New Owner, First Plane, 1974c

[FFpilotChris]

Hello Everyone,

I am going to be a new Mooney owner as soon as some good weather allows me to get from Vegas up to Oregon to pick up the Mooney I am purchasing from "Patto" on the forums here.

Its a 1974 C model and it just finished the pre-buy inspection without anything to sour the deal.  A few discrepancies came back and I was going to see if I could get some help from the members on the here on getting them taken care of.

1. The carburateur airbox needs rebuilt or replaced.  I contacted Dynamic Propeller in WA but they have not returned my phone call. There are a couple airboxes on ebay, but I am not sure if they are the correct part.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Mooney-ARI-Misc-Mooney-M20B-D-G-Carburetor-Air-Induction-System/283165911295

https://www.ebay.com/itm/6235-11-Mooney-M20C-Lyco-O-360-A1D-Air-Box-Assy-Carburetor/253862842641

2.  The engine baffling needs replaced.  I called airforms in AK. They do not make baffles for the C model.  I saw Gee-Bee on a few posts here can I get baffles from him?

3. Left fuel gauge is slow to show fuel quantity, any advice on this before I have the mechanic take a look at it when I get the plane down to Vegas?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/441373-Mooney-M20E-LH-Fuel-Gauge-Indicator-12Volts/253918264757

4. Patto never found a gear switch and the handle is broken.  There is one on ebay for 300, is that the correct one and is it a direct replacement (like connect the wires and it will work)

https://www.ebay.com/itm/8906k2875-Mooney-Switch-Landing-Gear-Volts-14/332835034019?epid=13022460846&hash=item4d7e8393a3:g:GGkAAOSwV05bbgX2:rk:3:pf:0

My plans for the plane are to fly the absolute crap out of it for the next 1 or 2 to get from 200 hours to 1000 hours for my R-ATP.   After that either sell it, or upgrade the crap out of it and have it become a leisure plane to get me all around the southwestern part of the country.  Right now I am focusing on just flying it.

Planned upgrades 

1.  I have a shade hangar but I need I a cover.  Is a cover from Bruce better than the $220 one on ebay?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Mooney-M20-C-D-and-E-windshield-cover/220954810117

2.  JPI engine monitor,   probably will just do the 900 as one fuel gauge is already giving me issues and I would rather deal with any more breaking and just switch to the complete JPI system

3.   G5 attitude indicator.   I learned on a g1000 cessna.  I am more comfortable with the glass layout.

 

Thanks for all the help.

 

Chris

 

[1964-M20E]

Chris

 

welcome aboard you will be getting a lot oaf answers soon and good luck

 

Post some pics of the plane and add a little data about yourself and where you are located.

 

 

 

[Jim Peace]

The second airbox you listed is way to high in price for what it is...I paid less than 200 including shipping recently for a box that is 10 times better.....

You have a big project ahead of you.....I did everything you are going to do and way more....Which state lottery did you win?

Make sure you do the SB that checks for corrosion and the SB for the crack in the spar for the flap mount.  If there is corrosion or a crack this will cost thousands of dollars and must be done before anything else.  Mine had a little corrosion and a crack in the spar....all fixed....

The JPI with the Carb temp and the CIES fuel sensors are the only way to go.

Also do not fly without a CO monitor.....there are a lot of threads on this....

Also a 406 ELT is a must

OIL analysis is a must, it made me find out that my airbox/air filter needed to be replaced when I did not think it was an issue....oil numbers after replacement totally different.

Find an old school mechanic....the new A&Ps coming out of school have no idea what's under the old mooney cowls......

So much more to write but it would take up an entire book....

[Oldguy]

Chris, Congratulations on your new baby!

If you have access to it, a quick check in the Mooney parts manual for your plane might give you some of the answers you are trying to get. Also, @Hank has a bunch of experience which may help as well.

The biggest problem folks have with buying a used cover is the antenna holes/covers do not usually match due to the differences in avionics on different planes.

Ditto on what @Jim Peace wrote on CO monitor and 406 ELT. Relatively cheap upgrades for the value they provide.

Welcome aboard.

[Hank]

Welcome, Chris! Looks like you made a good airplane choice.    Cs are the best!

I can't help much with part numbers off the top of my head, but rebuilding the carb heat box will really help engine management and cruise speed. I rebuilt mine, replaced the muffler with a hand-sized hole and did some touchup repairs on the doghouse and my indicated airspeed increased by 10 mph at altitude and 15 mph down low. Just Tuesday, I made a fuel run after work and was showing 155 mph at 1500 msl running 23"/2500. Ain't Mooneys great? Your time will be here soon.

Please find a good, experienced Mooney instructor rather than a good instructor with "some Mooney time," it will pay off greatly. Check into the Mooney Aircraft Pilots Assn [www.mooneypilots.com] and see when their Pilot Proficiency Program will be out west [it moves around the country 5-6 times per year]. It's a great way to quickly get comfortable in your airplane, in 2½ days of ground school and 4 hours' flight time in your airplane with a very experienced Mooney instructor.

Welcome aboard, hope to see you around!

[Oldguy]

13 minutes ago, Hank said:

Please find a good, experienced Mooney instructor rather than a good instructor with "some Mooney time," it will pay off greatly. Check into the Mooney Aircraft Pilots Assn [www.mooneypilots.com] and see when their Pilot Proficiency Program will be out west [it moves around the country 5-6 times per year]. It's a great way to quickly get comfortable in your airplane, in 2½ days of ground school and 4 hours' flight time in your airplane with a very experienced Mooney instructor.

The Mooney Safety Foundation at https://www.mooneysafety.com/ is where to go to register for an upcoming training program. 

They currently have these on the schedule: 

[Boilermonkey]

The carb heat boxes you sent links for look like the right part, but are worth no more than $100-$200 for that condition.  We recently had the actuator arm break on our and I bought a used box for $60 on e-bay.  I would have rather had a new box, but you'll need to go to a Mooney Service Center to get one installed form the factory (I think).

Look through the logs.  If the carb has not been serviced in the past 10 years, go ahead and have it overhauled while you have everything apart.  We sent ours in and it was serviceable because it had so many SBs accumulated.  The new carb made a huge difference in performance and smoothness of our engine.

 

Covers and cowl plugs are relatively cheap, get a new one made.

 

[FFpilotChris]

17 minutes ago, Oldguy said:

The Mooney Safety Foundation at https://www.mooneysafety.com/ is where to go to register for an upcoming training program. 

They currently have these on the schedule: 

My CFI is a certified card carrying mooney-ack   or something like that.  Maybe I will check out the Ogden, UT training late next year

[Hank]

2 hours ago, FFpilotChris said:

My CFI is a certified card carrying mooney-ack   or something like that.  Maybe I will check out the Ogden, UT training late next year

Mooniac!

LASAR sells tshirts with that on the chest . . . .

[Schinderhannes]

We have one of the MAC covers since 2012 and it is in better shape than our previous Bruce cover after 3 years. The only advantage of the Bruce cover compared to the Mac is the higher payload after the purchase due to totally depleting your wallet.   

[carusoam]

Welcome aboard FF, Fuel Flow, Or is that Fore Flight?

The M20C is a great way to...

• Start!
• to fly!
• to retire!

Your  choice...  

Best regards,

-a-

[Supercop0184]

11 hours ago, Hank said:

Welcome, Chris! Looks like you made a good airplane choice.    Cs are the best!

I can't help much with part numbers off the top of my head, but rebuilding the carb heat box will really help engine management and cruise speed. I rebuilt mine, replaced the muffler with a hand-sized hole and did some touchup repairs on the doghouse and my indicated airspeed increased by 10 mph at altitude and 15 mph down low. Just Tuesday, I made a fuel run after work and was showing 155 mph at 1500 msl running 23"/2500. Ain't Mooneys great? Your time will be here soon.

Please find a good, experienced Mooney instructor rather than a good instructor with "some Mooney time," it will pay off greatly. Check into the Mooney Aircraft Pilots Assn [www.mooneypilots.com] and see when their Pilot Proficiency Program will be out west [it moves around the country 5-6 times per year]. It's a great way to quickly get comfortable in your airplane, in 2½ days of ground school and 4 hours' flight time in your airplane with a very experienced Mooney instructor.

Welcome aboard, hope to see you around!

Question, how did redoing the carb heat box help with engine management and cruise speed? I just don’t feel I see the speed numbers I should.

[Hank]

3 hours ago, Supercop0184 said:

Question, how did redoing the carb heat box help with engine management and cruise speed? I just don’t feel I see the speed numbers I should.

If your carb heat doesn't close tight, warm air leaks in. Warm air is less dense, sonless oxygen is present to burn fuel, therefore each throttle setting creates less power than it should. 

[Bob_Belville]

As alternatives to EBay and factory new you should check with our resident used parts folks... Alan Fox, Jerry Pressley, and Paul Loewen. Someone here can provide their contact info...


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Hank]

1 hour ago, Bob_Belville said:

As alternatives to EBay and factory new you should check with our resident used parts folks... Alan Fox, Jerry Pressley, and Paul Loewen. Someone here can provide their contact info...


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

@Alan Fox

@acpartswhse

@LASAR

[Bob_Belville]

[mention=7207]Alan Fox[/mention]
[mention=12721]acpartswhse[/mention]
[mention=16215]LASAR[/mention]

Well, there's LASAR and there's also Loewen"s Mooney Salvage.

Sent from my XT1710-02 using Tapatalk

[carusoam]

https://www.loewensmooneysalvage.com/mooney-parts-photos

-a-

[Hank]

6 hours ago, Bob_Belville said:

Well, there's LASAR and there's also Loewen"s Mooney Salvage.
 

Oops! My bad.  

[FFpilotChris]

Thanks for all the help everyone.  Hopefully Oregon gets some good weather after Christmas so I can get the airplane down to Las Vegas

[Supercop0184]

On ‎12‎/‎14‎/‎2018 at 10:45 AM, Hank said:

Welcome, Chris! Looks like you made a good airplane choice.    Cs are the best!

I can't help much with part numbers off the top of my head, but rebuilding the carb heat box will really help engine management and cruise speed. I rebuilt mine, replaced the muffler with a hand-sized hole and did some touchup repairs on the doghouse and my indicated airspeed increased by 10 mph at altitude and 15 mph down low. Just Tuesday, I made a fuel run after work and was showing 155 mph at 1500 msl running 23"/2500. Ain't Mooneys great? Your time will be here soon.

Please find a good, experienced Mooney instructor rather than a good instructor with "some Mooney time," it will pay off greatly. Check into the Mooney Aircraft Pilots Assn [www.mooneypilots.com] and see when their Pilot Proficiency Program will be out west [it moves around the country 5-6 times per year]. It's a great way to quickly get comfortable in your airplane, in 2½ days of ground school and 4 hours' flight time in your airplane with a very experienced Mooney instructor.

Welcome aboard, hope to see you around!

SOOOO Weve been dealing with SLIGHTLY slower than normal speeds, and higher than normal Oil Temps  - I asked my MECH to replace the Vernatherm - as I have seen those that say this has CURED their oil temp problems. While he was in there, he showed me a fairly decent sized crack in the top of my air box - so is it possible this could be causing the problem?

he wants to Weld it - Can I get a new one for not WAYY TOO MUCH?

 

Thanks for the help!

[carusoam]

Pics always help...

is the oil cooler at the back of the doghouse?

cleaning the outside of it helps with heat transfer to the outside...

Cleaning the inside helps with heat transfer from the inside...

Swapping out or cleaning the vernatherm helps the control aspect...

Replacing the cracked sheet metal always works... make a copy...

Used parts can make sense..?

PP thoughts only, not a mechanic...

Best regards,

-a-

[LANCECASPER]

On 12/15/2018 at 10:14 PM, carusoam said:

https://www.loewensmooneysalvage.com/mooney-parts-photos

-a-

@SheryLoewen

[FFpilotChris]

The ferry pilot and myself flew the plane from Eugene to its new home at North Las Vegas.  We probably could have made it on the 52 gallons it holds with the nice tailwind we had, but we did make a fuel stop in Tonopah.   I was very impressed with how fast the ground was moving under me and how responsive the controls are on the Mooney in comparison to the 172 that I have gotten used to.   

I am sure most people on the forums here have a list of things that require some work on their planes. Here is mine.

1.  Need a new landing gear switch. 

2. The door and the pin do not line up as well as they should, not sure if I need something replaced or adjusted.

3. Door locks-  the previous owner had no keys.  I need new locks for the baggage door and regular door.

4. Figure out how bad the fuel tanks are leaking.

5. Order a cover

6. Investigate the airbox situation- I have no remove the lower cowl for this, figured I would do it at first oil change.

7. The cabin heat barely worked on the trip, not sure why.

 

Avionics upgrades- 
Patto had a whole thread on this one.  Not sure where I will start and how much I want to spend. Everything works, and it works well enough that I would have no issues going into IMC and shooting an ILS down to minimums.  Here is what I am working with: 

Here is my stack as it sits top to bottom

Stock Audio Panel

KX 155  (wired as COM 2 NAV 2)

KLX 135 (wired as  COM 1)

Status ES 1090 (ADS-B out)

I also have a G-695 GPS that is currently mounted up by the mag compass. I plan on moving it to a ram mount and getting it hardwired as it is running off the cigarette light right now. 

 

Vor- the 155 has a CDI with glideslope slaved to it

The is a Narco Nav11 self contained unit with no glideslope (Nav 1) 

There is also a DME unit on the right side stack.

 

There is no PTT on the right side so I need to get one of those put in.  I also have not tested out the rear to see if the headsets are tied in there at all.

I use foreflight for most of my planning. I am trying to figure out where I want to mount the ipad still. 

 I am tempted to just leave the avionics as they are and spend my money on fuel because my mission is to get to my ATP minimums as quickly and safely as possible.

I would like an engine monitor with fuel flow, more accurate fuel senders and gauges, as well as a G5  or Aspen E5 to make my life a bit easier though.

 

 

[FFpilotChris]

And today the Manifold Pressure Gauge was not really moving as much as it should.  Anyone else have this happen and an easy solution?

[EricJ]

2 hours ago, FFpilotChris said:

And today the Manifold Pressure Gauge was not really moving as much as it should.  Anyone else have this happen and an easy solution?

A leak in the line or hoses from the engine intake to the gauge will do that.  If the line/hose breaks or becomes undone completely it becomes an ambient pressure gauge, a leak will produce behavior somewhere between normal and a broken line, depending on how bad the leak is.    If the leak is bad the idle speed may go up.