New Mooney!

[kelty]

I finally got the new plane, a'77 M20J. After a red eye flight from CA to Pennsilvania I got my first look at the plane. A few hours later I was wheels up heading back to CA. 18.4 hours and about 2400 miles later I'm really getting the feel for her. Great IFR platform, which I found out by necessity on the 3rd leg. Now she is safe and sound at KHJO and it's time for y'all to help spend my money. 

One thing that I noticed is that the #3 CHT is well above the other 3. From the research I've done here at MS, I should be able to cruise with the cowl flaps closed and CHTs below 400?  With the cowl flaps closed in cruise #3 would get to about 420 while the others remained in the 360-370 range, so that will be order of buisness #1. 

The auto pilot also has a mind of its own sometimes and will start a ~500fpm rate of decent on its own.  it's a century 3  any ideas there before I take it to the avionics shop?

I also found out the 430 was only loaded with threats cost load, so time to update that. 

I think after that is going to come the ADS-B update. 

What else do y'all recommend?

 

Kelty

[dlthig]

Congrats! Cross country in your own plane is awesome. 

[gsengle]

Nice! But need a better panel pic so we can start spending your money

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[carusoam]

Congrats...

First thing to check is what all the JPI TCs are attached to.  One of them might be attached to a spark plug ring type TC.  There are improvements available for that.  Not a huge cost either...

We are good at helping you spend your money.  

Best regards,

-a-

[kelty]

Ok, so this is the panel. I think I want to update the JPI to a 830 and get rid of the ADF.  

Also, this being my first plane, it was burning about a quart every 4-5 hours.  Is this the average rate?

[Hank]

Before you can really assess the oil burn rate, you need to find the oil level that the engine normally settles at. Sure, capacity is 8 quarts, and the numbers on the dipstick go that high. But many engines will rapidly spit out oil above 6 or 6-1/2 quarts, then stabilize for a while before dropping. Mine likes 6 quarts; when changing, I add 7, then a half quart when it hits 5-1/2 unless traveling far when I add a whole quart.

Enjoy your new plane!

[jetdriven]

Slightly higher than average. 6-10 hours per quart is normal.  If it has w100 oil in it, it takes a day to drain back so it's not using as much as you think.  Check it after 2 days. It will use more oil if kept fuller than about 6 ish qt. 

cylinder 3 cht sender goes to the factory probe.  You may have a spark plug washer probe which can read higher than actual.

i hope you got a good prebuy....

welcome to the Mooney family. Lots of good info here. 

[carusoam]

Lots of good people here!

-a-

[kelty]

Ok thats good to know.  We were checking the oil during our quick fuel stops on the xcountry.  

Thats good to know about the cylinder 3 cht probe.  The factory gauge is reading lower like the other 3 cylinders are reading on the JPI 

[Marauder]

Kelty -- too bad we didn't connect when you were here. I suspect between the owner and the other J owner there you were able to get the answers you were looking for.

Had I flown over, you could have looked at my panel for ideas on how to spend your money. The 77 J panel is very close in design to my 75 F.

Here is what I did to mine:

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[Marauder]

If you are going to upgrade the JPI, I would go for the 900. That way you have redundancy and can remove your factory gauges if you want (like I did).

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[kelty]

Yup definitely panel envy 

[kelty]

I wish that we had more time to hang out out there and all our stops along the way, but we were trying to beat weather and to get back home to go to work.

 

[Brandontwalker]

Congrats on the new plane Kelty! I almost bought that one myself a little over a year ago. The buyer sure didn't stay in long. It's a great looking plane.

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[Piloto]

Kelty, congratulations on your new Mooney. From your pictures I noticed that the fuel pressure gauge indicates 25 psi even with master off. Looks like the indicator may need to be repaired or the picture was taken just after shutdown. Although you have a fuel flow indicator the fuel pressure gives you and indication of the fuel pumps (electrical and mechanical) health.

José 

Edited August 24, 2016 by Piloto

[kevinw]

Congrats on the new plane. When it comes to a panel upgrade the sky is the limit. What is your budget? That will help with the recommendations. I agree with Hyett; one of the first things i would do is upgrade to an Aspen PFD and lose the ADF. After that it's a matter of what's most important to you (GPS, AP, engine monitor, cosmetic upgrades). As far as the transponder, I just installed the Garmin GTX345 and highly recommend it. Having weather and traffic displayed on my panel is really nice. Here's a shot of my panel before and after.

[Bob - S50]

Congrats.  I love spending other peoples money!

Ya, our '78 J spits out everything over 6 quarts and then settles in at about 5 hours/quart.

1.  I agree, ditch the ADF, we did with ours.

2.  Get rid of the intercom and replace the audio panel with an audio panel that includes a 4 place intercom.  Preferably one with built in bluetooth.  That way you can:

     a.  Talk to your back seat passengers.

     b.  Connect your phone to the audio panel via bluetooth and use your headset to call FSS for an IFR clearance on the ground when you can't raise anybody on the radio.

3.  I can't live without an HSI of some sort.

4.  Get a Garmin GTX345 for ADS-B OUT/IN.

5.  Replace the TC with the G5.

6.  Now that they are available for the M20J, get Cies floats so you'll have an accurate fuel level indication.  That might require a new fuel gauge.

Enjoy yourself.

 

[Steve Dawson]

+1 on changing to  jpi 900 also. It'll add room to your panel space when you remove the factory gauges. You can lower your century selector and install the 900 above it. I have a panel layout in a DXF file I can send your avionics people if you want to change things. 

[kelty]

Andrew- I realized that the only picture I had of the panel was from the ad.  Time to get some new pictures.  I definitely want to go the aspen route eventually, but I don't think that is in the budget yet.  The 182 that I had been flying has one and its great.  I definitely don't need the ADF, I don't think it even works, so that's gone to free up some space.  The whole interior needs some work, so I'm planning on doing the yokes when I do the rest of it.  Right now the budget isn't that big, maybe 5k, I want to wait till after the first annual to see what else pops up. 

 

 

[kelty]

2 hours ago, Piloto said:

Kelty, congratulations on your new Mooney. From your pictures I noticed that the fuel pressure gauge indicates 25 psi even with master off. Looks like the indicator may need to be repaired or the picture was taken just after shutdown. Although you have a fuel flow indicator the fuel pressure gives you and indication of the fuel pumps (electrical and mechanical) health.

José 

Wow, I didn't notice that.  That is definitely something to check out.  I'm not sure when that picture was taken, so I'll take a look at that tomorrow.

[kelty]

Kevin and Bob, thanks for the input.  I think the first upgrade is going to be a GTX345.  Will that display on the 430?  I also want to upgrade the audio panel.  I'm taking people up sight seeing over San Fran this weekend, and just going to have to yell at them, so that update is a priority for sure.  Is the Garmin the recommended route, or are there better options?

[kelty]

2 hours ago, Steve Dawson said:

+1 on changing to  jpi 900 also. It'll add room to your panel space when you remove the factory gauges. You can lower your century selector and install the 900 above it. I have a panel layout in a DXF file I can send your avionics people if you want to change things. 

Yes please, I'll definitely take it.

Thanks

[markejackson02]

FWIW, I have a 1977 J and the cylinder temps behave exactly the same.  Part of it is being South Texas but I just cruise with the cowl flaps open and CHT seldom get above 375.  I can close them at higher altitudes but near the ground with 110 degree temps the CHT will get to 425 in a hurry.

I noticed that the later model J's have a cowl flap on the left that has the same bulge as the right.  Probably helps with cooling with cowl flaps closed.

 

[kevinw]

1 minute ago, kelty said:

Kevin and Bob, thanks for the input.  I think the first upgrade is going to be a GTX345.  Will that display on the 430?  I also want to upgrade the audio panel.  I'm taking people up sight seeing over San Fran this weekend, and just going to have to yell at them, so that update is a priority for sure.  Is the Garmin the recommended route, or are there better options?

I have the 530W/430W combo and both traffic and weather display on the 530. I use the traffic page on the 430 and haven't tried to look at weather on it but I'm fairly certain it does as well. What I didn't expect was an additional nav page that displays METAR from the destination airport. That's handy as well. Go to garmin.com, find the 345 and it lists all compatible boxes.

[Marauder]

Congrats on the new plane. When it comes to a panel upgrade the sky is the limit. What is your budget? That will help with the recommendations. I agree with Hyett; one of the first things i would do is upgrade to an Aspen PFD and lose the ADF. After that it's a matter of what's most important to you (GPS, AP, engine monitor, cosmetic upgrades). As far as the transponder, I just installed the Garmin GTX345 and highly recommend it. Having weather and traffic displayed on my panel is really nice. Here's a shot of my panel before and after.

Nice mystery photo. I am guessing you are taxiing at 18 kts ground speed since there is no airspeed on the Aspen (doesn't start to register until 20 KIAS). Your Sandia however is reporting 23 KIAS.

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