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The Mother of all Annuals


gsxrpilot

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Well, we left N252AD in Smithville, TX in the capable hands of JD and Laura Casteel at SWTA. It's time for the big one. 

Her engine made it to 1830 hours on the original cylinders and turbo. But she's definitely tired. Only one cylinder was able to make compression over about 50. And her belly is just one long oil slick all the way to the tail skid. The governor is leaking oil as well, and the vacuum pump can't seem to muster enough power to deploy the speed brakes anymore.

This year's annual will include an engine overhaul and Encore conversion. The engine, turbo, waste gate, governor, and fuel pump will all go to Jewell Aviation for overhaul and conversion from an MB to an SB engine.

All of the other Encore parts are laid out and organized by Laura, ready for installation.  This includes new double puck brakes and all the associated parts and pieces. New control surface counter weights, instrument remapping, and the engine stuff. We will also swap the vacuum speed brakes for electric and remove the remainder of the vacuum system. And finally swap the dangling compass for a panel mounted version.

We're looking forward to a horse power increase and useful load in the 1100 lb range when it's all said and done. To say nothing of a clean belly.

A big thanks to @Denver98 for picking us up in Smithville and giving us a ride back to Denver in a Cessna 421. A very nice ride.

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Man, I thought I just went through the MOA!  You take the trophy Paul! I had to replace one cylinder thanks to AD 2020-16-11, replace the rat socks, replace the tires, replace the "no-back" spring (Hunting down that kit was interesting, thank you Cole Aviation). Also had to send the FIKI stall vane off to SafeFlight.  Continental replaced the cylinder under warranty, but it was delayed due to hurricane Sally. Lasar reworked the actuator for me pronto (thank you Corrine and Dan). They did their part expertly, but UPS failed as the California fires caused the actuator to miss the airplane out of OAK that night.  SafeFlight is struggling with only a 4 day work week due to Covid and parts are problematic. I got a commitment from them this morning that it would be here no later than Wednesday morning, thank you Nigel Craig! For some reason, everything in aviation is a struggle right now.

Good luck Paul, I know you love your 252. It should be a cream puff when finished.

 

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10 minutes ago, rbridges said:

sounds awesome.  So how does the Encore conversion affect useful load with full fuel, and are there any changes in cruise speeds?

Fuel capacity will be the same but the UL should go up about 230 lbs. She'll have an additional 10 HP but I don't expect much change in cruise speeds. I do expect she'll be faster with a fresh engine and good compressions though.

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Dang, that's a big one!    Post the invoice when it's done so we can all be relieved it isn't us paying it.  ;)

FWIW, I spent a lot of time trying to figure out where the oil was coming from on my airplane's belly, and I recently changed the prop governor after it failed.   The prop shop said it was leaking around the control shaft, and I hadn't thought to look there.   Since the replacement went in there's been a lot less oil going out the bottom.   So just that change could make a difference.

 

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2 hours ago, J Bird said:

How long did it take to gather up the landing gear parts needed for the Encore conversion

I've been collecting parts for a little over three years. I bought the 252 knowing that I'd convert it to an Encore at some point. So I started collecting parts as I could, but only if the price was good, or in some cases, when parts were available.  I've ended up putting it off about a year longer than I wanted to, but doing it in conjunction with an engine overhaul just made more sense. And so here we are, it's time.

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5 minutes ago, gsxrpilot said:

I've been collecting parts for a little over three years. I bought the 252 knowing that I'd convert it to an Encore at some point. So I started collecting parts as I could, but only if the price was good, or in some cases, when parts were available.  I've ended up putting it off about a year longer than I wanted to, but doing it in conjunction with an engine overhaul just made more sense. And so here we are, it's time.

I've been following you here on MS because I knew the day was coming when you would post about doing the Encore conversion. Just bought my 252 and she has 1881 hours but the compression are all in the 70's except 1 cylinder( 64). I guess I'll have to start searching for the necessary parts to do my conversion but if you don't mind I would be glad to get as much info about the parts list.

Also on my way back I tried your 25/25 and lean to 9.9GPH 13.5K East bound last week and I could only get my plane to 10.1GPH before a bit of noticeable vibration. Then again I had to contend with the winds from the storm. 

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@gsxrpilotgood for you.  I’ll send many positive thoughts for you in hopes that you stay to the Christmas timeline.  I see the light at the end of the tunnel for my mother of all annuals.....my baby made it to 1632 with original cylinders and accessories.  Bit the bullet in April for overhaul on everything under the cowl.  Stayed MB though.  Can’t wait to get her back next week for the fall weather.

 You will get itchy at week 3 of not flying then hives at 8 weeks.....followed by numbness until.....you see your new engine arrive in the hanger all wrapped up nice and new....then it’s like being a 5 year old Christmas morning waiting for mom and dad to get up while waiting for your mechanic to complete the install......I call this the 4 stages of overhaul grief....
 

I also used the downtime to pull and refurbish the interior plastic and install new glass....you know.....because I just didn’t spend enough on the overhaul......

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1 hour ago, J Bird said:

. Just bought my 252 and she has 1881 hours but the compression are all in the 70's except 1 cylinder( 64).

Are you familiar with Continental cylinder compression challenges..?

Procedures, tools, and variability of the weather seem to toss some randomness into this well regarded health check...

Repeat the test, and take pics of the valves and cylinder walls...

PP thoughts only, not a mechanic...

Best regards,

-a-

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45 minutes ago, carusoam said:

Are you familiar with Continental cylinder compression challenges..?

Procedures, tools, and variability of the weather seem to toss some randomness into this well regarded health check...

Repeat the test, and take pics of the valves and cylinder walls...

PP thoughts only, not a mechanic...

Best regards,

-a-

 Had the shop follow the Mooney 100 hour inspection at prebuy which included a borescope check of the engine, plane had regular maintenance, oil changes done on time, annuals on time, Blackstone oil analysis was done, went through the logbook. I've also read service bulletin SB03-3 but I am no A/P, just wanted to educate myself. I purchased the plane with a strong over TBO engine and lack of modern avionics but that was all worked into the purchase price. 

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For some reason Continental cylinders can get their compression rings to align, and the compression reads somewhat low, randomly...

So... if you get a low compression reading, it doesn’t necessarily mean take immediate action, or replace the cylinder... It does give a good heads-up warning...

I dragged my feet looking to buy a Missile once... it had bad compression noted in the logs... I couldn’t get educated fast enough regarding the Missile and it’s engine...
 

That was 10years and 31,830 posts ago...  First question I posted on MS... :)

Best regards,

-a-

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7 hours ago, carusoam said:

For some reason Continental cylinders can get their compression rings to align, and the compression reads somewhat low, randomly...

So... if you get a low compression reading, it doesn’t necessarily mean take immediate action, or replace the cylinder... It does give a good heads-up warning...

I dragged my feet looking to buy a Missile once... it had bad compression noted in the logs... I couldn’t get educated fast enough regarding the Missile and it’s engine...
 

That was 10years and 31,830 posts ago...  First question I posted on MS... :)

Best regards,

-a-

I remember that post, it was actually revived some maybe 2 weeks ago. I keep up with yourself and other here on MS, Gsxrpilot also as a 252 owner, even watched his youtube videos :D

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 9/28/2020 at 7:55 AM, gsxrpilot said:

Well, we left N252AD in Smithville, TX in the capable hands of JD and Laura Casteel at SWTA. It's time for the big one. 

Her engine made it to 1830 hours on the original cylinders and turbo. But she's definitely tired. Only one cylinder was able to make compression over about 50. And her belly is just one long oil slick all the way to the tail skid. The governor is leaking oil as well, and the vacuum pump can't seem to muster enough power to deploy the speed brakes anymore.

This year's annual will include an engine overhaul and Encore conversion. The engine, turbo, waste gate, governor, and fuel pump will all go to Jewell Aviation for overhaul and conversion from an MB to an SB engine.

All of the other Encore parts are laid out and organized by Laura, ready for installation.  This includes new double puck brakes and all the associated parts and pieces. New control surface counter weights, instrument remapping, and the engine stuff. We will also swap the vacuum speed brakes for electric and remove the remainder of the vacuum system. And finally swap the dangling compass for a panel mounted version.

We're looking forward to a horse power increase and useful load in the 1100 lb range when it's all said and done. To say nothing of a clean belly.

A big thanks to @Denver98 for picking us up in Smithville and giving us a ride back to Denver in a Cessna 421. A very nice ride.

I can’t wait to get back in 2AD.  I could put her to good use next week.  :)  It will be interesting to see how much longer the belly stays clean.  :P 

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3 hours ago, Parker_Woodruff said:

Congrats on getting this done. The climb performance improvement is worth it, too.

Mooney needs to get some engineering done to offer an Encore conversion for 231s. As popular as this is getting for the 252, I imagine it could be just as common on the 231. 

Don't tell us, tell @Jonny!

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