RoundTwo

My Garmin probe was mounted under the avionics bay and runs 4-5 degrees hot as well. It helps with great TAS, but it seems I always have a headwind. It’s now getting moved out under the left wing and should make a big difference.

It stinks when something like that happens. I’ve reached out to Mooney for assistance.

Surrounding every window opening and also both pieces of windlace is a piece of vinyl channel that is, in my case, beige in color. I’ve looked at the IPC but can’t find it listed. Does anyone have a source for these pieces? Thanks, Chuck

While pulling out the insulation, I noticed how poorly adhered the duct tape was in so many of the places around the cabin. Under the tape, there’s also a lot of non-hardening caulk, a product I grew up knowing as “dum dum”. Since so much of the tape wasn’t adhered well, I started thinking about using something else when things go back together. Seam sealer isn’t new, and was certainly available in 1988, when my plane was built, so I have to assume there is a very good reason tape was used instead of a more permanent solution. I’m guessing the temporary nature of the duct tape is the driving force behind its selection for air sealing the cabin. Is there anything I’m missing? Would it be okay to use a tube based sealer instead of tape? Thanks, Chuck

Thanks. I’m glad I asked.

Great pirep. I need to add a wig-wag to mine.

Is there anything special I need to do, or avoid doing when cleaning out rodent urine? I have found many articles through Google that suggest a diluted bleach solution, but I’m not crazy about that on aluminum. For cat urine, and skunk spray, I’ve used hydrogen peroxide, baking soda and dish soap solution to attack the organics and any acids. Is there any concern about Dawn dish soap and aluminum? Are there any silver bullet products you can recommend? Thanks, Chuck

Thanks for that! I did a Google search for mouse urine and mainly got discussions of the best relief measure.

Specific instruction from Soundex is to NOT glue due to the potential fo trapping moisture but there are valid reasons to gluing for panel harmonics reasons. My plane had both glued in fiberglass and PSA attached mylar backed open cell foam. The aluminum behind both look fine after 35 years.

My new boroscope has been coming in handy and so far, nothing found.

It looks like I do have some mouse induced corrosion I need to clean up, but not much.

The quality of that drawing is so much better than the grainy one for my 1988 J. I’m jealous.

So far I haven’t needed to buy anything because 100LL works great on the PSA residue and mineral spirits breaks down the contact cement really well. 3M will be my go to if I run into problems.

All of the walls around the tubes had Mylar backed open cell PSA backed foam. This is a 1988 J and SBM208 came out 8/89. I believe the sidewall foam I’m removing was factory installed because there is nothing in the logs about changing it out, but I could be wrong about that.

My eyes are wide open to such possibilities but so far I haven’t seen any damage other than some benign chewing. There were some pee spots on the top side of the ceiling panels, in some of the valleys, but nothing on the aluminum so far.

Soundex does just that, cut oversize and use tape around the edges to make removal easier. I’m now in the process of adhesive removal, some from PSA foam and some from brush on contact glue.

Do you have a brand name and product that isn’t any good?

No benefit for me because mine was located up inside the belly. It would be nice to put the transponder blade in its place and get it out of the wind but I’m not sure if that would cause a problem with visibility.

Too bad it’s so light, I wouldn’t have minded getting some more useful load. Mine went into the trash can as I’m pretty certain it’s worth less than the postage it would cost to send it somewhere.

The log books mentioned removing nest debris from the left wing root with subsequent cleaning and ACF50 treatment. There were also some gnawed wires that were repaired. In total, I found 3 bodies. It looks like they were nice enough to locate their bathroom over some duct tape, so everything looks OK. Every bit of insulation is being replaced, so it will all get cleaned well before anything goes back. Who knows, maybe this was part of that “old plane smell”.

It looks like they had quite an amusement park set up in the insulation around the hat rack.

As interior deconstruction continues into the hat shelf area, found this little crispy critter in his little fiberglass coffin behind the bulkhead.

I think it said 861. It’s a gorgeous plane.

Did you buy direct from Soundex, or go rogue and buy bulk from someone like Spruce and make your own patterns?

Here’s an attractive 252 that just popped up on the interwebs.