Hair_Helmet

Time flies when you’ve got too many plates to keep spinning… I’d love to see the CAFE get a whole new life, some great points made on this thread.

Great points. Kyle spent this last year working for Ly-Con, it’d be interesting to hear if any changes or repairs have been done to it. Certainly hasn’t seen many hours in the last 7 years.

The bumpy part is the perception from mechanics that the O-360's in the C's are more likely to exceed TBO than the IO-360's in reference to angled vs parallel. Searching for data to support it seems futile, all I could find was feedback from engine shops. Whichever is true I'd like to know and the answer isn't intuitive. I suppose the relevance to this thread is discussing the value of the engine in the CAFE but I doubt it matters much.

Very interesting and well written. It has flown since October without ADS-B, how much I've no idea, and it is still experimental for sure. Great argument on value in CAFE form vs a return to certified. I'd imagine a number of changes could remain with field approvals which is a lot of work for a one off.

They are different cases, wide deck vs narrow deck, different cylinders, etc. I definitely do not fully understand the reasons people say one lasts longer than the other but a quick Google search made me realize I don't have the emotional energy to go down that bumpy road:)

Very true. The owner has the credentials and experience to do that, fingers crossed. Otherwise it deserves it's spot in aviation history.

It had a problem with running lean and high temps prior to switching back to a traditional fuel injection. The custom intake with throttle body injection caused the high temps, otherwise the aerodynamic efficiency allows for lower power settings achieving higher speed. Lower power setting = lower cylinder pressures = longer engine life. But it's still an angle valve IO-360 which some say do not last as long as our O-360's. Probably more to your point is whether or not the cowl design allows for sufficient cooling and that's a good question.

Great points throughout. A number of the speed mods we have were first proven on the CAFE. If it could be re-certified and daily driver capable... maybe 135k-165k? 50 hours on the engine, low airframe time having been a test platform all it's life but also means it has gremlins to work out. Otherwise it belongs in a Mooney museum or part of Don's collection along side the Predator.

I did an interview video a couple years ago with the owner, I bought my 62 C project from him in 2019. It’s on my bucket list to cross the North Atlantic in the CAFE….

What would you pay or speculate it's worth? 66 E with lots of history 160 kts on 7 gph 1000 mile range plus reserve low hours on airframe and engine exceeds VNE in level flight at full power a face only a mother could love....

For those interested, I had a chance to do a quick interview with Kyle as he passed through town. I bought my project ‘62 from him two years ago and he assisted with the restoration. I got to know him quite well in the process and finally cornered him when he least expected it.

I've done a number of trips now at various rpm's, and have been a bit cautious about using higher manifold pressure than rpm; although some say sticking to the square method is an old wives' tale. Maybe someone has some thoughts or guideline on this. I seem to lose 5-10 mph at 2000 rpm depending on the manifold pressure with about 20% less fuel. The sweet spot for speed is 2400 rpm. Smoothness wise it's a great prop throughout the range, but I really need to try a number of settings and record the data.

Couple months of flying this MT has been interesting. I've done a few 2 hour trips dialed back to 2000 rpm, gph drops 20% and 5-10 mph less depending on altitude.

Probably not helpful, but I found it interesting. I just put the MT on my 62 in place of the Hartzell 3 blade. The Hartzell (100 hours on prop/gov overhaul) responded appropriately to rpm drop and was slow but steady returning to runup rpm since day 1. The MT is instantaneous in drop and back to runup rpm.

We saved my ‘62 from the scrapyard last year, previous owner collapsed the gear with a forced crosswind landing. Replaced the left wingtip skin/end rib, right flap, gear retraction tubes, crank gear, overhauled the prop, replaced lower cowl, nose gear doors, one belly skin, pitot tube, complied with AD’s. My A&P/IA did the engine work/inspection, it was in his wheel house. Problem was I went crazy with upgrades and spent a bunch. It can certainly be done for less than 50k and have a great result. I suppose we have to balance practical costs/value vs priceless flying time. We end up paying it forward when the next owner gets a good deal.