DanM20C

I feel the same way. Monday was the 17th time I have flown into Airventure, 14th time via Fisk. I flew the caravan once (last year), Warbird once, and an Ercoupe mass arrival once. The Ercoupe arrival was the worst one, no training required and we had nearly 40 aircraft in trail. That doesn't work. I enjoyed the Caravan last year and felt it was a safe way to get into OSH. But it wasn't without a hitch. Halfway to OSH a Bonanza passing by formed up with my element for several minutes, first on #3's wing, then after a while crossed under and flew my (#2) wing. There were also several airplanes that crossed though the caravan at our altitude. So even the Caravan isn't immune to other pilot's hi-jinks. I have had a few hairy experiences with Fisk but I have learned that it's all in the timing, as Becca said. Plan on avoiding times of high volume. Later in the week is usually much slower. As is 7:00-7:30am at the beginning of the week. If the airport is closed for a few hours in the morning for an accident or weather, just call it a day. Don't try to get in before the airshow in a 1-2hr window as it will be crazy. My worst experience was with that scenario. For me Fisk is great because I live so close. If my airplane is ready I can get up from my living room couch and be over Ripon in one hour. I can't think of a better place to wait out delays than at home on my couch. I will continue to fly Fisk and the Caravan in the future. Just depends on my schedule. There was a midair on the Fisk arrival 5 or so years ago. It was a cub and an Archer, they both landed safely at OSH. As I understood it the archer was over the cub, they came together and hit props. The cub's wood prop took the brunt of it. I remember seeing it parked in the vintage maintenance area. Cheers, Dan

I do have a new bottle of calibration gas. Last year the bottle I had completely leaked out in my tent over night. I slept good that night. My plan is to be at OSH Sunday thru Tuesday. I'll bring the calibration equipment to the caravan tent by 5:3O Monday, 1hr before pizza. I will calibrate before and after pizza. Donations to help cover the test gas appreciated but not required. @yvesg put me down, I'll be solo. Cheers, Dan

Technically the 231 is a Rajay. I know what you mean though, manual wastegate. The aftermarket Rajay is the only Turbo Mooney I haven't flown. I have always wanted to though. Cheers, Dan

I'm well aware! It's a way that I cope. I like flying airplanes. With the 231 I have to fly the engine. Cheers, Dan

Just like tailwheel pilots look down on everyone else, we 231 pilots can look down on all the other turbo Mooney pilots. "A real pilot doesn't need an absolute pressure controller" I find that throttle/MP response is actually a touch easier with the fixed wastgate. Merlyn doen't list "easier engine operation" as a benefit in their literature. But most of the listed claims are true, less work for the turbo down low and a 4-5K foot increase in critical alt is worth it. Cheers, Dan

Tom, Yes the oil cooler is next to #2, but I believe it needs to be removed to access the through studs for #1. Breaches in baffling won't necessarily effect the closest cylinders. So gaps around the oil cooler could manifest in higher chts in #1. Get the cowl flaps squared away first. I found that having mine about 1/4" to 3/8” open when in the closed possition keeps my engine happy. Cheers, Dan

Sounds like you do need to rig your cowl flaps. As for the higher temps, it could just be the cylinders are not fully broke in yet. Or.. Any chance the shop wasn't overly carful with reinstalling the baffling? If #1 was replaced they probably would have removed the oil cooler to do so. The area around the oil cooler has all sorts of gaps that if not properly addressed will effect chts. Cheers, Dan

This might not really be a cowl flap problem. "In trail" the knob is usually most of the way out. It looks like they are full open but you can move it a bit further and feel the over center latch. The difference from in trail to full open can been seen on the airspeed indicator, just a few kts slower. Do you have a GB or LB? Intercooler? Did you have temp problems before the cylinder replacements? Cheers, Dan

I fell asleep once in my Mooney. I don't recommend it. As a kid we did some trips in a Travelair. The drone with the props slightly out of sync was like anesthesia, I never slept so good. Cheers, Dan

Welcome to Mooney ownership! Usually @carusoam does my dirty work for me , but looks like he missed it. Your first upgrade should be a proper CO detector. Cheers, Dan

It’s hard to tell from the photos but are they Cad plated? If so I believe they are the incorrect part. The ones that are supplied with the connecting rod bolt kit (from continental) are not cad plated, I’m assuming they are S/S. Good luck, Dan

My 79 claims 80gal capacity with 72 usable. The later 231's 83-84?? are listed at 78.6gal capacity with 75.6 usable. I flew my right tank dry on my 79 and was able to squeeze 39 gal in it. If I'm going on a long trip I fill as full as I can and plan on 72 usable to be conservative. I haven't tried the left yet, hopefully it is the same. If it is I have an extra 30-40min at cruise as an extra cushion beyond my normal reserves. Cheers, Dan

I believe the override button is just a momentary switch across the airspeed switch. I would bet you have a failing airspeed switch. Did they perform a Pitot Static check (IFR Cert) when they installed the transponder? Often shops unknowingly damage our 40 year old airspeed switches. I always ask that they bypass the switch when doing a leak check. I learned this the hard way once, unfortunately they are not cheep. Cheers, Dan

I always though Bryan was a little slow. Cheers, Dan

That makes perfect sense. Thanks Paul. Cheers, Dan

Do you know what reason they choose to include the new drains in the SB? I know there are a lot of variants of the 360 (both NA and Turbo) that never had a primer diverter valve in the first place, yet used the old drain. Not a big deal, I'm just curious if there is a known problem. Cheers, Dan

I'm trying to figure out when they made the switch over to the newer style. Do you think yours were original? Dan

It took me a month to get my fuel line and the cylinder drains. They just showed up yesterday. Did you already have the correct cylinder drains? Cheers, Dan

It might be easier to look at if you remove the CHT from the top graph, add MP to the bottom, and then zoom in a bit to see the transition to lop and some of the cruise. The Savvy tools awesome! Cheers, Dan

It my experience with intercooled 231’s, 28-29” at 10gph will be very close to peak, probably just favoring the lean side. Have you tried increasing MP to the 32-34” range while adjusting the mixture to keep it at 10gph? I typically fly at 32-33” and 10gph, TIT is less than 1530. Accurately finding gami spread in a 231 isn’t easy. Any movement of the red knob changes FF and MP. So one has to adjust the throttle Simultaneously to maintain MP, it’s like drawing a straight 45 degree line on an etch-a-sketch. I use the big pull method when setting up for cruise, MP will drop 3-5”. I then I use throttle to bring the MP back up to where I want it and fine tune the mixture to get my desired FF. I second Anthony’s recommendation for reading @jlunseth‘s posts, lots of great info. I operate very similar to him with the exception I only operate 65% or less when lop. Once lop you can think of the mixture and throttle to be swapped. Lop at 29” -10gph or lop at 34” -10gph, both are about 65% but the first is close to peak and the latter is much further lop. Cheers, Dan

Generally it is just referred to as a momentary switch. I'm glad the SB retains the switch, it's nice having a momentary switch for priming ops. I never had any problems priming with just the fuel pump with my original drains. I don't think ones with a standpipe are an operational necessity. But SB compliance is all or nothing, so I'm attempting to replace mine. Apparently the SB obliterated stock on the newer ones. I was only able to find 3 so far. Cheers, Dan

You are correct, the mags are pressurized off the intake. The "pops" I experienced were not unlike a misfire. I'm most certain I would have carried on if I didn't have the indication that #4 was cold (egt/cht). You never mentioned if you have a fixed or Meryln wastegate? Cheers, Dan

I'm thinking it is fuel related. It doesn't sound like a mag or wastegate issue. You either have a fixed wastegate or a Merlin. It it's fixed nothing is going to change at alt. If you have a Merlin it will be fully closed well before FL200. I can't imagine a failure note that would cause them to cycle from close/open/close quickly. Generally Merlin's suffer a slow silent death and then just get stuck. Then they behave the same way a fixed wastegate does. I had a mag pressurization problem once too and the engine started missing above 16K. It ran rough but didn't shut down and come alive. I would have your mechanic take a close look at the fuel system, specifically the engine driven fuel pump. I completely agree with @gsxrpilot about having an engine monitor paired with a TSIO-360. They help run the engine safely ROP or LOP and they offer so much in the way of trouble shooting it's amazing. Plus my engine monitor may have helped me get to an airport when my #4 cylinder decided to come apart. Without the engine monitor I would have just felt/heard a few little pops and I may have continued on as the engine was running smooth. But I immediately diverted because I could see #4 had gone cold. A few min later the cylinder head broke loose, breaking the intake and fuel line. The intake nuts, washers, and other bits of metal were sucked into the intake and made a mess of everything. An engine monitor is a must have for me. Cheers, Dan

Unfortunately we can't perform 1/2 a SB. I just bit the bullet and ordered 6 of those gold plated fittings. After the SB has been performed the primer switch is now just a momentary hi boost switch. If anything starting should be a little easier/smoother than before with the primer. When using just the primer (per POH) most owners were used getting a little stumble after it fired and would use the primer until the engine ran smooth. The stumbling/poor running was do to two things. Poor cylinder distribution of the fuel/air mix and the fuel lines down stream of the diverter were not getting primed. It would take a second or two for the mechanical pump to prime the system after the diverter redirected the supply back to fuel manifold. When running the hi boost to prime (primer switch after the SB) we are priming all the fuel lines as well as all the cylinders. The only downside l I can see is it will be easier to flood the engine than with the original primer system. But if the primer isn't operated more than 3-5 secs I think flooding it is unlikely. Cheers, Dan

I think they allow a certain amount of fuel to gather in the port for priming. I'm assuming that is the point of them. But I routinely started with just boost pump and never had any start issues with the original drains. Cheers, Dan