Bartman

I would fly the new plane and see what squawks you find. I hope you found a great Mooney, and we look forward to seeing the pictures. But you never know, the JPI-700 may not be high on your priority list in a few weeks. The quick and dirty upgrade is the 730 or maybe the 830. I have a 700 and although it is not top-of-the-line it has served me well and I have no urgent need to upgrade. When the 700 dies I will go with the 900.

We removed mine in January 2020 and found a cracked case and one bad camshaft lobe. When The Pandemic hit we saw the upcoming supply chain problems and put obtaining parts as a high priority. Fortunately we had it rebuilt and installed by July of that year, but there are lots of horror stories of people waiting on various parts and cases. If I were doing it right now or planning for the future, I would do a factory exchange. I know it costs more, but time is money too.

Aeromotors is who you are looking for.

I have flown into both airports and they both had good service. Interesting story. We flew in there for the SEC Men's Basketball Tournament in I think 2019. Tune is right on the river, and after the games we arrived for an early Monday morning departure and found 1TF covered in ice from the freezing fog. After we finally thawed out we departed and just as I was rotating I saw a flock of birds take off from the edge of the runway and they flew under me. We cruised in severe clear skies and temps of around 10 deg Fahrenheit. When we landed I found this frozen passenger. No this is not photoshopped and I am not making this up.

I downloaded an acoustic tachometer called Engine RPM for my phone. It is intuitive and seems to work well. I compared it to an optical tach from a buddy and they were spot on.

Install all hoses on the back of the engine, and on the A3B6D install and time the magneto. Attach the mount to the engine, and install the entire assembly and the 4 mounting bolts with new hardware. Use the old upper mounting bolts as guide bolts for alignment in the opposite direction, then use the new bolts to push out the alignment bolts. I learned all of this from this forum, and it saved me a lot of time. The only thing I wish I had done differently was add a shim on each side in the lower engine mount to raise the spinner for proper alignment in the cowl opening. Had to do that afterwards.

If budget is a concern and you are good with a stepwise upgrade approach then consider the 430w. You could fly it for 2-3 years, then trade it in (sell it) for an upgrade to the Avidyne IFD 440 which is a simple slide-in replacement.

Mild soap and water immediately after each flight. Clean microfiber each time. Use up-and-down direction to prevent swirls.

That happened to me once. I could not believe it, and it was my fault too because I did not verify belts latched, but a passenger left the seat belt strap hanging out the door. After we leveled off and gained speed we heard the clunking noise and realized what happened. It was a short flight, so I had him pull the strap and it pulled the buckle up tightly to the airframe. Opening the door was discussed, but we decided it was not worth adding another complication. It left a couple of scratches that buffed out, but it hurt my pride more than anything. The worst part of all, it was not just any passenger. It was another Mooney owner operator who was flying right-seat as my safety pilot. We fly and we learn.

Wow ! I don’t have any insights on a cause or a fix, but great to see you are safe on the ground.

When my engine was installed the injectors would only go in about 2 threads and that just did not give a warm and fuzzy feeling. I did most of the work with oversight and inspection and used the 1/8 inch pipe thread tap to clean the threads. In order to minimize the chance of debris getting into the cylinder I did it very slowly and used a shop vac continuously. I paused the tapping efforts often to use the shop vac directly over the tap and spark plugs removed to allow for air flow. Maybe it was overkill and not necessary, but this gave me some confidence that everything possible was done to prevent even the smallest amount of debris contamination. It took some time to do this methodically, but in the end we achieved optimal torque and proper alignment.

@good2eat thank you for your honest writeup. Aviation is not for the faint of heart, both in the air and sometimes even on the ground. I had a similar experience with case fretting discovered in January 2020, and I paid dearly for a used case. If you remove a cylinder or split the case on a Lycoming IO-360 that has been in service for a long time, be prepared to find more than you bargained for. If I ever do this again, it will be a Lycoming exchange.

Maybe you are thinking this is a problem, when it is in fact a blessing. LOL

Good point. This a disadvantage of the A3B6D

I am sure someone like @Shadrach or @N201MKTurbo or others with more knowledge than me will be along soon to explain, but I do understand there is internal timing in the magneto. There was a recent thread where it was the problem on a freshly installed IRAN/Rebuilt magneto.

If it ran well before the maintenance to L+R Magnetos, I would start there. Did they get the timing correct ? A new set of plugs may be a good idea but if it ran good before maintenance on those plugs I would look at the area of maintenance. Another consideration is the RPM drop. Is this based on the ship tach, electronic tach, or something else?

That is a great story Don, and I can feel your passion in the words you write. You are lucky to do what you love, and love what you do, and that does not always happen in life. A wise friend once aked me, "did your actions make a difference in the lives of others today?" You make MooneySpace and those around you better. You made a difference today.

Exactly

Even though mine are adjusted properly, I have still on occasion had to pry it open with a screwdriver wrapped with a cleaning rag. Not often, but sometimes the line guys don't get the cap on properly and it is not flush. I try to be present when the fueling is done, but sometimes it is just not practical for whatever reason.

A few years ago I used to fly IFR quite a bit and got comfortable with extended times in IMC enroute and all the way to minimums, as long as it was not a convective environment. One time ceilings were low and since the layer was only a few hundred feet thick and clear on top, I decided to take off. I was IMC at about 20-30 feet, and I was not prepared. That was hard IFR, and I will never do that again.

I had a flat spot for several years. I have no confidence that an old tube that lasted the life of the old tire would last the life of a new tire, so I would not put an old tube in a new tire. Michelin Airstop.

I’m no expert, but if my cylinder was hotter after they R+R the cowl, I would be looking at baffle seals as a possibility. Might be as simple as that. does not explain the ASI or or other squawks.

If that truly happened “suddenly” I would look at the cable and indicator block. The cable slipped or the indicator head broke off. I’m no expert, but a sudden change in trim indication in a plane that otherwise flies normally is suspected to be the indicator. Another hint, it’s an indicator, not a gauge. If it takes off with minimal back pressure and in trim with the gear down and flaps at 15deg on initial climb, then that is good. As you decrease flaps you will have to trim nose down. Same for increasing speed. All that is normal behavior in an M20J.

Welcome to Mooneyspace @ElisiumNate I read on this site and researched for several months to educate myself. I only looked at two M20J and the first one was OK, but needed work and was overpriced. The second one was well equipped for that time, flew often, and had 700 on the engine. It was priced near the top of the market at that time and other than some upgrades and regular maintenance I got 1200 hours of trouble free flight time before a 2020 engine overhaul. There are good planes out there and there is a wealth of information on this website to help you in your search. You will find the right one.

When I bought my J in 2007, it was priced near the top of the market, and it was well maintained and a well equipped Mooney for that time. The engine was good and I knew one fuel tank leaked which I fixed soon after purchase. If you want to fly, look for something that is well maintained and well equipped that flies often. You get what you pay for. I’m not saying this is not a good plane, but if the engine is that far beyond TBO then it will need attention, and that takes more time than you imagine. If you want to fly, you may need to keep looking. If you want to rebuild and know exactly what you have, this one looks good to me.