Denis Mexted

When you are flying with big distances between airports (such as the the Canadian 'outback', or more familiar to me Australian outback, or remote islands in vast oceans) and arriving with minimum reserves, having those reserves in one tank makes sense. I've ran tanks dry on many aircraft, many times. It gives you confidence in the sums, or these days the fuel flow gage and digital readout. Re this failure, what luck! Your next move should have been to the 'lotto' office and buy a ticket in the big draw. By the looks of the pic the skies were clear? I haven't had much to do with the Ram Air system on the Mooney. It seems self explanatory. But a friend told me story where he was over hills in the dark and the engine started loosing power. He descended into warmer air and it improved. His theory was although the Ram Air was not being used, the butterfly valve at the front was leaking air. Moist air that was freezing in the throttle body. If that be the case wouldn't that happen anytime the Ram Air was used, below the freezing level, and in moist air? I'm in the camp that the leaking fuel is a red herring also. A bit of ice in the system, fuel pump on and the burning process moves out of the possible burning stoichiometric ratio. Just a stab in the dark guess.

No one else has had a rivet pop on that doubler? I'm heading off for an annual tomorrow and that's making my wallet nervous.

Hello all. I noticed today on the wing entrance to the cabin. Have others had problems with the doublers on the top of the wing? I have the rivet head from that hole but would be unable to take a micro pic of it to offer. Thanks, Denis.

Just putting it out there. If anyone has a project needing similar. I'm sending these springs to Tailwheel Tom who builds gear springs for C180's. He's going to test and re-coat. I think they were possibly silver plated rather than CAD. But I'm not sure.

Thanks for the info and stories guys. I did 36 hours for the week in it and enjoyed it a lot. (apart from pulling the top cowl in 40*c blazing sun to see where an oil leak was coming from) I got use to the speed brakes. While the cruising (3 to 4 hour legs) was mostly in the smooth. The descents were rough with heavy convective turbulence. So the brakes just pulling the speed back a bit were welcome. It was a good machine for those legs. Although the dirt strips play havoc with props in that area. Mostly the stations have pads for run ups. Although on a couple I did a run down the runway at 40kts to cycle the prop. The main station was Newcastle Waters which is 10,350 square kilometres, or 2,557,000 acres. The heating issue on departure has to be related to fuel flow and I've directed the regular pilot to the TCM 97-3E. I'm back to my day job in a couple of weeks so it's unlikely I'll fly it soon. But it was a great week.

Hello All, I had a few circuits in a M20R yesterday and the day today flying it. 40*C days at the moment where I'm at so the two flights I did today were up at the 10,000ft mark. I had a brief look at the POH today but didn't see what I was after. Speed brakes, are they taken on at TOD and left to after landing? CHT's. Bloody hell in the hot conditions I'm at if I didn't accelerate to 120kts fairly quickly after take-off I couldn't keep them in the green. Any comments welcome.

Skip - I think the difference is that the female rod ends are drilled and tapped, as the name implies. However these rod ends are solid. Re replacing them with threaded male rod end does seem like the go. But I'm happy replacing like with like. I would need to consult some IA's re changing the set up. Not saying it can't be done but it obviously requires welding a threaded receptacle into the tube to receive the threaded rod end. I would have imagined that would require an EA (engineering authority) here in Australia.

Mooney have none. Nor do Lasar but Dan has been great in his efforts and pushing to get another batch made. I couldn't see why there wasn't greater demand as they are ubiquitous in Mooneys. Surely the odd one fails annuals and others have Hangar Queen restorations like myself.

Hello All. My project has been stalled for a bit as life happens. Also I'm in need of bits! All bearings in my 'barn find' Mooney are being replaced. To put the undercarriage in I'm needing 6 rod end bearings. The pinned ones. The elevator system also has possibly 8. Here are two part numbers from my IPC for a '74 M20F. Both now use a MW-3M-18 as advised by Mooney. 914012-015 modified bearing (uses a MW-3M-18) 914012-017 is a modified bearing (uses a MW-3M-18) I cannot see how everyone doesn't need some spares of these. Our favourite Mooney supplier has been tearing his hair out trying to obtain these and has approval to have another batch made. Just curious if there is much demand for these? Cheers, Denis Mexted. There are a lot of the pinned rod ends in Mooney actuators.

Here's a photo of the back of my C180 panel using Nulites. They are great.

In Oz, what you guys would call a mechanic, we would call an engineer. Or LAME. Licensed Aircraft Maintenance Engineer.

I couldn't believe the efficiency of this beauty. I was TAS'ing 157kts and burning 38 ltr/hr. Compared to my C180 this thing's a dream. I make the specific ground range 65% better. I do have some questions, like leaning on climb. The auto-pilot (KFC200) was jumping on altitude hold. But I have some reading to do first on both topics. I put it in a hangar last night belonging to the instructor who did my commercial license. After my time with him he had a Mooney 201 at his school for years. He said as we were pushing the aircraft in to get rid of the Ram Air Louvre. He was flying out of Canberra one night in his 201 and the power was reducing. He determined the Ram Air Louvre was letting in moist air which was causing induction icing.

I flew a Mooney for the first time yesterday for the first time in about 30 years. What a fun aircraft. I have a lot of fun memories of a M20C with the 'round' windows and J-bar from when I was 20 (34 years ago). While work is still progressing VERY slowly on KWA, I have a need for a Mooney right now. Well 'need' is probably a bit strong a word. I wish to put my wages into my own aircraft for the kids rather than someone else's. Plus single engine, CSU, retractable aircraft are very hard to find at Ma and Pop flying schools these days. If the kids load up on debt that I don't see how they can repay they could go to a big sausage machine school, but.......... Anyhow, we are now the proud owners of more aeroplanes.

Hello all. Could I just quantify this if there is anyone out there who has done this. Firewall forward off an F into a C ? Is this doable? New boost pump. And an STC. I read elsewhere Lasar can do this so I'll enquire tomorrow. Many thanks.

Thanks for the education guys. I replaced all the breakers in my C180 when I did a number on it, but not the switches. Reading the above, maybe I should have done both.

Alright. Back to switches. How are people complying with AC 43.13-1B ? Specifically the derating factor. So for a 12 VDC system, for a 10 amp light, a 50 amp switch is required. Looking at the Carling Technologies I don't see anything that amperage. Am I missing something?

Firefly. Do you have a figure number for the IPC? I'm replacing a number of bushings. Very slim chance I've got it but worth a look. Getting parts is a big issue. Lasar have been great, but they are just a retailer. It's Mooney who gets the parts produced and they aren't replacing empty stock lines.

YuriE. I had a good look around the other day and could see no pitch servo and mounting unit. There was a servo and bellcrank in the left hand wing. Would it be unusual to have a S-Tec just as a wing leveller?

This is what I've pulled out so far. The servo's are still in the wing. Next weeks job (I believed it all worked prior to coming out. But who knows)

Will do. Home early next week for a hangar week.

YuriE, I've just had a look through the paperwork and cannot find any STC for the S-Tec and M20F. Not totally surprising as the books are a bit of a mess. Sorry, Denis.

I can check. I'll try and take a look in the log books tomorrow. I'm running at the moment. Airbus trip for three days and then into a harvester for three weeks.

I've got an S-Tec 50 (I think) that I've pulled out of a M20F. I don't know anything about it except it worked prior to long term storage.

I've just purchased the Garmin 7" Txi. It's still in the box and sometime from install. Any pics or advice on the installation?

What the story with gear springs (or bungees as Mooney likes to call them) ? I’ve had some on order for a while, but none are forth coming. My old ones I left in stripper for ages and paid them no respect thinking I was getting new ones.