BigTex

Dave had his plane on display during last years MAPA convention. Beautiful plane and really enjoyed looking it out!

+1... My plane seems happiest right at 6 quarts.

Why do you find it so hard to believe some folks prefer the vintage planes over the 201?

I personally like the look of the mid-60's C/E models. If I wanted the 201, I would of purchased one.

What specifically are you looking for? Looking through the pictures already posted, they cover the installation pretty well.

I think I have spent literally thousands on reader sunglasses and I keep coming back to these: http://hazebuster.com/s/catalog/?cPath=27 The only downside is that the lenses scratch real easily so you have to be careful with them. What I like is that they position the magnification portion correctly for the cockpit. You don't have to tip your head up to read your instruments. Most non-aviation readers put the magnification too low.

Is this swap out approved to be done by the owner or will it require hangar elves?

Speed is good but being raised by an Aeronautical Engineer that specialized in support & maintainability, easily access to the back of the instrument panel is pretty important to me. So removing what I consider as a really nice feature doesn't make much sense just to gain a few knots. That being said everyone has to make their own decision on this mod... I choose not to do it.

Check out Avionics 1st At Dallas Executive, those guys are great! Jerry Johnson uses Campus Avionics for his work so I suspect they do quality work.

Prefect the pushover. You will be surprised how easy that gear will go up in a negative G situation. Be forewarned, passengers hate this!

weather here is pretty sucky as well. My spinner is so polished, it could be used on the now defunct Hubble telescope.

So Gsarratt, two questions... 1) why are you selling and 2) why haven't you been on Mooney Space? I suspect 1 would not happen if you were active on 2.

Sadly not nearly enough. This is the year of the Squawk. I seem to average 1 hour of flight for every 8 hours of maintenance. Good news is that I'm squawk free and ready go a much more flight filled 2015.

I think Aviatorreb was referring to the roll cage, not the rest of the airframe.

Guys - Byron hasn't posted an update since April on this thread regarding these door seals. So Unless Byron lets us know otherwise, you'd have a better chance of getting this if you ask Santa Claus for it.

I have to say that I went to Don Maxwell's to have the 201windshield installed and was basically talked out of it due to access issues to behind the instrument panel. Due to the angle and location of the 201 instrument panel, you will not gain the same access they have. Don walked me around his hangar and showed me several conversions. Because of this, I went with the one piece non-201 windshield and couldn't be happier. Do your du diligence before you drop 8-10 AMU for this mod.

I used the JPI Bayonet Adaptor probe (PN:5050A). It allows you to piggyback off of the factory CHT probe. This eliminates the need for the spark plug probe but it still doesn't read the same as the other cylinders. Mine reads ~40df low. I just make a point of looking at the primary CHT for #3.

I had my pre-buy done at Don Maxwell's. He came up with a squawk list of 51 items including several airworthiness issues. He went though the plane with a fine tooth comb. He documented ever flaw in the airframe. Initially the list really concerned me. But as Don was going through the squawk list he assured me that overall he feels I'm buying a solid plane. In the purchase contract, it called out that any airworthy squawks would be paid by the seller. The seller has the right to back out if he doesn't wish to fix those items. If the seller backs out, he paid for the pre-buy. The seller covered the costs of the airworthy squawks and I now have a great plane.

Yep... Had then same thing happen when my MP line came disconnected from my #3 cylinder. When I was taxiing in that cylinder went cold and felt like the engine was about to come apart.

In the car word, banks still have a hard time appraising a fully restored car to "like new" condition. So I don't think there's a chance any bank would loan money for anything more than blue book value. So as in restored car, we're talking cash buyers. That alone will limit who can purchase these restored planes. Also, if you cost out a new steam gauge panel vs glass you'll find with the same functionality the price isn't that far apart. The cost is in the avionics, not the flight instruments. Since these are traveling machines, you'll need an auto pilot, WAAS GPS and ADS-B enabled Transponder otherwise it's not going to sell. I'm one of the biggest offenders of upgrading my plane well past book value but there's a big difference in an individual upgrading their plane beyond economic sense and someone building a business model that has to turn a profit. It's a nice pipe dream... just watch what you're smoking.

The problem is that you're competing against the used market, not new planes. So basically, right off the bat you factor in a new interior, 0 time engine, glass cockpit and paint you are already into six figures before you even factor in the donor plane and labor. The only way it will possible work is do what AOPA is doing with their 152's with very basic instrumentation and even then the jury is still out if that will work.

Sure... In fact, you can have mine. I've upgraded to a plastic playmate!

I can't see any financial reason Mooney needs to need multiple manufacturing facilities in the US. In Kerrville, there's more than enough space to support development of a new Mooney. They have that old abandoned paint shop they could use for composites. The only reason I see why they are setting up shop in Chino is because Dr. Chen is from California and that's home. It's also where his Soaring company is based. As for China, I see doing final assembly over there for the Chinese market but not manufacturing.

I have a bunch of hours in a startduster Too and he's a really fun plane... visibility over the nose in the fair is a bear! Depending on what you want to do with it, there might be better aerobatic planes out there.

Guess we'll have to catch it in reruns!