Tcraft938

That is the exact reason why I would like to purchase the two pieces. I checked LASAR and they are sold out of one of them. With Mooney now closed, are there other good sources? Thanks

Thanks for providing me with the education. I'm a new owner of a 63 M20C. Annual will be coming up in January, so I want to make sure I have what is needed.

Which model Mooney are these for. LASAR has some for sale but only two pieces. Thanks

I’m curious if anyone has had a G5 or two for awhile and has done the upgrade that will give you true airspeed, wind direction and speed? My understanding it needs something like GAD 33 installed. How hard and expensive with that? Thanks

I’m curious if anyone has had a G5 or two for awhile and has done the upgrade that will give you true airspeed, wind direction and speed? My understanding it needs something like GAD 33 installed. How hard and expensive with that? Thanks

1963 M20C new engine and scimitar prop. First flight 2634 was highest I saw on takeoff roll and a little better in flight. AP adjusted governor and linkage. Now the red light on P1000 flirts a little on takeoff roll settles around 2694. Surprised the performance difference with just 60 more rpm. Did dynamic prop balance last week and tach is right on. Static was 2655.

I feel for you, I have been there. Don't think of it as the fish that got away but the fish that didn't eat you. Pre-buys to some extent are based on the AP's opinion and take into consideration how many Mooney's they have seen, etc. I did a prebuy with someone that had reported Mooney experience, but come to find out it was rather limited and on later model birds. The A&P with considerable Pre-J experience had a not pristine opinion, but it wasn't as negative. For the 65 or earlier models there are a lot out there for around $35,000 or even less. Most likely, if you put into them to make them airworthy and so that you don't have super expensive annuals, you could have $50,000 to $60,000 wrapped up and have not touched avionics yet etc. This may not be for you, but for us, my wife and I sat down with paper and a list of what we felt it should be initially, what items were negotiable, what we would like it to be in the near future and what we had to spend now and 5yrs down the road. That helped me weed out a lot of candidates on the net quickly. I still looked at seven traveling a maximum distance of 400 mile radius from home. One was total dud, 8 hour drive and didn't even look at it for 15 minutes. One pre-buy and no thank you, then finally the right one on the way home spur of the moment find. It really helps in making decisions and negotiating if you have the "must haves" and budget figured out upfront. It also takes some of the emotion and what I call "Purchase Get There Itus". That's when you travel intent on buying a plane, you get there and start making excuses for it because you intend to buy. Be patient, you will find the right one or it will find you.

I have to try this. My ignition switch is in the same spot and my hand gets jammed against the sidewall and hard to turn and push. I love that it is very obvious the key is in and what it is pointing at. I assume you just used two part epoxy to held the key in the knob after you hollowed out the interior of the knob? What's next, someone find a way to make it glow or have an LED built in? LOL This also works great with a little sign a WWII pilot gave me, "if it's red or dusty, don't touch it".

My experience is the AD will require a TDI tear down inspection of the engine even though the engine was not running, if the prop needs overhaul or replace, engine needs TDI. Then per Lycoming SB if it has been more than 10 years since overhaul the engine should be overhauled. Lycoming certified shops will not do the TDI unless it complies with the SB. I don't know why Lycoming is so much more "sensitive" to minor strikes than Continental. It's almost as bad as, "if the prop strikes more than three raindrops per revolution it must be inspected". Someone's making $ off another's misfortune, but I guess there's a lot of liability at stake too.

Thank you very much. Helpful information. From what I understand, it is better to be a little under the 2700rpm max than over it unless the overage is nominal and very short duration while the governor adjusts itself.

A beefy cutter pin works in a pinch as well. Vice grips will nurl the shaft, I keep a thin screw driver with end ground rounded to not puncture my seat where I store it. If my roll pin comes up missing again, I insert that in the shaft hole and it turns the system very easy. Sure beats getting locked in. Lol

I love this and the way you explain it. When I was considering a C, I talked with an owner where his was in the shop completing annual. All seemed well until the A&P told him to turn on the fuel pump. Fuel spilled behind the nose wheel and it had never done that before. It was from the gascolator. So they put new O rings in, on with the fuel pump and it leaked again. Both were perplexed. I looked in the cockpit and noticed the fuel selector in the off position. Just using reverse logic, but no real knowledge of the system, I asked if that could be part of the problem. I got a dirty look and a lot of reasons why that was a stupid ask. However, my thinking was, you commented it's never done it before and I seriously doubt you fly long with the fuel shut off and I doubt it is leaking that bad while you're flying because while you may not see it, you'd be putting a lot more fuel in the tanks after an hour. To appease me, the A&P said, turn fuel to left tank and turn fuel pump on. Shazam, no leak. I'm thinking that having the fuel pump on without the fuel selector on caused a condition opposite of what the O rings were designed to take. Needless to say, my other big lesson was, "this A&P is not going to do my pre-purchase inspection when I find a Mooney". That may have been a valuable item learned.

Just had my engine zero times and ran on the plane for the first time this week. It was highly recommended to have the oil cooler overhauled or replaced with new. Oil lines replace unless new then flush them real well and have governor overhauled. Dont want any old crud going in fresh engine. New mounts are recommended as well. Read Don Maxwell's article on shimming then engine properly. I learned quickly anything that is normally hard to get at, take care of it now. Strip engine mount search for cracks and service bulletins done for gussets, prime and paint. Control cables and wiring that looks fine will definitely break 15 minutes after you get everything installed. Happened to my cowl flap cable. I'm not an AP/IA simply sharing how I was advised. Your mileage may vary.

Thank you everyone and I love"the hijack" a lot of great info. To answer a question from above just before rotation and through most of the roll rpm was 2635 to 2642 range on a digital tach. This was first flight after new engine and prop. I has decided long before the flight if engine instruments good, acceleration good and 2600 rpm or more I would continue and concentrate on flying to safe altitude. Any of those parameters not met, abort takeoff. The one hour circle the airport at 75% or more went well. Airspeed at 4500' was 172mph true oil temp steady at 181 and hottest cylinder 314 lowest 264 not sure if that's a big spread but indicates airflow in the doghouse, right side warmer than left. No oil leaks post flight inspection and used 1/2 qt mineral oil. Only issues is adjust prop rpm after confirm tach is accurate and the fuel flow sensor was inop. We dont want to ground run much so will get more hours on it before mess with prop unless rpm drops. Feels good to have the bird flyable again.

Since the Mooney is new to me with a few hours in it, I was wondering what you see for prop RPM on takeoff, say right around rotation speed? Are you getting close to the 2700 rpm max while on the ground? If equipment is important, 62 M20C 180hp new zero time engine, new Hartzell scimitar prop (2 blade) Thanks

Thank you all for the information and advice. I read Don Maxwell's article on shmming and it appears I'm okay. The A&P did shim and the spinner sits centered left/right in the cowl and lines up well with the top. Comparing to old cooler, the holes on the new are about 1/4" lower, thus raising the cooler a bit. Turning it around would have put the oil lines on the other side. So drill new holes (apparently they did with the old one too) and all is well with the Mooney world. It felt amazing to finally have it in the air again yesterday, and thankfully trouble free. I do have one question I'll post in a new thread regarding prop/governor adjustment. Thank you again, everyone, you're awesome.

Brand new Lord mounts and shims. Fits well in cowl. Perhaps new cooler holes are slightly different form the old.

I can get pictures of the cooler when back at the hangar. Here are pics of the lineup on the cowl which seem pretty good and better than prior to engine change and new mounts. About 3/8"" around top cowl hump and centered. Before the change it was off center to the right.

Question to the group, my oil cooler top is basically touching or extremely close to the bottom of the doghouse chin inlet. Is this the same on other M20c? My concern is that front piece is attached to the engine this vibration and movement the oil cooler attached to bottom/front cowl and that doesnt move. So is it wrong spot or susceptible to damage? Thanks

The local AP is very well versed and commented on it not being right. Since the last annual was at a mooney service center, I questioned him, and thus he suggested I inquire here. Probably to get me off his back. Lol

Thank you very much!!! Great article

The back of my carburetor box behind where the muffler heated air enters, there is a tube with a butterfly that is safety wired open. I'm curious if there is to be a control to the butterfly arm so it could be variable? Should it permanently be open like this or does it vary by season? I attached a picture where the safety wire goes diagonally across the opening. I've been looking through the service manual, but not coming up with anything. Thank you very much for the help, an A&P suggested I reach out to the group.

When on the ground when not moving you can turn the nose wheel a bit with rudder and the yoke turns a bit. I used to make airplane noises but the airport manager caught me and said I only get an 80% discount on fuel for "dream flying" lol

Also don't forget in the POH that is maximum demonstrated crosswind, not necessarily a maximum. While that demonstration was performed by allegedly a well trained and flies a lot test pilot in a new and perfectly rigged airplane. So one could extrapolate that the plane is capable of more, another may say, "I'm not a test pilot" and have a more conservative personal maximum x-wind limit. I am wonder if the original poster may have also encountered a nuance to the Mooney that was new to me recently as well. That is the interconnect. When sitting in the hangar put some left or right rudder in and watch the yoke move. Perhaps when he was holding the left wing down it was also pulling the rudder left so it took a bit more force than expected and was giving it? Or the reverse, feeding in right rudder so the system tried to pull the yoke right and he needed a little more force on the yoke to keep the upwind wing planted. So far I have found that the short body Mooney is quick, but there are two things not to be quick or rush them on..... lift off and landing. If windy, don't get it light on the wheels too early and when landing if she's not ready to settle onto the runway, don't get in a hurry and try to force/plant it on. Follow those basic tenants and so far I've found her to be a little sweetheart.

Your response intrigued me regarding if the engine is run/broken in on the airplane and whether that constitutes a break-in or repair. I picked up my overhauled to new limits engine from the overhaul shop. I have an engine logbook entry that it was run in an approved test cell for 3.4 hrs. There is documentation that explains the test cell and dates of calibration/approval of the cell. Also in the book is a page of data of the various instrument parameters during the run which I found interesting and a bit above my knowledge base. Three pages of "in the airplane break-in instructions". So based on your info and others, I guess I'm glad I went the route I did rather than the guy that wanted me to order parts and he would "slap it together for ya". In the end the difference in price was not drastic and much better warranty on the workmanship.