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Hi everyone, I developed a crack on the straight portion of the tailpipe of our '74 Mooney M20E a few weeks ago, the crack was small so we decided to patch it with this while we figured out how to repair/replace the tailpipe. Fast forward to today and the crack opened up a lot: and an hour later the straight section of the tailpipe fell of : Some research later and after a lot of discussion with a very patient sales rep name Tim at AWI-AMI, we located the replacement part : https://awi-ami.com/a630056-501-mooney-m-20e-m-20f-tailpipe-m20-200-ball-rib.html My questions are: 1. Is the tailpipe just old or are we operating the plane incorrectly ? I always lean 20 to 40deg LOP in cruise cross country but since we are both working on our instrument rating, we tend to fly the plane slow, rich (think 3 approaches in 1.5hr). I checked with a magnet and the tailpipe is indeed stainless so heat should be more a factor that corrosion. 2. Can we fly for the time being with no tailpipe ? Reading a thread on this forum I read that no more tailpipe falls into the category of major airplane and power plant modification 3. When we receive the part, can I swap it myself or does it need to be done and/or signed off by and A&P or an IA ? there is a spring coupler between the muffler and the tailpipe so it looks pretty straightforward. Thanks in advance for your help Pierre

Great resource - thanks a lot for sharing I didn't expect to read the 3rd generation of a lubricant spec when I asked this question but it's interesting to see that something as simple a a low temperature lubricating oil have seen their spec updated 3 times in the past 24 years :

This is very helpful - thanks a lot for the detailed explaination

I saw that product but wasn't sure if MIL-PRF-7870 was the same as MIL-L-7870. I need to read the documents here to understand the nomenclature - thanks for your help

Hi everyone, I did my first oil change on the new-to-me 74 M20E with the assistance of the previous owner and wonderful A&P Keith. He showed me the ropes and took the stress out of the oil change. Shout out to Pat who came to the rescue when I realized I ordered the wrong oil filter.... Now to my question, the service manual I could find for the 1960's Mooney have the following recommendations for oils and grease: And my question is what modern equivalent are you using for the MIL-L-7870 (to be used on the control rods and such) and also the MIL-G-7711 grease. I did some googling but got lost with the amount of non-aircraft response. If the question is wrongly formulated, perhaps I may ask what oil and grease are you using for the control rods and the gear grease fittings As usual, thanks in advance for your help, the resources found on this forum like the jig to collect the oil below the filter helped me tremendously ! Here is the jig in action: :

I asked myself the same questions - in blue and green are the measurement points from the previous owner. My assumption is that the plane isn't sitting flat in his hangar ? But your guess is as good as mine. I'm planning to redo this calibration procedure one day and I'll start with recording the wings angle

I would like to point out that the tab is only used when fueling and therefore the interaction plastic <-> fuel are kept to a minimum Here is a picture in action, the arrow is to orient the gauge toward the fuselage of the plane insuring a constant positioning There is a dimple in the back of the tab to register it against one of the hole in the tank neck Hope this helps Pierre

This sounds very interesting/appealing to me. May I ask a few more details about the senders and your particular configuration ? How many senders are you using in the main and aux tanks per wing ? And how did you program the EDM-900 to teach the fuel remaining based on the main and aux fuel senders reading knowing that the tanks are connected ? We just put a deposit down for a total panel makeover and our engine monitoring will be handled by the G3x, and I was wondering if we should have fuel senders added to the aux tanks. Thanks in advance

That is correct, each wings have 2 tanks and they are connected permanently, when you fuel the main tank, some fuel goes into the aux tank after a while and vise versa. This makes fueling and knowing how much fuel we have on board a bit complicated. The previous owner gave us a nice chart to use on each tank with the universal fuel gauge. I spent some time and extrapolated (2nd order polynomial worked best with the data available) and got this table: blue cells are the actual measurement points And this is an example of the interpolation: Meanwhile I've 3D printed a fuel tab that slides and registers against the wing and give us a visual reference about 1in below the top of the main tank. You can download it here : https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5300397 This is working so far and I hope to find a better solution later! Thanks

I can't thank all of you enough for the insights and inputs you have shared. We have our last call with the avionics shop in Monday and we are pretty settled on the following: * one IFR GPS (GTN 750Xi), 1 VFR GPS : G3x * 2 COMS and 2 NAVs (GTN 750Xi + GMA35 and GNC 255A) So if the GTN fails, we can still shoot ILS approaches with the GNC255A I was critical for us to order the right equipment because the lead times are very high right now (6 months) so we don't want a redo in 6mo ! Thanks again - I'll share a picture of the panel when it's done (don't hold your breath...) and thanks again for all your advices and inputs

So after some discussion with the avionics shop, they recommended a GTN 750Xi + GMA 35 (GPS, NAV1, COM1) and have the G3x control a GNA255 (NAV2, COM2) Seems like it accomplish all we want and help us keep space on the right side of the panel for an iPad. Thanks everyone for your contributions and your insights - much appreciated. Pierre PS: I found great comments and inspirations on this post as well

Humm, didn't know connex is a paying option in the 700 series - thanks for bringing this up

We considered it but it is very appealing to remove the entire vacuum system (pump and Mooney stabilization system) since we are going to put servos for the GFC500. Also the G5 has a backup battery

Thanks for the suggestion Don but we are pretty set on getting only one manufacturer for autopilot, glass, NAV and COM to minimize the quirks and communications issues between devices.

Hi everyone, I'm the proud co-owner (since last week) of a '74 M20E currently equipped with : Vaccum gauges (6 pack) 530W + 430W Accutrack autopilot GTX 327 Basic fuel and engine monitor by Electronic International And we decided we want to go all in a glass panel overall: G3x + primary engine monitor G5 backup GFC500 GNT750Xi + GMA35 to help with the cost, we are thinking to re-sell/trade in the 530W and 430W but if we do that we loose the backup GPS and the 2nd radio. We would prefer to keep the panel "consistent" and trade in the 430w. What would you guys recommend for a 2nd COM unit ? Should we keep the 430W ? Our goal/mission is to have a capable IFR cross-country plane to fly the family and create memories. This is the current panel: Thanks in advance for your help Pierre

Hi everyone, I'm a long time reader and first time poster. I've read and learned a lot on this forum and I'm now the proud co-owner of a '74 M20E. The previous owner was very meticulous and the plane is in great shape besides the usual Mooney squawks like a small fuel tank leak. Along side other modifications, this plane has the supplemental aux tanks on the wings (+34g of 100LL) and these tanks are connected to the main tanks so when fueling the main after a bit the level goes down. The previous owner developed a method using a universal fuel gauge (graduated acrylic tube) but has only few points in his calibration for each tank. I was thinking rather to make a removable tab system allowing for a visual guide for refueling. Does anyone has experience with that - or a better method ? thanks in advance for your help Pierre