Gubni

I am not concerned about causing additional damage. I am no means an A&P, but on the other hand I do have a garage with a lift and have experience in general mechanics. Regarding diagnosis, I summarized 5 hours into a 2 minute read, so many details were left out. I'll keep you guys updated, but please try not to question my integrity. Feel free to question my decisions as I am asking for your wisdom though.

Please call Don and ask him. It was Tuesday mid day when I spoke to him. I'm sure he will remember the conversation.

Hawaii, Marshall Islands, New Guinea, Australia Belos is a video of a guy that did it in a M20J 201.

Somehow my update from last night is not showing, so here it is again. Yesterday I worked on this some more. It was not firing on cylinders 1 & 3. We swapped spark plugs side to side and still had the same problem with 1 & 3. We also tested the spark plugs and saw them fire. We cracked the fuel lines at the injectors (when the engine was cold) and had fuel. I suspected it was valves. Last night I checked the last annual compressions and found cylinder 1 & 3 were both 61 and the other cylinders were 67-71. We boroscoped it, but didn't see anything special. I spoke with Don Maxwell. He did not have a strong opinion one way or another regarding a rebuild. He said it would probably be fine for 5 hours no matter what. The one thing he really pushed for was a fuel system overhaul. I told him I had slick mags and he went over several reasons to change them. He recommended Jewell for a rebuild if I decided to go that way. The turbo is producing oil and there are a few other oil leaks. I hate oil leaks. We pulled the prop and attempted to mic the crank, but we were not able to find a good surface for the mag mount and we were running out of time. I feel now that I have done a fair amount of studying and here is what I have found. It is high (TBO 1500 of 1800), it had a very minor prop strike, it has sat for 7 years, and it has problems with two cylinders. I needs new mags, and a turbo rebuild. I'm sure other seals are leaking or going to leak soon. I am going to go ahead and send the prop off for rebuild and I believe I will send the entire firewall forward off to be rebuilt. An experienced pilot might be able to handle an engine failure better than a new pilot so that is a factor for me also. I learned yesterday that it's possible in general aviation to fly to Australia from USA. I have a new bucket list item and this is the plane to do that. The speed and efficiency would really help even with the low payload. I might just have to buy and donate clothes along the route. That of course is a year or two in the future, so I will deal with it then. This plane has been to Europe several times and some annuals were done in Europe also.

He told me that it was not required on a continental to do a tear down inspection. You said it was highly recommended but not required and if it was his he would not. He said on a lycoming engine there is an AD that requires it, but not the continental.

I spoke to Mike Busch with Savvy Aviation last night for a good while about this. He said that he would not be concerned about the prop strike but more about the airplane sitting. He said it's important to bore scope it and check for rust and the cylinders and the cam. Overall he said there's a really good chance it would be okay. He recommend that I call Don Maxwell and I will be doing that today.

I am not an IA or A&P. In my comments I am making some assumptions. Every detail of why I was told to do something was not explained to me. Also it's possible I forgot to document a step he had me do. Today we pulled N261TA out of the community hangar and over to the maintenance hangar. One tank had about a gallon of fuel and the other tank had about 4 gallons of fuel. We drained out the old fuel. The hangar IA said he could not sell us fuel due to possible cross contamination. (Huh?) He loaned me some jugs and sent me to another local airport. I bought ten gallons and put 5 gallons in each wing and sloshed it around and drained out a gallon in attempt to clean the tanks. The 10 year old battery took a charge. I have a very good charger/maintainer and plugged it up a couple days ago. it showed 14.2 volts which was surprising to me. I could not get the prop to turn at all. Finally we figured out to start we have to turn to start and push in. The prop turned half a turn and the battery was done, lol. My IA brought a used battery which we put in. It worked better, but was weak. I had a portable jump box that was hot so that helped. We pulled the top set of plugs out and turned over the engine for a minute until we saw oil pressure start to build. Next he had me turn on the boost pump low pressure and high pressure until we could hear a difference in the pump noise to prime the fuel system. When I first saw boost I thought it was turbo boost, but I had watched a M20K video on YouTube recently that explained it as fuel boost. We pushed it out of the hangar and attempted to start it. By now my jump box did not have enough charge to start it so I used my jeep and some jumper cables. Even then it cranked over slowly. The IA did get it to start though. It was so cool to see it actually run. He had told me once it's started to disconnect and back the jeep away and check for obvious leaks or other such problems. I checked both sides of the engine and there were no obvious problems, but I could hear it was not running right. He checked the monitor and side the right side had two cylinders that were not firing properly. He said he feels like those cylinders were not getting enough fuel. It could be a partially clogged injector or maybe the spider. We also noticed oil on the ground near the exhaust. Something is leaking oil at the back of the engine. At this point the hangar IA said it was time to call it a day. We put the cowl back on and left. I think the next step is to pull the lower cowl and try to find the leak. If an injector is partially gummed up maybe the fresh fuel will clear it out while it sits. If not we will have to pull the injectors and clean them. It's progress for now. He wants to get the engine running properly before we pull the prop to have it shipped off.

The seller was in no hurry to sell. I wanted to buy it and start working on it so that when I get my PPL I hope to have it airworthy.

I want to thank everyone for the comments. I can assure you I will do whatever it takes to get this plane in the air and it won't be scrapped or sold. I'm one of the most persistent people I've ever met, lol Someone mentioned a sudden stop on the engine. That was not the case at all. The pilot had no clue there was any damage to the prop. It definitely was not a sudden stop. I really appreciate all the advice. As you might imagine I don't understand all of it but that just means more to learn. I have the money to put a new engine in it but I really want to get it in annual and work out any small bugs there may be to make sure everything else is good.

I am a student pilot and should be getting my PPL next month. I wanted to buy an airplane for long range flying. It was very easy for me to determine the best choice is a Mooney. The minimum I wanted was a C, but really wanted at least an E if possible. I started asking around and looking to see what is available. I found a J model, but it was beyond economical restoration IMO. I had asked for a tour of the facilities at a local class D airport and was amazed to see a beautiful Mooney with a thick layer of dust in the corner of the main hangar. I was told it hadn't moved in at least 5 years. I took a quick picture of the tail number and kept walking. My business is selling brake parts and real estate investing. I often find abandoned properties and hunt down the owners and restore the property. My father was a mechanic and I have a garage with a lift, so I have a good background to work with even though I know I can't do much if any work myself. At least I know what's going on and can talk to an A&P with some background of what is going on. It was a process to track down the owner because he lives in Sweden. I found an email and sent him an email with no reply. Finally after many dead ends I got a phone number and he answered. I was able to convince him to sell it to me for $10,000 AS-IS and I bought it 5-19-21. It is a 1980 M20K 231 and in 1991 it had a firewall forward 252 conversion done, speed brakes, long range tanks, and painted with the new tail number. This was done by modworks and it is now called a Trophy 261. In 2007 is had a $50,000 avionics upgrade with dual garmin 530s and several other things. The reason it had been sitting was it had a low speed prop strike in 2014 and it has almost 1500 hours on the TSIO=360-MB4B engine. The owner had gotten a $100,000 estimate for repair for new prop, new engine, etc. When I asked around I was told the A&P at this airport is known to be very expensive, but also very thorough. I was also told on a continental engine a tear down inspection is highly recommended, but not required. I found another IA that said since only one blade has a bend and it's only maybe 1/2" bend inwards that there was probably no engine damage. He told me we can pull the prop and mic the crank and odds are greatly in my favor that it will be okay. He said assuming there are no major problems he can put it in annual for $8000.00 plus the prop cost. He will also allow owner assisted work where I can work under his supervision. The previous owner said he didn't even know there was a problem until the hangar guys told him about it. Either way I plan to replace the engine soon because of the hours and time it has been sitting. A few weeks ago I asked where to get a prop and several people recommended Cody Stallings. I called him and he has a pair of used blades and can probably take mine in trade. I am expecting this to cost $3000-$4000 with a hub rebuild. The owner sent me the logs from 1991+ but he doesn't think he has the logs from prior to the conversion. It had 1200 hours at the time of the conversion and now has about 2700 hours. The owners manual is not in the plane. The previous owner has it and said he will scan a copy and email it to me tomorrow and later get me the original. I am not going to fly it until I finish my PPL, but it probably won't be ready before then anyway. I will then get 10 hours in it with a CFI and start my IFR training. Actually I bet I can just do 10 hours of IFR training with a CFI in it to meet the 10 hours in type requirement for insurance. I don't want to hesitate on my learning. I don't ever plan to fly commercial, but I might get commercial and CFI ratings because I like to learn and the more you know the better, right? My first modification is the mircokit landing height system. Next I need to get it ADS-B compliant and really I have no idea about that. I found a company that can still do a WAAS update for me Garmin 530 from some old stock for $5000, but my friend Mack who is an A&P suggested to swap out for Avidyne which is $13,000 to $14,000. I want to have the plane IFR rated and I want to be able to go to class B airports if needed. Any advise is appreciated. I really want to do the minimum to get it ready for now and then learn what I really need and handle that later. See attached pictures.

I bought one that was universal fit for about $60 and I never could get it to tighten up enough to stay put and sent it back. I want to buy another one but it'll be specifically for an iPad mini.

I don't want to hijack this thread, but thanks you. It's really a 231 with a firewall forward 252 conversion and a few other speed mods so it's a 261 done by Modworks which is now out of business. Because of this I don't think it's eligible for the encore conversion, but still an amazing plane. I'll start a new thread when I have a bill of sale.

I have 40 hours and I am buying a M20K 252 next week. I'm buying it because it's an amazing deal on an amazing plane and comes with hangar space which is almost impossible to get here. My mission is long distance and this is my dream plane. Now with all that said I don't plan to train in it. I will sit in the seat and familiarize myself with the panel and learn everything I can. After I get my PPL I plan to do my IFR training in it. For insurance it won't be in my name until I get my PPL. To be honest I'm just so excited to get one of the best planes ever made and I hope you are too. How many hours do you have in your logbook?

I'm sure it's a Democrat run city. Probably within a month all traffic at that airport will cease and shortly thereafter all hangers will be vacant.

I am waiting on Cody's reply.

That's exactly what I wanted. Thanks!

A week or two ago I was reading about gear down safety. Someone replied that they have a gizmo that audibly announces the elevation starting at 50 ft and down. The author mentioned that this helped them to make sure the gear was always down. I thought a bookmarked a link to that gizmo but I can't find it. Can somebody help me out?

Yes, I will probably go with Western Skyways for the engine. I just don't know who to go with for the prop.

That's awesome! Maybe a dealer can give me trade-in.

I will be in the area on the 22cd and leaving on the 23rd. Would it be worth my time to stop by on the 22cd? Would I need to pay the $99?

Please send me a message with details.

It's a Mccauley 2 blade on a M20K 252. I believe the model is C216

I'd like to keep the discussion about the prop only please. One blade has a bend. See attached picture. Should I buy a new prop, refurbished prop, or have this one fixed? What company should I ask for help?

I have a friend that took lessons and got to solo. He was so excited and I was like good for you, but it's not my thing. He got out of it for a few years and a friend of his contacted him and said he wanted to start a flight school and implied as the first student it would be almost free. He invited me and I thought why not. He has an almost new all glass Cessna 172. After a few hours he told us $200 an hour. It had gotten my interest and my goal is to move to a tropical paradise in a few years and having a pilots license would be a great way to get around. I decided to go for it and went to the closest airport and found an instructor that said $165 an hour. I had already gotten liability and renters insurance so he lowered the price to $155 an hour. Wen I decided to do something I work towards it with full force. My goal was to fly 3 times a week. Of course due to weather and other such that didn't happen. I started in December and hope to finish in June. 6 months is still a long time, but it's better than others I have seen that take years. One of the first things I started studying was to define my mission. In my home life efficiency is important. Waste not, want not. Before covid I like to cruise and that's over 700 miles from me to Florida cruise ports. I used this to define my mission and was easily able to determine a Mooney was the right fit for me. You could say I wanted to learn to fly so I could buy a Mooney and travel easier. Well I'm not sure about easier, but quicker and I'm sure easier will come with time.

I called them and I was quoted $52,xxx and 8 weeks. To me fast would be they have one on the shelf and will ship it to me and I put mine in that box and ship it back.