AndreiC

Let me give another, more CB perspective. My previous plane, a Piper Cherokee, had no autopilot. I discovered that a version of the Century IIB was part of the Type Certificate, so I would not need an STC to install it. I found the parts for one on ebay. My avionics shop tested the head unit for free, I sent the servo to be overhauled by Autopilots Central in Tulsa, and had it installed. Total cost, about 8 years ago, was $5k all in. Despite the bad rap, that autopilot worked perfectly for the next five years with zero maintenance, and I am pretty sure it works fine still. My main concern would be that I don’t know how much more complicated the C41 is. If it is a delicate piece of equipment with many things that could go wrong, then yes, probably keeping it in service another 10 years is a stretch. But for the CIIB the only things that were usually going bad were the connectors (still available) and the servo (which at the time could still be overhauled). If the situation is similar with the C41, installing a GPS to drive it, with the idea that if the C41 fails down the road there is a path to upgrading to a GFC500, does not sound to me like a bad idea.

I strongly support @Vance Harral's opinion. You can learn everything you need with your current setup, and upgrade later when you know what your real-world needs are. Plus an avionics upgrade will ground your plane for a long time now, so you won't be able to start your training. You don't need an autopilot to do your training, but for real life use of an instrument rating (and overall use of your plane), I would definitely think an autopilot would be very useful. Unless you are flying short flights, it gets boring and tiring to just keep heading and altitude in IMC (or VMC for that matter) for a long time. You can definitely do it, but it is a chore after a while. So before worrying about FD or WAAS, I would spend the money for an autopilot. From what I hear a GFC500 is very nice, but the cheaper option mentioned above seems fine too. (AeroCruze?) Since the audio panel is pretty much independent of the others, I would do that now if it does not ground you for too long. Finally, you could get a one-time database upgrade for $120 or so. An altimeter IFR check should be around $250-300. These costs are pennies compared to an avionics upgrade, just do them and start your training. (You can legally fly for 30 days in IMC, and after that use the GPS as a VMC-only tool. Most of your instrument training will be done in VMC, so you can still shoot practice approaches even with an expired database.)

I had a similar problem, where I could only get 2640 on takeoff. I asked my mechanic to turn the high rpm limiting screw on the governor (PCU5000) enough to make 2700, and ended up with 2730 max rpm, which I did not like (flashing red light on tach). So I had the screw backed off by a turn, and I'm now happy at around 2690. But the job of adjusting that screw is a bear, it is located in the worst possible position. I have a huge admiration for the patience of both mechanics who adjusted this, I would have used quite a few choice words in the process. I also noticed that on first flight of the day I get a slightly higher RPM on takeoff. I attributed this to oil still being cold, and so the governor cannot push it to adjust the prop blades as well as it should.

I would talk to Lycoming and ask them, for a crankshaft like yours where hardness testing was performed, where should the minimum space be measured, at the slightly indented area or in the rest of it. Seems weird that the shop says that there was an improper repair made to the crank when said part was installed by Lycoming.

Just an idea (I am completely a novice to these kinds of things). The SB 475C came out in 2003, long after this engine was assembled. Could it be that Lycoming came up with new measurements that acceptable cranks must satisfy, which were not in place in 1983?

I have finally decided to enter the modern age (!!) and to start using an electronic logbook. Since I use Foreflight I will go with that for now. But I have two large old logbooks with handwritten entries going back 24 years that I'd like to add to the electronic record, and doing it by hand seems very tedious. Does anyone have a better way?

This message is inspired in part by the earlier conversation on towing with a lawn tractor. The other day I found myself unable to push my plane in the hangar due to a very thin layer of snow on the apron to the hangar. (The apron has a very shallow up grade; when dry I can push the plane into the hangar by myself, but barely. With the snow the plane has a harder time rolling, and my shoes also slip.) I’ve been thinking of installing a winch on the back wall of the hangar and pulling the plane by the tail tie down. But I became concerned because the tail in a Mooney is not solidly attached to the fuselage, so I worry about damaging something long term. What is the consensus, is gently pulling on the tail tie down safe? I’d think I’d be pulling with 50-100 lbs of force max.

From what you describe it seems that a best choice for you is to look for an F. The delta between it and an early model J will be best to either keep in a fund for emergency expenses (something unexpected breaks) or to do upgrades after a while when all is settled. Don't underestimate in your planning the first few years' costs associated with little things you find that you need/want to be upgraded. As a basic example, shortly after buying my E I decided that for peace of mind I really wanted to have the LHS system with gear warning, mainly as a tool to not forget the gear down. (I don't think of myself as invincible.) With installation that was a quick 2 AMU. New landing gear donuts, 5 AMU (iirc). Things add up quickly.

By minimal IFR rating I mean that from a legal standpoint (I think) you only need to prove that you are able to shoot two types of approaches, one of which should be a precision one. So if you can demonstrate that capability you'll get your ticket. But most people nowadays fly with GPS guidance, so if you got your ticket and you and your plane can only fly ILS and VOR, you will be seriously underusing your rating, as most airports of interest to GA pilots may not have one of these. In my area there is one big airport (MSN) with pretty much every kind of approach you'd ever want (including ASR), but the smaller airport (91C) I am based at only has GPS-based approaches. The other destination I most frequently fly to (3D2) also only has GPS-based approaches. If I ever got trapped in really bad weather I would go to MSN. But most of the time if the forecast calls for LIFR I will stay at home, and if the ceiling is OVC 007 I will easily fly LPV/LNAV+V approaches between my two smaller airports and not bother with a big airport and all the hassle associated with that (rent a car, drive home, go back the next day, ferry the plane, etc.) So for me having only ILS/VOR capabilities would be severely limiting. Of course, for others it may be different.

I don't remember, are the flaps on the B operated like on the later C model (i.e., hydraulic)? Or is there another Johnson bar? Most so-called VFR platforms can be used to learn and get a minimal IFR rating -- two VOR heads, one of them with glideslope, is enough to learn to do ILS and VOR approaches (this is how I learned). But an IFR rating these days is almost useless without an LPV capable IFR navigator, so a 430W minimum is needed. But the 430 line is no longer supported by Garmin, so installing a 430W is a money-losing proposition unless you plan to keep the plane for a long time (as said above, most people who buy a B will be doing so as a basic VFR machine to putter around, so would not place much value on having an IFR navigator). Moreover, you mention "family" -- even with two adults plus one kid on board, the extra useful load of a C will be much appreciated, especially as kids grow quicker than you realize. So I see two ways ahead for you. 1) Buy the B as a low-cost, VFR machine, to time-build, putter around short distances with the family, and do most of an IFR training with very basic tools (learning ILS and VOR approaches in real life, and maybe doing LPV approaches in a simulator). Then, once your mission is more clear, upgrade to a C or higher (if your family will fly with you, most likely an F). 2) Define your mission better now, and buy what you plan to keep for a while. I personally would recommend option 2, because especially with an older Mooney you will spend a lot of money in the first few years to catch up on maintenance to get the bird to where you want it to be (donuts? fuel tank leaks? magnetos? small panel improvements?), and these costs will be lost when you sell. But I fully understand the itch to buy something now (my first plane was a $15k Cherokee which I then spent another $10k to fix and sold for $15k back again, but I don't regret it a minute). Good luck with your decision.

I tried that on my panel, and it did not help. The issue seems to be that the switches are supposed to be sealed, so not much of the cleaner, if any, gets in.

I for one would be very happy if this audio panel can be cleaned up and restored to full functionality, I am happy with it otherwise. @Phil123 please keep me posted if you find someone who can work on it.

I strongly doubt it. My avionics shop said the switches in these units are not serviceable, so probably they would need to find new ones and solder them back out/in. Doubt that is worth the effort, even if the switches can be found (which is highly doubtful).

The panel has one interesting feature, not sure I know how it's done. The old analog oil pressure, temp, volts, etc have been replaced by some digital instruments, but I did not think those are usually approved as primary. I wonder how that was approved?

None that I could find. I bought a used KA134 from ebay that was marginally better than the one I used to have. But this equipment is 55 years old, so my next upgrade will likely be a modern audio panel.