carusoam

M20c, You've pulled out a old one here... Welcome to the board. Have you introduced yourself? Search for the thread "introduce yourself". It's a good one. You seem to have a Strong background on this topic. I would be interested in getting to know more about you. Best regards, -a-

Thoughts on turbo systems... (1) you get incrementally more performance. (2) you incrementally pay more for that performance. (3) they are incrementally more challenging to operate. (4) if I had the budget, I would own and operate an Acclaim using the tradition of the "fire breathing dragon" (5) my east-of-the-Mississippi flying style does not lend itself naturally to turbo ops. I can justify all kinds of stuff aviation, but turbos have alluded me.... Best regards, -a-

Kurt, Consider using your local office supply super store. Their copiers can make .pdf files as well as make copies. I like making my manuals available on my iPad. I have not done my POH yet but GPS(s), AP and others have been converted this way or downloaded. Best regards, -a-

Derek, It helps to have a friend with a small screw driver make this adjustment. If you have the standard Alcor unit, it does not come alive until you have the engine producing. If you are alone, it takes some trial and effort. alcor recommends setting the needle at 65% power pointing to an asterisk that may be silk screened about two thirds up the scale. Note: the first time I made an adjustment, the needle moved more freely. If the plane had not been flown, this may be an issue. Exercise the needle using the screw and return it to it's original position. Note 2: using a screw driver behind the panel is very close to where 12v power has no covers. Use typical precautions. Best regards, -a-

Jim, Where is your Hobbs meter? Mine is in the baggage compartment back wall. (m20R) I guess MAC did not want me to be constantly reminded of my next Mx expense. Best regards, -a-

Key word here is probably re-calibration or scaling. Since absolute EGT is not critical, getting it to read properly in the scale is what is important. With the simple Alcor unit, a screw on the back of the guage shifted the scale. Electronically, this should be possible as well. re drilling holes does not sound appealing. It would include welding over the old holes as a proper cure. Leaving un used probes sounds like a bad idea leading to a future exhaust problem. Early Acclaim owners experienced leaks around these probes. Best regards, -a-

Russ, There is a few threads on flying with spouses and first timers. Sensitivity for many first timers seems to be important. I don't think the 10,000' altitude is the challenge. A long cross country with the possibility of mountain turbulence ending with an instrument approach.... Probably not ideal for developing the same love of flight you have. See if you can find some of these threads....you will enjoy the shared first flight / experience of others.... Some of us are doomed to fly alone, others have to rock/paper/scissors for PIC rights. Good luck. Best regards, -a-

Russ, Pull them both... My fault, "modulate" would have been a better word for this... Hot air comes from a "muff" around the muffler. If there is an exhaust leak in the muffler, it can enter the heater muff, thus contaminating your cabin air. This device usually gets fully disassembled and inspected during annual. Hot air always smells like hot metal from here. CO sensors are a good idea. The vent air source is separate from this, but gets combined with the hot air in an air box in front of the fire wall. (co-pilot side) The flow of air from the different sources is controlled by slide gates that are at the end of your control knobs. If the knobs are difficult to operate, clean and lube the slide gates. They are on the air box. This air mixture is then delivered to the cabin. In my m20c, it was through tubes that lead to each of the four seats. In my R, one big vent in front of the fuel selector. High altitudes, cold air, low HP settings, and leaky cabin seals conspire to make it difficult to stay warm in the winter. JL, I have been to the Dakotas a few times. Emergency planning takes on a whole new meaning. Leather wrapped yokes become mandatory. Best regards, -a-

There had been discussion of this topic before. Searching on "rocker" will probably get you close. http://www.sensata.com/contact/request-aircraft-20tc.htm This website was a common recomendation. They sell rockers and do the decoration of the switch covers. They have a list of standard switch names. Have you seen this? Hope this helps, -a-

José, Just got a new Seiko. It is digital at heart. The hands adjust themselves to whatever the digital clock is set to. It is a breeze to change time zones or day light savings. Dav8, What we need is a place to enter the rpm desired, and the digitally controlled governor makes it happen. You want 2501 rpm? Bzzz....there it is. I work with machinery that has this type of reality. Incredibly low head down time. I Would be really happy to have an altitude set point. Best regards, -a-

Mulro makes a good point. If possible, always start with the same tank knowing where to go when things get quiet on departure. Funny thing, I always depart on right tank. This is more important for those who have to bend down to their knees with their head under the i strument panel to reach the valve (from my 65c experience). Best regards, -a-

The Alcor article is an ancient sales tool for there ancient EGT guage. Their intent seems to be, bring people out of the dark and into the light. Not so much deliver them an engineering degree in propulsion. BSFC would be too much for the intended audience. Their audience doesn't have EGT guages, never mind digital ones with electronic FF. Best regards, -a-

JetD, Any idea why the timing was changed to 20d to begin with? (I read the bulletin) 25 seems to be win-win all around for you. The only "il-effect" is slightly higher CHTs? It seems that Lycoming wrote the change for everyone to allow use of 80 octane fuel, fixed pitch props, un-instrumented engines, poor baffling, and uncaring operators. Lycoming seems to be unable to help down to the level of special interest groups. They can only handle information for everyone or no information at all. Keep fighting the good fight. Best regards, -a-

I am with Scott on this. Moderate with vent air. You won't need max heat until you are in New England winter above 10,000'. Then you can't get enough. Best regards, -a-

Cabana, Nice read. According to Alcor, over heated exhaust valves cause pre ignition that leads to detonation. This can occur in a few minutes time. To avoid over heated exhaust valves, identify peak EGT for your engine at 65% power. Keep you EGT below this value, and you will avoid the ill effects of detonation. It was nice to see that Alcor gave a position on ROP / LOP. It does not matter on the method, as long as the EGT is kept below this critical point. Other interesting statements include dollars saved by LOP ops. Max power is 100 d ROP. Best efficiency is at peak. LOP efficiency increases only because the airplane is going slower, less drag. Overall, know your critical 65% EGT and stay below it. You have to love the simplicity of the Alcor EGT system. It is similar to a crystal radio. No power required.... Best regards, -a-

Scott, This was a demo flight for the plane I eventually bought. The PIC at the time, is now our airport manager. The flight school that i learned my expert pilot skills from, was run by his mother. The incident was not a confidence builder for any of us. There is so much to learn. At least mooneyspace is available to help bring these topics out into the open. From that flight I learned Fuel mis-management is easy, and Mooneys are awesome, all at one time. Water in tanks is bad. Ice in tanks is not much better, and more difficult to drain out, and can turn back into water without consulting the pilot. Follow the checklist for draining procedure. Visually make sure each valve has stopped draining prior to flight. Some of these devices tend to drip when micron sized dirt get stuck in them. Best regards, -a-

I only fly one plane. I have many hours of experience. Memorized each switch. I know exactly what numbers I am expecting. I don't have any competitors inches away from my cockpit. I prefer the digital data. With today's technology, we can have both. Do NASCAR drivers still look at the instrument panel? They have an engineering team and millions of fans on FOX that will watch the telemetry for them. At one time, all there needles green zones were pointed straight up. Then somebody calculated side loads on analog needles and decided pointing in the green should have a particular angle. Recently, mooney tried to serve both clients with a needle and an accompanying digital readout. Moritz guages. I don't use the graphic part of the JPI as much as the raw data it provides. If a cylinder fails, I will probably see it on the JPI graph first. The future seems to be electronic monitoring with alarms for hard data information and pictures for nav type flight status monitoring. Because we can. Technology allows for this, at a price we can nearly afford, in a package that fits in our instrument panel. Best regards, -a-

Switch on the ground, but two minutes before departure. Not because it is required. I feel better this way. My first mooney experience was turning the fuel switch to the "both" position. the engine ran for about two minutes while we taxied to the runway. Best regards, -a- Lesson learned, low wing aircraft don't usually have a "both" position.

José, Chevy corvette tried introducing digital guages in the early 80s. It was a flop, mostly because people resist change. The resistance increases with the value of the object they are buying. Fortunately, through the magic of GM, exact pressure and temperatures are available on an LCD screen with a few button pushes. My 92 vette and my 94 M20r share the same guage style. They are digital with a fake analog looking needle. It is exact information, dumbed down with an approximate read out. This is probably the result of product testing with focus groups. The result "feels" like high quality. My MP guage changes in distinct steps like a Seiko watch. Two failed introductions in my lifetime. The metric system and digital guages. Even glass panels were not well received for quite some time. Now we have knobless touch screens. Cars marketed towards young people are full up with digital stuff. Cars marketed to the retired crowd, not so much. Digital presentation is slowly making its way in. Do you think the metric system will make it back? Best regards, -a-

Gary, Good enough for me. Low oxygen, low energy environment, makes it more difficult to inititate an oxidation reaction. It has taken me about 18 months of LOP operations to see this as clearly as you have written it.... Best regards, -a-

Mooneymite, On my 65 C (all M20Cs?) There were two switches that indicate a gear up situation. [1] J-Bar Latch, located in the J-Bar receiver under the instrument panel. Look for switches, bring your contact cleaner. J-Bar in and locked - switch is satisfied (light=green, no horn), Switch not satisifed (light=amber, horn ready) [2] Throttle switch, located behind the instrument panel (throttle in, switch is satisfied) throttle out, switch falls into detent in throttle control, horn ready. [3] Combination of gear not latched and throttle out activates horn. This can be annoying if you are trying to lose altitude or slow to VLe by pulling the throttle out. Most people will temporarily put their finger on the switch in the J-Bar receiver or bump the throttle in slightly to satisfy one of the switches. There is no MP switch on this simple go/no-go system. As far as the tiny vent hole in the MP line. If it is clogged, the MP will be drawn way low off scale when the engine is idling. Best regards, -a-

Compression ratio, timing, and high octane fuel will get you efficiency. The margin for error begins to erode. Well instrumented engine, quality 100LL, attentive operator can avoid detonation. Norman, with 10:1 CR, was the maximum HP rated above the original 200? Best regards, -a-

Mike, It is real easy to get 75 d LOP at 5,000' It is a real challenge to get 50 d LOP at 12,000’ Yes, it is harder to lean deep into LOP at higher altitudes, but it is less important at higher altitudes. For students of the red box theory... The red box ends below 8,500’ it is OK to run at peak, thus negating the difficulty to leaning to a particular target at higher altitudes. Explanation: Less air MP seams to make it more difficult. Overall less HP available, less of a margin to work with. Best regards, -a-

Jerry, You have hit on one of my favorite topics. If you haven't done so already. Look up Zeftronics digital voltage regulator for your generator. It is a low cost, like for like, replacement for the original springs and screws type controller originally in your plane. Your electrical system is stone simple. Generator, controller, and battery. When one part of the system breaks, it usually takes another part with it.... Search this site for details on Zeftronics. One of our members even posted graphs of voltage output comparisons. As you can imagine, digital output is smooth and steady. Analog output looks like chicken scratch on paper. There are also several discussions on generator vs. alternator. If you don't need to idle on the ground, waiting an hour for an IFR clearance, I preferred the generator. Launching into IMC with a dead battery would not be ideal. Go digital.... Note: it is worth going over each of the connections to make sure they are tight. Most of the connectors are reachable with the copilot side panel removed from the cowling. Cooling tube should still be connected to the generator also. Best regards, -a-

For your consideration... I would think the replacement should match what the aircraft has in it already. The tach time should add consistently as the OEM gauge. (as wacky as that sounds). Yellow markings and redline in the proper places. When TBO is stated as 2,000 hrs, that is based on tach time being counted the OEM way. Since TBO is a guidance, exact engine hours are not that meaningful. The most important thing is accuracy of the gauge in RPM reading. Go digital, get away from rotating tach cables. If you don't have a Hobbs meter, airframe hours are determined by tach. By changing this factor you will be changing the way these hours are reported by a few percent. My 65C was tach based. My m20r is missing the tach hours and only has a hobbs meter. In JetD's case, he has both tach and Hobbs. My opinion, shared. Sorry JohnG, it is not the facts today, just opinion... Best regards, -a-