LANCECASPER

Who did the tank re-seal?

It is very unlikely that she has a 1975 M20K, since they weren't introduced as a 1979 model in late 1978. (https://books.google.com/books?id=S8rkR5Hozv8C&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false) If the relays aren't the issue, the next step might be the limit switches. But rather than just throw parts at it, if you're in Temple, TX you might call Don Maxwell (Longview TX) or Brian Kendrick (San Marcos TX) and let them know what you've done and see where they would go next. If they will agree to look at it then you can also get an A&P logbook sign-off which you'll need anyway since you're past what owner preventive maintenance allows.

In December of 1970 during winter break from school, my family and another family, nine of us total, took a road trip from Northern Minnesota to Southern California in two VW Beetles, each with a CB radio installed the night before the trip, along with a top carrier on each car. We ate at many a Taco Bell during our time in California. Hard Shell tacos were $.25 then. The most we paid for gas was $.31/gallon, the least we paid was $.21/gallon. I was 7 yrs old, my oldest brother was 22. We put all of the gas on his Standard Oil credit card. The trip in our car was considerably less than $200 total and that included at least one oil change, maybe two. You could also get a hamburger, small fries and a small Coke at McDonald's and get a few cents change from a dollar. My brother bought an Amoco Gas Station in 1973, just before the Arab Oil Embargo. Gas was about $.30 when he started and in a few months it had doubled and he was buying gas for $.08 a gallon more than the discount station a block away was selling it for. Needless to say, oil changes, tune-ups and brakes jobs kept him open, not gas margins.

If there aren't bladders, which the original ad says it had (maybe incorrectly), and it has sealed wet wing tanks, then it is the original 61 year old sealant and any subsequent patches coming apart. If that's the case, then not only does it need a strip and re-seal, the fuel system needs to be completely gone through. (Since one tank has debris and one doesn't, I would almost bet the farm on whatever they used to patch that side coming apart.) You have bought a project. If you can get out of it - run, even at a substantial loss. If you can't then buckle up for the ride.

I had an Ovation that would cut out if I taxied with too low of an RPM. The Champions were low hour, but they were junk - 8 or 9 out of the 12 were high resistance. I put Tempest Fine Wire in and it solved that problem evened out mag checks as well.

How many hours on the plugs? Massive or fine wire? Champions or Tempest? Have you checked resistance on each plug?

A Trig Com* or Becker Com** would easily fit where the STec Autopilot used to be on the RIght side of your panel with an adapter plate***. Ideally if both of your radio have identical buttonology it might be a little more convenient, but in any event a 2nd panel radio to me is a must. I carry a handheld but they are pretty worthless in reality to try to use in a complete NORDO situation, but better than nothing, especially if you have a complete electrical failure. A second com would only need to be used once when you really need it to be well worth it, however I think you'd end up using it to set up for every flight. * (https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/avpages/ty91vhfradio.php?clickkey=31904) ** (https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/avpages/beckerar6201.php?clickkey=31904) *** (https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/inpages/mk641.php?clickkey=46985) - - - If you want nav redundancy also, a trig nav/com with an on screen cdi isn't terribly expensive either, $4108.17 with a Spruce discount https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/avpages/trig_11-16838.php?clickkey=2691991 Or a Garmin is $4680 with a Spruce discount. https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/avpages/garmin_gnc215.php?clickkey=10900

The ad for the airplane on Mooneyspace in 2024 says it has bladders

I understand all of that, but he has witnesses to what the seller said and the window of reasoning with the seller is rapidly closing. His level of determination will make the difference and the outcome. The seller is an airline pilot and A & P and has a lot to lose, mainly his reputation. There's no way I would fly this airplane again. I would make this the seller's problem, which in my opinion it is.

Two days ago, minutes after paying for and picking up the airplane, he had a major failure, which could have been a catastrophe. The seller later admitted that 5 days earlier he had a similar failure. If I was the buyer I would be focusing all of my attention on getting a refund. Let the seller figure all of this out.

MOTIVATED SELLER

Motivated Seller has reduced price to $1,749,950

Were there any items that showed up in the pre-buy that required work right before you picked it up? Who did the pre-buy? Who did the work identified in the pre-buy? Who did you pay to comb through every detail of the logs to see what kind of maintenance it has had, especially in recent years? Someone really good at going through logbooks and with a lot of Mooney experience can sift out airplanes from ever going to pre-buy. If this is the airplane I think it is it has bladders not wet wing tanks, so tank sealant that you describe wouldn't apply. However bladders do not have an indefinite life. When you filled up right before take-off, did you sump the tanks? Did you find anything? What model Mooney is this? (so we know whether it's a fuel-injected or carb Lycoming or fuel-injected Continental) Why didn't the Seller tell you, before he took your money, that he had a fuel related issue on take off 5 days earlier? If he had a plugged injector something is mostly likely coming apart and is in the fuel lines. It could be the bladders if they are old and it sat for years outside in the heat. Immediately I would ask the Seller for your money back. There is enough negligence on his part for not disclosing what happened 5 days earlier. He put your life at risk by not disclosing that. Get out of this one as soon as you can and let him re-sell it if it's such a great airplane. Don't let his problem be your problem. (If it's the airplane I think it is, according to the FAA, the person you bought it from, Thomas Boardman, is an A & P and an ATP with a 737 Type Rating. He does not want complaints to the FAA or his employer or notoriety on social media. If he is an honest seller he will rescind the deal and let you walk away. If he is a really decent guy he will reimburse whatever expenses out of pocket you had, since had he told you about about what happened 5 days earlier you would not have incurred those costs.) - - - - - Is this the one you bought from the guy (Thomas Boardman) that bought it in 2024 (Conrad) who bought it out of annual and according to him "got a great price on this airplane)? : https://www.flightaware.com/live/flight/N79338/history/20251009/1601Z/5B2/5B2 When it was for sale in 2024 the Seller said, "Whoever gets it next needs to be ready for the cost of an overhaul, but I hope they also feel like the price I'm offering is a good deal that can be the start of a great relationship for someone who wants to spend their time and money taking care of this amazing old plane." Most people buy an airplane to fly, not as a project, which is what he was hinting that this one was.

PRICE REDUCED TO $619,950

Each person gets to make this choice, but I personally wouldn't put a Gibson cylinder on an airplane I owned. They are the go-to for people doing "cheap" field overhauls. Sellers who are "fixing" an airplane right before they sell it use Gibson, and the cylinder will last for a few hundred hours. Paying all of the labor to remove the old cylinder and replace it with a Gibson is money you'll never get back. If you're set on going with a repaired cylinder I would just send the one you have to Gann or J & J Air Parts in Pleasanton TX. (https://www.jjairparts.com/) Example: Gibson doesn't even realize that this cylinder is for an -AF1B engine. They have it listed for an -AFIB. That may give you an idea of their attention to detail. https://www.gibsonaviationok.com/class-38-2 They also have a lot of "as needed" in the description of their work. Particularly on these cylinders the exhaust valve guide has to be replaced, not just "as needed" - they all need it.

If you look through this document, in Section 1.2 it lists the M20F. https://prod-edam.honeywell.com/content/dam/honeywell-edam/aero/en-us/products/cabin-and-cockpit/avionics/autopilots-and-indicators/aerocruze-100-autopilot/documents/hon-aero-ttfs-305-mooney-m20-installation-instructions-aerocruze-autopilot-en.pdf?download=false

The roll cage did its job.

Someone with an early M20M (pre S/N 27-0183) should buy the fiberglass/ultraleather interior from this one.

Service Bulletins are easy to find. https://mooney.com/contact-2/ Scroll down and select your model and then you'll see all of the Service Bulletins for your airframe. You can find them as easily as anyone else can on here. (The one that was referred to was SBM20-283A. This one also covers the riveted V-Clamp requirement.)

If Air Power can get you a new cylinder in three months you should be thrilled. No one else is going to get you a cylinder any sooner. About three years ago there was an 18 month wait on TIO-540-AF1B cylinders. I wouldn't waste the labor cost on a used cylinder, especially on this engine since people run them too hot. Even having a cylinder rebuilt will take you longer than January since the parts that are always backordered on these cylinders are the exhaust valves and guides. -------- This is way more info that you asked for . . . . You may have owned your Bravo for years, but since you're new on Mooneyspace I'm going to share some information on what temperatures work for this engine. If you run it by the POH you will burn up cylinders, turbos, exhaust systems and maybe occupants. Normally we all think of the POH as the final authority but if you take into account all of the experience that Bravo owners on this forum have, in 36 years now since the M20M was introduced, the recommended setting for longevity on this engine is a max combined number of 53 (MP + RPM; Example 29MP + 2400RPM). The people that run 34/2400 will be buying cylinders often. Even 32/2400 will never make TBO. Also keeping the TIT below 1600 will prolong the cylinders (especially the exhaust valves), exhaust system, turbos and TIT probes. The POH was never revised from the original and it says 1750 max, but that's when in the early life of the M20M people were going through a set of cylinders every 200-300 hours. The early M20M owners fought the battle and eventually Lycoming developed the wet-head (Bravo) engine, which helped. However still even with the Bravo (wet-head) engine you'll still never hit TBO if you run POH numbers. The other big thing with this engine is that the TIT probes really only last 200-300 hours - less if you run it hotter than 1600. When the probes fail the TIT reads low, compounding the problems. As an example someone runs it at 1650 indicated when in fact the TIT is really 1750 since the probe is bad. This will mean turbo overhaul, exhaust overhaul and cylinder replacements. Looking over the logs and seeing when the probe was last replaced is very important. Every time you have the engine cowl off carefully inspect your exhaust system as if your life depended on it, since it does. A few Bravo accidents occurred when the exhaust system burned through (especially the "Y" in the tailpipe) or the early spot-welded Turbo V-Clamp gave way and 1600-1700 exhaust gases burned through the firewall and it didn't end well for the pilot and passengers. Make sure that a soapy water pressure test is done on the exhaust at every annual and that it's visually inspected at every 25 hour oil change (Yes this is one of the few engines that Lycoming says it is mandatory that 25 hour oil changes must be done - Lycoming SB 480F). I've had three M20Ms and there are a lot of other people on here with a lot of M20M time as well and that's what we have learned so far.

Paging @Jake@BevanAviation, please pick up the courtesy phone. . .lol

You didn't buy your Mooney from the company. You bought it from a previous owner. Mooney sold each airplane once, many years ago to one end-user. It may have changed hands many times since then, but Mooney didn't make a dime on any subsequent transactions. Expecting them to support the airplanes which are now 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 and 70 years old is crazy. Manufacturers have done it up until now, not to be nice to everyone, but in the hopes of making a profit. Now that it hasn't worked out, if you want to keep flying your airplane (whether it's Mooney, Beechcraft, Navion, Piper, Commander, Cessna, Grumman, etc) you'll have to get creative. People who own classic cars such as Packards, Studebakers, Edsels, etc figure out ways to keep them going or they move on to something else. The FAA has the OPP provision, there are salvage airplanes, and yes there is now LASAR. So there are options. However, the vast majority of parts for airplanes don't even come from the airframe manufacturer.

Yeah the FIS-B weather is probably set to U.S. rather than regional