DaV8or

I can see what you're saying about the handle angle. Making it over, sure, change the angle, but now that your's is done, just cut the top of the handle above the motor and fix the angle. v 1.5 All in all, great job! Does the new gear ratio effect battery charge much?

If the dry lake bed down there is anything like the Black Rock desert, you'll be cleaning the fine dust out of everything for years!

I agree with Jose, check the wiring too. A old C-150 we had in the flying club I was in was lost because of mag wiring. Lost both mags at once and during the forced landing, nosed over in the mud. People fine, plane total. The wires had chaffed where they passed through the firewall and eventually grouned there. This had a really hard life as a trainer pretty much it's entire life with all the maticulous care and maintenance that goes into a 40 year old trainer.

Great Job. Clean and functional. Now plan a flight, dial 'er in and sit back and watch the magic unfold.

Quote: JimR As Scott mentioned earlier, I just practice every year with the airplane on jacks during the annual inspection while assisting my mechanic with the required gear retraction tests. Best of both worlds . . . Jim

Quote: aerobat95 Which one are you looking at? Is it the one thats in TX? Asking price is 79K? If it is...that one seems like a sweet deal. Someone on here told me though that the 430 is not a 430W and it seems thats about 3k to get upgraded. Ray

Quote: Lood My common sense tells me that somewhere under the panel, there must be some sort of switch that is activated by throttle position or something, but I haven't had time to stick my head in there.

Quote: KSMooniac Bruce said I was fortunate that the backup system worked because it is easy for the spline drive to be mis-rigged and get chewed up from normal operation, and then fail to engage when you really need it! He has lots of pictures and stories to back it up, too. For that reason, I only check mine at annual, and make doubly-sure the drive disengages completely, and then "feel" the crank mechanism while running the electric motor to make sure there is no input to it.

Quote: tony you can search for that here http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/AcftRef_Inquiry.aspx

So, little wire theory? Turns out it's crap. My short flight last night showed that the charging system was back to it's same ol' lameness. With all the lights on, down she went in voltage. It's most likely the regulator, but I will probably just do the whole Plane Power conversion. I will consult with the folks at Top Gun.

Awsome! Now that that lame 16L guy is gone, we can finally talk smack about him! Victoria is an awsome name for a plane or woman! Hell, even a great name for the ruler of a worldwide empire!

Oh wait! I do remember! It does still work. It's ultimately how you know it's down and locked. I remember cranking until I felt resistance and was hesitant to keep cranking, but I remembered what the A&P who had just done the annual on the plane had told me, to keep cranking until the light comes on, then stop cranking! I just remembered that.

Quote: tony When you pop the breaker and hand crank the gear down, does the gear up down indication still work on the instrument panel or do you need to look down on the floor to see if the green piece of plastic is showing in the window?

So, follow up to my earlier post. I went for a little ride tonight... errr.... Not fixed!! Tomorrow I will call Top Gun, get their input and likely order the Plane Power kit. C'est la vie! P.S.- I was super happy to go flying tonight after work, caught a beautiful sunset, plane performed excellent as usual (san charging system) calm air, squeek landing and life is good!! I am still a glow with plane ownership.

I'm sure there's another one out there in a hanger somewhere. It's how it always goes. Many years ago, I was in the old car business and there are always new finds out there. I've often wondered if between MAC and the FAA, the current disposition of all the Mooneys still in the USA can be established.

I have been recently contemplating these very same issues. To me, the power supply to my radios and battery are very important, so I had made the decision to do the Plane Power alternator conversion if it were to turn up that either my generator or my regulator were bad. In my case, it may have just been a bit of bad wiring, we shall see in time. If problems persist, I will do the conversion. Lighter weight, modern technology, greater capacity, greater reliability and cooler operation were all good selling points for me. In your case with the problem being isolated to the regulator I would suggest that the decision could come down to economics and log books. 1) Do you have, or are you willing to spend the money on a conversion right now? 2) How old is your generator? When was it last rebuilt or replaced? If the generator is old, I say pitch the whole lot. If it's pretty new and you don't really want to spend the money now, go for the Zephtronics. However, just ask yourself, what brand new car, truck, boat or airplane is sold with a generator in it today? There is a reason for alternators.

Did you see that there is another super rare fixed gear Mooney on eBay right now? M20D For Sale

Quote: DonMuncy Well, I finally got my power tow finished. I now consider myself an expert on tow design, parts acquision, assembly etc. There are a few things I would change if I were doing it over, but it looks pretty good, is easy to maneuver, and works well (albeit slowly). If you are adept at welding and have lots of spare time, I highly reccommend the project. I'm very willing to share my problems and results. Don

Quote: aerobat95 Also is the one piece windshield a 201 windshied?

I had finally tackled the low voltage problem I've been having. I removed all the appropriate cowl and panels to inspect the wiring and connections for my generator system. Everything looked really good except one tiny little 18 guage wire that came off of the regulator. It had no insulation on a good part of it. I decided that I would get a professional to come over and do a diagnostic on the system and if nothing simple was found, I was ready to spring for a Plane Power alternator conversion kit. The repair facility at OAK is open again with new ownership and so I thought I'd give them a try. They sent a guy over to my hanger and boy, I was not impressed! He kept telling me that probably a diode went out even though I told him it was a generator at least twice and he looked straight at the generator. I said nothing and just let him do his thing. He took the cover off my regulator and said, "Well, it looks pretty new, so it's probably OK." and put the cover back on. After looking at my generator yet another time, he finally came to say "You know, maybe you have the old generator system." Yah think? Anyhow, I asked him if there was any test we could do to check the output of the generator and he said that it wouldn't be any better than what my engine monitor was already doing. So I asked him what could be done and he said that he could do an adjustment on the regulator. At this point I didn't want him adjusting anything, but I did point out to him the funky wire I had found. I really don't think he would have ever found it. He agreed that it looked crappy and he cut out the bad part and put it back together with a butt connector. We fired up the engine and guess what? My JPI showed the voltage climbing right up from 11.2 to as high as 14.1! I think that stupid little wire may have been my problem. I have never seen the JPI show a voltage that high before. Now the even better good news, when the owner of the shop called me on the phone later to tell me what I owed, he told me that since it was my first time and it was an easy fix, there was no charge. Given the quality of the guy they sent out, that was the right price, but it was not what I was expecting! Today I will go fly and see if it is truely fixed. Yeah!

Love the wood Mooney logo. Are going to try staining it with different color stains to mimic the Mooney logo? With a nice laquer on top, it could be pretty cool. Plane model looks good too, as usual. Those people do a pretty good job.

Somebody now has to make a special model for vintage owners where they can try on all the different speed mods, kind of like a Mr. Potatohead.

Congratulations on the plane! Love the pictures and the paint on your plane. Good colors. Welcome to the forums! Now, whip out that iPhone and get us some interior/panel pictures!

Wished I'd known about this show earlier. Camarrillo is a super easy deal for me because my best friend and my brother both live there and I always have a place to stay. However, I already have plans for this weekend. Much rather go to an airshow.

Quote: KSMooniac I'm also a happy XeVision user for 3 years now in my J. Very nice upgrade. If choosing today, though, I would compare them against the newest LED products like I saw at OSH. AeroLED was the vendor that had some certified/STC options for landing lights and nav/strobes as well (I think that is who it was!).