Elijah

Thanks! Thank you, I'm figuring out a lot of this as I go, with the help of good mentors! Interesting idea, it doesn't get kicked there too much? I am planning to put it under the floor on the passenger side at this point, I have everything apart anyway...

Got the interior out, starting on the window removal as well as some antenna work. Around the baggage area and above the hat rack area, there was ~1" thick black foam that has completely disintegrated. What - if anything - do people put in there in place of it, I guess it's just for sound dampening? The rest of the airplane has ~1/2" thick mylar backed foam insulation cut to fit between the various tubes, I believe that was installed when SBM20-208B was performed years ago. That foam is all in good condition.

I actually came across a gdl 82 for a good deal so that is the ADSB route I'm going. My transponder was serviced in 2017 and I verified it still works - tx freq might need adjusted a bit but they can take care of that at the transponder cert. I'd love to see a pic of where your gdl 82 is mounted, the belly sounds like a reasonable idea. That would roughly be in line with the existing coax run.

The flap corners were also skinned up so I made replacements. Same for the inboard flap hinges. One side only the fairing was damaged, on the other side both the fairing and the arm needed replaced. I ordered them from Mooney through LASAR, however the pilot holes do not line up well at all with the mating parts. I learned you need to ask for no pilot holes, undrilled if you're planning on matching it to an existing part.

This was a fun side project, making a patch for the lower gear door, it was slightly skinned up from the fateful landing. I am pretty happy how well it came out, that's the first time I ever tried to make a compound curve in aluminum.

Good news, the wheel well cleanup and gear work is mostly complete. I had the gear legs powder coated and I stripped and painted the gear wells while they were out. A nasty job for sure and took a long time. However, it is done now and looks pretty nice. And most importantly, the gear legs and spar should be safe from any corrosion for awhile. I have all the belly skins ready to go and the two rear ones are riveted in place. I've made up new brake lines and went thru the calipers. Right now I'm trying to get the system bled. There's no fluid in the passenger side to put enough pressure on the shuttle valves to switch them over so I can push fluid up into that side. Gotta read up on the technique for that. Anyway, it's still moving forward albeit slowly!

That's a buffer, for polishing stuff :-) Unrelated project.

The washers worked pretty well. Got the gear leg off and cleaned up, see before and after pics. Now working on the wheel well, wow that is nasty. I think there were some attempted fuel tank repairs in here, there's some nasty gooey silicone like material squeezed into the joints around the spar. Lots of old dried on grease and dirt. What a mess. Any good tricks on cleaning these out? lol....

That's a good idea! I was gonna make the tool tonight but this sounds easier. Thanks!

I'm a ways from being finished but even at this point I think you have to value your time at "not much" to make any money doing this But I'm having fun, I work on computers all day and this hand work is kinda relaxing. I intend to keep it and fly it for my personal airplane - at least for the forseeable future. I have had some good trips in other people's mooneys and look forward to doing more of those. Latest challenge is getting the main gear out, I need the spring removal tool... I'll get them cleaned up and powder coated. I'm pretty sure it's the factory paint and it's not looking so good (lots of little rust spots). Probably should strip and paint the gear wells too while the gear is out, they need it bad. The more you look, the more work you find...

This curved one for the side was a little tricky, I bent it roughly on a sheet metal brake and then rolled it on an english wheel to smooth it out. It turned out pretty good.

The quick drain on the sump was leaking, that was the only significant oil leak I noticed on the engine. There was quite a bit of oil accumulated under the cowling and on all the belly and nose gear area. The gear up damage was not too bad, although this was actually it's 2nd gear up landing. It's a labor of love, I think it will be a nice plane eventually! I finished drilling the new skins last weekend, they're ready to go now.

Yep, a 345 would be great too if I can find one for a decent price. I have a stratus already so I'm not as concerned about the in part, although having that built into the panel is certainly convenient. I could see that beeing a challenge to get another antenna on the roof, it's got to be done though. I need to tear the interior apart anyway to replace the windows. I have all the logs, it was overhauled in 2009 and was running until the gear up incident, that was fall of 2019 I think. So, it sat for 3.5 years in winslow. We pulled it off and took it to a shop where they did the prop strike AD etc. It's got 250ish SMOH and ran nicely on the ferry flight. Once I get her airworthy I plan to put some hours on it and keep an eye on the filters/oil analysis.

I won't be spending a bunch on avionics, I don't mind steam gauges and I can't justify spending tens of thousands after which the airplane will still fly the exact same way :-) On ADSB, my thinking goes like this: a tailbeacon is around $2k, but the existing transponder is an old King KT76 and may need service in the near future. In which case, you might be money ahead to just buy a mode S transponder, probably around $3.5k and now you have only one box to maintain, relatively new, should give quite a few trouble free years. I actually have a tailbeacon on my cessna and it works fine but I have had to swap out the old Narco mode C. I also wonder how long it will last since it is out in the elements whenever you're out of the hangar. The GDL 82 is a nice solution, plus being a UAT you have the advantage of "anonymous" mode. Decisions, decisions.... :)

A great deal considering the alternatives, $700 for both doors shipped. Thanks AZ salvage! I still have a ways to go before it's flying but definitely a good step in the right direction! Appreciate the encouragement and suggestions above also!