Paul Thomas

I look at trade a plane regularly; it's a great way to pass the time when I'm waiting. There are more airplanes Mooney on the market and prices are lower. The peak was April 1 of last year, which is when I bought my airplane; the bottom will be when I sell. There have been a few airplanes that have sold very quickly over the past 6 month; some of them were incredible steals (including someone who needed to raise cash ASAP for his business). It seems most of the softness is toward the nicer airplanes which is interesting when interest rates are going down and credit has not been an issue.

Jaeger no longer sells it; they've lost their supplier. Vantage has some and this MM Seal looks to be an option https://mmseals.com/collections/edge-trim/products/gray-edge-trim-standard-size-u-extrusion-u-height-17-32-grip-range-3-64-9-64

I replaced the windlace in the baggage compartment area today; it was much easier than I thought (and that's without having the old one to match the cut/hole placement). I also re-installed the overhead piece in the baggage area so I got a first view at the colors and I'm very happy with the color combo. I'm glad to have gone a custom color (even if I means waiting a few weeks to get the last piece painted because the shop ran out of on ingredient). The only downside is that it will show dirt much easier. I'm leaving town tomorrow morning for a week so no more progress but it gives me time to order a few odds/ends I didn't expect to be issues like the window beading.

I'm told Vinyl paint will work; I'm suspicious as well which is why I ordered a sample. I plan to give it some overlap to address shrinkage since I'm installing in FL where it's HOT!

I have a sample coming in for paint from them. I've also stopped at a couple auto supply stores and not found anything that works. After more calls to Jeager, I was able to talk to someone. They no longer have a supply and have been working on trying to find a new supplier.

I am; the windlace is done and will be picked up from the upholstery shop today. I should be back in town tomorrow and my goal is to have the overheads back in. This weekend. Lots of small screws.

The front and rear seats mechanism is different in my airplane. The pilot is moved via a screw set under the seat. All highly visible and it will make sense once you have it out. I suspect something is bent/damaged. To remove the seat, you just need to removed the pins in the rail that limit how far forward or rearward the seat can move. Move it past the end of the rail on the front, lift the front out of the rails, then move it back till the rear is out of the rails. When the seat is re-installed, the cotter pins are there to prevent the seat from popping off the rail in flight and need to be re-installed.

I'm getting lost. I thought the Lycoming IO360 angle engine needs 100LL/G100UL (for the purpose of this question, G100UL doesn't have material compatibility issues) because other fuels can't safely be run. Is 100R good to go for our angle valve engines (parallel one have more options)? Are only the turbo engines left without a solution if 100R works?

@Matt M Did you ever find a source? Jeager is still out and haven't returned a call/email but if they don't have a vendor, it may explain it. I'd rather not paint all that beading if I don't have to. The paint shop has already told me they can't mix anymore paint for me for weeks because they're out of something.

Welcome. I don't have a J bar but based on everything I've read, if you slow the airplane, it makes a huge difference in the amount of force needed. I believe that's even more so on retraction. The amount of gear preload makes a difference on how easy is it to move the gear; that should be checked if it's difficult to move. If it continues to be a pain, it may be easier to fly right seat.

You'd have to invest in engineering to do that, and that's doesn't appear to be happening. Does Mooney still fabricates assemblies where it would make sense to have pre-punched holes? I wonder if a change to pre-punched would require paperwork as a change to the manufacturing process.

I read somewhere that LASAR was taking over the lease. It doesn't make sense for them to take over production is there is no facility to produce from.

I used ABS cement as it works perfectly with our ABS plastic, doesn't require mixing like epoxy, and results in a weld. Mine had been repaired with epoxy in the past and that failed but I'm not sure it was applied or what type; it looked like a rough, quick, and dirty repair. I learned a fair amount doing these repairs and intend to write it up once I'm done.

That makes sense; getting new certificates would be a pain. With this arrangement, it's unlikely VC is going to be able to step in as Mooney could replace LASAR with someone else at the end of the contract.

Their as in Mooney or LASAR? I'd imagine Mooney otherwise it's going to take a while.