phxcobraz

Most of that money is going to be in paint correction prior to applying sealant. I did a full correction and sealant on one nicer car years ago(E92 M3) and it was great. For the airplane I just did the buffing/polishing/correction work myself and it shined up real nice for paint done in 1970. I couldn’t justify the cost of a full sealant on something that has plenty of leading edge chips and dings. I’ve buffed/polished it twice in the 4yrs I’ve owned it, and applied a spray sealant. It looks fantastic from 20ft, except for the leading edge rock chips. Whenever I wash now I use Optimum No-Rinse wash and wax, then Optimum OptiSeal as a drying agent on each panel and it reapplies that sealant each time but it doesn’t really last between washes like a true ceramic coating does. If I had newer paint I’d absolutely spring for the cost of ceramic coating.

I had almost the exact same issue earlier this year(see thread I posted). I was having intermittent trouble starting until one day it wouldn’t start at all. Checked continuity to all wiring to/from the ignition, shower of sparks, and the left mag. All checked out great, however my left mag was approaching overhaul/IRAN 500hr and in checking it we found the retard breaker not working. I figured the $500+ for the mag service was better put toward a new mag so I put on a Surefly electronic mag and it starts fantastic and so easy now.

I also had high viscosity on my recent one too which I attribute to a fair bit of IFR training and lots of hot climbs in the late summer/fall. My number 3 CHT will often hit 420 in climb. Which also causes the oil temperature to increase.

Blackstone sometimes alarms at high amounts of wear metals between changes if you run longer or shorter, so I try and send in samples from the same usage period to get true trend analysis. Blackstone has caught some trends on mine that I was able to rectify. They found more silica than normal and pointed at checking the air filter for leaks. The filter element was brand new but I found the duct had a small tear in it. Once repaired the silica level went back to normal. Thankfully was only about 40hrs between samples. For me it’s well worth the cost.

I still have the factory governor on my C and only make about 2640 as well. I had it adjusted a few years ago, as it was initially only making 2500 when I bought it. They got it to 2640 at basically the end of adjustment of the high speed stop adjustment. I figured 60rpm off was close enough and I haven't messed with it since.

I just latch it EVERY time I enter it. Throw in the pitot flag? Latch it. Put in baggage and walk to get more? latch it. I had an indecent when I first bought it and aborted a takeoff. The lock is questionable at best so I don’t like to trust it for anything.

If I see an airport locally start offering G100UL I will get the STC. I am glad a solution has been presented for those at KRHV. A few hundred is a lot better piece of mind than worrying about not having fuel at your home base in a major metro area. My home airport, KDVT is $6.19ga for self serve right now so $6.99 isn’t terrible. Like with anything economies of scale should hopefully bring it down some if it starts having a more stable rail distribution network.

I’m hoping so. Save my ass $900 maybe.

Funny you say that. I made a point this past week to test mine out and had no issues reported. Did some air to air and ATC comms 5/5 reported. I have seen people say before unracking and reracking radios can dissipate built up static electricity. I’m wondering if that is part of it, as we took it out to swap with my mechanics and it sat for 30min or so on the bench.

Pencil magnets to the iPad or with the RAM iPad mount it has a separate clip for the Apple Pencil. The Pencil 2 is quite a bit better than the first version. Making sure your thickness settings are correct so you can read it is also key. I think it’s mostly an adaptation thing. I used to always write with pen and paper, but I’ve gotten pretty used to this. Much less clutter. I hate clutter and cables in the cockpit.

I love the Apple Pencil. I write down any notes with it in Foreflight for ATIS, Clearance, or even just a reminder to check something out after the flight. No longer use any pen or paper. With the Mini6 yoke mounted it’s right there to access without getting in the way of anything.

Remember what they charged? I was given another company that can do com board $900. Bevan did my kx155 in 2021 and it was like $800

So I’ve been having random times my 430W will transmit static. I can receive no issues and all nav/gps functions work great. Sometimes tower/ground/approach says it’s unreadable and by the time I get to a different location it’s back to normal. My mechanic and I tested on ground and he could hear it, we swapped in another 430W he had and didn’t hear the issue. Best bet to send it in for a com board replacement or anything else to check? My Com 2 is a KX155 and it has no issues with static, clear to everyone. It’s just the light sensor is bad so at night it’s almost unusable without shining a light on it(considering the led display upgrade).

I have a Pint X also and have used it on more trips than I can count. There is a learning curve, and always wear a helmet. Works great to get around but I don’t really enjoy riding it on roads without a shoulder, which is common getting to and from some small airports. In those cases I still try and find a car/ride. I find a better use is getting around once I am at my destination, rather than renting a car. Often I am in small towns or cities that are well setup for bikes already and it works great there. I go to Pullman, WA a few times a year to see my nieces and nephews and I ride it every day going from hotel to their house and getting coffee/beer/whatever.

Correct. Can’t really run it LOP and even at 11-12k I haven’t noticed any difference. the price difference isn’t much from a normal mag and with the 2400hr “overhaul” the ongoing cost is also significantly cheaper.

I did the Surefly mostly for the easier starting. Have not been disappointed. I had a bad left mag at the time and rather than overhaul a Slick I opted for the Surefly. The advanced timing causes no issues, but also I don’t notice any speed increases. I do notice a bit of CHT increase which is expected for the increased efficiency in ignition. M20C

That’s what caught my eye. Perhaps it was frequently used for leverage to get in and out, putting significantly extra force on it by the weight of a person vs just normal flight control forces. Another theory I thought of was did this plane frequently use the seatbelt as a gust lock while on the ground, allowing weather conditions to contribute to excess force on this location, being that in that configuration it would be at the stop limit.

This thread is reminding me AGAIN that I haven’t washed the plane in 6mo and it is way too dirty.

Crewdog Electronics sells complete stratux as has been said. Mainly through Amazon but you might contact them to see if they can ship separate for you.

Just mineral spirits on the belly does pretty damn good. I put it in an aerosol sprayer and it goes a long way. Spray on, wipe off, wash with your soap and water of choice, then throw on some spray wax to keep it from building up in the future.

Thankfully you got it off so it didn’t interfere with runway use, an easy fix and no other damage done. I was going to a fly-in a few weeks ago and a Long-EZ broke a nose gear after a flat and barely was able to move to the right of the runway. I was in downwind when he landed and circled a few times until a few guys were able to lift it up and walk it to a taxiway. Can’t do that with a Mooney.

They are also cheaper from Spruce so I don’t know why you would buy from anywhere else unless you were in a pinch.

Good eye, that seems like a good way to reinforce the area. I'll check it out next time I am at the airport.

Good idea. I bought 10-20 of each type/size off aircraft spruce a while ago so I have extras. I’ve lost a few off the front cowl panels from time to time. The ace hardware by me also has them I found but I haven’t bought any yet. I have a bunch of nut plates too so I could see doing that at some point. I’ve replaced a bunch of stripped ones in my avionics access panels.

I think a lot of A&Ps are just so slammed with work they won’t do anything not deemed airworthy unless an owner requests it. Add to that apprentice A&Ps doing much of work and cheap or unaware owners and you get a system where if it’s hanging in by a thread it gets passed up. The previous 2 owners of this plane didn’t fly it much but 20-30hrs a year and pretty much did the bare minimum but they did overhaul the engine which was nice. Another opportunity they could have replaced it but didn’t. This is just my observation as an owner though. I am sure it varies place to place.