Lood

My crack ended up in an extremely expensive, complete firewall forward overhaul...

Depending on how high I want to go and how quick I want to get there, I normally reduce only the rpm to 2600.

We,ve used the powder and dye to detect invisible cracks in my crank case as well as to determine the origin of a leak at a through bolt. It worked incredibly well.

I don't get the clamping problem many refer to when using DC's or any other headset for that matter. I just bent mine wider, little bit at a time untill they were comfortable and that's it - no clamping, very compfortable and I can wear them all day long. +1 for the Headsets Inc. mod.

@nels, something certainly changed in the newer Mooney's like the 231 of my friend. The first time I flew wih him, I immediately noticed that it had less space form door to door than my F. I actually found it a bit uncomfortable with us having to rub shoulders all the time. This means that his side panels are further out which probably says something toward what is behind the panels. I agree 100% on the Headsets Inc. ANR mod. I modified my DC's and they work exceptionally well. I just need to hard wire them to the airplanes' power as cheaper 9v batteries don't last very long. Better quality one like Duracell do last up to 6 hours though.

I had exactly that on my F once. I ended up stuffing a bundled piece of paper inside the lantch to keep the switch depressed that turns the horn on or off - I have manual gear. It turned out that the micro switch on the throttle cable housing, just behind the panel where the throttle cable goes through had moved for some reason and the open throttle didn't push the lever far enough to break the circuit in the micro switch. I fiddled with it a bit afterwards and got it in the correct position again. When I bought my Mooney, that micro switch was tied in the off position with a cable tie, permanently disabling the horn.

I tend to agree. My F is extremely noisy inside and with normal PNR headsets, my ears zing after any 2 - 3 hour flight. It seems to be more wind noise than engine noise and my ANR's make a huge difference. I flew with a friend in his '50's C170 the other day and it was so quiet that you could just as well fly without headsets. A thorough sound proofing is certainly next on my to do list for the Mooney. Another friend of mine owns a 1982 231 Mooney, he doesn't even own headsets and he still uses a handheld microphone for radio transmissions. This Mooney has just about the same noise level inside than a normal passenger car and it is still factory standard - from paintwork to interior. Apparently, a lot of noise comes through the windows but my Mooney does not have any soundproofing behind any of its panels, whatsoever. I'm prepared to trade a few lbs in weight for less noise. My kids don't really like to wear headsets for a long time, so they sit without them for extended periods in flight and it can certainly not be good for their hearing.

Quote: nosky2high I've got a question and I certainly mean no offense by this. How does anyone with over a couple hundred hours of time in your personal Mooney land gear up? The difference in landing speed, low speed handling, and control feel are night and day when the gear is down vs up. I've "tried" to land gear up a few times, and the airplane just won't slow down. My personal technique is to full stall land as short as possible with as little braking as possible everytime I fly. Maybe that helps. And I absolutely check the "green" light during the pattern/landing sequence. Also my wife and kids know to call it out on every before landing check and my right seater is trained to slide their thumbnail over the bar handle to ensure proper seating. Still I practiced a few landings as if I'd completely forgotten all my checks and don't see how I wouldn't notice on final that my speed isn't bleeding off and the aircraft isn't handling or flying properly. Just my observation and opinion. YMMV,

... and way more legroom and comfort for the rear pax and way more luggage space (you normally run out of space before you run out of weight) and an hour more flight time - suits me...

Quote: maropers You must have winter air in the tires - more dense - weighs more.....

Well, I certainly going to test it on my engine. My cylinders #1,2 & 3 are very close together, but #4 runs 25 - 30 deg hotter. It's probably not a big deal, ut it annoys me endlessly - more so, seeing that it is a freshly overhauled engine. I haven't done the Gami lean test to determine where #4 runs ITO mixture, compared to the other, but this wedge solution makes perfect sense tome WRT the airflow around the cylinder.

Speed limit with cowl flaps open for my F is 150mph.

My F was 1700lbs in 2007 and is now 1773lbs, in 2012?

50 hrs or 6 months

Mine was 1700lbs in 2007 and this year, it increased to 1773lbs.

Quote: Seth Isn't that the kit Commanche with the double doors? Also, I thought one of them crashed due to an engine cooling issue - that may have been a different aircraft - just memory speculation. -Seth

Maybe something like this: http://www.saravin.com/

Here in SA, you have to have a fire extinguisher in the airplane and it has to be Halon - by law. We could find no other place in my F to mount it but the rear wall of the luggage bay, so it's rather useless as it can only be reached by the rear pax.

Same here, except for the Ipad. I have side pockets both sides, use a knee board and do exactly the same with the Brightline.

If Comanche's are still going strong after being out of production for almost 40 years, just imagine how long we still have with our Mooneys. There's nothing to compare, but if I had to convert, I'd rather go for a Bonanza than a Comanche - they are still being made nad there are lots of them around. I saw an Ovation a couple of weeks ago that cut a human, running across the runway, in half during landing. It had really bad damage to the leading edges of both the left wing and elevator. Our local sheet metal guy fixed it better than new. Yours should be straight forward.

davewilson, Avgas here in SA goes for around $8/gal when converted and this includes VAT. Not really cheap, but then Mogas currently sells for $6/gal, which is not much cheaper when taking into account that I can claim VAT back on Avgas. The station where I fill my Agas drums charges $7/gal. So after the 14% VAT back, it costs the same as Mogas.

IIRC, South African TCA airplanes have to be weighed every 5 years or everytime any major alteration had been made, which probably includes repainting, re-doing the interior and so on. Avionics, light weight starters/ alternators etc. come with their wieght and arm and requires only a logbook entry, I think.

195 = 170 kts; I doubt it? Most standard E models will cruise somewhere around 150 -155 kts and if equipped with particular 201 mods that do indeed increase speed, it might probably get to 160 - 165 kt, but no more. 10 gallons per hour is correct for an IO360 A1A at ROP settings.

I bought a used KX155 from a US avionics company about two years ago and have had continious trouble with it since day one. It makes a static or scratching noise, to such an extent that it all but useable. The avionics shop at my AME has had it on their bench many, many times and everytime we're sure that the problem is solved. Unfortunately, it only last one or two flights before starting again. At times, I have thought that it might not be the radio but rather something to do with the wiring or antenna or maybe the installation, but everytime they put the radio on their test bench, it also makes the same noise there. They've tinkered with settings, replaced small electroninc components inside, etc. but the problem just won't go away. Interestingly, the radio can sometimes function 100% for a complete flight, just to return to ops normal with its noise on the next flight. Is radio a dud and should I just chuck it away and get another? Seeing that KX155's are still very expensive, I've even thought about replacing it with another KY197 together with a KN53 for the nav part?

Double post