dzeleski

Ill hang on to the WX-900 for now, im guessing I dont entirely get its value because I have not flown in actual yet Gonna start making some calls and figure out pricing on these options, thank you all for the help. Ill post back once I start ordering things.

It has a GDL-82 installed. I’ll leave the stormscope since it works but I think once it hits the can that might be the end of it. We will see when I start flying in actual That’s a very nice looking panel! I think that’s probably what I’m leaning towards. Get my backup nav/com working, and I really think that 440 might end up being what I do. Definitely have a few calls to make

Personally I’m not going be flying between storms to the point that I think it will be useful. If the weather is that crap I have no issues hanging on the ground for a bit waiting for it to pass. The 170 is definitely inop right now, I think I’ll try and swap it out with something as a first step. Flying out of a Charlie and right next to the NY bravo is very annoying single radio. Mags were done 3 weeks ago. Already has shoulder belts. I have money set aside for any issues on top of this 15k for upgrades. The plane came out of annual from maxwell and I flew it home 1400 miles to NY without a single issue. Engine is a factory new and has 209 hours on it, runs great ROP, needs the #4 gami injector re adjusted as it struggles to go more then 20 degrees lean of peak. Already working with gami on that. I use foreflight with a sentry. AP is an STEC 30. Yeah the panel is kinda all over the place but it’s not terrible, lots of stuff installed in the mid 2000s. I just need a better GPS to do my IR on. I plan on flying to gatts this summer and doing the 7 day course they have.

@rbridges Added some photos, it was getting dark so they are a little blurry. This is not something I considered, this might be what I do for now. My EI FP-5 is intermittent at times (randomly reads 0 then pops back up), so I would just need a new flow sensor and maybe some wiring. I have zero plans to get rid of it, I very much enjoy flying it and it has ruined flying 172s or 182s for me. Im not trying to wastefully spend money but the current avionics do not give me the confidence to fly in IMC. I need to at least get WAAS and a working secondary radio. I did not realize the 440 was a slide in replacement, ill need a new GPS antenna and cable for sure though. That is definitely an interesting option. I actually dont know if the indicator is working or not but its quite old and im not sure I want to trust it regardless. The only benefit to going with the 355 is I would have 2 GPS units if one failed.

Hi all, so I ended up picking up a 77 M20J thats in pretty good shape, just needs a little panel update to get it to where I want it. Since this is my first aircraft and ill be using the upgrades to chase my IR I figured I would ask for some opinions on what I plan on doing with it. The plane has an ancient KX-170B and indicator that is not functioning, this will get pulled and junked. There is also a stormscope that is functioning but is not serviceable as its a WX-900, I plan on removing this and either selling for parts or just junking I see no use for it personally. Finally there is a working Garmin 430 non-WAAS GPS I plan on keeping this and eventually upgrading to WAAS to have a secondary GPS and keep a NAV radio. My plan for this year is to put in a GNC-355 and a new indicator, this gets me a working secondary radio as well as LPV approaches. On top of that I would like to replace my current EI FP-5 fuel totalizator and JPI edm-700, with an edm-830. I would use this to train and get my IR. Budget for this year is roughly ~15k. Next year I would like to do dual G5s and a GFC-500 AP, as well as getting that 430 upgraded to waas enabled. Eventually, I would upgrade the 830 to a 900 or 930 to start removing some of the older gauges from the panel, at this point I would probably have a brand new panel made. Thoughts? Anything not make sense or should I look at anything else? Thanks!

Thank you both, ill send PMs shortly!

Hopefully this isnt against any rules if it is I apologize as im not sure how else to get in a Mooney around where I live. Im currently looking to purchase a M20J within the next few weeks. I've set my mind on a Mooney but I have yet to actually sit in one. If anyone is in the LI area and has some time for me to sit in their plane and ask some questions I would very much appreciate it. Ill buy lunch/dinner/drinks after the fact :) Thanks!