Utah20Gflyer

I just bought the safe air because the F-391 -53s was not available at spruce. I just pulled it out and tried it after reading your comment and yes it is a much stiffer spring than my original. Looking at the design it should allow a good flow of fuel but it will require a significant amount of force to get it open far enough. Im going to wait until it’s on the plane and I try it before I make a final judgement for myself. If you have a fuel tester with the plastic probe I don’t think it will last, I think a metal probe will be necessary. The upside is I doubt this drain is going to let any avgas get by it like my old one did - particulates or not. With the price of avgas these days maybe that’s a real selling point.

Here the access panel is with new sealant applied. Pretty sticky stuff but decent working time with the 2 hour variant. The difficult part is getting the sealant applied evenly to the inside portion. Kinda tight and working with thick sticky sealant. I found a 1/2 inch and 1/4 acid brushes I got from a painting supply store to work the best for application. Cheap home depot brushes can’t handle the stickiness so don’t use those. I’ll be letting this set up and then checking for anything that might have gotten missed. After having experienced this stuff I’m a bit less concerned about whether it will stick to old sealant.

My Mooney is a very nicely equipped, regularly maintained and flown 1968 model. I would value it as being sub 100k in value. Once planes get to 20 years old they start diverging in their condition between those that are getting maintained and flown and those that aren’t. This means there are Ovations that would be a terrible buy and 1960s Mooneys that are great. Each plane is unique and has to be evaluated on an individual basis. So to summarize, A 1960s plane can be a great plane and you won’t have to spend six figures to get a good Mooney.

Here is the access plate again ready for new sealant. It took a couple more cycles to get is completely clean.

I wonder if they apply the calendar time or just SMOH number like most people do. My engine is less than half way to TBO on operating hours but well over TBO based on Calendar. If they went off of calendar not many planes would get financed.

There is an access panel in the wing closest to the fuselage but forward of the fuel tank. You can’t see much but you can open it up and see if there is fuel residue in there. Im currently fixing this issue with a fuel tank patch.

Maybe the plane had been stolen. That’s about the only way I can wrap my head around that kind of behavior.

TThe 400 degree limit seems to apply to Continental engines because their cylinders aren’t built as strongly as Lycoming. I believe I’ve heard Mike Busch talk about that and he said low 400s during takeoff would be fine for a Lycoming powered aircraft. Personally I try to keep temps at 400 but in the summer I’ll go up to 420 without worry.

Applied third coat of poly gone to access panel after pressure washing it. Almost done stripping.

Here are some pictures. I was able to find the leaks rather easily using the vacuum method. Looks like the leaks were where I suspected. Top inner corner. Now for prep and which I imagine is going to take most of the time. Ultimately looks like a full tank reseal will be in my future although I suspect this repair will tide me over for a couple years. Initially I tried to apply vacuum through the fuel tank vent but that seemed ineffective. Instead I built an adapter from cardboard that fit over my fuel fill. That worked great.

I finally started this project yesterday. I unscrewed all the nuts holding the access panel on. Then because mine is a wing walk panel I gouged out all the wing walk material out of the gap between the panel and the wing. I then used a 1 inch putty knife to cut the sealant slowly from one side to the other. Once most of the sealant was cut it fell into the tank. I am currently stripping the old sealant off the inside of the panel using polygone. I am not done yet but the old sealant is pealing off rather well. Later today I am going to do the vacuum trick to find where my tank is leaking. I’ll be sealing the leaks and the interior of the access panel with the high adhesion polyseal. And the low adhesion to seal the access panel. Maybe I’ll take some pictures and add them later.

I bought a McFarlane throttle cable based on their recommended part number and it was a perfect fit. They are pricey ($700) but it was a nice upgrade and after 50+ years it was time to retire the OG throttle cable.

I have one. I would say they take the edge off but aren’t even close to having actual air conditioning. They don’t seem to be able to cool the entire cabin but provide some relief if the cool air is being blown right on you.

I’m dumber for having listened to that. I felt the brain cells committing suicide with every stupid word.

The idle stop should be what limits how far you can pull the throttle out. It should not be stopping before that. I would suspect the cable has slipped in the mount that holds the end of the throttle cable outer sleeve stationary prior to the throttle body. I don’t have any direct experience with your fuel injected engine but I suspect your throttle cable is the same as mine with a threaded rod at the end with a heim joint that threads onto it. If that’s the case then that can’t slip or change without a person intentionally changing it. Figure out why it doesn’t hit the idle stop and I think that will be your answer. It shouldn’t be difficult to diagnose.