The new

[MooneyPilot231]

Well after 8 long weeks of work I have finished my annual on my 1980 Mooney 231. This really wasn't an annual as much as a restoration. I can't thank Phil Robertson of Gulf Star Aviation enough for his help or really for allowing me to help him. I have posted previously that there were some fuel system issues when I arrived back in Texas with the plane last June. I picked it up from a famed Mooney Service Center in the northeast that did the pre-buy/annual inspection. At that time I had the feeling that perhaps I hadn't gotten my $4,000 woth of annual from them. Little did I know just how poor the quality of their work was.

When I bought the aircraft it had great paint and avionics. I decided to take the plunge and do the interior while the annual was under way. I found a very reasonable upholstery shop in the Houston area to do the seats and I ordered new carpeting from Airtex. (some of you may remember, I pulled all plastic last year and re-dyed, so that was already done) I spent several years restoring Camaros into show cars and I knew if I ever got started on this Mooney it was not going to be pretty! I am a perfectionest at heart. I pulled the old carpeting out which went pretty quickly except for the floor areas. Those were glued with contact cement so I was left with a cement, carpet fiber mess. Me being me, I took M.E.K. and rags and I cleaned the pilot and storage area floors until they shined! The fumes keep you from noticing the time going by! Pic 1. I removed 30 years of muck and gook from the floor of that plane. Once clean I repainted the areas adjacent to the seat tracks, the emergency gear handle,(new sticker added as well), and the area under the rear seat. (4hrs just cleaning the glue from the floor) The carpet from Airtex is precut and fit perfectly except for the fuel drain between the pilots legs, I had to cut that hole myself which took about 2 minutes. I also had to cut the holes for air vents in the front sidewalls. The carpet went in flawlessly in about 8 hours. I used 3M contact glue front and rear. I deleted the rear area tie downs as they had seen better days. Can't say enough about the quality of the Airtex carpeting, even gave me floormats! The seats came back looking great and I went so far as to repaint the grab handles with a nice glossy black. Pic 3 Even took the time to cut the tape back into perfect squares under the rear seats and wrote on the tape all maintenance that was done under that area. Pic 4 Overall the interior came out really great! Pic 5

Now for the annual part of the annual! I removed the belly panels and all inspection plates myself to save time and money. (Most A&P's will gladly let you do this. Now I know why!) I had made the decision before the annual to treat all parts of the aiplane with Corrosion X. It is a great product and cheap so why not? I won't waste space here with the pictures I took of the inside of the wing. Suffice to say it all looked like it was built yesterday. Not sure what I thought the inside of a 30 year old wing would look like but truthfully, it looked brand new. Pretty impressive when you think about it. When I landed back in Texas with my newly purchased and inspected Mooney I had a brake leak that took some time to figure out. I eventually traced the leak to the outside actuator on the pilots side. These are mini-brake master cylinders under your feet that create the pressure on the brake fluid. We put new o-rings in the actuator for $6 plus Phil's labor and I was on my way. What I didn't realize was that the fluid had leaked back into the rear belly area of the plane. I can't tell you how but it got onto the flap actuator rod which runs between the flaps. It had eaten most of the paint off of it but had kept any corrosion from forming. I could have sanded and primered it in place but that insn't who I am. I asked Phil if he was comfortable with me removing it and he said he would supervise. (labor rate much less when A&P only supervising in 100 degree Texas heat) This required the inner flap hinge covers to be removed which proved to be a good thing. The only corrosion we found during the entire process was on the end of the right side flap actuator rod hyme (sp?) joint. It had some minor pitting in the rod end but I figured for $20 why worry about it so it was replaced. Ultimately the flap actuator rod was cleaned, zinch phosphate coated and reinstalled. Not a fun job but the worst was yet to come!

As luck would have it, Phil and I waited for the most humid day in months to have what I now refer to as "The Dirty Day". This is when you jack the airplane, remove the wheels, rotate the tires, repack the bearings, inspect the brakes, replace brake pads, re-install all of the above and re-rig the gear. This was about a 12 hour day with two guys working as hard as possible. The temp was almost 100 and the humidity brutal!!!. In a word, it SUCKED! Pic 6
I have saved the best for last.....Part of the $4000 I paid for the MSC annual inspection prior to purchasing the plane went towards completion of SB508? This requires the interior to be pulled an inspected for corrosion in the fuselage tubing under the windows. They sent me the before pictures which could only be described as rust stains in the primer. Minimal to say the least. They sanded and reprimered all affected areas as well as similar areas in the front undercarriage just forward of the gear actuator with epoxy primer or so I thought. The fuselage yes, the undercarriage, no. It looked like they brushed grey rustoleum on the control rods in the forward part of the plane. They missed as much as they hit and the only saving grace is there wasn't any corrosion there to begin with. Me being me, I asked Phil if I could clean all the parts and then treat them properly with zinc phosphate while he supervised. Those of you who have never seen the inner workings of a Mooney won't appreciat the task at hand. With Phil's supervision I spent 6 hours cleaning the entire front undercarriage with M.E.K. so it could be properly primered with zinc phosphate. I then spent another 4 hours very carefully coating all the control rods, frame members, and pivot points in that part of the airplane with the correct primer. This was 10 hours of laying on my back cleaning and painting stuff that I had paid someone else a great deal of money to do correctly. I then treated every pivot point and rod end in the entire belly with Corrosion X. In the end, the front of the airplane looked like new and I was really proud of how it turned out. I put the sheet metal back on and forgot the picture but those of you who consider yourselves anal retentive would be proud.

Most of the rest of the annual went pretty well. I have one cylinder that has compression lower than the rest but it was that way when I bought it and the engine uses 1 qt. every 10 hrs so until that changes there is no reason to worry about it. Phil thinks probably another 200 hours before a new cylinder is needed. Total time on the airframe is now approx. 2200hrs with 400 since factory reman. I am going to put the plane up for sale as my wife and I are retiring next spring but truthfully if it sells fine, if not, I now have an airplane that I know is 100% ready to go. I have added some more pictures and I apologize for this being so long. I will say that I have now seen every square inch of my airplane. I have personally checked it and I know it is right. That is a much better feeling than picking it up from a shop and hoping it is right!!!! I now understand how every system on the airplane works and why it does what it does. I have a totally different feeling flying the plane now, every time I move a control surface, flap switch, or gear knob, I know where the parts are that are making it happen and what they are doing!

P.S. I almost forgot the worst part of this entire sage. Pic 8 The spawn of SATAN! The windlace!!!!! I replaced the windlace around the door and baggage compartments with windlace provided by LASAR. (Good quality windlace). The baggage compartment was done last and took about 30 minutes. The door windlace took 4.5 finger cramping, pain my arse hours to complete. I won't even try to describe why this is so difficult because words do it no justice. I have restored cars, built engines costing 100k plus, and this was one of the most tedious, time consuming things I have ever done! NEVER AGAIN! I also ordered the dust boots that go around the gear rods in the wheel wells. I got these from LASAR and have to say at $25 a piece I have never felt more ripped off. They were absolutely a joke and Phil made me set in 45 minutes that were twice the quality of the ones I received from LASAR for $50. Save your money.....again I apologize for the length of this but this was all told 8 weeks of my life!!

[MooneyPilot231]

Here are some more...
The fire wall is a before and after shot. Fixing little things like that is why your annual takes 8 weeks!

[Parker_Woodruff]

Hey, it took some time but you've got an airplane you're completely comfortable flying!!  Great job!!

[KSMooniac]

Nice work!

[MooneyPilot231]

few more....

My annual will never be done in June/July again!
I lost 11lbs in 8 weeks of Texas heat!

Airframe time approximately 2200hrs.
Engine has around 400 since factory reman.
asking price is 115k. 972-809-0464
Plane is located in the Dallas area.

[Parker_Woodruff]

Quote: MooneyPilot231

few more....

My annual will never be done in June/July again!

[alun]

nice job.  i have just had mine back from its first annual since purchase and i am now £4,871 (about $7,000!) poorer.  feck me. 

good luck with the sale.   i am sure you won't have any trouble with such a well cared for lady.

[MooneyPilot231]

No, plane is for sale. I am just saying that if I ever buy another plane, the annual will done in cooler weather!
I need to sell the plane by next spring so I am not in a rush. I hope to get to fly it some over the coming weeks.