N201MKTurbo

You are exactly right The F I used to own was the fastest F I ever saw. My J is a dog... but I still love it...

There really cannot be slop in the ailerons. The lift produced by the ailerons causes the rods from the two sides to pull against each other which removes all slop except on the linkage between the yoke and the center bell crank. Have you ever noticed how much slop there is in the ailerons while on the ground, but while flying it is absolutely precise? This is because of the aerodynamic tension put on the control system. The trim system is doing the same thing. The horizontal stabilizer has down force on it that takes all the slop out of the trim system.

You can rig the airplane in a few hours. If you want to maximize the speed of your airplane it takes weeks. I am an A&P so I can do it myself and have done my last two planes. My current J refuses to go any faster and it should, I suspect it is because of the wing repair after the past owner hit a tree. But My old F model, that shows what can be done with rigging, I actually got it to perform to book values, which everyone thinks are wildly optimistic. I found the biggest gain was with aileron angle. I would adjust the angle through the allowed range ½ turn of one rod end at a time and then test fly the plane. I did the same with the flaps. When I got close I started moving the ailerons and flaps in unison until I found the sweet spot that gave me the most speed. This gained me 7 knots without spending a penny on speed mods. There is also some speed to be gained by optimizing the elevator bungee tension in the tail. You can find the sweet spot by going out on a calm day getting the plane stable and noting the airspeed. Then move the trim to where you have to hold pressure on the yoke to fly level and note the speed, it will change ( a little) find the mis trimmed position that gives you the highest speed then re-adjust the spring bungees to bring the highest speed and the trim position together. This will alter the trail angle of the elevator at cruise trim. It is also very important to make sure the landing gear are closing properly. If they are hanging to low or the doors are not laying flush with the wing, it will slow you down. I found that if the belly skins are wrinkled by not tightening the screws in the correct order it will cost you as much as 3 knots.

My J has the turbo mod which complicates everything. On a stock J the starter changout should be very easy, four bolts and the starter cable. I'm not faniliar with the stock J but you may have to disassemble the air box somewhat. Not that I've ever seen a Lycoming have this problem, but you may want to just bump the key after you install it so the bendix engages and check how the teeth mesh.

Good question, After all the abuse I give my planes, mine looked like brand new when I sent them off to Laser to have the gussets welded in.

In my F there was nothing on top of the wheel well and my knee would just go into that space. On the J, My 77 anyway there is a solid box that houses the throtle quadrant and it fills that space so there is nowhere for my knee to go so I have to keep my legs together. It just feels more cramped to me.

From a flying point of view there is not enough difference to matter. The J has a better panel. The F has the good mags! The F has more leg room for the pilot. The F with the Johnson Bar is a far superior gear system. The electric flaps on the J are better then the hydrolic on the F, but the F flaps are OK. The control systems are slightly different, I liked the feel of the F better. The J engine cowl is easier to get the whole thing off, The F cowl is easier to get normal access to the engine.

It is probably my plane. It was wrecked three times before I bought it. Two gear up landings and hit a tree on an approach. The previous owner flew it home 300 miles with a one foot indentation in the right wing after hitting the tree. When I bought the plane it would only do 142 at 75%. After tweaking and re-rigging I got it to the 152 it does now. If I level it off at takeoff power it will do about 170, but I don't want to burn 18 GPH! I don't beleve what Sandman told me about the power settings of this engine. He said that at the same manifold and RPM it makes the same power as the stock engine. That is what the STC says also, but he never did a dyno run to confirm, so it is all a guess. Contrary to popular belief the turbo does take some power to operate and that power is not going to the propeller. It would be interesting to see what everybody's planes would do at full power to get a comparison. We would need to know the temperature, altitude, manifold pressure and RPM.

I see a few of you are apprehansive about power off landings. This is a private pilot skill and should be demonstrated at each BFR. I have told countless passengers to reach over to the throttle and pull it back to idle at some random time, so I could truly practice engine failure landings, but after thirty years no one has done it! It is not good practice if you know it is going to happen.

Why do you think you need a new servo? Do you have access to a 0-10 DC regulated powersupply? The best way to evaluate the serve is to measure the minimum voltage where it starts moving, in both directions. The rule of thumb is it needs to move at less then 5V. After the hanger faries got done with mine it moves at 0.5 volts. They had to polish the commutator and brushes to a mirror finish to get it that low.

The little hanger faries went through mine and it has worked perfect ever sense.

Remove your trim jackscrew, clean all the greese off the screw and the bearings. Re-grease the bearings and screw with Aeroshell Greese #7. It will work just fine in cold weather.

Mooney didn't supply one because thay didn't think it needed one. I've never used one and naver had any dammage because of it. My plane has seen plenty of weather sitting on the ground. Including being torm loose from chains traveling 200 yards across the ramp and hitting a king air during a T storm in Tucson. The only dammage was a small dent in the elevator where it hit the king air's propeller. I didn't see any of this, when I got back to the airport the plane was back in its parking spot looking just fine, but all the ramp rats were all excited telling me about how they watched it make its journey across the ramp after unbebding the hooks on both chains. They did show me the chains. Damn strong airplane!

I owned an F for 19 years and have a J now which I've had for 10 years. As far as short field performance is concerned, there is no difference. As far as cruse performance is concerned, contrary to popular belief, there is very little difference. My current J has a turbo, so it is not apples to apples, but at 6500 feet my F would do 152 at 75% and my J does 152 at 75%.

This sounds like an Awsome adventure, why are you trying to talk him out of it? I would do it...

OK the fuses are FM01A125V5A The industrial number is GMW-5 here is the best price I could find: http://nationalfuse.com/north-american-electrical/micro-fuse/gmw-5/prod_1183.html They are $4.64 Here is the datasheet you will note at the bottom that it says they are compatable with FM01-5A: http://www.cooperindustries.com/content/dam/public/bussmann/Electrical/Resources/Data%20Sheets/Bus_Ele_DS_2058_GMW_HWA.pdf

I would suspect a connector. Try reseating all the connectors in the gage circuit. I don't know about your year, but my 77 has a bunch of circular plastic AMP connectors behind the panel and they have given me trouble with my oil temperature similar to your pressure problem.

On my 77J there are lights on the glare shield, and they were randomly blowing the fuse. Someone had put aluminum tape behind the bulbs to act as a reflector and the tape was shorting out the lights. I would look for something that is shorting out because of vibration, chafed wires and such. You can eliminate the voltage situation by pulling the alternator breaker and reving the engine. If the fuse still blows then it is vibration. I have found another part number for those fuses and you can get them from Digi Key for about $4.50, I will look it up if you like. They are exactly the same fuse with an industrial rating instead of a military rating. Either way they are a much more robust fuse then the 3AG fuses used in so many places.

I'd go to Napa get a car and see the wine country, then fly to Oakland to see the city. Driving in SF is a pain, walking is a joy.

Higher air density from the cold air?

I have always gone to Oakland, The FBO will drive you to BART and you are in the city in less then 30 min.

OK seeing that we are all obsessing with screwology, Of course we must be obsessed with screws because we own Mooneys! Every year at annual, I gather up all my screws, clean them in the parts washer and dry them off. Just before I put them back in I throw them in an old coffee cup, spray them with the lube of the day, shake it around and then screw them back in. They always come right out the next year. The first year I annualed this plane I had to drill out way to many screws, couldn’t even get them out with the hammer drill.

The KT76 has a vacuum tube, thus a high voltage supply. It sounds like it may be breaking down and arcing. Time to visit the avionics shop

I've done 4 of the solid seals. The hardest part is cleaning the crankcase, it needs to be like new. Bring the Coleman stove out to the hanger, boil a pot of water, turn off the heat and put the seal in the water and cover, let it steep for 10 minuets. Use the two BASs and it will go right on with surprisingly little effort. Put the spring back in and let it cool and shrink for about five minuets. I wouldn't grease it, everything needs to be clean and dry before you put the sealant on. Use an acid brush to apply a thin coat of sealant on the case and the seal and work it into place. Work quickly so the sealant doesn't dry. Clean the excess sealant with alcohol.

Up until the last two years, my Mooneys have always been a work horse. Back in the 80s For 4 years straight I put over 450 hours a year on it. It never failed to start and take me where I needed to go. Most of the time it was a little ugly from grease, oil and dirt, but very reliable. Jim R you must have magic tubes, I've always had to air up the tires at least once a month. Maybe I should clean the schrader valves before I put them back in?