67 m20F chump

The Cirrus is a plastic clown plane. Not every clown has a Cirrus but every clown at the airport does. Property tax is the reason I have a 67’ F. The property tax I was being charged for my 77’ B55 drove me to sell it. My vote is for the nicest well kept old airframe you can find. IE the evil you know is better than the one you don’t.

I don’t know where you are located but for sure I would call in the experts. Give Don Maxwell pictures of what you are looking at and I would talk to Airmods in New Jersey. They will know and have done the work before. With my plane I thought long and hard about building a Van’s Aircraft using my engine, prop, and avionics. I couldn’t give up on the Mooney and I fixed it. Nothing about owning a plane makes financial sense. Decide what you want. I am still thinking about building a RV and if the RV15 ever gets put out I may do it. The only thing driving me that way is being able to do work on the plane myself.

I had it too on the lower spar cap inboard of the right fuel tank. I replaced the wing with a parted out planes wing. 6k for the wing and about 18 months of my free time plus a bunch of A&P supervision. I never want to do that again. Put in bladders too.

Email the pics to maxwells shop and see what he says.

For sure use his glue on the seal. I cleaned the frame with toluene and removed all old glue and seal. Mix up the new silicone glue and put it on the frame first so it’s tacky using the brush provided in the kit. I started in the bottom of the bag door and put glue on the seal and stuck it to the frame using clothespins and a small roller to stick it. You don’t need a ton of glue and I was able to do both seals with one bottle of glue working quickly. You end up notching the seal by the door striker but he sent blades for that. The new seal is tight in the jam but I can get the doors closed and didn’t adjust my latches. I don’t know that the seal will compress like the old one did so I may end up adjusting the door latch at the top of the door but it does grab and lock.

I have used Gee-Bee stuff on 3 airplanes so far and never been disappointed. The baffles he makes fit perfectly. I just put in door seals on my F and they went in nice. I have been an owner for 15 years and some of the people I have been using have aged out of the business. Gee-Bee is still in the game making quality products. I am a satisfied repeat customer. Just a pirep.

Those lord shock disks are $178 at aircraft spruce and A&P’s get a discount off that.

I’m looking at how much labor he charged for doing the prop seal, alt. Belt, ect. He is fucking you over. We have all been there. This is why so many end up building Vans Aircraft. You need to find a A&P that does owner assisted maintenance and get your hands dirty. When I bought my Mooney I had a repurchase done at a highly recommended Mooney service center. They missed the spar cap corrosion. When I found it they told me it was no big deal. I replaced the wing with an A&P and will never use that service center again. That was my 3rd airplane purchase. Even when you try to buy good maintenance it’s hard to find. The block being decked sounds like crap to me too. If the tolerance was that tight it would have held the valve open some. I’m not an A&P so I’m just giving opinion from what I have seen in the wild.

Cruise America rents rv’s. I see them and other rental rv’s like Monte’s parked for the show. I’m planning on driving in with my RV this year. EAA used to have a link for a local place that rents trailers too. That place would set up and place them at the show.

My neighbor has a 56’ Bonanza with a E225 engine. It’s old and if the last overhaul was as resent as the 80’s I would be surprised. I had a IO-470 with a mid time factory overhaul in the late 90’s and spalled lifters. I think the source of the metal has changed. Even car manufactures are having lifter problems while my old boats and tractors just sit for extended time and still not fail me. I would blame it on the oil if it wasn’t for the old stuff not failing.

That it fires when you let off the switch makes me think you have another problem. Are you able to hear the shower of sparks buzzing?

I have used his products on all 3 planes I have owned. Always excellent quality and by aviation standards great prices too.

I will add a N number story from my past. I went to collage at Embry-Riddle back in the 90’s. They would reserve blocks of ER numbers for new aircraft. Say they were contracting 50 planes they would block out a series of N numbers ending with ER. I can’t remember if it was on a piper or Cessna but the school blocked out one hundred series numbers and that was great until 166 showed up on the ramp. It was promptly changed! For the record I didn’t get it either because I saw a registration not a word. I have seen some of the schools old planes over the years and they will change one of the letters when they sell an old plane and the school keeps the ER tag. That was 30 years ago. The time slips away.

More speed is always the right answer! I was thinking flying higher with O2 would be a good option to have. I found a POH in the download section and looked it over. I think the 231 would be nice but I’m better off staying with the plane I have for what I normally fly.

I find the Mooney to not be the best on the grass as well. They will get it done but it rides like an ox cart. Thanks for the PIREP. I found a 231 POH to download and get good numbers from. I think my F is probably a good match for what I mostly do. A turbo would be nice but not a must have for where I play.