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78 M20J ceiling panels


Markku

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Has anyone converted their ceiling panels to the later M20J's with the eyeball vents? My panels have the 4 large louvered circular vents. Both forward and aft panels have cracks and Plane Plastics does not make panels for my aircraft. They do carry the later J's that went on for several serial numbers. I was wondering how big a hassle it would be to change the vent system if I went to the later panels. Thanks

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If you have the M20 J Illustrated Parts Catalog (IPC) you could look up the section on it and see how many parts it shows as being different. That might give you an idea of how far you want to pursue changing it. The catch might be you would also have to change out the rear panel as well as many other parts underneath them both.

If you only have cracks and not missing chunks of plastic, I recommend talking with Bruce Jaeger  (https://www.jaegeraviation.com/) about repairing them or sending them off to Aero Comfort (http://aerocomfort.com/) to cover them.

While PlanePlastics makes the parts, they require a significant amount of cutting and trimming to fit them to our handmade planes, even if it is for your specific S/N. But they are significantly sturdier than the original ones.

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I used to have an M20C with the louvered circular vents and never could get enough ventilation. When switched to an M20J I had to close down the eyeballs vents to reduce the draft on my face. The reason for the M20J better performance is the air scoop in the tail and the manifold air distributor. Each eyeball vent is individually connected to the distributor so there is no air pressure drop when the others are open like on the circular louvered vents. The only issue I found with the eyeball vents is the draft noise on the headset microphone. I point the vents toward my eyes  or chest to reduce the draft noise. The microphone foam helps on reducing the draft noise.

Edited by Gagarin
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For Don...

The plastic is thermoformed into shape... with the TX sunshine, it has un-thermoformed...

Trying a replacement method could prove interesting... cut the front off a good piece... and match it to the front of the old piece...

My ceiling is covered in some stretch fabric material...

The idea being... remove the whole ceiling to fix the front, and fabric coat the whole thing... it will look brand new when you are done...

 

PP thoughts only, Just a raw idea being tossed in the ring...

Best regards,

-a-

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1 hour ago, Jblanton said:

Markku,

Plane Plastics does have the headliner you are looking for.  It is not on the website.  I actually flew to Alva, OK and found the mold in their shop.  They made it while I went to lunch.  This was about 6 months ago.  

 

Jeff

"Found it" as in they didnt know they even had it?  Thats awesome. 

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I replaced all my plastic this past summer. All from Plane Plastics. The front overhead piece only took about 25 hours to fit, no problem.

I replaced the cheap assed leaky louvered vents with Wemacs I bought at the Oshkosh FlyMart about 20 years age. I got 4 assemblies from a King Air. Each one had a vent, light and button. I paid $40 for the whole lot! I redid the whole plenum, which had some holes, with fiberglass tape and tank sealant. It appeared to be sealed with caulk. It doesn’t leak at all now. My wife says it’s the best thing I ever did to the plane.

The only panel I couldn’t get was the rear overhead. Mine is eggshell fragile. You can poke a hole in it with no effort.

Ill get some pictures to share.

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