mkrakoff

Thanks, I’m wondering if I’m overthinking it a bit. Ideal world all materials are the exact same temp at install but when you add up all the variables it’s probably not the end of the world. In actuality I’m trying to justify not pulling the cowlings and the bottom plugs in the 28F temps tomorrow before my flight

Changed out all 8 plugs for fine wires the other day and everything went very well (haven’t flown with them yet) BUT I’m wondering if I made a rookie mistake. Swapped out the top 4 and did a ground run for a few minutes before removing the bottom cowling and removing/installing the bottom 4. How critical is it that the engine was warm and not cold? It wasn’t hot, as in just came in from a flight, but it sure wasn’t cold. I was able to handle the removed plugs without frying my fingers. My thoughts after the fact is that it’s possible they are a bit over-torqued from the Aluminum head cooling onto a cooler plug after I properly torqued to 35ftlbs. Although another part of me says that the plug probably warmed up pretty quickly once in contact with the cylinder. Thoughts? Do we ever see mechanics changing plugs on warm engines? How critical is the “cold” engine for plug installs.

Yup! Looks like it could have been a number of things BUT after discussing it and completing my annual with Henry Weber MSC it is resolved. Here are a few of the corrective actions we took during the annual that may have solved it: Alternate air door had low tension. - re-tensioned Sniffer valve was “cleaned” (they sprayed it with a cleaner that should help it operate properly at lower rpm’s) Replaced #4 intake gasket and seal (looking at my original post savvy called out #4) hope that helps at least get you looking in the right direction if you have the same issue

I've been doing my prop cycles at run-up rpm. I also will do as many as necessary to get a responsive cycling (sometimes that is 1 and sometimes 2).

Thanks for the notes! No beacon for me so the strobes are my anti-collision lights. Of course if they are affecting safety I'll turn them off (ie. most ground ops at night, you're blinding ramp guys, etc). Interesting on the prop. I'll have to take that into consideration.

Hey all, I've been working on a suitable checklist for a while and I figured I'd upload them here. They are always evolving but I'm getting close to happy with them. I left them in a .odt format. It's an open source text format that should work in office and a number of other programs so you can customize it to fit your preferences. If the formatting isn't correct, I used Libreoffice to create it and can be downloaded for free. Currently set up to print in either a flip book (4x6) or two-sided single sheet format. (edited to add pdf versions) Checklist Single 1.0.odt Flip Book Checklist v1.3.odt Checklist Single.pdf Flip Book Checklist v1.3.pdf

Yeah. It seems they pick up the timing in 2 different spots but are powered off the alternator. So as a backup you need another alternator or battery backup. Not ideal from a weight standpoint. I am removing a standby vac soon so I guess it’s something to consider when it’s time to overhaul the Mag.

Great to hear there is a real forward looking solution.

Are you down there? Can you confirm it's all approved? Any idea of details? If it's 2 systems I'm curious about weight etc. Thanks

Any news on this with the opening of SunNFun?

Upgraded a 730 to add MP and RPM.

Hey all, just wanted to pass on my experience at Paragon Aircraft Services at KCDW this week. I have been looking for a data driven, knowledgeable shop after some less than stellar experiences elsewhere to deal with some troubleshooting and small fixes to my ‘78 J. Steve at Paragon was ultra-responsive, smart, and friendly. He was able to fit me in for an Engine monitor upgrade, took care of SB 388C after reviewing engine monitor data, plus a few other lingering issues. They seemed well versed on the Mooney and gave daily email updates on the progress of the work. I’ve found that at some other shops everything seemed to take an hour, but my bill reflected actual time worked. If it was 25min to complete, that’s what I was charged. If he thought something could wait or wasn’t necessary, he let me know. If your a Savvy Aviation client or subscribe to the Mike Busch school of thought, Steve is an account manager there, so you know his maintenance philosophy will line up with yours. Flew the plane back today, everything was completed as requested, and I couldn’t be happier. Hoping this will help someone else in the same position I was in. -Matt

Looks like Spruce only sells the full kit (more $) and I can get the individual part directly via McFarlane.

Yup. Definitely plastic. It’s wrapped around a vacuum pump for cooling apparently.

SOLVED thanks to user: Freemasm https://www.mcfarlaneaviation.com/products/category/vacuum-pump-cooling/