00-Negative

What a long day. Thanks for all of your input. PlaneExhaust has the part in stock for $295 so I had it overnighted to 5R4. With the holiday, it will arrive Friday. I asked the mechanic about a welder and he reluctantly agreed to call a guy that knows a guy. We checked out of our $260/night Hampton Inn and went to the airport where we played Uno for a few hours while waiting. A little after lunchtime the guy showed up with the welded part for $500.. We installed, checked plugs, cylinder compressions, and ground ran without problems. Took off and dodged thunderstorms all the way to Ft Pierce where I'm in a 4 star Hilton resort for $104/night. Money ran fast and flawlessly. First thing in the morning we'll take off for the Bahamas.. Rented a lifeboat just in case. -David

Took off for the Bahamas today. During runup I inadvertently left the selector on Left mag and noticed it approx 45 minutes into the flight. My climb rate was awful, but I assumed it was the 98° temp and I was within 20lbs of max gross weight. I changed selector to Both with no noticable change. My remaining cruise seemed slower than normal, but my settings were more economical whereas I usually I fly as fast as possible all the time. At a planned fuel stop at 5R4, I increased throttle while in base leg and suddenly the engine sounded like a car without a muffler. After landing, I pulled cowling and a section of #2 exhaust stack is blown out. Engine is around 500hrs smoh. Recent annual with nothing major. Unsure if exhaust has ever been changed. Plugs have a little carbon, nothing terrible. Question: did my single magneto debacle cause any problems that I should check for? Did it have anything to do with the exhaust stack failure? Side note: during annual, I pointed out a discoloration on the now blown out section of exhaust pipe that I thought was oil residue as we were chasing an oil leak. Maybe it was discolored d/t weakening metal? Anyone have a source on this part? I don't see a miracle happening that will allow us to make it to the Bahamas. -David

Yes, the seat belt bracket is bolted in the forward most hole of the bracket circled. There is a shim that slides over the bolt that accounts for the difference in bolt diameter vs seat belt bracket diameter allowing the seat belt to swivel around the bolt. Order from outside (wing skin) to inside: bolt-shim-seatbelt-rear seat bracket (circled above), washer, locking nut. -David

The servo cables are joined by a linkage and can be separated. In the attached picture, you can just see the beginning of the linkage. I removed all 4 to refurbish around 8 months ago.

I replaced my 1966 M20E original gauge with a used gauge from a 1968 M20F that has the fuel vent line. We routed the hose thru the firewall and over the left cowl flap next to the oil breather outlet. Worked great for the first few flights. Then the fuel pressure started reading high and works remain at 14 even after shutdown. The vent hose had melted shut due to it's proximity to an exhaust pipe. Even after cutting the distal melted portion off and restoring patency of the vent hose, the erroneous reading persisted. I had my original gauge which does not have a fuel vent outlet overhauled and reinstalled. - David

My bracket is a simple galvanized angle corner brace for general construction. I shaped the left side in a bench vise to hug the 1" airframe tubing. The left-side bracket uses an existing sheet metal screw for one attach point.See this different picture where I zoomed in and you can see the sheet metal screw in place. I didn't drill any holes in the airplane. The other attach point is an existing length of screw from one of the windshield brackets. I left the original locknut in place and placed my bracket overit. My picture shows a nylon locknut, but I had to change that to a lock washer and a lower profile nut as the remaining threads weren't long enough to grab the nylon. The threaded insert is a rivet nut (upside down) centered over the airframe tubing and on the axis between the two attach points. The right side bracket also uses a windshield bracket screw. The aft side of the bracket uses the existing threaded insert for the grab handle. I replaced the screw with one 1/4" longer from my hoarding collection. The right side bracket angles across the tubing. I started by straightening the angle, holding it in place and scribing the tubing edges with a sharpie. Then I bent the metal with a hand metal seamer. I started with the right bracket and eyeballed the rivnut aligned with the corner of the windshield. Then I worked on the left bracket to align with the left corner. I didn't measure anything, just aligned myself in the cabin and eyeballed it. Removing the plastics is not difficult and probably only takes me 5 minutes or less. The upper windshield trim has 6 screws. I removed the right forward door trim which has maybe 5 screws. I also removed the forward most screws from the headliner and left window trim to lift those pieces away from what I was removing. My total time invested in this was maybe 3-4 hours. The right side bracket was the most arduous. But I brought my hand tools in the cabin and worked from the front seat. I've flown maybe 2 hours since installing and have not had a problem. The right visor does cover the grab handle, but neither my wife or I use the handle for ingress/egress. I do have some friends who will need to use the handle to get in and out of the plane. Those same friends will be using up all of my useful load. ,So I'll anticipate and move the visor before one of their big giant paws breaks my new, fully-articulating visor. Next: I need to instlall Lemo plugs for all 4 places. -David

Ordered a set of visors from @DonMuncy My '66E had the center mount visor. Mr. Muncy fabricates a fully articulating visor with nicely sized hardware and smooth joints at a very fair price. I fabricated a very crude bracket for each side and used existing Mooney hardware to install to avoid any alteration to the plane. Hopefully my bracket will hold up over time. If not, I have no problem having paid Mr. Muncy a modest sum for his hand-made engineering. My Wemac baffles above are courtesy of @Utah20Gflyer's design. I built a vacuum forming machine and formed them from 1/16 ABS. Also copied @piperpainter's backseat mod w/ a slight twist. I guess it's time for me to confess that I've been lurking on this forum for a long time saving and compiling information. I have definitely taken more than I've given. I try to database any information that I might need in the future to repair or obtain equivalent parts to keep this plane in the air. And I can't quit buying up everything that comes available that I think I might need in the future. Why am i buying Brittain stuff from Bonanza guys? And why did I buy that lot of various early Mooney inspection panels? I save instruction articles such as @Shadrach's thorough course on hydraulic flap maintenance/overhaul or @carusoam's bullet points and I've saved just about everything @M20Doc has said. I do try to buy from the folks here. I ordered @donkaye's landing video. I have @takair's electric step conversion sitting in my hangar waiting to install. Picked up a battery charger from @OSUAV8TER shortly after I bought the plane. Anyway, I'm thankful for the folks on this forum and your willingness to share your years of experience and expertise. I fly out of a rural airport in the middle of nowhere in SW Louisiana. Without the information here, I will quickly run into something that will ground me. -David

I got a quote for this on 12/14/23 asking with the GI-275 EIS, and GFC500. The 2x GI-275s flight instruments were quoted at $12k for purchase and installation. The GI-275 EIS was $12k. The GFC500 was $27k. -David

The pilot responded on a Facebook forum. He uses a Stratux instead of a Stratus which is the same thing I use. It does not have an internal battery that I am aware of. Mine came with an external lithium battery pack which connects via micro-usb (see attached picture). He said he dropped the battery while walking to the plane. After starting his plane, the Stratux did not work, so he put it in the backseat. During run-up, he turned around and the back seat was on fire. I have this same Stratux for ads-b and weather. I have never used the battery, I have it mounted under the instrument panel with a micro-usb cable routed to the cig lighter plug.

I've been looking closely at Uavionix AV30s. They just announced the AV HSI which is available for experimentals and will be for certified in the coming weeks. It will communicate with GPS and autopilot allowing for approaches. Sarasota Avionics is taking preorders now. I read on a forum recently that some folks have flashed their certified AV-30 with the experimental software and are already using the HSI capabilities. Uavionix might be my most affordable option with a straight forward easy-as-can be install. I'm really considering dual AV-30s with Aerocruze 100 AP which I can install myself w/ A&P on my field. I recently got estimates for [Garmin G3x + GFC500 -The Full Monty- $84k]; [3 Garmin GI275 + GFC500 $52k] ; and [Dynon Skyview+ Aerocruze] $75k. I have a GTN650 already in the plane. Not only were the astronomical costs a deterrent, but the downtime for the plane was 6-12 weeks for each. I couldn't believe the Dynon + Aerocruze was close to the full Garmin setup in price. -David

@Rmnpilot I have 2 sets of David Clark One-X that I bought last summer for my daughters. They've been used prob 3 times. I want to replace them with Bose mostly because the DC's plugs are slightly longer and it takes a significant effort to unplug from my backseat plug location. They're dual GA plugs. You can message me here or text me if you're still looking. David Vizinat (337)226-5301

If I remember correctly from when I called them a couple of months ago, Hooker belts only come in black.

I don't have maintenance manual pictures, but I have pictures of mine before I put the scat hose back on. I still want bonus points though. I had this problem when I got my M20E. Previous owner had disconnected the hoses to the heater intake box attached to the fire wall d/t constant heat coming in the cabin. You can see the foil caps he made to cover the 2" and 1.5" scat tube inlets. You can also see the scat tubes hanging there. The larger scat tube comes from the muffler shroud while the smaller scat tube comes from the back of the doghouse. I lubed the cable and the flap mechanism really well with triflo. The second picture shows the inside of the box. When I pull the heater 'on' the round flapper pulls up and closes off the the small opening from the dog house and allows hot air from the muffler shroud into the cabin. When heat is off (3rd picture) flap is down pressed against the cabin inlet which then forces air from the smaller doghouse hose to travel thru the muffler shroud hose. You can see in the pictures the baffle material attached to the firewall side of the flapper. The baffle material seems to be in decent shape and does a good job of closing off that intake tube. I don't get any heat when it's closed. Hope this helps. -David

I've had some luck finding some of the images in Google images. Takes clever searching. For example: I think I finally found the picture posted by Jetdriven of his overhead vent replacement in the "Overhead vent upgrade project" thread. He used vent covers from a Tahoe. My search phrase was 'mooneyspace jetdriven overhead vent'. In the 3rd row of pictures in Google Images, looks to be that picture.

Yep. Had to scrap my flight out of KADS this morning d/t low ceilings. Glad someone enjoyed all that IMC.

I was in this same situation a few months ago. The close-minded lady at my local municipal airport would not give me any indication as to hangar availability or wait times and would not put my name on a list because I did not have a plane and I wasn't a pilot yet. I happened to find and purchase my plane only a 2 hour drive away. We agreed that we would leave the plane in his hangar for up to 6 months until I could procure a hangar and I would pay his lease fee. It took less than 1 month for me to get a T-hangar in a town about 16 miles from my house. I had to build my own metal doors and do some metal work on the roof left over from Hurricane Laura (around $2100 on me). But me and my CFI picked up my Mooney and flew it home. Then I had another month where I couldn't fly it, so I spent the time putting a ceramic coat on it and doing all kinds of illegal stuff on it that I read about on this forum like fold down back seats, battery minder convenience plugs, led lights, etc... Now, I rarely go a week without flying it. And I'll never do business with KDRI. They simply don't know how to treat people. My money will go to 5R8 for the foreseeable future. Like others have said, get your name on every list around and go buy your plane. Fly your plane to your 1st choice airport as much as you can. Fill up with fuel at that airport every chance you get. They run fuel sales reports and know who is buying fuel. Surprisingly, my airport manager actually texted me a few weeks back and thanked me for leasing from them. He said I never complain or ask about anything and that I've purchased more fuel than any other tenant. I guess I'm still bewildered that I'm a pilot and that I own an airplane. And I am also not very efficient with fuel consumption. I think prices have come back down to earth and reasonable deals are out there.

I have my old duct I can send you. PM me your name/address and I'll try to get it in the mail tomorrow. - David Vizinat

Price at my home airport (5R8) is $4.10 right now. It has gone down a little in the past several weeks. Regular unleaded is $2.71 and diesel is $3.40.

Yes sir. Thanks for the response. I might be able to get it done tomorrow.

Started flying my M20E in September and have put around 40hrs on it since purchase. I noticed the RAM air door had a small gap around the top and sides. Looks the the seal is either completely deteriorated or was removed and looking back at pictures I took when I bought the plane, it was like this when I purchased it. LASAR does not have the seal in stock. I'll prob replace with baffle seal material next week. Here's my question: I need to fly my wife/girls this weekend to a cheer competition. I sold them on the plane by convincing them that we would use it to fly to these competitions and we already had to drive the first one d/t weather. They're eventually going to figure out that I spent all of our money on a plane for me. Can I cover the RAM air door opening with 3M aluminum foil tape temporarily until I replace the seal? Thanks, David

I just sent my MAP/Fuel pressure gauge to Rudy Instruments 5 days ago. They called me today- overhaul finished. Paid $250 + shipping. That's over a holiday weekend.

Here's a write-up on the air vent by a MSer in pdf format. Mooney Overhead Fresh Air Vent Repair-w_o Parts BD.docx (1).pdf

Hi all. I'm a new pilot as of last week. I started shopping planes around Christmas and got serious over the summer. One big issue aside from the high prices on high time engines and outdated avionics was insuring my purchase. I finally found a low time 1966 M20E that was well cared for by an older gentleman. Paid $71k. Quotes were ridiculous. Most ranging from $5k-$6k/year for $70k hull value. If I'm willing to pay that, why not just buy a second plane and keep it as backup? A few in the $4k range. So I did what any good Dad would do, I told my girls there would be no Christmas this year, drained our bank account, and paid cash for the plane without insurance. My instructor and I picked it up and flew it to my home airport where I have a hangar. Now that I have my ppl, I was able to get a policy with Avemco for $3,042/year. I called them around the beginning of the year to inquire about a M20F I was considering, still $70k hull value, and the quote was $3,200. I'm putting this information out here because this thread discussed various insurance coverages and pricing for low hour pilots. I only have 85hrs total, all in a C172. I also live in South Louisiana where we spend this part of the year with one eye on the Gulf of Mexico waiting on the next Category 4. So maybe pricing is coming around...