Johnny_SA

Yes, still available

Aircraft Registration: ZS-LEZ Aircraft Make and Type: Mooney M20K 231 Year Model: 1981 Airframe Hours: 3,016 +/- Engine Type and Hours: Continental TSIO360LB (Was replaced on TBO with a Factory overhaul LB engine). 1257 Since Factory Overhaul and Approximately 543 hours remaining. Once the engine went pass midlife (at 1074 to be exact) all 6 cylinders were done. The turbo was replaced with a Factory rebuilt exchange (factory spec) at 977hours. Engine has the Merlin Waste gate and was replaced with a new waste gate Dec 2022. Prop type and Hours: 3-blade. Prop changed from 2 blade to brand new 3 blade in 2020. Avionics and other equipment: Audio panel: Garmin GMA345 with bluetooth. GPS:GTN650 with integrated strike finder Nav/com 1: GTN650 with integrated strike finder - HSI for ILS and Glide slope Com 2: Bendix King NAV/Com with VOR Transponder: Bendix King KT76A with Mode C JPI EDM900 Engine monitor with fuel flow - Primary Auto pilot: KFC200 fully coupled with GTN650 Backup GPS: Garmin 795 mounted on yoke. Viewing Location: Port Elizabeth, South Africa/ Other information: All maintenance done SA Mooney and no expense spared. SA Mooney is the only Mooney agent in South Africa and is a reputable maintenance organisation. Other information: Equipped with factory fitted Oxygen MPI status: Last MPI was 9 November 2023. Contact details of owner: Johan +27 82 457 0680 johan@kdasa.co.za We will be placing our beloved Mooney in the market. We bought LEZ in 2018 and have enjoyed every one of the 550 hours we have flown in her. This was our first plane and we spared no expense. She was pampered and cared for by SA Mooney which is a professional outfit here in South Africa. LEZ was pampered and flown very conservatively by it previous owners, and we followed suite. Although say some it is not necessary, we alway do the 5min additional idle of the sake of the turbo. Our cruise settings are 65% power rich of peak, and this delivers CHT’s well below 380. She runs exceptionally smooth with the 3 blade prop with almost no vibrations, a typical comment when a fellow pilot fly with us. Performance: At low level operation (below 7000) we see +/- 145-150 knots TAS at 65% power 125deg ROP, 12 gph (45l per hour) At FL190 she will run very close to 170 knots TAS at 65% power. You’ll gain about 10-12 knots if you fly het at 75% which she will very happily do for 2 gph more. I found that on longer legs LEZ and myself prefers to be between FL130 and F170 76Gal useable gives you 5hours plus proper reserves at 13gph for planning. That’s 725nm 1350km). A bit more than most bladders can do, although I normally fly PE to Nelspruit direct (600nm) and my average time for this trip is about 3h45min, but found a bottle that works very well. Mods and Upgrades: Cosmetic touch ups and any corrosion gets treated every time she is at SA Mooney. GMA 345 autopanel fitted. All cylinders were done with Top overhaul carried out on 10 November 2021 at 1074.3 hours. Last Oxygen Cylinder Hydro Test was carried out 27 July 2021 Dukes Electric Fuel Pump 10 Year overhaul was carried out on 2 November 2023. New turbo installed 1 March 2021 at 977.4 hours. Merlin waste gate controller replaced around Dec 2022. All windows replaced on 6 June 2023 at 2898.2 hours. Status report can be arranged from SA Mooney Reason for Sale: We are currently flying a Mooney Bravo, a A36 bonanza and a Cessna 182, so it is time to make her available to someone else. Price: We are looking for $105 000. (price low, but the week ZAR make it possible, and the buyer will have to allow +/- $30 000 for shipping and paperwork) SA Mooney has facilitated 3 or 4 Mooney's that left the country, so I'm sure we can arrange contact details to make it easier. She was registered on the N register before coming to SA (N1148Z)

Yip, the 231 automatic waste gate (merlin in my case) is not so automatic. Take-off - you have to manually stop it with the throttle to not exceed 40 inches and to prevent over boast. So not full forward. Once you high enough hight, then 33 inches, 2600rpm, full rich, cowl flaps open for the climb. You have to adjust the MP as you climb, little movements, I find tighning the throttle friction nut and pushing/puling against it help.

Good day, Just a general question. There seem to be a bit of movement off aircraft from South Africa to the USA (your current GA market and our weak Rand makes a good combination). Not so good for our future stock, but thats how it goes I guess. So if you buy one, get it back in the USA. Getting it back on the FAA register, it is obviously best to have complete Airframe logs from the time it arrived in SA. (Normally they come from the USA). Let say the the aircraft does not have the complete airframe logs, would it be impossible to get it registered? Let say only the last 15 years of Airframe logbook is available because a logbook has gone missing. Or does it mean that it would just take a lot of time and money to get it done? What would you need to do and what would the cost be? Thanks in advance.

This is our M20K, similar theme as above

I'm 6'2" and 240lb. I fly a 1981 231 and find it very spacious. I also fly a 1995 Bonanza A36 when I fly more than 3 pax. I'm so spoiled with the fact that I can straighten my legs in the Mooney that I get uncomfortable in the Bonnie after an hour. Also in the Bonanza my headset is against the roof, in the Mooney I can fit my fist between the headset and roof. Photo below is me catching up on some work on a 4hour leg. (The co-Pilot is obviously monitoring while the Auto-Pilot is flying)

Hi Van Just did this exercise with our 231 and added the Charlie weights with great success. The added weight is not as big a penalty as the forward CG. It made a big difference on take off and landing, still monitoring speed. We use to have a CG of 40.6 (after installing a 3 blade prop) With this I had to add a lot of weight in the baggage and reduce fuel to get in the limits of the CG box. Pilot only 231 lb, 76 USG fuel, then I have to add at least 90lb in baggage. Pilot 231 lb, co-Pilot 231 lb, can only take 48 USG fuel because I need 140 lb in Baggage to get to the limit the box. Now with all 3 Charlie weights installed, CG is now 42.85, this gives me: Pilot only 231 lb, 76 USG fuel, Don't need to add any weight in luggage, just the normal 20 lb of stuff in the back. Pilot 231 lb, co-Pilot 231 lb, can only take 54 USG fuel because I need 70 lb in Baggage to get to the limit the box. A passenger in the back makes the W&B calculation a lot easier in my case. I have two options left to get the CG more aft: 1 - re-install the oxygen bottle 2 - Work on that Pilot Weight (Will be jumping on that water-rower more often)

Another update in the interest of sharing information. Oil pressure still ran low (34psi) on the first flight that I flew her, So I took some pics of the gages and sent them to the AMO. They decided to come through and adjust the pressure up. After checking the release valve and oil strainer again (all clear and in order), he was not happy that we get 32PSI at 900RPM, but only 38PSI at 2000RPM. The general feeling was that the pump is not pumping (but then you would expect worse on idle) or it is not getting oil to pump. The general feeling was also that there was nothing wrong with the turbo in the first place. They flew her back to their shop to remove the oil hoses and inspect the oil coolers. (it has and extra oil cooler that was install some time ago). Everything check out fine, so as a test they decided to by-pass the additional oil cooler. Without the additional oil cooler the oil pressure is responding as it should. We are now flying her like this and monitoring oil temperature. From the first flights it seems ok, can't get her higher than 190 degF with the cowl flaps closed. The additional oil cooler was install with the original GB engine. At TBO they installed a factory overhauled LB engine, and the additional oil cooler was left in the system. We are going send the cooler away to get cleaned up to see if it is clogged up, and then decide if it goes back or not. What is your thoughts on this ?

I used this method for a while. 1 positive is you can use the roof vent and direct the air to the back of the iPad, keeps it nice and cool. I moved mine to the yoke because 1 - I found it did obstruct my view a bit. 2 - It get in the way entering and existing the aircraft (I use the middle bar with my left hand to pull myself up and for support when lowering myself into the co-pilot seat)

Time for an Update ! The Turbo was fitted last week Wednesday. Oil pressure looked better, but difficult to say if it was the turbo as the oil pressure was adjusted during the fault fault finding. First photo was the flight back to the AMO (FAPA). They checked everything again in the workshop, and the pressure had to be lowered as it was too high when the oil was cold. Today on her flight back to FAPE it was running as per second photo. They check the stainer and all looked good. We looked at a couple of things that might be limiting the speed. We found that one of the wheel doors had a small gap. We also corrected the forward CG (was 40.8) with charlie weights (CG is 42.8 now). Takeoff and landing feels a lot better. Will monitor the TAS dusking the next couple of flights. Thanks for all the input and advise. IMG_3871.HEIC

We also leave the stobes on, works well especially in the hanger. My problem now is the children plays with the rear interior light (wired after the master switch), and you can't see the switch or the light (in day time) from outside.

Jim did mention his settings in this previous post.

Hi, Turbo arrived in South Africa, with a bit of luck it will be delivered to the AMO tomorrow, they will probably go to the plane and fit it next week. Will update you with the end result. Regarding the speeds, that is the reason why I asked. Also have a feeling our K is on the slow side. We see +/- 155 kts TAS between 8000 and 10000 feet. I'm interested to see if there is a change with the new turbo, although I don't think there should be a significant change.

Once again thanks for all the information. We use AeroShell Oil W100 Plus. I will ask them to check the suction screen. They did a test where they installed a pressure gage from the "output" of the engine, before the check valve. The pressure at idle is 35PSI at that point, 10 PSI more. I would imagine that if the suction screen is block we would get low pressure at that point already? We managed to find a rebuilt Turbo exchange on your side of the world, we are now waiting for shipping.