AndreiC

The guys at Top Gin can be hard to reach, but patience + insistence (keep calling) usually gets you through. It’s worth it.

I'll add myself to the long list of people who have had this kind of issue. But what is different for me is that I do have the original equipment mechanical gauge. I posted a month or so ago a different thread about fuel pressure variations. In my case they were going on about a 5-7 second cycle, with a quick drop from 25psi to about 20, then slowly recovering back to 25, steady for a couple of seconds, and repeating. With the boost pump on pressure was rock steady. At no point was engine operation affected in any way. This behavior stopped and things were fine for the last 10 hours of flying. But a couple of days ago, before I went flying, advancing the throttle from taxiing power (1000 rpm) to run-up position (1800 rpm) made the pressure do a big drop, from 26psi down to 15psi or even lower, and it took maybe 10 seconds to come back. Pretty unsettling. At the suggestion of the guys at Top Gun we checked the finger screen at the inlet to the servo, nothing found there. Another IA suggested that maybe the flexible fuel line between the firewall and the mechanical fuel pump may be getting old and under suction could partially collapse internally. Has anyone heard of something like this? The line is about 14 years old, but it is the teflon type, which from what I understand is not time limited. Is there a way to test if the fuel line is in good condition? I'd hate to start replacing stuff without testing if it is good or bad. Here is a link to a video I took of the first type of pressure drop.

Unless you have long range tanks 6 hours is not doable without a stop. The longest I flew non-stop was 5:10 and I landed with 8.5 gallons, which is below my personal minimum. I would say plan a fuel stop half-way, stretch your legs, fill up your tanks, and ignore the travel john. If you plan to fly over high mountains, I would suggest a portable oxygen system. You may want to go high even if not over mountains, just to take advantage of good tailwinds.

**First** cleaning? You do several cleanings of the belly? You enjoy unpleasant work? More to the point, what do you use for the later cleanings, and why? Do you have something that keeps the belly from getting dirty?

It’s beautiful! The only criticism I have is that it may be hard to spot against a light blue sky background… but in this day and age ADS-B helps a whole lot more. (I used to have a plane painted in desert camouflage colors — I got it this way — and whenever someone complimented me on the paint scheme I’d tell them I’d prefer to be seen than hidden…)

If I were you I would buy the simplest possible system first, and see how many times you use it in the first year. Then if the use warrants it, buy one of the more expensive systems. I live in the flatlands of WI, and for the first 20+ years of flying never used oxygen. Then earlier this year I wanted to go to the West Coast and do some flying over high mountains, bought a used Aerox tank with 4 OxyMiser cannulas. One filling of the tank was enough to take me to the West Coast + all the flying I did there (a couple of flights were with a passenger as well). Another filling was needed for the flight back. Total cost was $500 for the Aerox system, $30 + $50 for the two fillings. I still have a half tank left over, and I don't envision doing much high altitude flying soon. So there you have it.

Turns out this airport is not publicly owned, but it is owned by a corporation. They do very short term land leases (5 years) because they want to force out people who use their hangars to keep non-aviation related stuff (boats, RVs, cars). As far as I understand it you pay land lease around $1000/year, and if you keep airplanes there your lease goes on indefinitely. This is how the airport owners make their money, so it is in their interest to keep it this way. This is what was explained to me by one of the hangar owners on the field and also by the airport manager. Does this sound fishy in any way?

For the past 8 months I've rented hangar space from a guy at my field. This is a small field with a 3000' paved runway, about 40 minutes away from my house, in rural WI. The hangar is a nice one, 50'x50', insulated, with heat and a good bifold door. There are two planes in there (mine and a Husky, also renting space). Due to demand the airport is opening up space to construct 14 more hangars, but I have heard that new ones will be well over $100k to build. The owner mentioned to me the other day that he is thinking of selling his hangar, because he is too old, has not had a plane for 10+ years, and does not think he'll get back into flying. My question is -- how do I figure out what the right price is for such a hangar? I asked around and talked to two guys who bought hangars at the same field in the past two years. One paid $60k for a 50'x50', but it needed a new bifold door, new insulation and paint. The other guy paid $35k for a 30x40, but ended up putting close to another $35k in repairs fixing it up. Is $80k reasonable for my hangar? If I buy it and 5 years down the road I need to sell, will I be selling at a loss?

What type of seal was used? I had an MSC install the Brown T-9088 seal, and it was never right. The door was very hard to close even 6 months after, and there were obvious areas under the door where there were bad leaks (whistling noises while flying). At the recommendation of another MSC (Top Gun) I bought a different seal, presumably the OEM Mooney part - a type that consists of a thin rubber tube with a foam core inside. This worked much better, and only required one adjustment to make it perfect; I did all the installation myself. I am not saying that the T-9088 does not work, just that it did not work for me. I should add that you can adjust the pin at the top of the fuselage that is grabbed by the latch on the door. It is just a 5/8" nut that needs to be loosened, and then you can screw the pin out a little bit. That may give you some better chance for the latch to grab while the seal is stiff. As the seal molds to the shape of the door, you should adjust it back to where it was, slowly.

OK, after further inspection (now that I am back in the hangar) I decided that just scrubbing with the blue Wash Wax All will be enough for the upper surfaces. So that's that. For the belly I used to use this product -- premoistened cleaning wipes with some kind of lemon-y cleaner which I got from an auto parts store in town. Is there any concern about corrosion for using these? They do a very good job of cleaning the belly and there is no risk of the cleaner dripping in my eyes.

You were right. I went yesterday to the plane, and without having touched it the level in the left tank was low enough that it looked like it could hold another gallon. Thanks.

Yes, at 15,500 feet. At first signs of engine hiccups I switched tanks, and engine came back in a few seconds. I think this is a Mooney-recommended way of fuel management for long trips: fly one hour on one tank, then fly till the other tank runs dry, then fly on the first tank the rest of the way. That way all your available fuel is in one tank at the end. YMMV, make sure to check your POH for the recommended method for your plane.

The oil that comes out is not foamy at all. In fact I thought I even saw a rather yellowish, nice looking oil dripping. Only a tad darker than it came from the bottle. In fact I was congratulating myself on how clean the oil looks on the dipstick even after 30 hours. I'll probably open up the cowling tomorrow to see if I can see other places it may be leaking from.

I do have the blue WashWax All, and was planning on first washing the plane with water and soap (I ordered the Meguiar stuff from Amazon), drying off, then using the blue WashWax to finish off. Hopefully I'll get some of the shine back -- unfortunately the paint was already kind of faded even before going to CA... and the brutal sun is not helping.

During my recent very long flight I tried to run one tank (left) empty so I could get an idea how much it actually holds. I have bladders, installed by some previous owner. The tanks are placarded "Fuel quantity 27.4 gallons" each side. I left with the tanks completely full. The engine quit after my fuel totalizer showed 27.2 gallons used, which is well within the tolerance of my totalizer. So far so good. When I got home I filled the tanks back to the brim, starting with the tank that had been emptied out. What puzzles me is the fact that the fuel pump showed only 26.2 gallons pumped when the tank filled up. Can it be that the airport fuel pump is so inaccurate? I find that hard to believe. Do the bladders somehow constrict if they are not full, and maybe when I go back to the plane I'll find a bit of room in the left tank? Or is it possible that 1 gallon of fuel somehow got pumped back from the right tank to the left when I had the electric pump on? I am imagining all kind of things. Thanks for any suggestions.

Couple more questions, and then I promise to stop posting; sorry for the firehose-style asking of questions... 1) What soap do people use for washing their plane, when doing it with water? My plane sat outside for 4.5 months in California, and it is rather dusty and grimy. Now that I am back in my hangar I want to give her a good bath, with water, soap, and scrubbing. Recommendations for what soap to use? I also plan to use a ceramic wax afterwards, I had one from Wash Wax that I liked but I would not mind hearing other people’s experiences. 2) I have not found a good way to mount my Stratus 3s ADS-B receiver on one of the rear windows. The mount it came with has a suction cup, which stays on for a couple of days then falls off. I’d like it to stay on more permanently, but also to have the option to later remove it without damaging the plastic window. Is there some gel-like glue I could use that will later peel off easily? Thanks, Andrei.

Interesting. The oil change was done by Top Gun, and they put in the 7 qts. My general philosophy was to keep it above 6 qts, and whenever it dropped below that I would add a quart. From what people are saying here it is wiser to keep it between 5 and 6, and add when it dips below 5? Also, I did not know that air/oil separator was an optional item. Are there more people out there who don't like it, and prefer to just blow the stuff out?

Question: how much oil coming out of the air/oil separator is too much? After landing two days ago after a long (5.5 hours) flight, I noticed that the gear doors on my 70E (IO360) are quite dirty with oil, especially the left side one. I attach a picture, with a comparison of the right (exhaust side) one; the gear doors were cleaned completely about 12 hours ago. It was enough oil so that one small drop fell to the ground in the place where I was parked. Checking the oil level, I think I lost/consumed about 0.75 quarts on this 5.5 hours flight. I did not open up the cowling to check inside, but it seems the dirtiest it is around where the line from the air/oil separator comes out of the cowling. I am not sure, but the amount of oil consumed seems to have increased somewhat. The first 20 hours after the oil change I did not seem to use almost any oil at all. But the following 10 hours used about 2 quarts, more or less. Here is a log of oil level since the last oil change: -- at 0 hours since oil change, I was at 7 quarts; -- at 20 hours I was around 5.5 quarts, added 1 quart; -- at 25.5 hours I was at 5.2, added 1 quart; -- now at 32 hours I am at 5.5. Is this something to be concerned? Can I do something to reduce the oil blowing out?

I know some people here have much better machines, but my trip yesterday was an eye-opener to the capabilities of my E model. Took off from KRKS (Western WY) at 10am, and five and a half hours later landed at 91C in Eastern WI, crossing five states (WY, NE, SD, IA, WI). 993 miles non-stop at an average speed of 190 mph, burned 46 gallons of fuel at 13,500 feet. Of course tailwind helped (around 25kts), but I still feel amazing about it. I used oxygen all the way, and felt none of the fatigue I used to feel after flights above 10k. Here's a picture of one of the more spectacular buildups I had to dodge along the way.

OK, as the OP I feel obliged to respond to some of the comments. In the end I had to go to Driggs -- I was not aware of the fact that Jackson Hole has extremely limited overnight parking, which must be reserved well ahead of time. (They said 5 tie-down spots total.) Takeoff from Driggs was absolutely a non-issue. Much easier than a takeoff I did years ago from Fremont County (1V6) in a fully loaded Piper Cherokee 180 on a hot (90+ degrees F) day. 1V6 stands at 5450 feet. My POH only shows information for 5000 pressure altitude and 80 degrees F. But @Shadrach's table for an F helped. Thanks to all who responded.

I am planning on flying my 1970 E model to Jackson Hole, WY, and I’m a bit concerned about the takeoff afterwards. I’ll be about 250lbs under gross, at an OAT of about 60 degrees. Field elevatoon is 6450ft, and the runway is 6300ft. Can the E handle this?

Back to the topic of front gear management. Is it possible for me to damage it while pushing the plane with just my weight and a towbar? 1970 M20E.

I don’t know anything about HolyMicro’s device, but I want to commend here the customer support from MicroKit’s LHS. My unit was sometimes not powering up on first try; they took it back, ran multiple tests on it, and even though they were unable to replicate the problem they still sent me very fast (2 days turnaround) a replacement unit that works flawlessly. This after spending an hour or more with me on the phone trying to diagnose the issue. My installation, btw, was under three hours of shop time. I ordered from Spruce the correct wiring, cut the inspection panel myself, ran the cable to behind the audio panel under IA supervision. All the avionics shop had to do was hook up power (from an unused MB fuse), gear switch, and audio (using the ADF input on my audio panel). They had no problems with it, even though it was their first LHS install. Love the unit. Gives me peace of mind about not forgetting the gear. And BTW, if I ever hear a warning I forgot to put it down, I’m going around, be it at 500 ft or 200 ft. Something must have gone badly wrong on that approach and I don’t want to find out in 1 min or less what else I forgot.

Anyone knows how this changes with addition of bladders? My fuel tanks are placarded “27.2 gallons” but is this the useable amount?

Interesting. I guess that reduces the likelihood of the hose being the issue. This makes me think more and more that it is better to take the conservative approach and wait until I get back to my home base and let my mechanic there investigate things, instead of trying to repair/replace things I don’t know for sure are broken. (The only reason I was planning to replace the hoses was for age, as the mechanic here said it is a good idea to replace them anyway if they’re older than 10 years. But I had not told him they are Teflon.)