M20F-1968

If you but a plane with an S-Tec autopilot, you can upgrade and keep your old servos. Just make sure the S-TEC servos you have are compatible and are new enough to be rebuildable. The older ones have motors that are not rebuildable.

Yes, I bought mine on e-bay. The seller (a Dallas A&P mechanic) had been talking to Don Maxwell who had made an offer, but the seller wanted more money. I won the bid, and then negotiated to look at the airplane and do a pre-buy (which was done by Russel Stallings). The plane had been in a hangar in Dallas for 26 years in pieces. I guess it is easier to take apart an airplane that is already mostly apart, and assess its condition, knowing you planned to rebuild everything. John Breda

I will be coming in, hopefully early (?Sat or Sun). Will be starting from Boston area. John Breda

I have a gas powered one in Boston area I may sell. John Breda

Take your existing part to you A&P and have him modify it to your liking. I may have an original one from my 68 F with my removed parts. I'll take a look. John Breda

They are worth replacing. Look pretty much compressed. Landings will be much better after replacement. John Breda

There is no "easy" solution. You get what you pay for or work for. Fiberglass is the best solution of you want a part that fits well and is aesthetically pleasing. The beauty of fiberglass is that you can use almost anything as a mold, a styrofoam block, wood, clay, etc... You lay-up fiberglass, let if harden, sand it, shape it, and lay-up another layer to change the shape as needed until you have what you want. It takes time, but in the end you can have a nice part. There were many, many man hours making the part I have. John Breda

If you want to make many, the best way to do it is to set up a vacuum system and draw the fiberglass down in a vacuum chamber. Your local EAA chapter likely can help you with this. You will need to make the final part from Class I flame retardant resin. John Breda

I have posted this before with others who have had similar needs. These parts can be copied by using them as a mold and laying up fiberglass over them. You can use mold release wax, saran wrap or similar to cover the part. Ultimately use flame retardant resin. It really is not too difficult to do. I would not expect Plane Plastics to make this part as there are not enough to be sold. The part you see in the picture as a hand lay-up with shape modifications I wanted, starting with a very beat-up original Mooney part. John Breda

Chris: You are essentially correct. The JPI will only see the summation of the ohms of the two senders. +30 ohms when the inboard sender is fully raised, and then + 0 --> 30 additional as the outboard sender is raised. The issue is how much fuel goes into the Monroy tanks in the last 1/4 of the tank when topped off. I suspect that both tanks are being filled at some point and say 10 gallons when near full will show some movement of the float, but there will not be anywhere near the same deflection (and changes in ohms) as when the lower 1/2 (main tank is filled). I just do not know what that curve looks like yet. I am sure it is much flatter, but do not know yet if it is undetectable. John Breda

My second sender in in its original location, on the outboard wall of the main tank. John Breda

I am seeking a rgt seat check pilot in Eastern MA for simulated IFR flights for currency. Anyone interested? The East Coast Mooney group is formed but not much activity. John Breda

Does anyone have that modification documentation or how to obtain the documentation. I am working on a seat rail stop idea where a stop is slid onto the inboard pilot's seat rail positioned just behind the rear of the pilot's seat, and locks into the seat rail with a spring loaded pin into one newly drilled hole in the seat rail. It would be good to have some documentation showing that drilling such a hole is acceptable. John Breda

Let me try to clarify my question: I have a 1968 F model which originally had 32 gallons per side with two fuel senders per side, one mounted inside the fuselage wall and one on the outboard end of the fuel tank. I then add the Monroy tanks which use a bay further outboard, and connect by gravity alone to the outboard end of the main tanks. When you fill the main tanks there is a point that some of the fuel spills into the Monroy tanks, When this occurs, the main tank is not yet completely full. When the main tank is completely filled to the top of the main tank filler, there is more than 32 gallons in the plane, as some of the fuel has spilled into the Monroy tank. You then cap off the main tank. To complete the filling process you open the Monroy gas cap and fill the Monroy tank. If you open the main tank when the Monroy tank is completely full, you will see some spillage from the main tank open filler port. The Monroy tanks add 15 gallons per side since I also have speed brakes. The full tank, main + Monroy should be 47 gallons per side which is exactly what I put into my right tank when I ran it nearly dry to the JPI final fuel warning. The engine did not stop at that point but I am sure I was very close to the unusable fuel limit ( certainly close enough for my purposes). I tried to calibrate the senders based on fuel added. So in my case I tried to use 11 gallons per 1/4 tank, thus: 1/4 = 11 gallons 1/2 = 22 gallons 3/4 = 33 gallons full = 47 gallons (simply adding the 3 gallons to the top 1/4 of the tank) Given that the Monroy tanks hold 15 gallons, there is expected to be not much difference between completely full and 3/4 full as indicated on the JPI, but there should be a slight change given that when the first 15 gallons is being burned off, most of that 15 gallons should come from the Monroy tanks, but because the Monroy tanks are connected to the mains, some should come from the main tank as well. At 33 gallons (on one side) there should be some fuel in the Monroy tanks, and some fuel should be burned off of the main tank given that fluid seeks it own level. I can not tell you what the distribution actually is. However, when one calibrated the JPI 930 to the gallons added, the JPI should recognize a nonlinear curve when the last 1/4 tank is added. Likewise, when the Monroy tank is completely emptied, the JPI should recognize a more straight-line curve (influenced by the shape of the main tank) that is representative of the original 32 gallon main tank. The 25% tank warning seems to be approximately correct as the JPI is programmed at the 25% point (which is defined as 11 gallons), but it may report 25% based on the 25% movement of the float (25% of the movement min to max) and that 25% may in fact be advising of 8 gallons remaining since the main tank was originally 32 gallons. To complicate matters further, my wing site gauges show about 15 gallons when the 25% warning is given. It is difficult and time consuming to drain (or burn off fuel) to empty and then calibrate each 1/4 tank. I think, knowing that 47 gallons is very close to usable fuel, I fill the tank completely, burn off 14 gallons, then 11 gallons, then 11 gallons, then 11 gallons based on the fuel totalizer, and at each check point turn off the JPI, turn back on so the calibration screen shows the necessary readings for that fuel level, and create the paper chart while flying on smooth air in level flight. Your thoughts are welcomed. John Breda

Here are some pictures of my move. The plane is on its main gear with padding underneath, tied down to the trailer. John Breda

Another thought I had is to fill the tank fully, then fly the plane recognizing that full usable fuel to the JPI warning is 47 gallons. Then when flying in smooth air, calibrate the JPI at 3/4 (33 gallons), 1/2 (22 gallons), 1/4 (11 gallons) and "0" being the lowest JPI warning. I would use the fuel totalizer to determine how much fuel is burned off. The totalizer seems pretty accurate. Also, I am unclear why the Cies senders are so much better. In flight, the fuel is moving. It would seem that either sender would be relaying data incorporating a range of data due to the fuel movement. At best, the JPI will be depicting an average of those numbers. For any one value, the digitally derived number may be more accurate, but given that you are measuring a moving body of fluid, is the average depicted on the JPI really that much more accurate? John Breda

I am still trying to sort out my Rochester gauges used with JPI930 and Monroy tanks. I ran the right tank nearly dry. The JPI gives me a warning just before unusable fuel. I know this since when on the ground I started adding fuel and going through the calibration process. I only collected data and have not yet changed the stored tables in the JPI, but the fuel put into the plane was 47 gallons into the rgt tank. That is what it is supposed to be per Monroy. True, I do not know if the remaining fuel before filling was 1 gallon v. 1 1/2 or some similar number. Not sure that is so important right now as I do not intend to routinely run the tank lower than the 47 gallons I saw. My question is, what have others experienced when calibrating a tank with Monroy long range tanks since to curve is not linear at all. Also, the number one is supposed to write down from the JPI at 0, 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 and full is somewhat variable. How accurately does it sort out when thee numbers are stored into the JPI data? John Breda

You do not want to demate the tailcone from the fuselage. That is the weakest part of the Mooney airframe. Yes, there are 2 bulkheads bolted together in that transition, but you are better off either putting it on a flatbed trailer as I did (however you need to be careful traveling as the tailcone will be high in the air) or for long distances, demate the wing. Dugosh used to have a trailer made for moving a Mooney with the wing off. John Breda

The second best method is to take the wing off the fuselage. John Breda

I have done it. \You take off the engine and engine mount. Take off the empennage. Put it on its main gear on a flat bed trailer with the wings the length of the trailer. Collapse the nose gear by disconnecting it, thus the firewall is at the flat bed trailer level and the tailcone is up in the air. Block it, tie it down, use necessary padding/supports. Watch out for obstacles when driving. Dallas Air Salvage did it for me. They are into moving aircraft. $2000 back in 2004 to go about 15 minutes drive. I have some pictures somewhere. John Breda

Use your ABS parts to make a fiberglass mold. Lay some saran wrap or coat the parts with a mold release. Buy some hardware store fiberglass, and hand lay-up fiberglass over the existing new glareshield. Make it sturdy enough to act as a mold. Then you can hand sand/finish it and you will have a mold to make all the fiberglass glareshields you want. John Breda

Just learned of the registration being open, tried to register but found myself on the waiting list. Seth, (or anyone cancelling), let me know of availability changes as I would like to attend. My e-mail is john.breda@gmail.com and my cell is (617) 877-0025. John Breda

Super 6: Post a picture of what your starting with, we may be able to add comments. John Breda

N201MKTurbo: There are only 3 things that are in that picture that are still in the plane: 1: The steel post that is part of the steel structural cage 2: The Johnson Bar: now re-chromed, reinforced and powder coated 3: The flap handle John Breda