I'm a little excited about this one:

[the_elkhartian]

2 hours ago, kortopates said:

btw, is it 48 gal because of having bladders?

Broker listed it wrong. It has the standard 52 gal. tanks. 
 

Also from the logs, the RH tank has been resealed twice but the LH hasn’t. 

[the_elkhartian]

1 hour ago, cliffy said:

I'll start the bidding for your Brittain Autopilot with a bid of  HOW much do you want for it!     :-)  :-)

How about an even trade—I’ll give you my Britain AP in exchange for a fully STCd TruTrak system for my C!

[cliffy]

I've been waiting 2+ years for the TT A/P.  Get in line!  :-)

 I used to fly a Navajo with a Brittian A/P and it flew very well. My AccuTrac works well also. 

[Bob E]

My two cents' worth:

• Don't assume the engine will make it to TBO.  The overhaul was 25 years ago!  If the aircraft wasn't flown for various stretches of time, there could be corrosion in the cylinders or the camshafts, etc.  Scope the engine very thoroughly, or maybe plan on installing a zero-time engine as part of your purchase budget.
• Ditto for the prop and prop governor.
• I suppose you can get used to anything, but for an aircraft that someone devoted a lot of time and money to modding a while back, the panel is one huge mess.  Haphazard placement of avionics and instruments; no organizational concept. Where's the redline RPM range for the prop control?  It's not a Mooney gauge; does the current engine/prop configuration no longer have a restricted range or did nobody bother with that issue? 
• Kinda wierd that a later-model panel was cut and overlaid onto the C -- you can see some of the original "C" around the throttle/prop controls and where the yokes meet the panel.

[the_elkhartian]

11 hours ago, Bob E said:

Don't assume the engine will make it to TBO.  The overhaul was 25 years ago!  If the aircraft wasn't flown for various stretches of time, there could be corrosion in the cylinders or the camshafts, etc.

TSOH at the last annual I have in the books is 1461 SMOH. I am going to get the latest Tach and annual info tomorrow. That said, it's been flown an average of 50-100 hours per year for the last 10 years. (On the high end of that in the last 3 years....100+)

That said, the listing said 1315 SMOH, but as I dug into the books there's at least 1461 (2019 annual) and likely closer to 1600hrs if the same pace was kept this year. That's definitely going in the wrong direction...

It has about 1000 hours since a Top Overhaul completed in March 2000.

11 hours ago, Bob E said:

Ditto for the prop and prop governor.

Prop was overhauled in 2004 and 800 hours ago. What is the TBO on a McCauley C214? 

11 hours ago, Bob E said:

Where's the redline RPM range for the prop control?  It's not a Mooney gauge; does the current engine/prop configuration no longer have a restricted range or did nobody bother with that issue?

It's a IO-360 driving a McCauley B2D34C214...does that configuration have a restricted range? From what I've read, this is the same configuration as on 78+ J models.

 

[the_elkhartian]

Went and saw the airplane today in person and it didn't disappoint. Two questions:

 

What is the little silver knob? It turns like a rheostat but tightens in towards the panel as you turn it.

What does this "Pull PITCH On" knob do? Is it part of the PC system, or is it to do with the Brittain (Has the B-6 w/ALT)

[Tahir K]

Went and saw the airplane today in person and it didn't disappoint. Two questions:
 
What is the little silver knob? It turns like a rheostat but tightens in towards the panel as you turn it.

What does this "Pull PITCH On" knob do? Is it part of the PC system, or is it to do with the Brittain (Has the B-6 w/ALT)

Someone correct me if I'm wrong but I believe the silver knob is for the PC system trim.

[cliffy]

The "PITCH" button you pull to activate the pitch portion of the Brittain for alt hold. 

[Hank]

4 hours ago, Tahir K said:

Someone correct me if I'm wrong but I believe the silver knob is for the PC system trim.

The trim for my Brittain is part of the TC.

Edited June 4, 2020 by Hank

[David Lloyd]

The 1965 models had a blind turn coordinator for the PC autopilot.  The roll trim was a silver knob mounted at the center of the pilot yoke.  With the later model yokes in this plane, they couldn't do that so it may have been mounted to the panel. A short test flight, does the PC work?  Does that knob control the roll trim?  A 55 year old modified airplane, some of the paperwork is going to be missing. It is not a perfect world.

[the_elkhartian]

Scariest thing coming away from the inspection yesterday is this:

Thats the LH wing tank with the tell-tale blue weepy thing going on, but it's not dripping. That said, it's not going to get any better. I've read all of the recent-ish posts on wing leaks. I think I will watch this one until it's bad enough to be patched, until it's bad enough to be resealed entirely. Interestingly, the RH wing has been resealed (twice) per the logs. There are currently no leak indications on the RH side.

 

All of the baggage door excitement had me paying particular attention to the baggage door. It has not been upgraded with the internal release. It has one single little ring of the piano hinge broken, and the "up arm" has seen better days. I'm assuming that should be a pretty easily replaced part.

This is the fairing at the vertical stabilizer. Does that crack need to be drilled? I forgot to ask the mechanic and he didn't mention it.

And i just thought this was odd. Little to no corrosion or rust anywhere on the airplane. This was the most noticeable and it was on the upper side of that control arm on the horizontal stab. It's only surface rust, but it seems like a weird place for oxidation.

[carusoam]

WTW,

You are going to be a great Mooney owner...

 

When you get a chance add some data to your avatar area...

Fuel leaks around the inspection panel are usually an easy fix... you know where it is, fix it...

The door holder upper can be fixed up... it probably needs some new hardware to work properly... getting a new one is always extra challenging... somebody for a moment in time made a few... We have a guy that knows how to build owner produced parts... this could be helpful...

The hinge... we all know how important That thing is... parts aren’t expensive but the completed job is a lot of time...
 

That thing on the elevator looks like... an electric trim mechanism... do you have a pic of the part on the panel that it is attached too?  There is a guy related to that thing...  more to the story if you can identify what it is a bit better...

Best regards,

-a-

[GDGR]

15 minutes ago, wingtipwalker said:

Scariest thing coming away from the inspection yesterday is this:

Thats the LH wing tank with the tell-tale blue weepy thing going on, but it's not dripping. That said, it's not going to get any better. I've read all of the recent-ish posts on wing leaks. I think I will watch this one until it's bad enough to be patched, until it's bad enough to be resealed entirely. Interestingly, the RH wing has been resealed (twice) per the logs. There are currently no leak indications on the RH side.

 

All of the baggage door excitement had me paying particular attention to the baggage door. It has not been upgraded with the internal release. It has one single little ring of the piano hinge broken, and the "up arm" has seen better days. I'm assuming that should be a pretty easily replaced part.

This is the fairing at the vertical stabilizer. Does that crack need to be drilled? I forgot to ask the mechanic and he didn't mention it.

And i just thought this was odd. Little to no corrosion or rust anywhere on the airplane. This was the most noticeable and it was on the upper side of that control arm on the horizontal stab. It's only surface rust, but it seems like a weird place for oxidation.

If that’s the fin going up to the vertical stab, you can either buy a fibreglass one from LASAR, or I can sell you the aluminum one is just removed to have that speed mod installed. 

[carusoam]

Lower the elevator trim all the way  back to get a look at the crack... A from the back side...

Get it stop drilled To prevent the crack from propagating...

A fix is in order to keep that from interfering some how...

When fixed... it may be a scar... nobody will see it...

If the crack propagates, the bent over sheet metal hanging away will be obvious...   

Best regards,

-a-

[Andy95W]

The rust on the arm going to the elevator is not uncommon.  The airplane got stripped well, but when they shot the paint they didn't get enough onto the top part of that steel control horn.  One day you will probably want to remove it from the airplane, clean it down to bare metal, and reshoot the paint with it off the airplane.

[the_elkhartian]

Well, it's official. I am now a Mooney owner! Picked up last Friday and flew to its new home at KFFZ. As advertised, we were getting consistently 149ktas and occasionally 155ktas+ with it leaned out to about 9gph.

Thanks everyone for all of the help and insights. I love the airplane so far. I really could not have confidently jumped into this plane without the help of people in this community.

Biggest surprise is 1) the Brittain autopilot works and 2) it works really quite well for an archaic pneumatic system that nobody I talk to has ever heard of. It holds heading off of my GPS like it's on rails, and the altitude hold...holds altitude at least as well as a student pilot on a long XC (...I have to jump in for a correction on occasion...)

I think my wife was under the impression that buying an airplane would end my obsessive consumption of Mooney information....but now she's seeing that I'm just falling deeper into the abyss of airplane projects! Last night I made a fuel dipstick and cut reflective insulation to go in the windows while it's parked. It kills me, but the old girl is just baking outside on the ramp right now. I'm on a relatively short waitlist for covered tie-downs, and I'm on a hangar waitlist as well, but don't have much hope of moving up on that list for at least the next decade or so. Bruce's cover has been ordered, but it's likely a month out...at least the windows are covered, so the interior/electronics has some protection. I have to get the cover on before monsoon season starts up, and hopefylly my number will be up for covered parking.

Now, it's just a matter of coming up with places/excuses to go flying! See you guys in the air!

 

 

[KLRDMD]

45 minutes ago, wingtipwalker said:

Now, it's just a matter of coming up with places/excuses to go flying! See you guys in the air!

Come on down to 57AZ some time.

[EricJ]

55 minutes ago, wingtipwalker said:

Well, it's official. I am now a Mooney owner! Picked up last Friday and flew to its new home at KFFZ. As advertised, we were getting consistently 149ktas and occasionally 155ktas+ with it leaned out to about 9gph.

Congrats!   There are tons of Mooneys in the valley and a bunch of us here on MS.   Should have a get together sometime.

FWIW, the difference between an IO-360-A1B6D and IO-360-A3B6D is *only* the propeller clocking, which just changes the orientation of the propeller on the crankshaft flange.   Not a big deal.   I didn't see whether you'd gotten that answered before.

Also, that fuel leak by the access panel is about the most benign kind of leak to have and should not be difficult to fix. 

There are some characters at KFFZ.   I'm sure you'll run into some of them. 

[Ross Taylor]

3 hours ago, KLRDMD said:

Come on down to 57AZ some time.

And then come visit in KFLG or KCMR. 

[MooneyMitch]

Congratulations!!! Enjoy that great Mooney!!!