A64Pilot

Last I head of that and it may not have been a Mooney, but something was interfering with the master cylinders when the nose wheel was turned. ‘I remember the belly pan was removed and a inspection of what was going on was apparent. Sorry I can’t be more specific, one of those things you remember, but not the details.

Many are buying to flip with the expectation of making money, the time for that is likely past

I think I would replace all of the bulbs that were used, assuming you can get them prior to removal

How about “THE” tent? We had one in the unit I was in, in the 80’s. Everything in the Army is an acronym. THE stands for “Transportable Helicopter Enclosure” Thing was tied down with probably 50 anchors that looked like arrowheads with steel cables attached, you put them on the end of a pipe, drove the in and removed the pipe, the arrow head would turn sideways when you pulled on the cable, problem was you couldn’t get them out so you had all these steel cables that would play hell with a lawnmower if you moved THE tent. https://picryl.com/media/a-view-of-a-transportable-helicopter-enclosure-developed-at-the-us-army-natick-57d0c7 In the desert we used clamshells, and they held up amazingly well, UV radiation there is unbelievable and the winds have to be experienced, this seems to be a civilian version, I went back for a couple of rotations over the years and the same clamshells at Camp Doha held up for at least 5 years. https://en.liri-tents.com/product-details/eyelid-hangar-tent/

Actually the big irons like that were often used to solder sheet metal, I believe pipes have always been a torch, a “blow” torch before propane ones. Somewhere I have a big electric one just like the one pictured, It says Rockwell on it and was used in manufacturing aircraft back in the 60’s, but I can’t imagine what for? It worked great re-soldering the float bowl for my Marvel carburetor though, it got fuel in it and of course a float that doesn’t, doesn’t work well.

It took me awhile to figure out what the cause was on my baby Continental. a C-85. It’s tube is huge, it doubles as the oil add tube. It would read at least a quart high when first checked, then correct on second check. ‘Same thing on my IO-520 years ago. ‘Anyway it’s two things, first the cap is air tight, second is the tube exits below the oil level in the tank, so when the engine cools. the air in the sealed tube pulls a slight vacuum, and sucks oil up the tube. You really see this in marine engines because the tube is designed to be used to change oil so it often goes to the bottom of the pan even though most people insert a thin plastic tube inside of it anyway. Ther trick as your say is to pull the stick and let the oil settle down and let the oil drain back off of the tube, because every time you pull the stick you drag some up the tube. As I’m forgetful, first thing on preflight I’d pull the stick and wipe it off and stick it back in partially, leaving a whole lot sticking up, finish the pre-flight than go back and check oil. I did that because if I didn’t something would happen and I’d forget the stick was out and take off that way, but with it sticking out of the cowling that would be hard to not notice.

I beg to differ, try ordering a couch, or a dishwasher etc.

I had my cam and lifers reground on my 540 when I overhauled it, I trust the old cams. ‘Somethings different with these newer cams, I have no idea what, just the old cams,I’m talking 60’s and 70’s, and 80’s just didn’t have these issues, my guess is some process spec has changed, but that’s a guess. Lycoming gets their cams from Crane Cam? At least I think so, but that’s second hand so not sure. I don’t think Lycoming manufacturers their own cams

Interesting, they Parkerize which I’m familiar with from weapons.

Overlapping doors are easier to fit, if they overlap 1” and your doors are mounted a half inch further apart than spec, they still overlap a 1/2”, flush doors would have a 1/2” gap They should also be easier to get a tight fit, and it appears they would be easier to manufacture as they may only require pressing whereas it appears just from the picture that the flush doors have a roll formed edge.

I deleted it as I’m not sure my experience carries over here. ‘Our wing had about a 6 foot chord was I guess maybe 10” deep and each fuel tank was 114 gl, airplane held 228 gls of fuel. We had the spars removed, so of course the whole front of the wing was removed making access a whole lot easier. (old wings replacing spar caps) A few times when we had to fix leaks, it was on brand new wings and of course sealer that was only maybe a couple of weeks old Our experience was more of the tenacious snot like, gummy residue that smeared, clogged bristle brushes etc and was harder to remove than the straight B2. ‘Plus as much as possible we shot our wings together wet, and there was some concern that capillary attraction could be taking the stripper places we didn’t want it.

I believe your correct, cams, cranks etc are hardened first, then ground or turned, and that hardening goes pretty deep of course or you couldn’t grind a cam ‘I don’t want to start an an argument, but I believe case hardening is different than nitriding, case hardening is to make a surface very hard, but if the whole part was heat treated to the same level, it would be brittle, it’s heat treating often done now by induction and I believe is one lobe at a time, not the whole cam. and it’s pretty deep, but it’s surface heated not the entire part Nitriding may not be a coating, I probably misused a term, but it’s a relatively thin layer that is chemically changed, treated whatever. Similar in effect to alodine, in that alodine isn’t really a coating, it’s a thin layer of the aluminum that’s been changed chemically, just many of us think of it as a coating So a new cam blank is first case hardened, then ground and finally nitrided. ‘I assume and am not sure that maybe a reground cam is reground, checked for Rockwell hardness to ensure they didn’t go through the case hardening and if it passes is sent of to be nitrided.

whole center panel is on rubber mounts of course. I was at or close to idle and four cylinders are rough, plus I think it’s a trick of the camera that makes it look worse than it is, but it does move some. ‘It’s not you

Yeah, your right by the time I get the computer out and figure out how to print the labels etc, that’s a half hour, or longer, God knows why, but every time is new, I don’t do it frequently enough just compared to most things under the panel my VR is very accessible. I was worried it would be behind the CB panel that at first glance looks impossible, literally. On a Thrush the CB panel is hinged with a Camloc at the top, if you need to do anything release the Camloc and the panel lays open just like a big glove compartment door, sit in the pilots seat and comfortably do what’s needed. ‘All Military instruments came out of the front, not mounted from behind and all radios etc are each mounted with usually one camloc at each corner and lift them up. ‘I don’t know who made civilian panels the way they are, must have been a sadist

At Ft Hood when we would go to the field we would put dog flea collars above our boots to try to keep the chiggers off, partially successful. ‘What did work was a sock with sulphur in it and dust the lower part of your pants. Once I got it in my eyes somehow, something I never repeated. I really thought there would be serious damage it hurt so bad. West Tx there is no grass not really, and I’d avoid caleche (sp)? strips myself, lots of rocks Not Mooney territory but have any of you stopped back in the day in Nevada for Lobster? https://erikjengh.wordpress.com/2016/06/19/mina-nv-lobster-execution/

I live on a grass strip. we roll it regularly, however there are things called “pocket gophers” in Florida which are new to me and gopher turtles that I am familiar with. The pocket gophers are more of a nuisance I believe, but the gopher turtles can dig wheel swallowing holes. Either is very visible and easy to miss as you see the sand or dirt on top of the grass. I have way more tail wheel time than nose dragger time and I love grass strips. It’s the animal life that is a challenge on grass sometimes, big birds, deer etc, and the turtles, but they are easy to deal with, but a deer right at dark is a challenge. ‘If you cut out grass, your missing a lot of the more laid back part of aviation

I believe cams, lifters and crankshafts are nitrided either by gas or plasma, which lays down a coating, which is different than hardening. Hardening is a form of heat treat, it may be that induction hardening is common now? ‘I thought they were re-nitrided when re-ground but am not sure, a quick call would verify.

You may be talking about a “Gurney flap” which does work, and works really well, a lot of helicopter manufacturers have become enamored with it. Its one of the very few actual aerodynamic devices lately that a good ole boy developed. They way he hid it was quite smart https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gurney_flap But maybe they were just emulating Dan

I would try real hard to find someone who can gather the parts for you. perhaps superior air parts? Perhaps they can ship as well, I do not know your customs duties etc though. Sometimes that can be expensive. ‘Since your buying a cam and lifters, I’d start immediately trying it get a set of DLC lifters

Just to circle back and hopefully close the loop, but it seems that the voltage regulator was indeed the problem. A member sent me his old one for trouble shooting that was replaced when the VR wasn’t the problem, anyway I installed it and it so far seems to have fixed the issue. ‘So while nearly all the trouble shooting trees blame a high resistance connection on the power wire to the VF, apparently sometimes it is the VR. ‘At least I hope it’s fixed anyway. Oh, and on my J anyway VR replacement is very easy, 5 min job max, two bolts and one cannon plug.

As a manufacturer getting anything done is done at the speed the ACO / MIDO moves, and as I’m no longer in manufacturing I can’t speak to that, but I am dealing with Orlando’s FSDO now and can tell you that things that used to be accomplished in a few minutes with an Appointment, now takes weeks. To get an application that you and the inspector signs, now goes like this, you fill it out and send a .pdf to the inspector, they take a few days to review it and send comments back, you change things, send another .pdf, they take a few days and then tell you the application is fine, and you start the process over on documentation of recency of experience, suitability fo FBO, access to AD’s etc, but each one at a time, not give me this list of items. A couple of back and forths with days in between and finally everything is done, so they will mail you the application and your supposed to do a zoom meeting with them so they can witness the signature, then you mail it back to them, they sign it and mail it back to you. This is all because if they come into the office, and allow appointments, they will catch Covid and die. So what used to take a few minutes in a face to face meeting, now takes weeks. What Mooney is going through is far more complicated, so just as a guess, things taking so long may not be their fault.

This is the important question to see if it’s air being sucked in, next time it stumbles look.

You can replace it with an EI tach, my MVP-50 connected to the mag, real simple and seemed accurate, of course counted magneto firings so it ought to be real accurate. ‘I assume their standalone tach is the same, but has an unusual display Every turbine that I have worked on and my turbine experience exceeds my piston, but they all used tach generators and the tach’s were frequency counters, so of course very accurate. Hall effect sensors aren’t as common, but usually exceptionally accurate, they often count teeth on a gear. ‘It’s usually the speedometer cable tachs that aren’t accurate, they often have a spinning magnet that pulls s secondary magnet mounted on a coil spring and that pulls the needle higher, they don’t actually count anything, it’s surprising to me that they are as accurate as they are.

Pretty much,except where he says many shops have moved away from the primitive oil, and his comment that he prefers to break in with AD oil. But again, there is no logical argument that I can think of to not follow Lycomings directive. the few engines I have overhauled stabilized oil consumption pretty quickly, but then I have always been at low altitude, pretty much sea level. ‘I woud assume guys who are on the ground at 5,000 MSL or higher would have more problem

First I agree, especially if it was a Lycoming overhaul. do whatever it is they say, they are providing the warranty and you don’t want to screw that up. ‘Most of you guys like Mike Busch, see what he has to say about it. https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2019/january/pilot/savvy-maintenance-breaking-good On edit, me personally I have used straight oil, because why not?