has one, or you might be able to find one to borrow from one of your local fellow airplane owners.

With insulation and heat you have a chance to have a really nice setup. A durable couch, a coffee table, a small bar, maybe even satellite or antenna TV if you want to get crazy or at least a speaker or two, all of these things could make waiting out the weather much more pleasant.

As others are saying the F has essentially the same engine as the J, so if you want an E or a J then you also want an F. Another good reason is a budget under $90k will eliminate virtually every J worth having. This is the closest you can get on Controller right now.

It's WAY cheaper to buy a plane that already has nice avionics than to have them all put in yourself. Once they're installed, the plane is worth the additional value of the avionics (roughly 50% of the retail price according to an airplane lender I talked to), but only the person installing them ever pays the installation labor cost plus the retail cost. That doesn't get recouped when you sell. So, long story short, when you have avionics installed, it is not a dollar-for-dollar value add, in fact it's only a fraction of the total spend going into the hull value/sales price. As others have already said, you only want to do the avionics upgrades yourself if you want total control over what goes in and don't mind paying for the privilege. Since I'm selling my plane after putting dual G5s, GFC 500, and more into it, I know this only too well.

Avemco decides what that means, I'd probably ask them.

Guys, the original post you're responding to was from March 2022 and the OP has not been back here since July 2022. If you want him to see it you might want to try the contact information he provided rather than posting here.

Considering tie-downs, not even hangars, at the closest airport to me (KSNA) are $500 a month, and my hangar is an hour away, I think you should take the $250 and enjoy it!

Thank you, Mitch!

Eventually!

My plane is up for sale! Mark Woods at Delta Aviation has the listing. Greg Lehman at Advanced Aircraft just fixed all the fuel leaks. Better equipped with low engine time for less than others currently on offer. Original paint and hangared with only 450 SMOH, so it's ready for whatever upgrades you can dream of with the panel already done! Speed brakes, Monroy tanks, color JPI engine monitor, all electric, LEDS, MaxPulse wig-wag recognition lights, new Vantage Plane Plastics installed this year, compressions all in the 70s, maintained by Mooney Factory Trained mechanic. Located in Southern California and available for showings to serious buyers. Details, photos, videos, contact info all available here: https://www.controller.com/listing/for-sale/226917625/1994-mooney-m20j-mse-piston-single-aircraft

REAL PILOTS use the one-sided tow bar. Y'all are soft! /only kidding (seriously this tow bar looks really nice!)

Yes, my plane has them and there is literally a sticker on top of the fuel selector covering up the original "32 GAL" capacity and making it "47" instead for each tank. There's nothing to manage from the cockpit other than selecting the L or R tank. As others have said, fill the inboard mains first when fueling, followed by the outboard Monroys. Remember to sump all four quick drains during your preflight instead of just the two. The only downside to leaving them full is it's a lot of weight and if you unexpectedly have an extra passenger show up for an impromptu flight you could be overweight. I've tried to keep mine full unless I was expecting a trip where useful load would be important: camping gear, hot and high airports, four people, etc. I've been told by some that, supposedly, keeping them all full leads to leaks sooner because of all the extra weight on the sealant. Not sure if that's true. But if you're landing with close to a full fuel load often, you probably should make your landings as smooth as possible just to be nice to your tanks. Another thing to know is there are no approved bladder replacements for the Monroys, so if you get the long range tanks you are stuck with doing strips and reseals once the leaks start, or you have to downgrade to replacing only the mains with bladders and losing the extra capacity. With that said I love them. Over the weekend I set my new personal best of 6 hours, 20 minutes nonstop, covering almost 1000 nm with a 10-20 knot headwind. And landed with almost three more hours of reserves.

If I was going to buy another Mooney in Florida I would use Premier again. That's about as strong a recommendation as it gets for me.

I was quite happy with Premier doing my prebuy on an MSE. They prepared a very detailed list of discrepancies, divided between airworthiness and recommended items. You decide what you think is important for the negotiation, not them, so I would rather have a thorough one looking at everything than not. There also is no set procedure for a prebuy so just talk to them about what you want and they can execute it. They were also great about providing color after the inspection but before closing over the phone, and continued to give advice on my request even after my purchase. I would happily use them again. I live out of the area so I never tried them for an annual, but for a prebuy, I was really pretty happy and had no major problems afterward. In fact on my next annual it turned out they had some hard to find parts in stock, one of the few in the country who did, and if I recall correctly I think they even gave me a friendly discount. Also, I did have them perform some of the work on the inspection discrepancy list after closing and was satisfied with its quality, but it wasn’t anything major or invasive.

Where are you located?

FWIW, I have a 730 that I “upgraded” to an 830 (read: added additional sensors and probes and flipped a software switch). I looked into a 900 but was told all sensors and probes would have to be replaced, so I didn’t do it. Maybe that’s changed or I was told wrong?

My practice as a seller: payment is due upon agreeing to terms, and I promptly provide a tracking number within 24 hours or communicate when to expect it otherwise (holiday, weekend, out of town, waiting for an additional part, etc.). I also photograph the shipping box after dropping it off at the carrier facility (proves I transferred possession) and take another photo of the shipping label (in case I lose the receipt or type the number wrong). The photo of the box might also be useful to show responsibility of the carrier for damage, but fortunately that has never come up.

You could get a new GFC 500 with better performance that doesn’t need a fan at all

Not as easy as being cleared direct through the Bravo from 30nm out ... but it's always good to have a backup plan! Just keep in mind there sometimes can be heavy training traffic in the vicinity of Ramona and the San Vicente Reservoir. And if there are wildfires in the area, it's best to avoid Ramona due to heavy firefighting traffic operating from Cal Fire's Ramona Air Attack Base.

If you wanted to, you could start a partnership consulting business. This is some really high-quality advice.

Don Maxwell is knowledgeable on voltage regulator issues; he's also the only one I could find willing to IRAN one in the entire country.

Might be a good lesson here for a new owner. If you know you have a safety of flight problem like this, get it fixed ASAP. Don't defer it. If your mechanic won't fix it, get a second opinion and/or find a new mechanic. This seems like a pretty foreseeable incident, I'm sorry to say. And a second lesson: when you notice you're attempting to land with a 15-knot tailwind, in a plane you cannot fully control at speed on the ground, GO AROUND!

You say 98 gallons instead of 94 -- I'm guessing yours doesn't have speed brakes? I would expect around $13000-$15000 here in the US for both wings with Monroys, all-in. I also recommend giving Paul at Weep No More a call: he will have answers to anything you need to know and is very knowledgeable and helpful. If you can't get ahold of Paul, try Greg Lehman at Advanced Aircraft in Troutdale, OR. He's also very helpful. Both will respond to email, too, if you're a little patient since they're busy. Either way you'll get a lot of info in a short amount of time. You didn't ask this so forgive me if I'm stepping out of line, but if I was in France with a US-registered Mooney I would very much consider ferrying it to Willmar or Wet Wingologists East just to have it done by one of the specialist shops. That should really help the resale value not to mention give you confidence it was done right. Might be overkill, I don't know much about the maintainers in Europe, but I'd sure be thinking about it.

@bmcconnaha

Removed from a 28V M20J for a vertical card compass upgrade. $200 shipped, Venmo/PayPal/Zelle, lower 48.