Sabremech

If I'm correct, Rob's airplane has Mod Works STC# SA00805AT which installs either an IO-360-A3B6 or IO-360-A3B6D and the 201 cowling on the M20C & G models. That would make it essentially a 201 from firewall forward. Mod Works also has/had STC# SA00946AT which installed a 201 cowling on the M20 E&F models. Sure would be nice to find out about STC SA00946AT as that would potentially solve the cowling issue for E's and F's.

In my research so far, I found that the Mod Works STC for the 201 cowling on a C model included an engine upgrade to the IO-360-XXXX. If that STC were available, the cost for the engine upgrade would put me as well as most owners out of the market. I'm in search of a set of 201 cowlings to purchase or borrow to help in the fitting of this cowling to the older airframes, specifically my C model to look at the clearances first hand. Thanks to everyone for your knowledge and helping with this project. It will be a long and interesting project.

My motivation for this potential project is that I want it for my airplane. So, with that thought why not offer it to others who may want it? The costs are unknown and I would certainly like to obtain an STC that has gone dormant first, but am not adverse to starting from scratch. My main goal besides making my airplane look the way I want it would be to break even. I have established resources that can control costs through development and certification and I'm confident this can be done and offered to others at a reasonable price. Time will tell though.

I thank everyone so far for your input and ideas. All of them will be considered as this moves forward. This market is extremely price sensitive, so it needs to be as simple or easy as possible without compromising safety or quality. Chessieretriever, I am interested in your J cowling and possibly the mount if you're willing to part with them. I will most likely need a J cowling for conformity when that time comes. Could you e-mail me your contact info to david@vintageairworks.com? Thank you. If you look at my website, vintageairworks.com, you can see that I'm serious about supporting vintage aircraft and their parts needs. The Mooney cowling project is something I want on my C model and I know others here would like the same option. I have contacted SWTA about their STC's and we'll see where that goes. That would be the ideal situation for me as well as potential customers to keep from starting from scratch. Thanks again for all your thoughts and ideas!

I assure you quality will not be compromised. Every part that I have made and put through the certification process, with my corporate jet aircraft parts business to date, has quality and backed up with a lifetime warranty.

I originally thought of using the factory 201 cowling from slavage yards, but am finding out that there aren't that many of them available. I'm in the process of locating a set now, purchasng them, and it alone has proven to be a challenge. With the shortage of originals, it's going to have to be a manufactured cowling and will be similar to others that are or were available. Price point is going to be the key for me as I know what the value of my airplane is and what I'd be willing to spend to update the look of my airplane. The STC process doesn't bother me as I've been down that road with my other company. I'll most likely have 2 STC's, one for carbureted and the other fuel injected Mooney's. This process will most likely take a year to get finished.

Initial thoughts are to use a J cowling to fit it to my C model for the carbureted Mooney's and then to an E & F for the fuel injected models. The STC cowlings would either be carbon fiber or fiberglass depending on costs. David

I'm considering doing an STC for Pre J model Mooney's to install a 201 style cowling. I'd like to gauge Pre 201 Mooney owners interest and also get an idea of what the Mooney community believes would be an acceptable price given the value of the older Mooney's. I'm aware of other cowlings available, but the price is too much for me and my C model versus the value of my airplane. Thank you, David Staffeldt Vintage Airworks

Byron, Sorry to hear about your engine issues. I don't think you'll find an answer as to why this happened to your engine. In contrast to the way you operate your engine, mine is not flown nearly as much and will sit for 3 months some times in the hangar. I don't use any additives just Exxon Elite, which has been run in it for years. I use the same brand and weight and do not switch viscosities. Will I encounter the same problem you have? Maybe, maybe not. It's metal and nothing can be guaranteed by the use or non use of additives. It's nice to think they will help and maybe they do, but when engine troubles such as yours come up it casts doubt as to their effectiveness. These are my observations with my experience maintaining my Lycoming to Merlin engines.

Thanks guys for the info. I'm interested in finding the owner of the STC's.

I'm looking for information about Mod Works Inc. Who were the principals and what happened to the company? Thanks,

Let's see what factual information was given to start this controversy. Is this not hearsay? This is what we can expect from a thread rating A&P's/ Shops. "Quote" "Hello everyone, I was contacted by a aircraft owner who is in the middle of a law suit against a facility in Florida that is known to the Mooney community to be, let's say, less then reputable. This time, this facility, has done somthing that has captured the attention of federal alphabet agency, as well other officials in the state. In order to bolster the case, this person has asked me to interact with the Mooney community to find others who have suffered like this person has. So if you are wiling to provide information regarding your issues with this facility, then please PM me you name only, and I will put you in contact with each other. Thanks Rich" Becca, Why can't we rate poor owners and Pilots? After all the bills are usually much more than a dinner or a nights stay at a hotel and can impact the financial stabilty of an A&P or shop. Should shops and A&P's be any different with letting cheapskate pilots skip from one shop to another and not paying their bills? How would this hurt my business if I had a shop? If I provide a good service and network with other shops about unscrupulous owners, eventually they won't be able to find anyone to sign their name in the logbook and keep them safe. Hence, they shouldn't own an airplane in the first place if they can't treat A&P's as the professional we are. You know what, this might not be a bad idea after all, we can get the same data from the pilots who complain and spread hearsay! Good Idea Becca!

Hi Becca, I find it odd that you can't understand what being fair means and that somehow you believe people will post just the honest facts and not embellish at all. Good luck with that as peoples emotions of perceived events will trump what actually happened preventing the real truth from being posted regardless if they have to sgn their name or not.

As I said in my previous postings, Include a thread for A&P's to rate the pilot/owners who bring their airplanes in for work. You want to be fair then make it go both ways! That way we can be warned about owners and pilots who want to nickel and dime us to death or store their airplane for free for months while they say they don't have the money to pay the bill.

231Flyer, That's OK, as I'm one of the A&P's who will not do annuals on small GA aircraft. There's not enough money in it for the frustration.

You know what you're doing here? Creating an A&P shortage. These types of threads turn mechanics off from wanting to work on small airplanes! Look at what you've all been posting, why would anyone want to become an A&P let alone work in the small GA field?

Unless the other side is allowed to present their side, these are all stories with little or no merit. Are you all willing to believe everything you read from someone you most likely don't know? I'm not! I want to hear both sides of a discussion then you can usually find the truth in the middle. If you want to post the name of a shop or A&P on a public forum and discuss or air your thoughts, then have some professional courtesy and talk to them first. It may be uncomfortable, but you owe it to the rest of us, pilots and mechanics alike. The internet has the potential to destroy an A&P's career and them not even knowing how or why unlike the pilot owner who unless they fly for a living doesn't have the same consequences! Think about it!

I'll relate a personal experience to defend why this is not the kind of information that should be aired on a public forum. Over two years ago, I was accused of being unsafe in regards to my maint actions that were videoed for us to use on our website. The person we had come up and do the video posted it online and made the accusations that I had complete disregard for the safety of the ground crew members and that my actions were to impress the boss. Do you understand the anger I had when I read this on a public forum? Do you understand the time it took to prove to those who jump to conclusions that the whole story wasn't presented? No where in the attack on me on the public forum did it say that we had the fire department standing by, discussed who's responsibilities it was for each operation we did and what our emergency plan was. It took a very long time to clear this up including getting an apology from the accuser in person but not on the forum. In light of my personal experience, it is a very bad idea to make accusations about someone or some shop on a public forum. It's down right wrong as you don't give the accused a chance to tell their side of the story. Luckily for me, I followed the forum and was able to head it off early, but it really frustrated me. So in my opinion, it is gutless to post about someone on a public forum, especially when you don't give them an opportunity to tell their side. I hope this clears up my knee jerk reaction!

It's not an apples to apples comparison to relate an aircraft repair shop to a restaurant for the purposes of this discussion. Aren't bad shops or mechanics the same as bad or cheap pilots? Have you ever tried to put a mechanics lien on an airplane? It's not that easy to do. Yes, it can be done but can cost more than the bill to collect. So what do we do? We typically cave into the owner and sell ourselves short because we don't have the resources as the owner/pilot. So why can't we have a forum to share information about cheap owners or those who default on their bill? Let's be fair and have an "Angie's List" of bad owner/pilots! Why should this be one sided against a shop or mechanic? A review is a review!

This topic has come up before and my comment will remain the same. As an A&P/IA the stories of dead beat and cheap pilots who won't pay their bill is the same as your list of bad shops or A&P's. If you're going to have a place to post reviews of shops or mechanics, then there needs to be another one for mechanics to share their experiences with cheap pilots. It goes both ways folks.

Let me clarify, in most cases your replacement instruments need to be STC'd, but that is not always the case. I'm doing a field approval with an FAA-PMA six pack instrument cluster into my Mooney. None of these gauges are STC'd. So your statement is only half correct. I don't want to spend $6500 on a JPI 930 to replace my gauges as the value just isn't in my airplane to do it. So, in my case I'm doing the field approval for a Mitchell 6 pack cluster to replace my original 6 pack for $900. I may take it a step further and get an STC for the installation in Pre J Mooney's so other operators have a less expensive alternative to replace old out dated instruments. I'm in the business of manufacturing FAA-PMA parts and STC's, so I'm quite familiar with the requirements of the TCDS.

The issue is the fuel quantity. You can replace your MP, RPM, etc with a TSO'd or FAA-PMA gauge with out any issues. It's my understanding that the 930 is the only unit that can be installed in your aircraft and be the primary instrument for fuel quantity and everything else. .

If this is a common problem, I'd be happy to make new ones and get them certified or can supply them as owner produced parts as they are not flight critical items. I'm in the business of manufacturing and certifying obsolete parts. Check out my website at www.vintageairworks.com I can be reached at 262-914-9589 or by e-mail at david@vintageairworks.com David Staffeldt

Here we go again. A gear up isn't an issue!