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Whenever you have it ready, let me know pricing and how to order. Thanks @Gee Bee Aeroproducts

Not sure about the replacement or adhesive, but Peerco 321 Adhesive Remover did a great job removing the old glue from my door where the seal used to be without stripping any paint. https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/cspages/peerco02-00234.php My research showed off-the-shelf factory-style replacements weren't easily available. But I did stop short of calling the factory. Hope you find one.

Also, if you buckle the seatbelts and tighten them up all the way, they make a nice handle for lifting the seats in and out of the plane. And it keeps them from flopping around and banging on the wing as you carry the seats in and out.

That's a nice looking F model at a good price. I think those late-model F's are a great value in the market. Having it looked at by a good mechanic is recommended. Have them look for corrosion. Most everything else can be fixed reasonably. If I were buying, I would open up all the inspection panels myself and spend a lot of time looking around the inside with a mirror, flashlight, and borescope camera. Make sure it has complete logs before you invest much time or money. Most lenders will not finance a plane with any of them missing. Be ready for the first year or two to spend a bit on catch-up maintenance. There is usually some that gets deferred after the owner decides to sell. Or it has been sitting, and things will break as you start spinning them back up. I would budget at least $10k per year for those years for maintenance, and hope it was less. Not trying to scare you off, just something I think all new aircraft owners should know, so you don't have a bad experience. Good luck!

Had never heard of these, but just ordered some. Looks like Simple Green makes something similar too. Going to try those also.

I've had problems with most of the system, but not the regulator. It's a pretty simple system actually, just lots of places leaks can develop. Currently have all the leaks fixed. What's the problem with yours?

Congrats on persevering through what I'm sure was a frustrating struggle. And now you know your plane that much better. These birds are all unique creations at this point after years of modifications and improvements with unique installations. Probably why it costs so much to get them worked on...

From the M20K POH:

The plug fouling could have been related to that particular plane's setup, I don't know. I was told it was because the carb was set for sea level ops, and my home base was at an elevation of 1,000 feet. But it would foul quickly during taxi at full rich mixture.

Just one data point, but the START POWER ON annunciator came out of our panel redo inop, along with most of the other warning lights in the annunciator strip. I believe the only ones that still light up on test are the GEAR DOWN, GEAR UNSAFE, and ALT AIR.

I've landed a couple of times with a low fuel light on one side, and the other tank reading between 5-10 gallons. Once on purpose which convinced me not to do that again. The second time, more recently, after getting shorted on a fuel order and then hitting greater than forecast headwinds. Both times made me extremely uncomfortable. I greatly prefer to get extra fuel, or stop for more. The M20K doesn't take much fuel to get there - 12 more gallons gives you an hour of time and 160+ miles of range. The stock 75 gallon tanks give you 6.25 hours of flight and 1,000 miles of range, and unless you're hauling 4 adult males, the plane can usually be flown easily within W&B with 75 gallons on board. It's the most efficient model in the fleet for this. I don't see a lot of reason to be landing, taking off, or going around with less than 12 gallons in both tanks, so I don't do it. My thoughts only. Your experience may vary.

Another thought - You could do the ground run and data download prior to departure without a CFI, I would think, at minimal risk to the plane and your insurance policy. I think I would do that before scheduling the flight with a CFI and feeling the pressure to fly. I will never takeoff in a plane that doesn't show everything normal at run-up on the ground, and I've been pressured by various mechanics and other pilots to do so several times. In your situation I would even do some extended full-power ground run-ups and hold the engine there for a minute or two to watch the EGTs and CHTs. Then download the data and share it here. Once you're confident everything is sorted out on the ground and good to go, you could schedule the CFI with more confidence.

I had a M20C with that engine for several years. It would very quickly foul a plug during taxi if you did not lean it aggressively. If you forgot to lean, it would remind you at the mag check during run up, where the engine would immediately run very rough and cough and shake. You could cure it by burning the plug clean. The procedure was to lean aggressively, set mags to both, set the throttle to 2,000 RPM, lean some more until you saw the RPM drop slightly, and hold it there for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Then repeat your mag check. Every time, this would result in a clean plug and a plane ready for takeoff. I would then smack the back of my head for forgetting to lean, and leave it leaned out until departure. I assume you did a proper run up and mag check prior to this flight, and did not see the above behavior? I never took off with a fouled plug and don't know if it would cause what you're seeing, but since this plane is new to you, I thought I'd suggest starting at step one. If you're able, next time, do a full extended run-up, maybe another test flight if all is good, then download the engine logs from your JPI, and post the links here. I've done that before and this community is amazing with their ability to look through logs and help you diagnose.

When we redid the carpet we took the time to tape up all the seams and holes around the cabin with some high-quality duct tape, after reading that helps prevent CO intrusion as well as cabin drafts. There are quite a few seams, gaps, and open holes in the floor. Our exhaust dumps right under the right hand side of the engine. Got one of the sensitive CO monitors a couple years ago. It shows up to 5 PPM on the ground with the door and window closed. Sometimes up to 12 PPM on the ground with the door/window open in the summer. Have never seen higher than that on it.

I use a Switcheon also. Works great. One plug operates the battery charger, the other the Tanis engine heater. I keep a set of cowl plugs in it, but no blanket. If I expect to be flying, I'll turn them on the night before. If I wake up and decide to go flying, I'll kick them on, and even after just an hour or two, the engine gets warm enough to start easily. Maybe not ideal but better than nothing. This is relatively mild Midwest weather. If it's subzero I usually am not flying, but if I were, I'd turn it on at least 12 hours before. Plane is in an unheated and uninsulated T-hangar. Engine heater stays plugged in (but turned off) during the colder months. The Switcheon also has a built-in thermometer that tells you the air temp in the hangar. It's always already about 20 dF warmer than outside, which surprised me. I did have to relocate the Switcheon over by the hangar door with some extension cords to improve reception. Had a few times where it lost signal and you couldn't turn it on. Moving it seems to have fixed that problem.

When you need the turbo and O2 to clear a mountain pass in a downdraft, climb through or above clouds in the freeze levels, takeoff at max gross from a high and hot runway, or climb above a layer of popcorn clouds and turbulence into smooth clear air, I doubt you'll be crunching the numbers on how much it cost you that year. When you climb up high in the teens to catch a 50+ knot tailwind headed east or south, you'll probably just be smiling. Somehow I usually have headwinds both ways, but sometimes it does work out. I'd say most years it requires no extra maintenance cost. Some years, a couple thousand dollars. When the turbo itself needs overhauled, it'll be more maybe. I did have to buy a new oxygen bottle last year, because the old one was timed out, for around $4,000.00. But the new one is good for another 12 years I believe.

I bought one straight from Redline last year. Works great and no worry of scammers. I assume you know that's an option and are just trying to save a little money? Not that there's anything wrong with that. They seem to sell really fast when posted here and on other aviation websites. You could keep an eye out over at Beechtalk.com as well. Good luck.

Love the turbo. Would not want to switch to a plane without one at this point.

I would suspect the altitude-compensating feature on the fuel pump and your engine set up procedure. A local A&P had ours all screwed up. Maxwell's crew straightened it out at last annual and now it's great. I would not leave it at 27 GPH at takeoff power. You may be so rich the engine is not making full takeoff power if you forget to lean, or if someone else gets in the plane. I've never noticed a fuel flow reduction in the climb. I'll look for you next time I get a chance and am headed up high. I do get a high fuel pressure alert at full power climbs somewhere above 15,000 feet. I believe it's because the pump is set a little rich for takeoff, 23 GPH, which is recommended for cooling and CHTs. So, I've started just reducing power to 34" MP or so when that happens, which is plenty of power for the last few thousand feet of climb. I don't understand the engine set up procedure well enough to say which screw needs to be turned on the pump, but MP, fuel pressure, and FF are all interconnected in there, and if any one is off, the engine does not run right.

I also don't use slips in the M20K, having read Mr. Kromer's article and the warnings in the POH. I have slipped it at high speeds (100 KIAS) to make an approach, and that works fine. But it's more effective to pull the power, drop the gear, pop the speed brakes, put in some flaps, and point the nose down. It's very easy to get a 1500 FPM descent in that configuration at 100 KIAS. Pull up at the desired altitude and you're quickly back at 75-80 KIAS for a standard approach. Alternatively, you can pull the power, drop the gear, put in full flaps, and raise the nose to 75-80 KIAS for a stable and sustained 1000 FPM descent "behind the power curve". Just don't forget to lower the nose and gain airspeed or add some power back in to come out of that descent, as you may not have enough extra energy to flare out of it for a smooth landing if you're heavy. If neither of those is sufficient, I prefer to just go around. If 1,000-1,500 feet a minute is not enough, you may as well fly a pattern or circle to land. If the runway is so short you have to slip to make it, I'll leave that to other pilots.

If I remember correctly, a 252 easily has the legs to cross the Atlantic on the north side with stops in Iceland and Canada. I think I'd do that (or pay someone to do that) before I let anyone start drilling rivets to remove the tail on a perfectly good plane and put it in a container.

The ones you get from the factory come on a USB drive and are not searchable. It's possible to print them (electronically) to another PDF file, then run OCR (optical character recognition) on them to make them searchable. Works great other than for the wiring diagrams in the back which lose their resolution. Very handy for finding what you need quickly.

Buffalo (H17) is a 3200 foot runway with no weather reporting or instrument approaches and trees on each end. 3200 will feel a little short in some M20 models, especially while you're learning the plane with a fresh PPL. I've never been in there, did not actually know it had an airport, but in addition to the runway length, the AFM supplement notes "Insuf rwy safety area byd each rwy end, fences, brush, trees." The short body Mooneys (C and E models) are pretty good short field performers, but only with proper technique. The mid and long bodies are not as good, even with proper technique and speeds. They will do book numbers, and 3200 feet is "enough", but if you ever come in fast or high, it would be easy to run out of runway. Especially if you throw in a stiff crosswind of unknown speed, other than guessing looking at the wind sock. I would consider that as a last choice until you know what you're doing in the plane. The hardest part about transitioning from a 172 will be, oddly enough, learning to slow down and fly the proper speeds on approach so you don't float or porpoise during landing. Lebanon (KLBO) may be a little farther but is an easy drive down I-44 and a nice airport.

Hello from Lake of the Ozarks. I'm a little familiar with Springfield - flew lots of approaches there for training. Speaking from experience, the way rural Missouri airports work, there are never hangars "available." If you buy a plane and tie it down, start paying the FBO, buy all your fuel there, have the local shop start doing all your maintenance, and get to know the people, all while letting them know you want a hangar really bad, you'll find one shortly. You may have to sublease or be in a community hangar for a while until a T-hangar or private box hangar comes up. The "wait lists" are full of people without planes and people who want to fill them up with boats and RVs and other junk. They're also usually pretty political. The airport managers can skip over people at will. Most places it's not policed and nobody ever even really knows. Just be friendly and pay your bills and you'll get put to the top of the list pretty quick. If you wait to buy the plane until you have the hangar lease, you'll be waiting forever. Also don't forget to check other options. Springfield Downtown, Bolivar, Monett, or Lebanon might work short-term and are all pretty nice little airports with some hangars. Good luck with the PPL and plane search.

The proper way to diagnose this is to start at the battery and verify proper voltage all the way to the starter to find your faulty component. Requires a mulitimeter and some patience, and maybe a helper to verify voltage while trying to crank the starter. Check all connections along the way for security and corrosion. A loose connection could cause what you're seeing. I would also check the main grounding cable in the tail, bad grounds cause lots of problems. Having been through this recently, I would suspect your starter solenoid. It is mounted on the firewall in front of the co-pilot's footwell, most likely inside the cabin, or possibly in the engine compartment on some models. It may be intermittently working, or providing enough connection to only work sometimes. If you have 12v to the solenoid, but not after, it's your problem. If you have 12v to the starter while the key is in the crank position, it's your problem. Drawings and part numbers for the solenoid are below. I found that neither 24059 nor 6041H-105A are readily available and ended up getting a Lamar FAA/PMA replacement from Aircraft Spruce: https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/eppages/sts-12s24s.php?clickkey=8060 I found a lot of bad and corroded old wiring, old crusty solenoids, and a couple NAPA auto parts solenoids installed by A&P's that match the 24059 part number but are now sold as tractor parts. Replaced it all with FAA/PMA items and now it cranks better than it ever has. Good luck!