M20F-1968

My 1968 F is in the J numbers but took a lot of work to get it there. 10000 ft - 75% power - 160 kts ROP 11.5 GPH 10000 ft - 100% power - 168 kts ROP 17000-18000 ft - 75% power 175-180 kts. 11.5 GPH. (turbonormalized) Take a look at my Album page - You cannot tell it is as F - there is only one - all speed mods except inner gear doors. John Breda

I would be interested in receiving a scanned copy when available. My e-mail is: john.breda@gmail.com Thanks, John Breda

As Scott mentioned above you may need to change the actual yoke (behind the panel). You will have to change the part that connects the forward portion of the two yoke shafts. The newer style (and I am referencing the Ovation parts which I used) have bronze bearings and are different from what is in the E. John Breda

It is basic economics, these prices are determined by supply and demand and greed. John Breda

David, This has been a long time coming but the end result is coming together nicely. Did you place metal strips into the fiberglass to give support to inhibit camlock wear? Nicely done. John Breda

I have used Sky-Bolt camlocks since my rebuild. I have the large 4000 series on the rear edge of the cowl, and the 2000 series (but with the large flange which I think are renamed 2800). I have some small nylon washers which I place on the camlock which keeps the camlock from falling out of the cowling low edge (smaller ones are used between the top and lower cowling). It hase been several years and do not know part numbers, but call Sky-Bolt and they will walk you through it. John Breda

You can a make glare-shield out of fiberglass fairly easily if you are careful. I will relate what I did to make the upper interior cabin panel in my F, now transformed to mostly a J with Ovation interior. Since it is highly modified I had to modify or make interior parts. One such part is the upper interior panel of the cabin door. My F model door has been reskinned, and fitted with a rounded Ovation-style window, but is not as tall as the Ovation window. Also the compound curvature needed to be changed to fit the door and interior. After many trys of hand layups, I decided to use the pane itself as my mold. I fractured the fiberglass panel so it could be screwed in place on the door. I covered the door and exposed airplane parts with clear vinyl wrap, then screwed the now flexible fiberglass panel in place. Being careful to keep things clean, I hand layed-up layers of fiberglass to make the panel as guided by the panel which was screwed in place. When dried, the panel was worked as needed. You can either use cheap boat yard grade fiberglass, then when the part is finished, use is as a mold to make a fire-proof version, or use fire-proof resin initially. You can place linear supports, use duct tape, or whatever is necessary to support the lay-up part until it dries. Protect avionics, seats, upholstery, etc. with sran wrap or similar. Fabric stores have rolls of plastic wrap of various thicknesses. Use your manual skills and creativity and you can get exactly what you want. John Breda

I just saw the pictures. They suggest the plane has been stored outside which is not good. There is rust around the fuel opening in the wing. Also not good. You do not want to be opening up seams in the airframe. You will be likely spending more that $100,000.00 on this airplane, and likely multiples of $100,000.00. You need to look everywhere for deal breakers, and will need an honest, very experienced person to perform the inspection. It is an airplane that could likely present to you hidden corrosion that will bite you in the ass if not realized up front. You need to know for sure that this is a good candidate to be a major project. This is likely not a $100,000.00 fixer upper, but that answer can only be made after very close examination, John Breda

Needless to say, corrosion in the airframe is a show stopper. Was it stored inside or outside. Mine had been stored, in pieces, indoor near Dallas, TX, inside a hangar. There was no corrosion, nor was any found as we ]went completely through the airframe. It depends what you want. I bought mine as a project airpl;ane. My biggest problem was finding honest and competent mechanics as I had endure three dishonest ones before finding the people that helped me make this project a success. It will be a complicated project and you will need to go through each of the systems of the plane in detail. It will be an opportunity to completely update a J to a very nice and capable plane if you want that, but you need to determine, without surprises that it is a good candidate for the investment of money and time. John Breda

I completely rebuilt a 1968 F Model to a state of being better than a J, and performs like a J. I was an Oshkosh winner 2X, 2018 - Outstanding Mooney, and 2019 - Lindy Award best of show in class. The connection of the tailcone to the roll cage is the weakest part of the Mooney. If it needs no attention, do not separate it. The airplane cane be moved on a flat bed truck, remove the engine and engine mount, collapse the nose gear, take off the empennage, and put it on the flat bed with the wings aligned along the length of the trailer. A lot can be done to these planes. Find people who have done to work successfully that you plan to do and seek out their advice. I do not know enough about your engine, but get some expert advice. It may be ferryable, or you can do an IRAN or overhaul from where it sits and then fly it out. John Breda

I think you can get black acrylic. Cut the edges with a scroll saw, sand, and polish with a buffing wheel. John Breda

I have an F model not a C, but it is quite tightly packed since it is turbonormalized. I thought I would welcome you to the club of Mooney owners who collect rare but highly useful extra long wrenches, extra short wrenches, extra thin wrench, magnetic sockets, hand ground tools and other desirabless that will be used for those singe applications....... John Breda

This is with long range tanks, 90 gallons. John Breda

My F is essentially a J, although turbonormalized so I can fly in thinner air. BOS to OSH is about 750 - 800 miles. I have done that trip several times landing with 1/4 tanks remaining, 75% power, 100 ROP. John Breda

Could you send me the manufacturer's name, address, and pert number for the one you used? John Breda

That is all you need. Just get accustomed to how it reads and set it accordingly. John Breda

I had the opposite experience. When I did my rebuild, I took the baggage door off a 1998 Ovation. The pulled the hinge pin and mounted a new 1/2 of the airframe side of the hinge to the airframe and left the door completely alone, even the door seal. It remains this way today. The door seals well and fits the opening well too. My experience is one of one, but it would seem that a used door would likely fit. The door swap also gave me the new latch mechanism with the inside opening handle as well. The passenger door was more complicated as I reskinned my original door and put in the Ovation hardware - but that was a different project. John Breda

The "sacrificial blocl" is made from bakelite type material and is quite abrasive in and of itself. When I rebuilt my plane I made new nylon blocks with DER signoff. Much less abrasive and have not had issues. John Breda

I had just this problem when I rebuilt my F. We used new springs and the push rods that were in the airplane. It was a two person job to get the gear up, which was obviously unacceptable. We researched the landing gear blueprints at the factory and found that even though there were two fuselage lengths there were three different lengths of the push rods that compress the springs. My feeling was that given the these airplanes are essentially man-made, there are some tolerance differences. The other issue to consider is that mine is a 68F and the Johnson bar is different for that year only. The bottom line is we had installed the middle length of retraction rods compressing pushing the springs, and made some spacers to see what would happen if the springs were compressed a little more. That made all the difference in the world. The difference was beforehand. It took two people in two hands to put the gear up. After the adjustment, the gear could be put up with two fingers. My mechanic went to Dugosh and dug through their old parts and found a set of the longest compression push rods and install those. To this day I put up the gear with two fingers. If you cannot find the longer rod, simply use the shorter or mid length rod, cut it, weld it and make it longer. I doubt anything is bent. You likely have the wrong compression rods in the airplane. John Breda

You can at times by undrilled skins. It is worth a try to ask for undrilled seat rails so they can be match drilled ti what is in the floor. They likely will not sell them without the holes for the seat pins but you would not want them to as those holes must be accurately drilled so the pins fit in correctly. John Breda

I am interested in a scanned version. My e-mail is john.breda@gmail.com I am also willing to do the scanning work is that is helpful. John Breda

The seat rails are all made from the same extruded aluminum supply stock. The difference is how they are finished milled and cut for size and length. I would find someone knowledgeable at the factory to help you identify a new part that can be modified to fit into your installation. I suspect it will be a PITA to find someone to do the work of looking into current stock (if there is any) to find something workable. The best solution is if the factory will sell you undrilled seat rails and the find a local machine shop to to the machine work to duplicate them. John Breda

I did this then in rebuilt the airframe. I made a firewall blanket from soundproofing material. It was installed after the firewall was in stalled but before the avionics were installed , as I remember. I would need to check my old pictures of the project to verify. However, you need to deal with what you have. You can make a firewall blanket and slide it between the firewall and the avionics and wires. The old firewall sound-proofing must be removed. It can be installed with threaded fasteners (machine screws) appropriate for high temperature installation. You will not need many fasteners. The firewall blanket can be made in sections so it is easier to install, but I can assure you it will be a PITA to install. You might find a young, small, flexible, and willing assistant to help. As you already know, working behind the panel in a Mooney is always challenging. It's the price you pay for a small frontal area and speed. John Breda

I did this then in rebuilt the airframe. I made a firewall blanket from soundproofing material. It was installed after the firewall was in stalled but before the avionics were installed , as I remember. I would need to check my old pictures of the project to verify. However, you need to deal with what you have. You can make a firewall blanket and slide it between the firewall and the avionics and wires. The old firewall sound-proofing must be removed. It can be installed with threaded fasteners (machine screws) appropriate for high temperature installation. You will not need many fasteners. The firewall blanket can be made in sections so it is easier to install, but I can assure you it will be a PITA to install. You might find a young, small, flexible, and willing assistant to help. As you already know, working behind the panel in a Mooney is always challenging. It's the price you pay for a small frontal area and speed. John Breda

I installed a complete Ovation interior into a 1968 M20F. Take a look at my profile pictures. Yes it can be done. It is a lot of work however. There are also several versions of rear seats. Seats from the later models are most desirable. John Breda