Grant_Waite

Yeah the previous owner knew exactly what he wanted when he laid out the panel and did a great job. When he bought it back in 2007, one of the first upgrades he did was the Stec55x and back then that was it no Garmin to speak of. He recently sent me this picture which is interesting to see the original panel.

Thank you, I hope someone will see the value of having a plane all done

1977 M20J for sale Selling do to life changes. The plane is located at KVDF in Tampa. I’m not going to fly it all over the country for a pre buy ideally I’d like it to be somewhere in Florida. Previous owner had it for 16 years and put a lot of love into it. I’ve owned it for a year and half and have put my own love and touch to it. It’s probably one of the nicest first year model Js left with many upgrades. I’ve flown it 287 hours in that time frame, so it hasn’t sat for as long as some planes. 3190.3 TT 562 SMOH in 2019, by Zephr Gen 2 Powerflow exhaust Overhauled magneto this year by Aero accessories Overhauled alternator a month ago by Aero Accessories New Concorde Rg xc 35amp battery a month ago New main tires this month Paint is from 2010 upgraded Hartzell 2 blade scimitar prop 2 g5s no vacuum pump 2gtn 650s Stec 55x autopilot Jpi 830 with all the add ons Ps engineering audio panel Aero trim, electric rudder trim Upgraded avionics products gear actuator and emergency extension system from old dukes Later style wing tips All leds inside and out 64gal capacity bladders with upgraded fuel caps M20 air oil separator Later style main and nose gear doors Lasar tie town/ Jack points Lasar hub caps all around Lasar gear well liners Many Lasar speed mods Chrome pitot tube, and misc interior items Custom metal control knobs All new interior decals New leather rudder boots from Aero comfort Rosen sun visors Aero comfort leather glare shield I have a ton of hardware and other items I may have gotten but not installed to go on the plane that would be included. Such as new baffle seals from Airforms Asking 170,000

Thank you all for the replies and input. I did read Vance’s post and thought his situation was exactly what happened to me. A simple mistake but can cause a big headache. I find it odd that some alternators have a designated ground post and others have no marking of a ground post like mine. I guess some alternators ground through the case like mine and some have a post for it. The hole for the screw is just to the right of where that aux pole was so if you’re not paying attention I guess it could happen. I don’t remember but I want to say my old alternator didn’t have a post where it said aux on the back, it was just blank. My plane doesn’t use it so it wouldn’t make sense to have it there anyway. When they overhauled it they obviously put one on it not knowing what plane it was. as I didn’t give them that information. That’s my theory as to how this happened and just carelessness. The mechanic is mobile so it’s convenient to have him and the other A&P do most of my work. They are both very competent but competent people make mistakes. We see that in high profile aviation accidents all the time. The situation will be corrected one way or another and it’s not going to be on my dime if the shop doesn’t want to warranty something that wasn’t their doing. Just still highly frustrating and yes, I probably should have just got brushes and called it good. I figured it being 12yrs old, it could use the extra tlc.

It only shows 2 wires off the alternator but mine has like 5 different ones albeit one is a jumper. One says plus and looks like a 2 maybe for F2 idk.With everything else I’ve always been able to find an install manual but I couldn’t find anything for the alternator. Every mechanic makes mistakes eventually. At least this one was on the smaller scale of them. Good mechanics are hard to find unless you are your own.

Yeah I should have just bought some brushes used in the car world and called it good. I’ve never heard of a car having issues but planes seem to have issues all the time.

So my frustration continues with a never ending aog issue. Got my old alternator overhauled back this week. Brushes were shot in the old one. Went to the airport today since the mechanic was installing it. Went to start up the plane and it didn’t work, the alt circuit breaker popped and a burning smell came. No smoke just the smell. The smell was coming from the newly overhauled alternator. I believe my mechanic made an honest mistake. My old alternator didn’t have a post for aux and this one does. It also doesn’t have any clear label of a ground. Just a positive one and aux with F1 and F2 obviously. You can see where I’m going with this maybe. In looking at the pictures of the old wiring, he mistakenly put all 3 of the grounding wires or whatever 3 wires on the aux pole. I believe my newly overhauled alternator got fried in the process you can visibly see and smell it around the aux pole. I don’t understand alternator wiring or any of that but has anyone else had this happen? I’ll attach a picture of the old alternator and how it was wired… it was grounded using a screw, I don’t believe it was engraved - at all. The old ground was just to the right of where the aux pole is. THE ALTERNATOR I GOT BACK IS MY OLD ONE, NOT AN EXCHANGE. Kinda pissed a bit but what can I do. Alternator is covered under a 1yr warranty but I’m not going to tell the shop… yeah I think my mechanic fucked it up. Let me know what y’all think or what I should do. Hopefully the shop will cover it under warranty and pay the shipping there and back. I’ve circled where the old ground was and where I think he should have grounded them but didn’t.

I’ll report back when I have time to take a look and how I go about fixing it

The engine was overhauled in 2019 by Zephyr so I’m not sure if the price of the overhaul included an overhaul exchange alternator or not. I called the previous owner and he and I both agree that nothing was changed out when the oh was done. He wasn’t the type to cheap out on things like an alternator. I spoke with 2 shops they said it could be possible that the brushes could be going bad and sometimes they make contact and sometimes they don’t. Luckily I have a personal relationship with my mechanic so I don’t have to worry about certain things like most.

I just looked at that chart seems intimidating to me but I’m sure any competent mechanic is capable. The time and money to troubleshoot though could be close to 630 in labor right? 130hr for my mechanic. To get to all these spots and test them, or is it not that long of a job. I searched the logs and found that in 05 the I’m assuming current alternator was installed. That would mean it has roughly 1764hrs on it which mostly has been in the horrid environment that Florida is.

That’s the weird thing nothing was broke off and noticeable loose. I could move one of the wires but it would rotate the whole ring connector with the wire. The nut on it was quite snug.

Went to fly last Thursday and couldn’t get the plane to stop showing a noticeable discharge. Didn’t matter if the avionics were on or off or at higher power settings. I did one lap in the pattern and watched my Jpi show a dip from 11.8V to 11.5V after I put gear up. I decided at that point something wasn’t right and came right back around to land. Fast forward today I installed my new Concorde xc battery, thinking it was the 3yr old Gill battery and to no avail the same issue. Fast forward to me taking the cowling off and looking at the alternator and touching the wires to check if they were loose and it works again after a few starts. I held a razor blade to the face of the alternator and it has magnetism and there’s voltage going to field wire with the master on and engine off. None of the wires looked bad, or were noticeably loose. I moved and touched everyone… they were all tight. I couldn’t find in the logbooks when that alternator was last overhauled or repaired. I plan to fly Saturday and do a few touch and goes to see if the shock from landing moves something loose or whatever could have been causing the issue. My mechanic will look at it Monday but I was honestly ready to send the alternator off for OH. Aero Accessories said it’s 630bucks which isn’t bad but I don’t want to spend it if I don’t have to. Should I still send it off to be OH if my mechanic can’t find anything? I obviously did something to make it work so it has to be at the wires going to the alternator or the plastic pieces that holds the field wires inside the alternator.

Good, it should work just as well for me then. For whatever reason gill does not seem anywhere close to the quality of Concorde. I’ll be curious to see if the plane turns over faster. It wasn’t slow to begin with just wouldn’t hold a charge. Alternator might be due for overhaul if the battery doesn’t work. Loose wire could be an issue but I’ll start with the most obvious. Surprised the gill lastest 3 years with the long inactivity it would sit before I bought the plane.

Funny, I just pulled my gill sealed battery today because it seems to not hold a charge anymore. Bought a Concorde xc hopefully it’ll last more than 3 years in Florida. I didn’t keep the other battery on a minder but the previous owner did. I fly typically 1-3x a week so use shouldn’t have been a factor.

says it was done so I believe it. Hasn’t been repainted since

Probably so but my plane doesn’t have tks anyways. I’m too chicken to even get close to ice, not sure having tks would make me feel otherwise. Luckily ice isn’t a big deal down south.

Yes, I did with the original head unit that controls it. The servo runs about 800bucks which is ridiculous considering how simple and cheap the parts inside are. Luckily I didn’t have to buy a new one since I already had it. It was still way cheaper than possibly having to buy a replacement rudder. And now I get the benefit of the trim working. Just hope it stays working for awhile.

I finally got the rudder trim back installed Monday and it’s been great ever since. I can make it fly coordinated at any phase with no pressure on the pedals. I haven’t had the rudder rigging or a balance check done. I put everything back the way it was for the last 14 years so I don’t see a need to check anything. It was painted in 2010 with the rudder trim attached so it should have been balance checked then. It’s nice to finally have the damn thing working after over a year. It helped having the avionics guy be mobile because I was dreading having to take it to a shop and pay that premium. Having the ability to trim the rudder and then not, really makes you never want to fly without it again.

Here’s a picture of mine today. It’s not that bright or at least not to me whenever I’ve flown at night. In the day time though it makes a huge improvement.

This was one of the first things I upgraded on my 77J I replaced the old incandescent bulb with a bright white, 12v led. A 12v led will be brighter than the 24v one since our planes are 12v. This is the one I used https://www.aero-lites.com/product-page/330. I also took off the plexiglass that covers the indicator and cut a new one out of some plexiglass I got off Amazon. Used a little green nail polish to make the line and looks really good now. I was able to get to mine just fine from on top. Not sure why everyone thinks you can’t. You just have to remove the correct screws. Be careful though because there’s 2 plexiglass shims that hold indicator on place. See the attached picture. If you remove all 4 of the screws in red then the whole plate will come off with the indicator and everything attached. If you remove all 4 of the green ones then you’ll lose the shims into the belly and have to end up taking off the panel. You can remove 2 of the green ones top or bottom and be fine. Just don’t do all 4. This is all of course assuming your plane is like mine… should be. I think it’s a 3/16 wrench to remove the nut for the light housing.

Mine changed from Beacon to Old republic this year. We paid 5k last year on a 158,500 hull value, 1mil liability but only had 30 something retract. After the first year of ownership it’s $2955. I had 524tt and 212 retract at the time of renewal. I’m probably one of the youngest members here but have low times. I have my IR, CSEL CMEL. Amy Benedict at Falcon has been great from the beginning.

These 6 nut plates that you see. You can see the holes in the emergency latch. The image you’re looking at is a template for all the holes in the small chance someone does this again.

Kinda crazy they still sell them for 2500 bucks.

Yeah it’s not the most confident inspiring design by any means. But when it worked it worked.

Yeah there’s a lot this document doesn’t tell you at all. 940007_F EatonPlessey upgrade.PDFLike cutting away some of the price that’s to left of the gear motor to make clearance.