garytex

Good luck, keep us posted.

Bump So what's happening, ks?

Thanks to all. I am considering inviting the hangar fairies to block the front of #1 with a small piece of aluminum, it always runs cooler than the rest by about 30 df. Gary Also thanks Piloto, I'll check the flap trailing edge. I have only seen little dif in CHT's between open and closed cowl flaps. Maybe it is running slightly open.

Actually I was hoping someone would chime in regarding minimum cruse CHTs. Cylinders are ground with several thousandths choke. At ambient, they are tighter at the top of the cylinder, the theory being they as they heat up more near the top of the cyl. that they will expand a little there & the cyl. walls become become parallel. This next part may be entirely OMT (Old Mechanics Tale) is that it is important to have parallel cyl. walls so the rings do not have to expand and contract as the piston reciprocates to avoid embrittlement of the rings and to get better oil control. I don't know how much of that I buy, but it is intuitively attractive logic. Ring gaps are (should be) measured in the choked area at room temp. You can actually see the ring gap close as you bump the ring down the cylinder walls. So I wonder, how warm does the cyl. have to be for the choke not to be squeezing the oil off the piston? We know that wear happens in this area, as cyls. with the choke worn out of them and worn piston skirts are not unusual. Admittedly that type of wear is more common on big bore Continentals than Lycomings, but it still goes on. I would guess that Lycoming has twiddled their slide rule (I am assuming that this was done years ago) and come up with a minimum temp. to make all the clearances work. Knowledge? Opinions? Thanks, Gary

PS I fly over Kerrville couple of times a week commuting. I'll think good Juju for you as I fly over. Hang in there.

Screw that, figure out how you can use a plane in your business, and go buy one. Alternatively, and I've been there, work your ass off till you can get to the point that you have money to shift things around. You may not be able to be smarter than most everybody, but it isn't too hard to outwork most everybody, most folks are pretty lazy when you get right down to it. Just figure that you will do an astounding job for 3 years, and then you will probably be able to coast for quite a while. Best of luck, Gary

I just bought a system from Precise Flight, and knew that if I had more information I could have bought the pieces cheaper and assembled the system. Smccray has done the homework for us, and isn't hosing us on price. Good Job!

Did they then tell him it was from running LOP?

My mechanic got McFarland to fabricate a ram air cable with a yoke on the end of it and retrofitted a piece of hardware for the control door arm to cease the wire breaking on the end of the control wire due to tightening the bugnut on the wire. Great piece of fabrication from McFarland, work fine lasta really long time, and they said they would save the measurements and etc for other Mooneys. Highly recommended replacement. Gary

Doing your own overhaul, especially with the help of a knowledgable mentor, can be in retrospect, a very soul satisfying experience. It will also at some point be very frustrating. Still worth it. Gary

I paid for the pre buy. That's one of the things that rankles.

had a relationship with them, they greeted him warmly by his first name when he arrived even though his previous annual was done by someone else in the area whose name I had never heard. During the prebuy, amongst the myriad of things that were going on over the course of several hours, I noticed that one of the head mechanics very quietly and with no fanfare brought out what I thought was, and now recognize as, a borescope. He looked in the cylinders. "Whats that?" "Oh it's an new piece of equipment we've been trying". No further comment, and walked promptly away. A short while later I notice the same mechanic is having an obviously private and quiet conversation with the previous owner. I get my list of squawks, compressions all above 70, and the usual little stuff and one big thing that runs to about $7K. I know enough about airplane repair to recognize that these prices represent the absolute upper edge of shop rate and estimated time and markup on parts, but this is Dugosh, the best of the best, and ultimately I have them perform the list. The deal is no help from seller on squawks, take it or leave it. But that's fine, that's the deal I cut. Previous owner now produces a letter for me to sign, in addition to the AOPA contract we are using (it didn't look anything like his other paperwork that he brought from home, different paper, different font) which says "you are taking this plane as is and with all faults, and I am not responsible for anything that might break after the sale." Thats also fine, that's the way airplanes are bought and sold. "Now we are going to tell you how to fly your airplane. Ol 'previous owner' knows his stuff, rich of peak is where he runs it (which is true, I flew with him, 50 df ROP at 75% of power), keep doing that." So within the next 30 hrs I have to replace a jug with a burnt valve and an easily visible and ultimately unrepairable crack that runs from the lower spark plug boss to the exhaust valve, and 40 hrs later another jug, also with a burned exhaust valve. You can see burning valves with a bore scope 30 to 50 hrs before they go according to Mike Busch, and according to my good honest mechanic that I had been using and that I continue use and trust. Did they see the burning valves and not tell me? Did they see the burned clean arcs on the edges of the valves and not know what they were? Could they not see the big crack? I don't know what he saw. I'll probably never know. Quote from above "Ronnie does not like talking with people about BAD NEWS, so be ready to talk with the mechanics or Vanette. If you ask to talk with Ronnie on the phone, you are going to get frustrated. That is his personality so be ready. He loves airplanes, not conflicts with customers. Ronnie is a nice guy and a fantastic mechanic. He just does not like delivering bad news or information that he thinks will upset the customers. All the parties knew the sale of that airplane was dependent on the pre buy. Time to tell the hard truths, even if that may upset the sale. Again, I do not know that is what happened. But it does have a little smell to it. I will not go back to Dugosh, even though they are located very close to me. I will not go back under any circumstance. Right now I really need someone to work on my Mooney (Brittain) Autopilot. They know how. I'm still not going. Taking it there literally hadn't even crossed my mind, and I have been thinking about where to go to find that specialized knowledge, (maybe Tulsa, maybe Maxwell) for several months. At least I had enough sense to quit running 50df rich of peak. The cylinders ran hotter than a son of a bitch that way. At high % ages of power I ran 150 ROP on the first couple of flights as I learned the airplane, and very promptly started running up high enough that WOT yielded less than 75%. I've put about around 400 hrs on it over the last couple of years running 40 to 50 df LOP around 8.5 gph max, with cool cyls, no problems, and glowing reports from oil analysis and borescope exams. That was one of my more expensive lessons. And for those of you that know the old joke, "NO! I do not want to go camping" anymore.

I had my prebuyn at Dugosh. I hung around while it was done and learned a lot. My previous owner obviously

At least electrician's putty is grey. Thats what I use, it never hardens and some does get on the cover. 100LL, available close at hand, takes it right off, and it can be scraped down to the sealed edge with the edge of a credit card to reduce smearing. Work fine lasta long time.

Yes, FISHING POLES!

Yes , how much was that expedition, if you do not mind?

DS1980 I agree. Tiny little tweaks of the throttle can do the trick. Peak on a carb motor up high is also a good trick.

I haven't spent more than a couple hours there, but I can hit that 23 to 24 statute MPG that johnathanpaul got in his E pretty easily in my F which has SWTA mods. 2075 rpm, 21" 8500, 78 df, (and the high DA may have been the trick there) 6.2 gph very slightly (10 degrees mas o menos) LOP and 145 statute mph true. Even if the mods were good for 10mph (which I doubt) a straight plane at 135 mph would be good for 22 mpg. I bet anybody can do it. I had the dogs in the plane and was looking for a quiet cruise to save their ears. The plane had a disquieting vibration there, engine balance related I think, and I didn't like it. But it was quiet, and really efficient. I usually run 2450, in the high seven gph range when it is warm to the low eights when it is cool, 50 lop, 165 to 170 statute true. That last 20 to 25 mph comes at 10 to 13 mpg for each extra gallon burned but I am willing to trade for the smoother engine and extra speed. Checking mileage in flight is a handy reminder, and unless I am in a hurry (and yes, I know 5 mph makes absolutely no difference in time over my usual 200 mile mission) if my mileage isn't better than 20 statute mpg that's my reminder to start working the knobs. Low 9ish gph is usually peak for me, and gets me another 5 to 7 mph, a bad trade in my book, and tenish is only good for another 2 or 3 mph, an exceptionally bad trade. The stinker just won't go much faster than 178 mph, no matter how much fuel I throw at her. It seems strange to me. It also just blows me away that our planes were flown like that for thousands of hours earlier in their lives. Mind boggling. Thousands of gallons of fuel, and a couple hundred miles of range on every trip, just turned into mostly noise. And while I'm waxing philosophical, have you ever seen a combination THat approaches an IO 360 and a Mooney airframe for turning gasoline into speed and distance as well as what we've got? Surely not in the certified world. We are lucky to have them.

I was looking at old posts and found this. I thiink it is really good. New pondering buyers might miss it, so I'm bringing it forward.

Robert, did you ever get your rigging done? I need to do same, and am looking for info. Thanks, Gary

An IO-360 just isn't that hard to start unless something isn't right or is broken. I don't think that mixture manipulation is going to solve your problem. And when youve got a real puzzler, that usually means that at least two things are wrong. The prop stopping could be a failure of the retard function of your shower of sparks ignition, the spark then come 24 or 26 degrees before TDC, stops the prop, and throws out the bendix. You may also have a weak starter, or battery or some lead oxide hiding under the terminals on the battery posts. You can run the battery traps your self, but don't fool around with a failing spark retard. Things break. Get to a smart mechanic. If it turns out you need a new sky tech starter, there are two, get the slightly heavier, and much heavier duty one.

Lead scavenging by the bromine compound in 100 LL is effective above 1200df EGT. Below that one needs tri crecle (spelling?) phosphate. TCP Or just lean for 1200 for low power ops My understanding is that CHT is not the determining factor.

I hav a couple three hundred hours on 2 rebuilt cyls from Custom Airmotive in Tulsa, no squawks. Additionally those boys know their stuff on IO-360 motors, up one side and down the other. I'm really fussyabout rebuilt cyls., because I think new is much better for most engines, if its more than 1000 hrs to TBO. However we do not have a good aftermarket source for our angle valve cyls, so sometimes rebuilt well for $1100 makes sense as opposed to $2400 for new. Of course it is all moot if you've got metal through the motor. Besides the screen and filter, try to get a look at a bearing shell or two to see what lies therein. Let us know what happens, Gary

It is called maintenance induced failure, and both myself and my mechanics have been responsible for a couple of close calls. LIKE THE GUYS SAY, LOOK CLOSE. When you start doing your own maintenance, after you have looked, try to get someone else to look close. I have found wrenches, rags, loose oil return lines etc. An old codger (airplane mechanic from 1918 to 1996) told me this: walk up to the plane and mentally say to yourself, this conniving bxxxx is going to hide things from me and try to kill me given half a chance, and proceed accordingly. That is a great mental exercise for any preflight. The other side of the coin is that airplanes are astoundingly forgiving of stupid pilot and mechanic tricks, given what fire we're playing with, so after the good look, go flying with a clear and unworried head. Gary

MatS875: Just don't look at planes too far away. Closer to home you have the support base of mechanics you know and trust, acquaintances who may know the plane etc. Just start looking, and expect to look a little longer. Then you can spend a little more time with the plane, and know a little more of what you are getting. Gary