Fritz1

friend of mine had both engines go out in a C-340, avgas ground tank at airport had been replenished with jet fuel

had the door pop open in my G-model some 30 years ago in the pattern, going less than 100 kt, opened 1-2", could not close, uneventful landing, lesson learned was don't even try to close it, perform normal landing

standard outlets have about 1600W, almost any heater will bring the engine to a decent startup temp over night with a blanket over the cowl, when time is an issue the installed heaters like Reiff and Tanis do better since they get the electric energy directly into the metal, 6 cyl engine is about 500 lb of steel and aluminum, takes so many kWh to heat that up, propane heaters need to be handled with care, takes longer than you think to heat an engine so it can be started without excessive wear, have seen guys that were in a hurry damage their composite cowl

Reiff makes good heater install kits, there are many options to turn an outlet on remotely, easy when there is wifi in the hangar, other option is mobile phone service which requires a small subscription, I live 10 min from airport and drive there the night before, reiff turbo xp on the engine and alien heater in cabin

as stated before most likely battery is dead and the load that killed it is still on, internal light wired directly to the battery, these lights are hard to see in bright daylight, I close the hangar door and as a last check and look into the cabin to verify lights are off, replaced both my Concords last year, died within 6 months of each other, 6 years and 6.5 years old, expensive but think overall still best battery

verify that oil pressure gauge is reading correctly, clean all contacts, measure output of transducer with voltmeter, check what gauge reads at different input voltages

As stated before 1000 NM is typically out of the range of a piston single, I have done 900 NM trips in the Bravo going east at 21,000 ft TAS 188-190 Kt with TKS, fuel flow 18-18.5 gph with strong tail wind, oxygen, weather systems, this is about as far as she will go with 100 gal tanks, landing with 17-18 gal, pilot typically needs some rest thereafter, I would look at the CG envelope and how both engines and airframes are supported, parts availability, presumed dispatch reliability, Jimmy Garrison at GmaxAmerican knows the ins and outs of both models since he has sold a lot of them, might be worth while to give him a call, enjoy the journey!

www.mooneypros.com has a listing of instructors, give them a call, they may be able to find an instructor and an airplane, another way to test different airplanes and models is to go shopping, test fly, a simple proof of funding tends to get the attention of a seller, in particular of a broker who typically lists several airplanes, sets you apart from tire kickers, after talking to owners and flying a couple of birds you develop a better understanding for what suits your mission, enjoy the journey...

You may want to expand your search nationwide, contact MAPA safety foundation, they do 4-5 clinics per year which brings airplanes and instructors together in one place, welcome aboard!

since you know how to do it, might as well scope the exhaust valves every 50h, or at every oil change, think that will catch it if anything is going on, some people send factory new cylinders to engine shops like Gann in Georgia or Victor in CA, hone the valve guides and put fancy multi angle grinds on the valves, I have never done it, maybe an overkill, but you could give Gann a call and get their story on the probability of your factory new cylinder burning an exhaust valve and whether it is worthwhile to check the rotocap and the play of the exhaust valve in the valve guide

like the idea of the small backup alternator, the full size second alternator is quite heavy and right at the prop, may have to bump up the charlie weight, need second shim on prop, second belt has drag, not sure all that can be done for $4000

lost an alternator in a G-model about 30 years ago, circuit breaker fell apart, VFR, plugged aux battery pack into cigarette lighter port and completed flight

perfectly fine to run it for 2 days if airport lets you plug it in, when in doubt bring your own extension cord

have six masters, best ones go on pilot side, next best set goes on copilot side, two with the worst scoring will get discarded, the weak spot of these cylinders appears to be the shaft seal, the piston is supported in the bore exclusively by its O-ring, any side loads on the shaft loads the shaft O-ring which only has so much flex before air moves in, the Marsh STC kit has a lip seal for the the piston rod, which should be better able to seal and follow a piston rod that moves sideways, will call Marsh on Monday to see what they have to say for their product and if they might know service limits for the Cleveland 10-24D

story of a systemic failure, owner tried everything he knew how to resurrect a vintage piece of machinery that would cost close to $1M to produce new, a lot to be learned, the question I am asking myself is what can be done so the frequency of this kind of systemic failure does not increase but decrease, no simple answer

flying towards the FAF on NAV and ALT, i.e. you have reached the intercept altitude press APR, you feel how the autopilot is tracking the localizer more aggressively, GS armed should appear on the display, at the FAF the display switches from GS armed to GS and the airplane follows the glidepath, think you have to be in ALT mode to arm the GS, at least this is how it works for me

got pilot and copilot master cylinders out to fix spongy brakes once for all, no fluid leaks whatsoever, one pilot master is showing a small amount of scoring in the bore, aluminum piston must have contacted bore, have one set of spares that have better looking bores, a new master cylinder is about $3800 which is kinda stiff, trying to avoid that Dumb question: Is there any Cleveland spec stating how much scoring is permissible in the bore and how do you measure it?? I have used LASAR rebuild O-ring kits before, think $15, but they are not answering their phones today, same kit at MC Farlane is $38, so these kits are inexpensive and available. Has anybody used a Marsh Brothers M-00-1003-1 rebuild kit? it is about $200, appears to have better piston rod seal, does this really seal better against air creeping into the masters?

The turbo XP is about as powerful as they come, even when it is lousy cold let's say below 0 dF plugging it in for two hours allows you to start the engine without causing any damage, I live 10 min from the airport, drive over in the evening before a morning takeoff, typically plug the heater in below 60F, will make an effort to get the preheat going below 40 dF, heater is paid for, power is paid by the airport, plugging it in can't hurt.

call Maxwell and Lasar on Monday and see what they say, check BAS salvage and a couple MSCs to see if they have a motor or an actuator sitting around, I keep fingers crossed!

Having 1/32" hole drilled into existing plug bottom up to connect into transversal hole

Oasis in Wilmar MN is the closest MSC that I can think of, they might be able to figure this out, you know your airplane, instead of getting a ferry pilot you might think about getting 5h in another M20 instead, food for thought, others will chime in

pic would be helpful

brakes on both sides, pilot side and passenger side

Thank you everybody, yes my plug is solid, no hole, think airplane came with it SN 280, do not think it got swapped while I owned the plane, will bleed the brakes one more time over the holiday, got 3 or 4 qts 5606, two bleeder pots, all kinds of lines and fittings, bleed back and forth, one pot at the wheel caliper one pot at the reservoir, max 35 psi, the masters are parker hannifin 24D, I have a set of spares, will open one of them to understand the piston mechanism, think there is a check valve in the piston since the piston does not move over the supply port, fittings are tilted sideways, that is part of the problem, will take the back of the masters off to tilt fittings up and then pump by hand, think this is the fourth time I am doing this, somewhat determined to get it right now

thank you, that is what I thought, this may be part of the reason why my brakes are mushy, my plug with the vent hole must have gone under and been replaced with a non-vented plug at some point in time, will either buy reservoir plug with hole or drill small hole into existing plug,