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Suggestions/Thoughts on Mooney Purchase


mbezkrov

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Hi all,

I recently came upon the opportunity to purchase a 1981 Mooney M20J, and went to test fly it last weekend.  It is a California plane and has never been in an accident--no prop strikes or other major damage.  Based on what I see, the plane is in fairly good shape and apparently has been well maintained.  Speaking with the owner, he seems on top of it--he flies the plane personally but still does all 100 hour inspections and changes the oil every 50 hours.  AD's are all complied with and there is paperwork for them.  All of the paperwork since 1981 (maintenance, manuals, etc.) is there.  Here is some additional information that he sent me:

  • 1850 hours on the engine TBO, 3400 hours on airframe
  • Garmin 430 w/ recently updated software and service by Garmin
  • Backup electric attitude indicator
  • STech autopilot
  • MK170 radio replaced less than a year ago
  • Interior leather recently replaced (approx 4 years old w/ material certs)
  • LEF landing lights
  • Brand new dual magnetos, also replaced plugs and plug harnesses at the same time
  • Replaced fuel line a few years ago
  • CHT/EGT for all cylinders
  • Digital tachometer
  • Main gear tires new
  • Hangered mostly entire life
  • All paperwork and original manuals on hand

Before this I've had no experience with Mooneys, and was not seriously in the market for a plane.  I have about 200 hours PIC, instrument rated, and have my complex/high performance endorsement.  I fly around 150 hours per year at this point, and would be nice to have something fast like this to make cross-country flights make sense.  With that being said, I wanted to get your guys' feedback on whether this is a good purchase, what other questions I need to be asking, and whether the price is right.  He's asking $70k.

Thanks in advance,

Matt

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Agree that this is just the starting point and it will need some money in the next few years. But, starting with a no damage history plane that is presumably corrosion-free, has all records, etc is a good place to start. Search for threads here covering what to check on a purchase. See if the engine is original with an overhaul, or a replacement...the case usually has two overhaul cycles in it before it will be scrapped, so you should figure out what is on it so you can see about overhauling what is there vs a factory exchange for more money.

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It does look nice.  As Robert says, there will be a new engine/overhaul in your future.  So think of it as a $100-$110k plane (it would be good to put $30k or so mentally or really in a separate account when you make the purchase!).  It might be worth looking around to see what you could buy for that amount just to make sure it still feels like a good deal.

Good to see that it has a 430 and an Stec ap (which model?).  I assume that means the owner replaced whatever was in there before.  This likely avoids an expensive repair you might have had to make ... I can tell you why I know this ;-).

Trevor

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1 hour ago, Diesel 10 said:

It does look nice.  As Robert says, there will be a new engine/overhaul in your future.  So think of it as a $100-$110k plane (it would be good to put $30k or so mentally or really in a separate account when you make the purchase!).  It might be worth looking around to see what you could buy for that amount just to make sure it still feels like a good deal.

Good to see that it has a 430 and an Stec ap (which model?).  I assume that means the owner replaced whatever was in there before.  This likely avoids an expensive repair you might have had to make ... I can tell you why I know this ;-).

Trevor

I'd be a little more optimistic.  It sounds like the owner takes care of it, so even though the engine is close to TBO, there is a fair to good chance you may get plenty of additional time off the engine, and a fair chance you will have to overhaul soon anyway.  So I'd think of it more like buying a $70k plane plus $15-20k for part of an engine overhaul.  That seems like a pretty decent price.  Not a steal, but somewhat better than average

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16 hours ago, CaptainAB said:

Is he doing 100 hour inspections for his own higher standard of maintenance ? Or is it operated under part 135?

In the engine log, many IA's sign the annual inspection off as a 100 hour inspection because there is not a engine manufacturers' "annual"...only a 100 hr. inspection. 

This can be a point of confusion for some.

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After attending Mike Bushes seminar about TBO, I would have no qualms whatsoever about buying this airplane. That's assuming of course that it passes a pre-purchase inspection.
I would of course, discount price for the engine even though I would have no problem buying the airplane.

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2 hours ago, Raptor05121 said:

I don't know J's that well, are they really $70k for a runout engine?

With a good engine and a decent panel, the J is arguably the sweet spot of the entire Mooney line. When factoring speed/fuel/range/useful-load, it's very hard to do better than an M20J. You can do a little more for a lot more $$$$ (i.e. long bodies) or you can do less for a little less $ (i.e. C/D/E). But the sweet spot is certainly the J. That is unless your mission requires a turbo, than the sweet spot is the M20K 252. 

Therefore if there was ever a plane worth spending some money on to fix/upgrade/overhaul, it's the J.

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Just for reference, AOPA's Vref suggests the value of such a plane at $66.5k, without counting the autopilot and G430.  The STEC autopilots add between $2-15k value depending on the model, so I'm guessing $5k?  the G430 value is not listed on Vref, but a G530W is worth $8k, so figure $1k for a G430, and $4k for a G430W?  So the plane seems close to suggested value, assuming no damage history or major squawks.

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Check the 430 for sure. We just upgraded our standard 430 to a 430W and it was $4,695.00, flat rate from Garmin. Although Garmin isn't making the 430 any longer our updated unit looks brand new. We were told the only thing they reused was the case. It sure looks like it, everything looks brand new. 

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