dwanzor

No, nothing had popped.

I've owned my 1983 J Model now for about 2 months. Up to this point, I have always been lowering the gear right near the upper limit (132 Kias) as I slow near the airport. Yesterday I landed, and did a full stop taxi back. I decided to do a lap in the pattern, and also decided to raise and lower the gear. I have never done this in the pattern before, I have always left the gear down when staying in the pattern. Anyhow, I took off, raised the gear, raised flaps, etc. When I got back into the downwind, I was around 100 Kias. I lower the gear lever and nothing happened, didn't hear the gear motor as I typically do. Floor indicator did not move at all. I decided to fly back to my home airport, just in case I had a real issue. On the way back, I reset the gear breakers. On descent to my home airport, gear worked fine. It was up near max gear speed again (around 130 Kias). The only thing different about my attempt on this day was lowering the gear down around 100 Kias versus the usual 130 Kias. I texted with my mechanic and he said it could be an airspeed pressure switch. I just recently had pitot/static certification completed, and he mentioned they sometimes damage these with the testing equipment. However, I was thinking the airspeed pressure switch was in place to avoid raising the gear accidentally on the ground (requiring minimum airspeed to raise, and not to lower, the gear). Any ideas on what could have happened here?

Recently took my new to me J model into Bevan Avionics in Wichita, KS for a transponder upgrade and asked them to troubleshoot a minor autopilot issue. Then ended up swapping my KAP computer. That fixed the original issue, however, a new issue has popped up which they have traced back to the manual electric trim switch on the yoke. Some malfunction within this switch is causing the autopilot to disconnect in flight at different intervals. They would like to replace this switch. A new part from Honeywell is $3k+ and is not available until at least October 2025. I see a couple on Ebay for around $300, but before rolling the dice on an Ebay part, I thought I would check here to see if anyone had one due to a recent autopilot upgrade. My understanding is that this trim switch will usually get replaced during an autopilot upgrade. I have the KAP 150 autopilot, but I think the Bendix King trim switch could be somewhat more universal than that. It is a split switch, left side is smaller. If anyone has one, or can point me to a good source, I would appreciate it.

Lots of great feedback here so far, very helpful.

It seems odd to me that 2500 RPM is omitted from the book, but red line RPM (2700) is included for each power setting. I can't figure out why it is presented that way, but perhaps there is a good reason.

In the POH for the M20J, all of the cruise power settings are listed at either 2400, 2600 or 2700 RPM's. Is there any reason not to cruise at 2500 RPM's? In another post on this forum, many commenters suggested that they always cruise at 2500 RPM with the throttle firewalled (with MP often below 25" due to altitude). I am a new M20J owner and just reading the POH and starting to try things in the plane. I will cruise most often between 5,500 and 9,500 MSL.

What’s the turnaround time if you send the seats off to Aero Comfort?

Hi all, looks like I'v found a 1983 M20J to purchase. The interior is not terrible, but the front seats padding is very work and not comfortable, so at a minimum I need to have the 2 front seats freshened up. From looking at other threads, it looks like a high end interior redo is in the $20-$22k range at Aero Comfort in Texas - is that still an accurate ballpark? If a person had a budget of $10k for an interior - what could be accomplished with that? Thanks in advance for ideas and cost info.

I have an M20J that I am looking at purchasing that is located in Prescott, AZ. Looks to be 100 miles from Phoenix. Anyone have recommendations for a pre-buy inspection in this area? There is a Mooney Service Center in that area (Chandler Aviation). I already called them and they said they are way too busy to deal with something of this nature.

Ha! Probably not wrong.

From looking at flight tracking data, it looks like the pilot came in to land, then went around and did a full lap in the pattern prior to landing again. This doesn't completely align with the description of the incident from the link, so it's hard to say what might have happened.

Yea, I think this is all great advice. I am not so much worried about the downtime as the fact that what I'll spend doing the upgrades really isn't "worth it" in a sense that if I had $225k all in this plane, it probably wouldn't sell for more than $180-$200k. That is not a huge issue, but as a business minded person, it is always tough for me to do something like that. I own a flight school, and I probably need to worry about business over there, but not so much when it comes to my personal plane.

I have read these threads, but I was understanding this as them getting a completely different engine and installing it into the plane (with some other modifications). Am I misunderstanding this?

Oh really? Can you tell me about that? I asked a few of the overhaul shops about doing that and they acted like I was crazy.

As I mentioned in another topic, I am looking at buying a J model Mooney that has the original 1979 engine in it, past TBO. I have called all the usual suspects and gotten overhaul pricing, but the turnaround times are painful. I have some questions: 1. Does anyone have a lead on a freshly overhauled A3B6D from a reputable overhaul shop? 2. Does anyone have a lead on an engine core that has been pulled that I might be able to buy and overhaul (perhaps someone that upgraded to the A3B6)? 3. What is an engine core worth (subjective, I know, but any recent data points of one for sale or advertised price)? I have come across one advertised at $17k, which seems high. 4. If I was able to track down a different engine, overhaul it, then swap it into my plane, is there much of a market if I decided to go ahead and overhaul the 2nd engine and try to sell it? I would probably need to get $60k for it to cover cost for core, overhaul cost, plus a bit of profit for the trouble.

Can you send me some details? Yes, I am still looking/considering options.

Thanks, I spoke with Jimmy about 2 weeks ago and got onto his email list.

I am in the market for an M20J model. I am located in Oklahoma. I have looked carefully at everything that is currently on the market. There are a few that could work with some upgrades, but I am wanting to see if anyone has one they might be selling soon where I could avoid downtime doing an engine overhaul and avionics upgrade. My budget is flexible, and I'm willing to pay good money for the right plane. I own a flight school in Oklahoma, I've purchased a lot of planes, and I am a serious buyer. I would prefer: 1983 or later to get split/removable back seats 800 hours or less on the engine Relatively new Garmin GPS (like a GTN 650, GTN 750, 355, etc. Must have 2 axis autopilot (GPSS and altitude hold)

I would 100% buy it fully prepared to spend the money on an overhaul. When you say "run it and hope", how likely do you think it would be to see signs of potential problems prior to having something catastrophic? That is the thing I am not well informed on, which would likely lead me to overhaul sooner rather than later.

Very little use in the past 4 years, like 20 hours or less total. I think owner lost medical but I am not certain. It has bad an annual every year, including cylinder boroscope. I talked to the mechanic that has done the work and he feels confident in the engine. However, it is 45 years old and past TBO, so it feels risks to me. Full disclosure: I don't know a ton about engines.

I think waiting on the avionics upgrades is a very real possibility. However, the original engine and being over TBO makes me a bit nervous. I would likely go ahead and attack the engine overhaul immediately.

I have been in the market for an M20J for a little bit now. I came across a 1979 J model that is an exceptionally clean and low time airframe (just over 2,000 hours). The asking price is $119k. It still has the original engine and has never been overhauled, so that would likely be the first order of business after purchase. Assume an overhaul and other firewall forward items cost $50k. That would drive the total investment to $169k. Other than that, it has some avionics upgrades, but could use more to be a great traveling machine (good GTN 650, but older single-axis autopilot, very old comm 2). Could easily spend another $50k installing a Garmin GNC500 autopilot and other required items (GI275's or G5's, plus new comm 2). There has to be an upper limit on what a 1979 J model could be "worth". $219k all-in seems to be above that to me, but I haven't really seen any similar planes for sale with new engines and upgraded panels, low time clean airframe etc. Now, end value is not necessarily the deciding factor, but I feel like it should be considered before undertaking this. Any opinions on a top end value for a bird like this?