Tcraft938

Definitely something I would like to do. My C has a long shoulder strap that connects where the back seat, seat belts connect and it goes forward over the front seat (under headrest) to the front lap belt to act as a shoulder harness. I've never seen anything like it (I'm no expert), I'm wondering if it's someone's made up design that wouldn't do much. The Alpha looks nice, I hear they can be a bear to install the mounting bracket because the aircraft skin is so tight to the cage/frame.

Spoken like an experienced pilot husband that knows what to say to keep his Mooney.

I bought a 63C a year ago, similarly equipped. However, the economy and market was a bit better then. Using my experience with new scimitar prop, two G5's and full digital engine instrumentation and a lot of recent maintenance at MSC, I would say you should be in the $46,000 to $49,000 range. Maybe a little better if the paint is truly as good as it looks in the pictures, hard to tell, often real life is not as good as the pic. I'm not a broker, A&P or expert, just a fellow newbie Mooniac. "Your mileage may vary".

Very interesting. Thank you very much. I need to read it several more times to sink in. Wonder what my O360-A1D will think of it. Lol.

Probably an ignorant question, is this notorious red box thing I keep reading in here only apply to fuel injected engine? Thanks.

If you show “your shiny new Johnson” you May have to run for President.

How much camguard do you add per quart?

Usually it's safety wire that causes us to "give blood" to our airplanes. Regardless of why, it is never fun to do so. I hope it's a simple and easy fix for you. Good luck

Maybe different because I have a different model, but mine the nut is on the inside of the seat (under cushion) and the outer portion of the seat where your hand passes is a round slot head. Perhaps yours are turned around, or someone switched your seats at annual? I know this because the AP/IA had me pull those today so he could inspect as part of the annual.

All flights start with full fuel. I like to keep tanks wet for the sealant. All early flights just me 172lbs. A few had a passenger of 220 lbs. one flight had a third in back at 180 lbs but I did not take copious notes on that flight. The numbers I gave were backed up by 3 way gps runs. One flight was 240 miles east and turn around come home. Strong tail/headwind. Going out was fun seeing 211 mph over the ground. Coming home took a bit longer. My empty CG is a bit forward, battery in the front. No speed mods. Rigged well engine shimmed per Maxwell and corrected a gear door that sagged. Gained some speed with those adjustments.

Skates, I'm in annual right now and mentioned your post to my IA. He said, "perfect because I noticed that on yours to a lesser degree and today we are going to check control throws". This is his first time to inspect this airplane so he is really looking into everything. Also he is sick of working on one manufacturer and "enjoy the superior design of the Mooney". We found one flap extended 4 degrees lower than the other and one retracted higher than the other (over retracted so to speak). That made for an almost 2 second difference in apparent retraction speed. Lubricating the entire mechanism from the actuator on out to the flap hinges corrected about half that. He adjusted them to specification per SM and TCDS and they are dead on for retract speed and for some reason, my 7 pumps to put them down became 5 to 5 1/2. Hopefully your fix is just as straightforward.

Based on the feel of it I don't feel much of anything happen on the upstroke and nothing through about 1/2 the down stroke then some resistance comes into play

Thank you very much. This is exactly what I was going through the search looking for. Hopefully we get this sorted out.

The timing for this thread is selfishly perfect for me. In annual so today the IA and I examined the system. It is taking 8 pumps to get the flaps all the way down, 10 seconds to retract them. After many times of cycling and doing so while under the plane checking the actuator, pump and lines (not a drop of leak noted) it got to 6 pumps if pumped fairly fast. The IA observed that not the full stroke of the handle feels like it is translating into pumping. Only about 1/2 of the throw of the handle moves the flaps, which makes sense, 1/2 of 8 is 4, about the same as POH. He is assuming this is due to air in the system, but how did air get in? The only anomaly I can think of was about two months ago I went to the hangar and found a plate size puddle of hydraulic fluid under the plane. Open the belly to confirm it came from the pump area and found the connection to the input line needed a 1/4 turn to tighten. The I also realized a few days previous I flew with a CFI that allegedly had a lot of vintage Mooney time, but apparently not recently because he did not seem real familiar with the hydraulic flaps. He advised me when putting the plane away to lower the flaps and leave them down so no one steps on them. I'm thinking this charged the system and left it for a period of time and something let loose. I since have refilled the reservoir (didn't need much fluid, maybe cap full) and with the exception of needed 7 -8 pumps it has been fine. No leaks, no flaps coming up uncommanded even at 100 mph. Tomorrow we may try to bleed the system per the Service Manual. The IA was not impressed with the lack of information there and what the process was. Someone else in here mentioned leave the flap lever in up position and pump the handle a million times to expel air. Maybe I'll try that. :-) Thank you EVERYONE for your insights and sharing your expertise. It is very learning experience for those of us new to these wonderful "mature" airplanes.

Shadrach, if everything is done properly how many pumps should it take to fully deploy the flaps? Mine takes 7 on the ground, no issues with it creeping up uncommanded. There are a few droplets of oil on the pump. It’s in annual now, so I can get at it and have the Lasar kit already. Thanks.

I am currently nearing the end of break-in of a new engine and hartzell prop. Per the break-in instructions I am to keep the power up flying at safe altitudes that will give at least 75% power for flights of at least an hour (assuming no problems). On a pretty standard day at 5000/5500 ft I am 23" MP at 2400 rpm. This is giving me around 154 mph (134kts) indicated and 176 mph (152 kts) True Airspeed at 76% hp per the POH and run full rich. If go higher I lean just until it is very smooth. The airspeed is a little better than book, I think my MP might be reading an inch or so low. However fuel flow is lower than book even at VERY rich. CHT's even on warm day are never 322 cruise or 362 in climb. Break in doing well. Mineral Oil consumption stabilized at 6 hours use. Has 29 hrs on it now, in annual and all 4 cylinders are 79/80. I was told to not move the MP around much when flying and vary the RPM in 100 RPM increments about every 20 minutes or so, but try not to go below 75% power unless in the pattern or landing. I'm no expert, just sharing my experience based on what the shop and A&P told me to do. So far, so good.

Also the props are most efficient around 2500, or so my Hartzell book says

Would you happen to have the door slide/stop that affixes to the bottom of the cabin door and the bottom door sill? Thanks

Cliffy, thank you for your kindness and patience. I too enjoy learning all I can but don’t want to annoy the group. The process you described is exactly what the A&P did measuring with calipers. I appreciate that he doesn’t get in a just get it done attitude but says let’s do some research I would rather take time to do it right than get it done wrong. He usually doesn’t charge for at least half his time. He admits he is particular slower likes to research and explain so doesn’t charge for that. I had an old taylorcraft in great shape. I went to several shops in the area and they messed stuff up for a lot of money. I learned of Ed who was chief for museum and restored a B17 several others and his latest is a flying MiG 17. No one wanted to work on the Mooney, he was happy to. He loves how it’s made engineering and says it’s spacious to work on compared to the MiG. Lol we will keep plugging away at it. Thanks again

Sorry to beat this to death. I went through the logs and some really old documents that came with the plane. Found the itemized invoice and documentation that came right from the Mooney factory that did the conversion in 1966. Apparently it was a program for D owners to take their factory new plane back and have them converted for about $1800, was a lot of $ back then. At any rate both retract tubes part numbers on the documents traces back to the Service Manual and Part Catalog to be with ones with the springs not the solids. So confirmed, the factory did it so it is original equipment. The owner declined the electric gear option, but "actuator bracket installed" as well as some other electric components. I assume if to be later modified. (No thank you) LOL The fun part of the Service Manual is it doesn't say much of what to do with the springs, other than 0.060". The older style 62,63,64 years have 0.060" space between the spring and a collar. The 65 and later (what I have) there is not that space, so not sure what/where to measure or if 0.050" is unacceptable. It was funny how we figured out this difference. The mains once we learned how little the over center moves and should read the torque were all well within the acceptable range. Went to the nose gear and it was WAY off. Those springs on the tubes must make a big difference. It appears they compress as you put the gear into over center lock and unload a little once in OC. Start to raise gear and they compress, load just before the OC moves. Had four A&P's in the shop today all had their comments none had Mooney experience, but plenty to say. The A&P I use who has some but not a ton of Mooney experience ignored them and said the system is working smooth and nice, mains in spec, the springs on nose tubes a good thing and we are not going to start chasing our tails into a problem that doesn't exist and result in a bigger problem. He was more interested in carefully and methodically inspecting the entire retract system for corrosion, weld cracks and proper lubrication per the manual. I have a lot of cleaning to do. LOL Thank you everyone for your help. hopefully I made sense?

Cliffy, thanks for the info and help. However my nose gear retract rods are not solid they have the springs, see attached picture. The plane is a 63 D models that the factor converted to C with retractable gear in the late 60s. So I guess the question is, do we follow the manual gear procedure for the mains and the electric gear for the nose? I do not see in the logs where these rods were changed since the factory conversion. Thanks

Could save hangar rent by getting a really narrow storage shed, or get 10 of them in one full size hangar. :-) Put a few TV screens around it and do flight simulator.

B201MKTurbo. I apologize for perhaps using the wrong phrase. We are about to check the rigging or preload. We do not intend to change the rigging unless clearly out of spec. My understanding is this gear is very robust and the “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” principle definitely applies.

Thank you very much. I had downloaded that and made sure the manual had the correct values.