Resurrection of a 1964 M20D

[Prior owner]

 

I just got off the phone with the Flamemaster tech rep and he advised me that the CS-3600 topcoat should NOT be applied on top of the CS-3204 sealant until the tank is completely CURED.... something that the MSM and Flamemaster’s own tech bulletin fails to state. If the topcoat is applied when the 3204 sealant has only reached its “tack-free” state, you may end up with the 3204 sealant not cured properly. I thought that this informai on might be valuable to others.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 5, 2019 by PilotCoyote

[carusoam]

Nice pics...

Evidence of leaks from all the standard age related locations...

Storing pics on MS is really helpful, later on...  easy to grab and share no matter where you are...

Best regards,

-a-

[NJMac]

8 A.M.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

[1964-M20E]

Looking good it is a lot of work keep it up.

 

Is it flyable now?

[Prior owner]

16 minutes ago, 1964-M20E said:

Looking good it is a lot of work keep it up.

 

Is it flyable now?

Not flyable. Out of annual for several years. Taking the time to fix all the things that were never addressed during previous “annuals”....

[steingar]

Glad to see someone is resurrecting an old bird rather than scrapping it for parts.  That way leads to the dark side.

[RLCarter]

@PilotCoyote awesome to see an old bird get some TLC. A bunch of elbow grease, but it’s worth it, most will say “why?” But who cares, have fun with your project. Looking good

[thinwing]

Yikes that cabin airbox is corroded in two

[Prior owner]

4 hours ago, thinwing said:

Yikes that cabin airbox is corroded in two

Yes, it had some holes between the outlets...a little salt air apparently can do a lot of damage to that box.... Also, The amount of dried  crud that came out of those duct hoses was amazing. Glad I went in there and replaced them- the spiral wire was completely rusted out. 

[carusoam]

No salt air needed for crusty crunchy hose wires... Stored outside in NJ would have the same effect...  the slide gates also had more than a patina of rust to keep them from easily sliding...

Modern hoses will work much better... see if you can find some instruction for the hose wire for the new hoses. It has a tendency to want to fall out at first...?

Best regards,

-a-

[Prior owner]

Wondering what you guys use for a door handle seal..? I don’t see a seal in the parts manual.

When I took my interior panels off, my door was full of mud wasp nests. Now I see how they were getting into the door!

 

[carusoam]

Lasar has all things related to Mooney parts.... your local MSC may have access to finding them as well....

If you don’t find one....

MS has a guy...

MS has THE seal Guy...

Send a signal to @GEE-BEE he might have some interesting ideas on a seal that will work, and last a long time...

PP thoughts only, not a mechanic...

Best regards,

-a-

 

[Marauder]

Wondering what you guys use for a door handle seal..? I don’t see a seal in the parts manual.

When I took my interior panels off, my door was full of mud wasp nests. Now I see how they were getting into the door!

 

 

You might be able to modify a rubber grommet that is used to run wires through car firewalls.

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Prior owner]

Thanks guys. Interesting that these would not have a seal there from the factory...

[Marauder]

Thanks guys. Interesting that these would not have a seal there from the factory...

There was some sort of grommet there, at least on my 75. Mine is finally getting to the point it needs replaced. Will be exploring these options as well. The F model I fly has a recessed handle.




Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

[RLCarter]

My 65 E has nothing there, might have years ago. Small oval piece of rubber with a hole for the handle?

[carusoam]

Fuel floats can be OH’d... not much left to a system that is original...

Or replaced with updated digital versions...

The digital version makes sense if you are going with a digital engine monitor...

Best regards,

-a-

[carusoam]

Seeing if Clarence @M20Doc has seen that before...?   (Broken flap stop bolt)

The landing zone for the stop looks like it could use some cleaning up too... flat surface for a touch of grease possibly?

Best regards,

-a-

[Prior owner]

Just to clarify, it did not shear on its own...I sheared it off while trying to ease it loose with Kroil and a gentle touch (not so gentle, eh?).

After I had replaced my flap hydraulic hoses (3), and after much bleeding of the hydraulic system, the flaps (very curiously) decided to finally seat on the stops. They weren't on the stops prior to draining and bleeding the system. So they needed adjustment as they were quite a ways off. The bolt was already soft, as it sheared without applying much force at all. I suspect that whoever attempted the last adjustment stopped when the bolt started getting soft. So it's my problem now.....

I'm hoping that the worse case scenario is that the threaded block is a standard thickness, so that I can simply buy a length of it and fabricate from there, as I don't have free access to a mill.

 

 

[Guest]

I have seen this bolt break while attempting to adjust it, the broken portion can be drilled out carefully.  If you disconnect the inner drive link and allow the flap to drop out of the way you can access the stop.  Alternately you can remove the stop block and build a new one.  I added additional stops on my second E model to the second flap hinge.

This SB covers this subject.https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/4147179/technical_documents/service_bulletins/sbm20-186a-1.pdf

Clarence

[Prior owner]

Thanks Doc! Yes, the single stop on the outer flap hinge seemed inadequate to me- I like the idea of adding an additional stop. I'll post my results next week when I get up to the hangar again.

[Prior owner]

It’s been a while since I posted any progress on my 1964 M20D. I haven’t been to the hangar in over a month! School is out, so I’m diving back in.... spent the day getting the two top access panels off and the trying out a different approach to sealant removal.

I’m stripping the left fuel tank now. Things I learned during the right tank stripping:

1. Mechanically remove as much sealant as you can before you pour Polygone in the tank and turn everything into “Satan’s Chewing Gum.” Whatever you can’t remove- at least score it up.

2. Don’t introduce water into the tank until you are absolutely sure that you are finished with the Polygone.

3. Try something new. And I did. On the first tank I used phenolic and plastic scrapers. They were kind of thick and could not be made very sharp. So I tried this:

 

I bought a cheap flexible angle drive for my cheapo HF drill ( I can’t get enough air CFM in my hangar to run an angle grinder), a threaded bit adapter and a pack of 3M sealant remover cutters on Amazon (not cheap). Also, I tried two different kinds of plastic razor blades...

The 3M cutters are designed to remove fuel tank sealant without scratching the aluminum. They work amazing well.....at least until they hit a rivet. They are very brittle, so they start shedding chunks of plastic. If you are careful, you can make one last for maybe 20 minutes- which allows you to tear up a good amount of sealant.

The plastic razor blades are good for removing thin strips of sealant that the 3M cutter can’t reach....but the plastic blades are kinda fragile. Probably why they sell them in 50 packs? The yellow blades were softer and not quite as sharp as the orange blades. 

I’ll find out soon just how bad the snot is going to get this time around, with less sealant in the tank.

Also, it’s scary to note that if the two tiny half moon holes in the base of the sump drain are clogged, water is going to rise to a level very close to the pickup screen. I believe that the corrosion on my sump drain fitting might indicate that was it was sitting in water for a while.

[Prior owner]

Here’s where I’m at right now..

[RogueOne]

I know you are saving a lot of money, but hell no to that job.

[DonMuncy]

I admire someone willing to go to the effort to work on their own tanks, but after seeing the photos of Houston Tank Specialist's work inside tanks, I am more inclined to ignore my CB tendencies and cough up the $ when my time comes.