Utah20Gflyer

Unfortunately it could be a lot of different things so you’ll just have to systematically eliminate things until you find what the problems is. In addition to the ignition system check for intake leaks - make sure everything is tight and there aren’t any blue stains on the drop tubes. If you think the prop is good to go after the warranty work you might consider getting the prop dynamically balanced. Could be that after being taken apart and put back together it’s out of balance to some degree. If it’s not the issue your engine will still run smoother after you find the actual problem. If you have an engine monitor are any of your cylinders or EGTs running abnormally hot or cold? Does the engine run smoothly and maintain RPMs at WOT and 2400 rpm’s? How long since the plugs were cleaned? If it’s been a while it might be worth pulling the plugs to clean and test them. You could have an issue with the prop governor, but I wouldn’t send that out for repair until checking some of these other low impact things first.

I have the rear engine case mounted oil filter as well. I find it to be easy to access for oil changes. One downside of a remote filter is oil lines that must be maintained and are a potential catastrophic failure point. My Mooney came to me with the current arrangement but if I were to choose again I would go with rear case mounted again.

The issue of who dropped the bushing is not something you will be able to get a definitive answer on. You can try to negotiate something with the shop but if they really weren’t the ones who dropped it then I could see why they wouldn’t be interested. The bigger issue is what direction you gave them as to what kind of communication and permission was required before commencing work. When you go in for an annual the shop should understand clearly that they have authorization to do the annual inspection and whatever preventative maintenance you approve before hand and that any additional work needs to be talked about and approved before they start work. There are some people who just drop off their plane and say call me when it’s done and I’ll settle the bill- these people have trained some shops to take liberty with peoples airplanes. That’s unfortunate but still common. So the question is did you communicate this process clearly? If you did then that gives some ground to challenge the work provided. If you didn’t then this is a good lesson to you what happens when you don’t communicate proper expectations. If the shop was given proper expectations and took liberties with your airplane anyway then you don’t want to do business with them.

My 68 G model has the center vent.

Go pro camera mount.

I find a common issue with these situations is the owner will still expect top dollar for their neglected plane. For this reason well maintained planes are generally the better bargain. But you can always ask and see what happens.

I flew out of Driggs Idaho in my G model yesterday which I think is at 6100 feet, the density altitude was over 7k and I climbed out just fine. Jackson has a nice long runway and no immediate terrain you have to climb over which helps a lot. Given the 60 degree OAT and 250 under gross I think you’ll be fine. Ultimately you are PIC and will have to make a decision based on all available information. If the conditions were 90 degree OAT and gross I would be a lot more concerned.

As previously stated I don’t think there is any reason to lube the rails. With the rollers in good condition it already slides like it is running on glass. If it doesn’t feel super smooth your rollers are worn and will need to be replaced. This will cost about 100 bucks to replace all of them and takes maybe 30 minutes to do.

Doesn’t sound like the current owner is maintaining the plane so if you buy it expect a lot of repairs to get it back to good working order. Whatever you know about before buying assume it has 2x or 3x the number of issues you will find after purchase and you start flying it.

The 1968 G model was the pinnacle of Mooney aircraft development! It’s all been downhill since then. I may be a biased source but no one has disagreed with me yet so maybe I’m on to something. Personally I like the mid body. More back seat legroom and more baggage area. The CG is almost impossible to screw up. Nothing wrong with the short bodies but just a personal preference. The J has all of the aerodynamic upgrades already included and some have had a gross weight increase that can make them true 4 seaters. You’ll pay a sizable premium though over an F model. I think some Js have fully folding rear seats….a very nice option. Every Mooney at this point is going to be a unique airplane. You just need to decide which characteristics are most important to you and find one that most closely matches.

I have a usable fuel capacity of 52 gallons. If remember correctly there is 1.25 gallons unusable per side. So total capacity would be 54.5 gallons with 52 usable. I don’t know why some manufacturers use total instead of usable to describe fuel capacity, just seems like a bad idea.

So it’s been a couple years but from what I remember I got everything in place and snugged up and then the A&P finished tightening them up. We didn’t come to an agreement as to a torque but I think we talked about the spec and he said that was too much and he did it by feel and maybe to some degree the look of the gasket. I think you want it to be as tight as you can make it with deforming the gasket. I am certainly not qualified to say this is the correct way of doing it. I think CIES is the judge of what is correct since it is their product, BUT several years later I have no leaks and everything is working fine. So you can do with this information what you would like. I’d be interested to know how many people have actually used the torque spec versus the method used on my plane and whether CIES has received much feedback on the issue. It could be most people ignore the spec and never tell CIES and therefore it never got reconsidered.

No. My gaskets didn’t compress like that. Are you sure you didn’t use ft.lbs? If you did use the correct torque then I would check with CIES. It could be that they had a batch of gaskets that were too soft.

Two reports suggest borescoping the engine to check exhaust valve condition. Seems like that would be the correct first step.

As long as you get to fly a plane for the money you give the school you aren’t burning money. The primary reason to purchase a plane is not saving money. Control, performance and access might be reasonable reasons. In order to save money you’d have to fly a lot and get lucky nothing breaks. My advice would be to get your instrument in the rental plane and then buy a C model Mooney. By that time you’d have sufficient hours and competency to upgrade.

I would highly suggest a spare set of keys. I flew somewhere with my wife one time and dropped my only key I had with me at the grocery store. Fortunately after backtracking all the places we visited I found it. But that could have really sucked. You may consider wiring the keys somewhere they can’t be seen but are accessible through an engine access door. Or you could put them in an access panel somewhere in the airframe, This would require a screw driver to get them but getting your hands on a screw driver generally isn’t too difficult.

Don’t forget a 6 in 1 screw driver to carry in the plane. I’d suggest a plastic ammo can to keep all of the plane stuff organized in the baggage area. I carry around a spare landing light bulb. If you don’t have an LED landing light I would recommend that. Triflow is a primary lubricant but some things are supposed to get LPS2. So I’d get some of that. I primarily use checklists on foreflight now. They have some generic Mooney templates that you can modify for your purposes. Congrats on the new plane!

There is only a slight increase in Maintenance for a retractable gear. You’re going to pay extra for the annual to do the gear swing and check tensions and lubricate things but it really isn’t much. You will pay extra insurance to pay for the gear ups that happen. All in I would guess the extra you pay for having retract gear is 2-3k, which is about the same you are paying each year towards repacking a Cirrus parachute. For comparison sake I am under 20k a year operating cost for a 1968 G model Mooney. That’s with a ramp tie down. Maybe a vintage Mooney would be a good starting place?

Seems like you are being way too passive in this situation which has left you in a difficult spot. So first thing you need to do is start being assertive. My second impression is that you don’t seem to be very familiar with aircraft maintenance which is where we all start, but leaves you once again in a difficult position. Doesn’t sound like you have enough money to be a passive uninformed airplane owner. It’s time to roll up your sleeves and get to work. If you insured the plane for 45k and the costs exceed that then why hasn’t the insurance company totaled the plane and cut you a check for 45k thus making this conversation moot? If you are going to proceed with repairing the aircraft I’d seriously consider calling Savvy Aviation and see if they’d start handing the situation for you if you signed up for their service. I don’t think you are in a position to handle this situation yet without an open checkbook. Next time you are in this position make sure to communicate before any work starts IN WRITING that you authorize a tear down and inspection and a report on the findings but no further work. Next when someone says you need a new crankshaft.. “Why do I need a new crankshaft?” “Why can’t it be reground?” What dimensions is it at? What are the minimums? Can your shop grind crankshafts? Who does do regrinding? Have you asked that shop about my crankshaft? When they say you need a new case… “Why do I need a new case?”….. It has a crack… Where is the crack? How big is it? Can that be welded? Why can’t it be welded? Do I need both sides of the case or just one? Why both sides, are they both cracked? You need to understand EVERYTHING! Otherwise you are going to grossly overspend on the maintenance of your airplane. The way you understand everything is by asking lots of questions and doing lots of research. If someone won’t answer questions then that’s a person you don’t want working on your plane. good luck!

I always lean to max rpm on every mag check as well. I’d be worried about fouling my plugs doing it at full rich. You also might take an excessively large power penalty if you take off full rich. I normally pull the mixture out about a quarter inch so I can make full power. This makes heat management a little more difficult but the loss of power is too much at full rich for my liking.

You should be insurable. I bought my Mooney with 130 TT and 15 hours of retract so if I could get insurance I’m sure you can as well. My advice would be to start flying immediately in rentals because how much you flew the previous year will affect how the insurance companies look at you. A person who hasn’t flown for 10 years and just bought a fast complex plane is going to look like a high risk bet. It’s going to take time to find and close on an airplane anyway. Get flying!

Ryobi tools have improved over the years. I would rate them as a second tier tool company now. I like that they have a wide variety of cordless tools that are affordable and so far have been long lasting. The ones I use most are the hand vac and the handheld tire inflator. I also use their cordless grinder, impact drill and flood light. While I use my Rigid tools for most of my work I would say Ryobi products are perfectly fine if you aren’t abusing them every day to put bread on the table. So as you could imagine I use the Ryobi hand vac for vacuuming out the plane. Less frequently I have a small spot shampooer that I’ll use to give the carpets a more thorough cleaning. I shampoo maybe every year or two.

I agree with this approach, but before you even do that repeat the compression test and note where the air is getting out of each cylinder. ring/cylinder problem = air coming out breather tube Intake valve = air coming out intake exhaust valve = air coming out exhaust cylinders where there are valve issues- lap the valves cylinders with ring / cylinder wall issues try ring flush. You may find that with a mild amount of effort and money you can get your cylinders back to a place where you are content again. If it ends up still not being acceptable, your cylinders will at least be a good as they can be until new ones arrive, which could take a while. I wouldn’t do the bottom end on an engine that hasn’t shown any indication of cam or bearing issues.

Phil Abrams +1 (609) 613-8983 He is a local and helped me when I purchased my Mooney from Tuscon. He has couple thousand Mooney hours if I remember correctly.

The simple answer is a hanger fairy dialed up your oil pressure when you weren’t looking. Normally a hanger fairy would only complete work they knew the owner wanted, but maybe yours went rogue.