201er

I stumbled across the right amount of prime yesterday and she fired up immediately. Love that feeling. Now I just have to get a feel for where that point is. That was the first cold start where I didn't have to do a lot of cranking. I think it's because I gave it a little more throttle prior to priming. The flight before that I primed for 10 seconds, saw the fuel pressure come up but never registered fuel flow. Is that from not having enough throttle open?

Why couldn't you live any closer lol Welcome. I don't know where the whole "Mooney cabin is too small" myth comes from because realistically it's about the same as the others. Though I'll admit from outside it looks tiny. I guess it just comes from the guys who've seen from outside and never actually been in one. Good luck.

So are you saying I'm not priming enough? My fuel flow still reads practically 0 after 3-7 seconds of priming cold.

Electric trim in '78 201 broke recently. Worked in one direction but not the other. Switch needed to be replaced.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/runway27r/5840700934/in/set-72157626978083488 http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2774/5840700934_7b8876e05f_o.jpg

I found a listing on controller.com for this part number from: Willmar Air Service - Parts I'll let you guys know how it works out when I get/install it. Last thing I need to find out was that they got the part number wrong and just sent me the washer for the screw that holds the latch on for $3.75 and that the latch really is $25!!!

Ok thanks everyone. I just found a source for $3.75. Still a rip off for a tiny piece of plastic no doubt, but after hearing $25 it sounds like a bargain. I'm going to hold onto the one I glued together now that I realize these things are golden.

The only source I've found so far wants $25 for a little piece of plastic!

Thanks, that really helped!

Does anyone know where I could get a replacement latch for the window? It's just the white piece of plastic that spins around and keeps the window from opening. I have no idea what it's called so I'm having trouble finding the part to buy. Here's a picture in which you can see my window in case it helps:

^ This is damn near impossible with the extended tanks. I've tried doing this twice already and can't get consistent results. If you fill up the main very quickly, the main fills up and barely drains over to the aux. You leave it like that a while and it levels out over time. Sometimes it won't cross flow to balance until you fly. You have to dip into the main and aux tanks separately which requires two different charts and addition. You gotta watch out that the fuel isn't moving on you at the time you do take a reading.

My 201 came with the 64->98 gallon tank extensions. It's nice to be able to take 10+ hours of fuel but the hard part is keeping track of all of it. My fuel gauges are completely wrong so I installed a fuel flow totalizer to keep track of fuel. The only time I really know how much is in it is when it's full so I fill to full (but it limits me to 2 people). You fill the mains first, cap them, and then the outboards. If the cap is open on the main tank and the outboard is really topped off, it could flow out the main cap hole. It only takes a few gallons until that is no longer an issue. If you want to gte 100% full, you do have to go back and forth between tanks because you top one off and while you're topping the other, the first one partially drains over. If you're willing to accpet 90%+ full, you can just do mains and then aux and done. PM me if you have further questions cause I have scans of the supplements and the info. It's pretty useless and mostly I'm figuring it out on my own though. Not sure if the same tank applies to your C model though. Good luck.

I'm surprised to find Mooneys have a higher max RPM than many others or at least the ability to cruise up to 2700. What makes it different? At higher altitudes to get much power at all, you have to be at 2700RPM. Is there anything wrong with cruising at 2700? Does it wear the prop/engine out faster? Also I noticed the McCauley on my 201 is really wide compared to most planes. What exactly does this do? Round tips reduce wingtip vortices on prop?

I see a lot of guys reminiscing about manual gear, flaps, etc. Not sure aobut the gear, but I know I found manual flaps to be more convenient when I flew an arrow. Why did manufacturers all go to electric flaps since? How are they supposed to be better? I could never really see the advantage or is it just the control takes less space? Speaking of electric flaps and go arounds, how do you retract the 201 flaps partially? Mine seem to require being held down to extend flaps and just click up to retract. Doesn't seem to be any way to retract partially.

Have you considered something like an RV? If you don't need four seats, want a taildragger, and like speed...

Hmm, makes sense but isn't that a bit hard on the starter (particularly when you're the guy paying to get it replaced)?

I read that a good technique for having the throttle in the right position for start is by leaving it at 1000RPM prior to shut down using the mixture. I don't touch the throttle since and try to start with it there. However, it seems like it needs more throttle than that to start but then I have to quickly come back on it cause it fires up toward 1500RPM. Today I tried starting (oat 90df) using 3 seconds of prime but it didn't and I had to add prime and try again a few times till I got it going. Hot starts after getting dinner and again after fuel were a breaze. Nothing compared to starting Arrow hot! Second hot start it was about to start but didn't so I just primed for a second and that was enough to get it going on the next one. It's the (hot oat) cold starts that I still can't seem to get right. How do I tell if it's the result of priming too much or not enough at first?

Is this good or bad? Does it do anything useful or just a lack of additional control?

Thanks Dave. Can you just clarify if X number of seconds is from the moment you turn the pump on till off or if it's the amount of time since registering fuel flow in the event it takes a couple seconds for fuel flow to register?

On many takeoff rolls (especially heavy), my 201 starts bouncing up and down on the nosewheel. Generally I hold back pressure but it does not take enough weight off and the oscilations continue. I've always learned to roll with back pressure on the stick and "feel the plane off the ground" (j3, c152, cherokee, etc). This doesn't seem to work with the Mooney though. It stays firm on the ground for a long time and then just starts flying when it wants to (and this varies by weight). In those other planes I could feel when it was close to taking off and often pick the nosewheel up off the ground before it began to fly. Not like that with the Mooney. As for the bouncing, is it better to continue holding back pressure anyway to at least have less weight bouncing on the wheel, keep stick neatural during the takeoff roll, or even push a bit forward to put more weight on the nose to prevent it from coming up to bounce? I'm careful not to compound the oscilation by leaving the stick wherever I had it rather than trying to counteract it. This sometimes occurs after the landing roll as well. So what I'm asking about is optimal Mooney takeoff technique and how to reduce the nosewheel bouncing?

I'm terrible at starting my '78 201. I can't tell if I'm giving too much prime or not enough. I just end up giving some prime, cranking, giving some more, etc until it fires. On one hand, not enough and it can't fire. On the other, too much and you're dealing with a lot of cranking for a flooded start. I can't seem to find the optimal prime (on a cold summer start) to get it to fire up within a couple turns. A) How long should I prime? How can I tell when it's the right amount? C) Is there a better way than POH method (mixture rich, boost pump on, boost pump off, mixture off)? I can't seem to tell if I'm over or under priming in the first place because either way it requires a lot of cranking and changing stuff. How can I improve my starting procedure?

Doesn't hunt for redline. The slowness isn't that much of an issue to me, just want to make sure it's not an imminent problem or something. I flew a rental arrow, usually first flight of the day. In the arrow it felt like the prop RPM was immediately connected to the knob. The moment I started pulling it back you can see/hear the RPM reducing. In my Mooney when I pull back, nothing happens or a second or two and then it drops quickly to where it was meant to be rather than gradually moving during pull back. A reason for pulling prop back in flight could be going from takeoff to low power cruise at 2000-2200 RPM. That's a long way to turn the knob but without instant feedback it takes a bit more hunting to find the right RPM setting. Does everyone else have instant RPM feedback?

Is this typical on all Mooneys or do I need this checked out. On Pipers I've previously flown, the response time of pulling the prop knob back during runup felt quick but on my 201, I have to pull and hold it back a few seconds until the RPM drops. It seems to be the same case in flight which has been causing me to pull back too far because at first it wasn't doing anything and then jump too far. I'm getting used to this and the prop control seems to function normally other than the brief delay. So is it normal to have the prop knob back a few seconds while cycling the prop on runup?

Thanks, very interesting points. By understanding older Mooney designs, it helps me understand my own plane better. Do explain the one piece spar more. How do they haul away an off-fielded Mooney? I still find it amazing that they could recover 20mph of speed on an already slick airplane strictly on the body. It's easy to see how a change in engine or airfoil can make a substantial difference, but this is more surprising. A 201 + Vintage cruising in the same place/time, what kind of MP would you see on each with and withour ram air? Are they going to ultimately be the same with ram air on despite it being less effective on a J? I used to think the reason an F can never be modified to be a J because the wing was different. But since the wing is the same, the windshield, gear doors, and cowling can be replaced with a J mod, what's left? For people who've flown both J and vintage, aside from the speed, weight, and interior difference, any difference in feel between the planes or do they fly the same since the controls and wings are the same?

So in other words, the same wing has prevailed in the entire Mooney M20 line since it was designed in wood in 1955? Did they hit the perfect wing design from the start or were they too lazy to retool and focused on improving other areas instead? Also is the span the same across all Mooneys? Despite different weights?