bradp Posted July 13, 2016 Author Report Posted July 13, 2016 Looks great Brandon - right now I'm down to an in situ repair and paint of the existing vents or doing your mod. Byron the finished product you have is fantastic. More progres today - finished cleaning, removed slight surface corrosion on the tubular frame at the baggage compartment vents and zinc chromate applied. I got through making about half of the templates I need to make cutouts for the closed cell foam insulation and underfloor insulation. I did one final vacuum, compressed air and isopropyl / MEK wash to get everything ready for the new interior. I visited a local auto upholstery warehouse today (awesome resource) and got a treasure trove - windlace, 8 ft of 1/16th ABS for repairs, making new decorative back boards. I also got the colorbond system for painting the existing ABS. Trying to make a decision about new carpet now. Airtrex quoted ~$860 for the floor ($298) and the lower walls / baggage compartment ($565). Seems steep for what it is - apparently Honda OEM with foam backing similar to Mooney OEM. I know a lot of MSers have been happy with their Airtrex, though. Since I'm CAR3 I have a bit more flexibility - was thinking about getting a high quality nylon automotive carpet (~30-45/yd) x 8 yards ($200) would be enough to do the interior plus floor mats. Higher quality closed cell foam would be used for backing. Local outfits can bind / serge it for not too much. If I go local, Ill still have it burn certified for piece of mind. Btw I burned a small bit of my current carpet and I was a little horrified how easily it caught and propagated. The new cabin windows are ordered - smoke gray with UV coating. Should arrive next week from LP aero. They are right down the road from my home base. I'll pull the old stuff - Mooney manual states "considerable effort may be required" to remove the old ones. If I don't break them I'll bring them to LP for trimming. Would like to be done with everything except the seat covers by the end of the month. Vacation coming up, so will have some time to complete it. Maybe 90-degree summer was the wrong time to embark on this little adventure. I listened to the beach boys and thought of ocean breezes. 1 Quote
Brandontwalker Posted July 13, 2016 Report Posted July 13, 2016 I promise I'm not trying to hijack your thread, but I just finished researching all of this myself. As to carpet, the Mohawk aviation distributor is Douglas Interior Products. I worked with Brodie Smith and he was very helpful. The AC-7314 line is burn rated and comes with certificates. Cost is $36.12/yard. I believe it took 8 yards to replace all carpet in my plane with little to spare. It comes in a roll. Just use your old carpet as a template. I took the cuts that would have exposed ends to a local carpet store and had them bound for a finished look (and to protect the edges from raveling) for $100. All in was less than $450. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2 Quote
Brandontwalker Posted July 13, 2016 Report Posted July 13, 2016 Found Brodie's number: 800-722-7272;318 Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 1 Quote
bradp Posted July 13, 2016 Author Report Posted July 13, 2016 Brandon that's great I'm going to call him today. Keep the comments coming. I'm more looking for advice for this project and hopefully it will be useful for the next MSer that tries this. @Brandontwalker what kind of carpet did you put in? Mill probably get an 8th yard to do some floor mats. Quote
Brandontwalker Posted July 13, 2016 Report Posted July 13, 2016 (edited) 9 hours ago, bradp said: Brandon that's great I'm going to call him today. Keep the comments coming. I'm more looking for advice for this project and hopefully it will be useful for the next MSer that tries this. @Brandontwalker what kind of carpet did you put in? Mill probably get an 8th yard to do some floor mats. http://www.dipi.com/product-library/nylon-carpet-ac-7314.htm It's a pretty thick carpet. I didn't use padding underneath, but that is just a personal preference. You might consider a 9th yard for floor mats. I didn't have much to spare from the 8 yards I ordered and I painstakingly laid out the cuts to maximize the roll. Maybe enough for two really small floor mats. Edited July 13, 2016 by Brandontwalker Quote
Yetti Posted July 13, 2016 Report Posted July 13, 2016 re apply duct tape to all the areas it came off for inspection / cleaning Just say no to duct tape. Duct tape will hold moisture when it degrades. Use the aluminum foil based tape. OMG just looked at your pictures and you had the same interior as mine. Antique Moss is the Mooney name for the carpet. Even in the 70s it was a bad idea. Mine had the same West Texas Brownish leather. Ick! Quote
bradp Posted July 14, 2016 Author Report Posted July 14, 2016 Look just how awful it looks when you see how much it's changed color over the years. I don't know if it started brown and turned like green or vice versa. Quote
Yetti Posted July 14, 2016 Report Posted July 14, 2016 A really horrible color of green. Makes good patterns. The leather panels still smell good. Quote
bradp Posted July 14, 2016 Author Report Posted July 14, 2016 Carpet coming from Brodie at Douglas Interior Products. Went with the same type as Brandon. Dark flint (weathered ocean) is the name. Should arrive by next week. Burn paperwork is sent out separately. Pleasure doing business with Brodie. Nice straightforward guy. Thanks for the reference! Quote
bradp Posted July 22, 2016 Author Report Posted July 22, 2016 More progress today. 1- Carpet arrived. Nice stuff. A bit heavier than I had expected, but it will look great when it's in 2- Foam backing (1/4 lightweight closed cell) came in. 3- I made new door handles and an entry pull out of Naugahyde. Sweet. 4- Windows are ready. I went down to the hangar to pull the old ones. Man they were stuck. I cracked two of them as I was more concerned about not damaging sheet metal or paint than I was about preserving the old windows. I'm bringing them to LP aero tomorrow to custom trim the new ones. I only ran into two issues pulling them. First is that a lot of the screws holding the retainer tabs are rounded out. Dang. Looks like someone else had been in there some time ago, but I can't find record of the Windows having been replaced in the logs. I had to drill a few out which just tried my patience more than anything else. Second issue was that one of the cherry max rivets that holds the windshield retainer on was not installed properly (I had the windshield replaced a few months ago). It sits in a recessed hole in the lower front corner of the pilot window. Looks like it wasn't set and could spin. So I had to drill it out and am now waiting for some cherry Max's to arrive. Pink goo also on its way (CS 3330-B2) from my least favorite retail vendor, air nerd. I'm hoping it will arrive next week. Next items on the agenda. 1- aluminum tape to replace duct tape 2- cut insulation and carpet. Adhere foam backing to carpet. Bring carpet to local carpet store for binding. 3- install insulation 4- start working on royalite repairs (prep, acrylic trick with putty or abs scraps dissolved in MEK, fiberglass backing, sanding reprinting). 5- install new windlace 6- put humpty back together again 1 Quote
jetdriven Posted July 22, 2016 Report Posted July 22, 2016 On that rivet you must drill the window behind it to allow room for the correct length cherry MSC to fit in there and pull down. i tried and pipe glue, Tolulene, scraps, and fiberglass and it doesn't work. It simply cracks again. It's not strong enough, especially through screw holes. What does fix it is 8oz fiberglass cloth (7781) and MGS epoxy. 2 Quote
bradp Posted July 23, 2016 Author Report Posted July 23, 2016 Single worst riveting experience so far. My nice IA let me use a tray of various size cherry rivets. We supposed that that last hole had been drilled out before and was a bit bigger (13/64) than what the book calls for and way was likely put in when I had the windshield installed (1/8). That's why it had spun. I used an oversized cherry and it worked great. Until... The back fell off my pop rivet gun. Then The shank was stuck because the spring sprung out the back. I needed to disassemble the whole thing, hammer the shank through the teeth and reassemble the gun. Then it worked nicely. Spent about 2 hrs foil taping where duct tape used to be touching the tubular frame. Stuff is razor sharp. Then went back and sprayed a little zinc chromate anywhere where I saw chipped or scuffed old primer, with the exception of the forward spar flange. @Piloto - re the other thread with the spar flange: I didn't want to disturb the remaining zinc primer (some was off, I was going to have to brass brush it for hrs and wasn't going to use a wire wheel), so I sprayed with corrosion x, and put aluminum foil tape across the corner, going up the face of the spar. This way, moisture can escape to below the floor through the cracks and the spar is protected from my toddler's beverages. It's also easily removable for inspection at every annual. Cut all my carpets to rough size. Sunday after work, I'll go back and trim to fine size. Monday will be foam insulation day, Tuesday will be new Windows day and Wednesday will be carpet install day (I'm supposed to be on vacation this week :-). I'm hoping to be back in the air next Friday for a trip to see family. 2 Quote
Marauder Posted July 23, 2016 Report Posted July 23, 2016 You are a crazy man Brad! Isn't the heat killing you?! 1 Quote
bradp Posted July 23, 2016 Author Report Posted July 23, 2016 3 hours ago, Marauder said: You are a crazy man Brad! Isn't the heat killing you?! Yes it's been 95. Lots of hydration. Yesterday we had storms roll through mid day which cooled everything off nicely. I'm just seeing what it's like to live in Florida, that's all. Quote
testwest Posted July 26, 2016 Report Posted July 26, 2016 +1 for MGS epoxy. Jetdriven has it right. Probably too late, but I found the remover product "Goof Off" (available at the big box home improvement stores) to be the best thing to remove old rubber cement/pliobond. Not as smelly as MEK and seems to works a little faster. Quote
bradp Posted July 27, 2016 Author Report Posted July 27, 2016 More progress today (this is my beach [Im on vacation]). Carpet cut. Carpet store was all set to bind today but the guys actually doing the work refused. Too complex. Square. I might go instabind or have an auto shop do vinyl binding material. Insulation is mostly done. Repair work on plastic done. I went with abs mixed in acetone (plumbing cement), reinforced by two to three layers of 8os fiberglass. Mixing epoxy wasn't going well in 95-deg heat. This seems to be both strong and have a little flex without tearing so we'll see how it works out. I did an in situ repair of cracked vents. Repainted and happy so far. Cabin Windows going in tomorrow. Hopefully this will be like one of those makeover shows in the end. Night. B 1 Quote
bradp Posted July 27, 2016 Author Report Posted July 27, 2016 Oh before the panels go back in... Any recommendations whether to clear coat or leave flat? Thanks b Quote
carusoam Posted July 27, 2016 Report Posted July 27, 2016 Brad, Did you run new heater hose all the way to the back seaters while you are in there? Best regards, -a- Quote
bradp Posted July 27, 2016 Author Report Posted July 27, 2016 Good idea Anthony. I didn't know you could do that.... No present heater duct to the back seats. They just freeze and I just bake in the winter. Maybe the new foam will help with that. Quote
carusoam Posted July 27, 2016 Report Posted July 27, 2016 In my C there was a mixing box in front of the co pilot. Hot air and cold air were let into the box. The ratio was set by two separate slide valves... The front of the mixing box had another valve to let air out directly to the co pilot... other hoses went to the pilot, and two to the rear seats. Check the old side wall panels for a small one inch hole with an ABS ring to dress it up. I'm sure the J is going to be more functional than the old C's HVAC system. Best regards, -a- Quote
carusoam Posted July 28, 2016 Report Posted July 28, 2016 The J probably doesn't leak as much air into the cabin as a C does. No leaks, no need for warm air delivered directly to the back seaters. I'm not as familiar with the more modern birds. Best regards, -a- Quote
Brandontwalker Posted July 28, 2016 Report Posted July 28, 2016 Oh before the panels go back in... Any recommendations whether to clear coat or leave flat? Thanks b I used around 4 coats of SEM satin clear coat. No real difference in appearance, but should add protection/durability to the finish. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote
Brandontwalker Posted July 28, 2016 Report Posted July 28, 2016 More progress today (this is my beach [im on vacation]). Carpet cut. Carpet store was all set to bind today but the guys actually doing the work refused. Too complex. Square. I might go instabind or have an auto shop do vinyl binding material. Insulation is mostly done. Repair work on plastic done. I went with abs mixed in acetone (plumbing cement), reinforced by two to three layers of 8os fiberglass. Mixing epoxy wasn't going well in 95-deg heat. This seems to be both strong and have a little flex without tearing so we'll see how it works out. I did an in situ repair of cracked vents. Repainted and happy so far. Cabin Windows going in tomorrow. Hopefully this will be like one of those makeover shows in the end. Night. B Your project is really coming along and looking great! That's a shame about the carpet binding. The guy that did mine said the only challenge was the cut out for the gear indicator. He had to do that by hand. If you haven't found anyone, I'll put you in touch with my guy. You can probably FedEx the little bit that needs to be bound for next to nothing. IMO, the proper binding looks far more finished compared to vinyl edges. He charged me around $100 total. I had the 3 floor pieces (under and between seats) and the piece under the front edge of the back seat bound. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote
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