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I can't tell if you got what you needed or not. If not, PM me and I will PDF you the few pages from the manual you need.

Congrats, that is a major accomplishment. I noticed no GPS work. Plane not equipped or just not tested on it?

Congrats. You will love your plane and you will love this site. Lots of collective knowledge. I bought a 75F some years back and still love to just hang around the hangar even if I'm not flying.

I had a stand-alone intercom when I bought my plane. Fought the cables, especially those going to the back seat. I installed the PM8000BT. After using it, I can't imagine having anything else. If I ever get a different plane that does not have one in it, that will be the first money I spend.

See the following Advisory Circular, all 39 pages. http://www.faa.gov/documentLibrary/media/Advisory_Circular/AC%20120-76B.pdf

I can't tell you how much I appreciate this forum. I Don't have many posts, but reading this forum is a nightly routine and when I needed help with a number of issues on my Mooney, some very knowledgeable people helped me out immensely. What a great group.

I love watches. Always have. Wish I could read the 2 point type that the aviation watches have on their face. I spent $200 on a pebble steel and love it. Ties into WingX, but what I love the most is that you can get many watch faces, including some that constantly display local and utc. Absolutely impressed, and they just released a new model. I used to rotate among my watches. Have not worn anything other than my pebble since I bought it.

I started with the iPad and then bought the mini. I instantly fell in love with the iPad mini mounted on the yoke. The size of the mini is perfect for the yoke. I use the iPad for everything except in-flight. On the mini, I have installed as few apps as possible and use it almost exclusively in-flight. I don't like using the mini for email, web crawling etc, because, for those tasks, it is too small for my taste.

The two of you are flying over Wisconsin above the clouds in October, she snaps a picture, and on Valentine's Day you get a valentine card in the form of a nicely framed picture. What a gem.

I also use WingX and love it. I have an iPad mini on the yoke and an iPhone mounted on my panel. Using WingX and my Skyradar with ahrs, I display maps/plates and weather on the mini and either attitude indicator or sv on my iPhone. Btw, I also use app called Lab Timer on my iPhone with timer 1 for left tank, timer 2 for right tank, timer 3 for approaches, and timer 4 for "time to switch tanks" reminder. The app allows you to label each timer. Iphone is blue toothed into my pma8000bt, so timer beeper goes off in my headset. So, if I am displaying WingX on iPhone, timer telling me to switch tanks still beeps in my headset.

Like Maurader, my cutoff for cold starts is 40f. I fly in cold weather quite frequently and, as you point out, it is extremely frustrating to have to always make sure you have access to either an outlet or an FBO with pre-heat capability (and I hate the cost of the FBO option). After dealing with that for a couple years, I bought a Honda 2000 generator and it is worth the $900 and 50lbs. The unit has a great fuel ap that can be sealed, and I have never had an issue smelling fuel. It runs my tanis engine heater and my cabin heater. It does not take long and I climb into a warm cabin and start a warm engine. Love it.

Here is some info i found helpful: http://www.moonflight.org/Documents/Upholstery%20Redos.htm http://www.aviationconsumer.com/newspics/pdfs/29-2-fabric.pdf(legality of upholstery) Fairly old articles, but not outdated.

I am heading to the south chicago area next weekend, coming in from the NW. Never flown in the Chicago area before. Any words of wisdom as to which airport to land and stay for a few days?

Appreciate the comments. I just replaced all the legacy avionics and was getting ready to do the interior. Based on the collective wisdom here, sounds like I should plan on welding it, but see what everything else looks like once they open it up. Anyone know what the going rate is for marriage counselors? Imagine I'll need to factor that cost in as well.

Oil on front of engine, behind prop.

Just found out today that I have a crack in the crankcase ahead of the #2 cylinder base stud. IO360 A1A 200 hp on 75 F model. 1200 hrs since major. To those with knowledge and experience, any words of wisdom? Trying to figure out if I should try to fix it or (gasp) look at a major or some other engine. Sounds like fixing it may amount to something close to a major.

Attached are some photos of my setup. FSX w/ Carenado Mooney 201 plane (I modified to have top speed closer to my F model) Saitek yoke, throttle quad., multi-panel, switch panel, radio stack (use the SPAD drivers for all Saitek products; lots of headaches prior to discovering this multi-unit driver package) Elite 430 hardware and RealityXP software (top right of physical instrument panel). Spendy, but allows you to really learn how to use the 430. 2 Viewsonic 24" LED monitors Saitek trimwheel (mounted right where it is on a Mooney) Playseat seat for race cars (not planes) so you can fasten down Saitek rudder pedals and sit like you do in a Mooney. ipad mini mounted on forpilotsonly.com clipboard/ipad mini holder combo (WingX and FSXFlight-to feed the ipad gps info from FSX). Reality XP-Garmin GTX 327 transponder Reality XP-Garmin GMA 340 audio panel Plus some more stuff, if anyone wants more info. The goal was to have the simulator be configured as close as possible to my 75' F model. I got pretty darn close and love the setup. What would I never give up? the Elite 430 hardware (looks and has close to same tactile feel as my real 430) and the trim wheel. Monitors are mounted on 3/8" plywood. Set everything up so I almost never touch my keyboard during a flight (and I use ATC feature extensively) Biggest headache: getting the elevator setup configured to be realistic. Finally got that figured out.

Totally enjoyed your summary. Keep us posted. I grew up in the badlands of North Dakota. My father started a plane club called the Badlanders. Everyone got a chuckle out of that, except those who really were. Fly safe.