M20F-1968

Sorry I had 5 in my mind - that should read 1530 John Breda

I have shoulder harnesses, but I put them when the airplane was completely apart and access was quite easy. The harnesses are used were from an Ovation in the required reels are bolted into a steel plate which is welded to the structural cage. For those of you that know welding, is there type welding that can be done so as to attach the steel plate to a completed airframe with the interior removed without damaging the nearby external skins. Welding the mounting plate to the structural cage and having the retract reels near the floor seems to be a much better configuration, but very few owners have the opportunity to install shoulder harnesses with the airframe completely disassembled. John Breda

The real answer is that there is no suggestion of an interface of lead and steel. The paint is completely smooth and I doubt very much that my weights are anything but a piece of solid lead. John Breda

I took the plane out 2 days ago. OAT at 6500 ft., 70% power, about 2300 RPM and 23 MP, cowl flaps closed, cylinder 1-3 were in the 315-325 range, and #4 was 298. What is the lowest acceptable temp and why? I know that carbon buildup is more at lower temps. Also, when leaning to 100 ROP, my TIT runs up to about 5300 degrees. I think the redline is about 5800 and the yellow arc starts at 5000. Does this seem to be set correctly. I have an aftermarket turbonormalizer on the F (now mostly a J) so the turbo TIT is set without factory guidance. What ranges of TIT has Mooney used on the 231 over the years? John Breda

For what it is worth, my aircraft is an early 1968 F. The elevators on it have the solid lead weights and not the ones with inserts. For about two seconds only I thought for about the possibility that the paint might be covering up evidence of the inserts but I severely doubt that to be the case. John Breda

Use an epoxy 2-part primer and/or paint. It is more expensive, but worth the price. It stays where you put it, and is more durable. Clean well before applying. John Breda

I have in my notes somewhere the name of a manufacturer in NH that makes rubber products such as this. There may be a part being made that can suffice. I'll try to look for the name. John Breda

I have a 67 F and this is not in my airplane nor any other vintage Mooney I have seen. There are rat socks in the wheel wells and there is the expensive aluminum tape closing off the inside of the cabin on both sides. Use the $100 a roll kind (3M 100 mph tape), not the stuff you buy at Lowes. John Breda

I have a panel which you could possibly use. It would need to be cut and altered. I built it for my plane when I planned to use steam gauges. The project took so long I ended up with Garmin GTN's. I'll look for a picture. John Breda

I have fully articulated seats in my 68 F model. They fit just fine. I would not have it any other way. See my recent reply about headrests. John Breda

Most drill oversize holes and then use these countersunk washers. However, in the case of Ovation wing mounted landing lights this leaves a very thin amount of acrylic between the hole and the edge of the lens. This area always cracks. To solve this problem, I drilled the lens through hole slightly oversize relative to the machine screw, not relative to the width of the countersink in the washer, and then countersunk that through hole somewhat oversize to accommodate the countersunk washer. For countersinking in acrylic, Aircraft Tool supply has "Zero flute countersinks" where the cutting edge is just one hole in the countersink, thus zero chatter in acrylics. I fitted my lenses this way (I have the Ovation landing lights in my F model) and left the screws snug but not tight, and there have been no cracks. I did not install the frames. It take forever to fit the lenses. I used a bench sander (belt and disk sander combination). John Breda

I tried to post a picture in a reply and the Add Photo button is now gone. How do you do this now? I tried to meet you at the Summit but could not find you. John Breda

How do I contact Williams? I have the Snap-On versions but they are way too overpriced. The tips work well though and perhaps I can get replacements from Williams at a reasonable cost.

I bought two dial-type torque wrenches. See Snap-On TE12FUA and TE25FUA. They have 3/8" drive but you can but a compact 3/8"-1/2" adapter from Amazon that works well. I bought the 2 wrenches with different scales so as the gradations are further apart. Excellent, like new, wrenches can be purchased on E-bay. just be sure to but the returnable ones so you can verify calibration before using them. Precision Instruments of Chicago makes these for Snap-On and are every bit as good as those with the Snap-On name. They can also be purchased new on Amazon for less that from Precision Instruments directly or from Snap-On. There is no 1/2" drive option in these two scale ranges. It is longer, but the scale as I remember is 0-600. I have a Snap-On 1/2" drive which I have never used as the scale range is too big. John Breda

I bought mine on E-bay. It was setup for a Bonanza. I called the owner of Redline and he said he would swap my Bonanza specific parts for the Mooney parts I needed without cost since the Bonanza parts apparently cost more. The Sidewinder works great after modification which I did without a problem. John Breda

No the Toyota headrests I mentioned are the correct spacing, but are too small in diameter and are too short. The ID and OD I mentioned were the dimensions of the hollow tube used to slide over the solid tube of the headrest. When doing this, they fit perfectly. John Breda

I have done some homework on this issue. I currently have Ovation seats but I believe the spacing and tube size are the same as in the F model. The problem with the Mooney headrests is the they are too far back so your head is not against them. I found that Toyota rear seat headrests for the 2007-2011 Camry work well as they are contoured so as to be closer to your head. You can rest your head against them comfortably. The tube spacing is perfect, but the tube size is too small. So, I got some stainless steel tubing from e-bay 1/2" OD, 0.402" ID, 0.049 wall thickness which slides snugly onto the headrest shaft and fits perfectly into the seat. The tube is secured with a roll pin. I am in the process of covering them. I bought a couple of extra ones I likely will not use and can sell them if anyone is up for a project. You would not need to take the headrest apart, just sew a cover over it from marching leather or fabric. John Breda

These are hard to find. You may find someone to make it. The later years did away with the threaded end, but the threaded end is more secure. There were about $750.00 each if you could find one. I may have one for a short body which I chose to keep due to their rarity. It may be too short for my F in which case I might be enticed to sell it. I'll look and see if it is really usable as a spare for my F. John Breda

The welder's supply will pick them up. John Breda

How much do you need? I have a bunch of the tan color I bought from Bruce Jaeger but never used. Perhaps I can recoup some money and you can get a deal. John Breda (617) 877-0025 john.breda@gmail.com

I did some hoMework of this. The Anderson SB50 connector is too big to stow away inside the standard external power plug. They do however make a PP15 connector. It can be be seen here: https://powerwerx.com/anderson-powerpole-colored-housings Its height and width are 0.31" and can be purchased in permanently bonded pairs. I bought some of these and they will fit inside the standard external power plug. They can be purchased for plugs which will accept 16 Gauge Milspec wire. They sell an inline fuse but the wire connectors are huge. I am working on an alternative inline fuse. The $75.00 "aviation kit" sold by Battery Minder I find have connectors are much too big and expensive the kit is too expensive. The PP15 connectors look to be a good alternative when coupled with Milspec wire. 16 Gauge at first glance seems acceptable. John Breda

The connectors Battery Minder is using are much bigger than necessary. The website https://powerwerx.com/ has these connectors and and smaller ones as well. The PP15 connectors should be able to be stowed into the standard sized external power plug receptacle without needed an oversized door as pictured here. 16 gauge milspec wire can be used, 10 amp fuse, and a connecting cable can be fashioned from aircraft quality parts. I do not see that the in-line fuse that Battery Minder includes is milspec wiring. The PP15 connector is 0.31" wide. Will that fit inside the external power plug box in the typical Cessna style power plug that we have in our airframes? John Breda

When I did my rebuild, I replace the phenolic blocks in the belly which are meant to protect the pushrods with nylon blocks. My DER approved the replacement. The phenolic material is abrasive and the nylon seems to work much better. Perhaps a similar exchange can be done with the yoke shafts. I don't have a problem with the yoke shafts in my plane as my parts are out of innovation and the the parts are made differently. John Breda

If you have the attachment points that I am referring to you are golden. That is the best way to put in visors. The attachment arm is longer than the type you have pictured, and the visors that I pictured, and similar ones that have been made by Don Muncy could be used. I second the suggestion that you contact Don as you can speak with him directly, and he van make modifications to his usual visors that you might need or want. John Breda

Can the Orion OR5001V be synced to the LED A600 wingtip strobes? John Breda