Who wants one?

[Jesse20]

57 minutes ago, MisfitSELF said:

Can they make one without the ram air hole?

Question why would you want it with out a ram air hole 

[Speed Merchant]

On 10/28/2021 at 11:13 AM, Jesse20 said:

I went on the website listed above and did have any luck finding the part, any other suggestions.

 

Jesse

Jesse

Those parts will have to come from Mooney or a salvage yard.  

[carusoam]

Always good to have a Lopresti on the team….  

Our WAT guy may be a helpful resource… (?) @OSUAV8TER

Best regards,

-a-

[MisfitSELF]

On 10/28/2021 at 10:05 AM, Jesse20 said:

Question why would you want it with out a ram air hole 

Because I've had the ram air removed on my M20J.

[carusoam]

In case you don’t know….

The Ram-air worked well for intake systems that didn’t work so well…

Get the updated intake system, so a ram-air isn’t needed…

Essentially the word ram-air sounds better than constriction remover….   
 

PP thoughts only, not a mechanic…

Best regards,

-a-

[201Mooniac]

On 11/1/2021 at 7:41 AM, MisfitSELF said:

Because I've had the ram air removed on my M20J.

I had the ram air system on my 201 removed prior to the LoPresti cowl but the ram air system on the LoPresti cowl is completely different that the stock one and it actually works.  I find it very effective.

[Speed Merchant]

On 11/2/2021 at 12:22 PM, 201Mooniac said:

I had the ram air system on my 201 removed prior to the LoPresti cowl but the ram air system on the LoPresti cowl is completely different that the stock one and it actually works.  I find it very effective.

Thanks Adam. Just because the Ram Air was removed doesn't mean you can't reactivate with the one that comes with the kit.

[KB4]

On 10/28/2021 at 9:43 AM, Jesse20 said:

Hi guys I am slowly getting parts together to do the conversion please see image below does anyone now what the part number or were I can get this part oil cooler baffles .

thanks 

Jesse

Check with @GEE-BEE AEROPRODUCTS  he can make the baffle.  I bought hoses and baffle seals. Excellent quality. 

[Jesse20]

Thanks will do

[kris_adams]

Yes, I would love one!  Nice new cowlings with more visibility for preflight would be awesome

[Tx_Aggie]

Has anyone bought and installed one of these to replace their ~40 year old beat up fiberglass cowling? That would be my primary reason, 5-6 knots increase in cruise speed would be gravy on top. Is the Mooney factory still providing replacement parts?

[201Mooniac]

3 hours ago, Tx_Aggie said:

Has anyone bought and installed one of these to replace their ~40 year old beat up fiberglass cowling? That would be my primary reason, 5-6 knots increase in cruise speed would be gravy on top. Is the Mooney factory still providing replacement parts?

I have the LoPresti cowling for 20 years now and it lives up to the promise.  It replaces a cracked and beat up cowling. I've enjoyed about 7 kts improvement in TAS with 1.25-1.5" increase in MP from the RAM air but my favorite is probably the improved ability to preflight the engine with a large inspection door on each side that spans the rear baffling so you can see both in front and behind the baffling.  Also, the lowered parting line makes a lot of maintenance possible with just removing the top cowling such as accessing all spark plugs.  The lower cowling is a little harder to R&R until you get used to it.

[M20F-1968]

It cost me $8,000.00 to completely rebuild a stock J model cowling to new condition, including replacing the internal metal reinforcement parts and configuring it for the Turbo Normalizer.  There is no appreciable speed gains with the Loprest Cowling from what I can tell.  My F/reborn as a J airplane is 160 kts at 10,000ft at 75% power, 168 kts full power at 10,000 ft, 175-178 kts at 75% power at 17,500 ft, all 100 ROP.  I doubt a J with the Lopresti Cowling does any better.  You can not put a turbonormalizer into the Lopresti Cowling should you want to.  It has been tried and the air inlets are too small.

Also, there is no metal internal reinforcements at all in their cowling (near the edges were the fasterner holes are drilled), so I would expect the fastener holes will wear much quicker than the reinforced J cowling.  

Just my $0.02.

John Breda

[201Mooniac]

I have had the LoPresti Cowl for about 20 years now and I can tell you that not only did it provide a 7.5 kt increase in speed, it has held up very well, much better than the 20 year old Mooney cowl (at the time) that it replaced.

[Tx_Aggie]

On 1/5/2022 at 5:27 PM, M20F-1968 said:

It cost me $8,000.00 to completely rebuild a stock J model cowling to new condition, including replacing the internal metal reinforcement parts and configuring it for the Turbo Normalizer.  There is no appreciable speed gains with the Loprest Cowling from what I can tell.  My F/reborn as a J airplane is 160 kts at 10,000ft at 75% power, 168 kts full power at 10,000 ft, 175-178 kts at 75% power at 17,500 ft, all 100 ROP.  I doubt a J with the Lopresti Cowling does any better.  You can not put a turbonormalizer into the Lopresti Cowling should you want to.  It has been tried and the air inlets are too small.

Also, there is no metal internal reinforcements at all in their cowling (near the edges were the fasterner holes are drilled), so I would expect the fastener holes will wear much quicker than the reinforced J cowling.  

Just my $0.02.

John Breda

I didn’t think turbo normalization was still available for anyone. Who currently provides it?

[Tx_Aggie]

On 1/5/2022 at 7:42 PM, 201Mooniac said:

I have had the LoPresti Cowl for about 20 years now and I can tell you that not only did it provide a 7.5 kt increase in speed, it has held up very well, much better than the 20 year old Mooney cowl (at the time) that it replaced.

I appreciate the post, I spoke with Paul at Don Maxwells last week and he said the same thing. I’d love to see a 7.5 knot TAS on my J. I’ll look into this from WAT. 

Edited January 8, 2022 by Tx_Aggie

[M20F-1968]

11 hours ago, Tx_Aggie said:

I didn’t think turbo normalization was still available for anyone. Who currently provides it?

I was contacted by an F  I will owner  who wanted to put LoPresti on his airplane.  

 current owner of many RaJay STC's  has a standing offer that if,  I believe it's four or five owners come forward,  you will build the kits again.   The two  prior STC's,  one for the original RaJay  and the second for the M 20 turbo system are orphaned STC's.   Theoretically,  with the DER  you could build a one-off system to put on your own airplane.   Most of the major parts  are available and the rest can be made.   It all depends upon  how badly you want and what your skill level is.

John Breda

[Tx_Aggie]

It appears to me based on WATs website that the Lopresti cowl is no longer available, has anyone installed it recently?

[1980Mooney]

13 hours ago, Tx_Aggie said:

It appears to me based on WATs website that the Lopresti cowl is no longer available, has anyone installed it recently?

I think you are right.  If you search the WATs site for Mooney products the only thing that they offer for Mooney now are lighting mods and replacements.  They still carry speed mods for Piper but not Mooney. 

https://flywat.com/collections/cowl-aircraft-mods?sort_by=title-ascending

Piper Only Speed MODS - COWLS, SPEED SPATS, SPEED SEAL, SPEED SLIPPER, SPEED SPLITTERS, WHEEL PANTS,

Ironically it appears that they placed no value on the Mooney LoPresti speed mods when they acquired LoPresti and have discontinued them.  Mooney speed mods at WATs/LoPresti are DOA (except for Hubba Caps which are sold out anyway). 

https://flywat.com/collections/mooney-products

From a business standpoint it makes sense - Piper is a larger fleet and it is an airplane manufacturing company still in business.  Mooney is a smaller shrinking fleet and a company that is struggling to be a parts supplier that will most likely never manufacture another plane.  There is just no profit future in occasionally making a few Mooney parts.

This also is an indication that modifying an existing Mooney doesn't make much economic sense.  More and more STC's are being abandoned.  Third party suppliers are seeing less incentive to continue to supply.  Highly modified Mooney's are more likely to lose value and become abandoned over time due to lack of support and parts.  You are better off sticking with a stock Mooney - salvaging parts as the fleet shrinks and buying parts when the factory produces. 

I had my J modified by Rocket Engineering over 20 years ago.  Darwin Conrad is still there (in his 70's) and they still support the Rocket and Missile but I have no illusion that they will be in business in 10 years.  At that time my J (Missile) will probably bring no more value (maybe less) than a plain unmodified J.  I won't care because I won't be flying, will have gotten the life out of my plane and not trying to trade it on another plane.

Edited May 20, 2022 by 1980Mooney