Utah20Gflyer

Here is an update, I wedged the parts in where they would go and evaluated whether the vents had enough articulation to hit me in the face - which is where I prefer the air to go when I'm using overhead vents. In the front seats it looks like I could get them to hit me in the chin. The back seats however only the chest. I'm going to consider how to implement N201MKturbo's suggestion and introduce an angle to the part so they can be aimed more effectively. Below is a picture of how they look just setting in place with the current part. Unfortunately I'm just working with the tools a guy in construction would have and not any cnc equipment, so I have to really think through how to make a part that isn't symmetrical. I'm thinking I may screw the mold to another piece of wood so I can cut the bottom in my miter saw, then add more wood to the cut side and reform again with the grinder/flapdisk.

Interesting. You may be right. I'll see how they look installed, if there isn't enough play I'll just have to sand down the top of the form at an angle to get the vent pointed in the right direction. The current form is the 4th iteration, so why not a 5th the at this point, haha! I appreciate the feedback!

So I am currently in a very extensive annual and decided while the plane was down for a while and torn apart I might as well upgrade my Mooney from the broken plastic overhead vents to some modern eyeball vents. First idea was to order some vents from Wisconsin Aviation. After receiving those I took them in to the AP/IA to see what he thought. Unfortunately he had two conditions 1. They need to come from a company that made the vents for an airplane. They fit this description. 2. I couldn't cut the plenum to install whatever I was going to use....the instructions for the Wisconsin Aviation vents clearly stated you had to cut the plenum to install them, so no go! I had to come up with a plan B. After much thought and research I came up with the idea of thermoforming some adapter pieces out of ABS plastic to space the new vents away from the plenum. I also wanted metal eyeball vents so I ordered some from aircraft spruce. The ones I ended up with are much nicer that the plastic ones from Wisconsin Aviation. Now the hard work. First I had to build a vacuum forming table, a heating chamber, and make the appropriate form to make the parts. I used 1/8" thick ABS which created really strong parts, likely way stronger than they need to be. It took a couple attempts to get the form right and I ruined a bunch of plastic figuring out the correct amount of heat, but with some trial and error I think I got it figured out. I think they turned out well. Tomorrow I will take them in for the IA to review and if they get his blessing I'll work on getting them installed. Here are some pics of the project so far.

103 hours for me this year, but I only purchased my Mooney in April, I was down 1 month for avionics and I've had my plane in annual since the end of October. Hoping to get it back next week. So really I only had it 5 months. Next year I should rack up a lot more hours.

Yes, for Christmas 2031, but that may be overly optimistic.

A plane out of annual with a flat front tire in Southern Florida that hasn't been flying? Seems like a high risk proposition. Not something that would interest me but to each their own.

Last summer I was setting up to enter the pattern for South Valley regional Airport in Utah and there was a powered parachute at pattern altitude just West of the airport where I was setting up on a 45 for the downwind. Fortunately I saw him and was able to avoid the guy but was concerned about where he was operating as that can be very busy airspace, even though it is a pilot controlled airport. What I am wondering is why a person is operating an aircraft within the mode C Veil of SLC international without radio, transponder or ADSB? I get it if you want to fly your parachute out in the middle of no where but it seems unreasonable to fly around in congested airspace right outside of an airports traffic pattern.

I currently have a JPI EDM 800 which is a 700 but with more options to monitor additional stuff. I like it but have an intention to replace it with a Garmin GI 275 engine monitor sometime in the future. One of the main reasons is it's a primary instrument and does everything in one 3 and 1/8 inch hole. Older Mooney's have very limited panel space and it pays I think to economize panel space. You may consider doing the engine monitor upgrade once with a primary instrument rather than over an over again as old instruments fail. ie I had to replace a tach for 1500 dollars and mess with a old oil temp sender just recently because the JPI 800 is not primary even though it monitors rpm and oil temp. I bought my plane with the 800 so that choice wasn't mine but given the option now I would choose to do a primary instrument for sure. I don't have any experience with the G3 instrument so can't comment on that, I flew a rental arrow a while back that had an insight engine monitor but at the time payed very little attention to it. Good luck!

Are you sure the internal sidetone is not just turned down? On my Garmin 355 the sidetone volume is adjustable. I found that out because it was up way to high when I picked my plane up from the avionics shop and I had to figure out how to turn it down. Could be the 650 and 255 are different but that would surprising.

There is a pretty big difference between an older Mooney that is selling for 60k vs 90k. You are going to have trouble getting what you want at the low end but an older Mooney in the 75k to 90k range should be a pretty good plane. My Mooney pretty much fits what you are looking for and is probably worth 75k now, low time engine and prop, WAAS GPS and a lot of other nice features. Good planes are out there but there is also a lot of run out stuff that hasn't been upgraded in 30 years. Don't buy one of those. Just be patient, something good will come along eventually. Good planes move fast so do your homework, look at a lot of planes, fly as many as you can and eventually you'll figure out what you want and you'll get a good feel for what is a good value.

Personally I think the best way of determining the proper oil change interval is by looking at the oil analysis by the lab. Are all the metrics for the oil in the proper range at 50 hours? If yes continue with that interval. If it isn't you need to shorten the interval so that it is. Where that number is will depend on the individual plane and where and how it is operated. The oil analysis gives you something objective to base the decision on rather than conjecture. Based on how cheap it is to do oil analysis I think it should be done at least once a year but I've been doing it every oil change. Other things to do to catch major pending problems in addition to oil analysis: 1. Cut open your filter at every oil change. 2. Remove and inspect the oil sump screen every year or two. 3. Borescope cylinders anytime you remove spark plugs 4. Compression test at the annual 5. Review of engine monitor data You are basically looking for any clues that something is coming apart before it actually happens. Each item is a potential source of clues.

I think what you really want is a new set of O rings for your gas caps. The lock doesn't keep the water out, good o rings do.

I believe you can find them on e Bay for under 100 dollars.

Since you did the bottom end 1000 hours ago I would say do cylinders rather than a complete overhaul. You could easily get another 1000-2000 hours out of the engine if nothing crazy happens and since it isn't urgent I would get an appointment setup with a specialized engine shop and have them ready with the parts and hopefully you can get a quick turn around on the work. Remember though, two cylinders at the same time is major engine work and needs to be done very carefully by someone who does it all the time. You can loose tension on your main bearings if not done correctly and end up with a fubar engine or worse. See Mike Busch's podcast on the dangers of cylinder work for a more complete picture of what I am talking about. In the end though it's your money, so what you prefer is the right answer.

I believe it's lockhaven that overhauls those

I am dealing with this issue right now. I would say first disconnect the wires from the sender, the gauge should read full hot. Connect the two wires together and the gauge should read low. So basically no continuity should read high, complete continuity should read low. The sender is supposed to vary continuity between those two extremes to tell you how hot the oil is. That should give you some idea whether it is the sender or the gauge. In my case it was some loose wires making the gauge read full hot.

I just bought a fabric one from LASAR. It was 50 or 60 dollars. It looks ok but as I haven’t installed it yet I can’t comment on fit and function yet.

I recently had the same issue although it would generally finally crank over after a couple tries. I'm currently in the process of replacing it with the skytec starter. Like others said it is the bendix gear. Bruces covers are excellent, I have a fuselage cover and a tail cover so far and are very happy with them. Might be buying a cowling cover soon for the winter.

I also have a G model Mooney. I only use carb heat when my JPI engine monitor indicates carb temperature is close to freezing. If you don't have Carb temp available I am not sure what the correct answer would be.

I am in the process of trying to fabricate some parts for my plane by building a thermoforming vacuum table and forming sheets of textured ABS sheets into the wanted parts. It might be possible to do the same with your panel overlay by using the old panel as the form and forming 1/16 inch thick ABS plastic over it. Maybe too much work but thought I would throw it out there as a possibility.

When I bought my G model I asked the insurance company (Avemco) if I could count previous C and J time to my 10 hours transition and they said no, it had to be in my specific airplane. I didn't drill down on it but it sounded like even time in another G wouldn't count. They wanted 10 hours dual in my plane. I am fairly low time which may have been a factor.

Thanks, that helps a bunch, I'll take a look in that area tomorrow and see what's there now and the parts I have and see if it makes sense.

Does anyone happen to have a picture of the installed trim motor? I have a plane with everything ready to go with the exception of the motor being installed and power wire connected. Only thing is the power wire is ran to the manual trim wheel location rather than the tail. Are things different for my 68 g model or did the wire get ran to the wrong place? Thanks for any help!

Maybe consider the RG 35AXC if they are in stock, it's a drop in replacement but more cranking amps, also a little more money. I just put one in my Mooney.

Hi Alan, I'd like to purchase this steering horn if it's still available and applicable to a M20G, the label on it is a little hard to read but it looks like it say M20a thru M20G. Thanks, Craig