Bringing 66 E back to life

[Perri Dyer]

First post here. So I grew up flying N2653W when my dad bought it in 1987, I flew it for years as I built time, around 600 hrs in it. I left for college, dad stopped flying it and it sat in a Hangar in NorCal until last week where we had the mechanic pull it out and get it flying again. It started right up, ran great and the annual should be fully completed in about a week and it will be flying again soon. Looking for recommendations on interior options. I can’t wait to teach my daughter in it as she’s working on her PPL with me. 

[RLCarter]

Awesome…….

[47U]

2 hours ago, Perri Dyer said:

Looking for recommendations on interior options.

That’s quite a project you’ve got going there.  I’m echoing Robert… awesome!

There’s an upholstery shop at LHM (Lincoln) if you’re looking for professional work, otherwise Airtex might be an option if you’re a do it yourself type.  There’s several threads here on MS on interior work.  

Too bad they shut down the LORAN chain.   

Good luck!

[BDPetersen]

Legacy airplanes are the best! Enjoy.

[Fly Boomer]

8 hours ago, Perri Dyer said:

It started right up, ran great and the annual should be fully completed in about a week and it will be flying again soon.

Great story!  I urge caution.  Even though it started right up, anything that has been sitting that long will have developed some issues.

[Perri Dyer]

26 minutes ago, Fly Boomer said:

Great story!  I urge caution.  Even though it started right up, anything that has been sitting that long will have developed some issues.

A fine tooth come is being used by our mechanic. Lots of small issues found and fixed. Mechanic said he's looking forward to being the first to fly it here very soon.  We will be watching it very closely. It was put to bed in the correct way which we hope has helped not allow any corrosion. 

[Fly Boomer]

2 minutes ago, Perri Dyer said:

Mechanic said he's looking forward to being the first to fly it

Always a good plan.

[TNIndy]

I repaired the cracks in my interior panels with fiberglass. Many people paint them after. I prefer material so I sent the four panels with armrest to Hector at Aerocomfort to be covered. Shipping cost is high but covering those panels requires several sewn seems. All the other panels I covered myself and mechanic sent material out for the fire cert. Aerocomfort is like a year behind so they have to work small jobs in when they can. You can get carpet at Airtex. I was fortunate and had good leather on my seats. Best of luck and don't get in a hurry. 

[Shadrach]

I went through a similar situation in 06.  I started flying our F long before I had my PPL.  I moved away and rented a number of different singles during the 90s. I got insured and checked out in the Mooney in 02 and then moved to the Bay Area and pretty much gave up flying for about 4 years.  When I returned to east coast, the plane was 8 months out of annual and flew less than 30hours in the preceding 4 years. It also started right up and ran as though it was a regular flyer.  I got a ferry permit to take it to a familiar IA.  To my surprise, there were no major squawks.  I flew it for about 45 hours that year and decided to do an owner assist annual the next year. That next annual certainly called the previous annual into question. 

Exhaust needed to be rebuilt (external crack and non existent flame tubes).

PC vacuum hoses were badly cracked though miraculously functioning.

All 3 wheel bearings needed to be replaced.

Flap system was puking fluid inside the belly.

Needed new brake linings and gelled fluid flushed out.

All four injectors were cracked from someone overtightening the B nuts.

Air box was full gunk and funk. 

Ram Air door was not closing properly in flight.

and that's just what I remember... I was amazed that a plane with so much wrong could run and fly so well. It was very rewarding bring it back into regular service with great dispatch reliability.  The goal was to keep it as original as possible given it had been in a hangar for almost all of its life.  I'm going to have to get it resprayed soon as my partner got caught in frozen precip and sand blasted the leading edges with sleet. 

You're indeed lucky to have a flyable family heirloom.  I have lots of childhood memories in our plane. From bumping through clouds in my dad's lap to trying to crawl into the baggage compartment to escape his right hand after a partially full can of Sunkist I had been drinking somehow wedged between the J bar and the nose gear well as he dropped the gear (huge mess).  There's a picture of me peeing off the wing somewhere when I was about 5 years old.  I love all planes, but the bond with a plane that you've known your whole life is hard to describe.  I took my first GA airplane ride in it before I was a year old.  I'll likely take my last in it as well.

 

[Jcmtl]

15 hours ago, Perri Dyer said:

First post here. So I grew up flying N2653W when my dad bought it in 1987, I flew it for years as I built time, around 600 hrs in it. I left for college, dad stopped flying it and it sat in a Hangar in NorCal until last week where we had the mechanic pull it out and get it flying again. It started right up, ran great and the annual should be fully completed in about a week and it will be flying again soon. Looking for recommendations on interior options. I can’t wait to teach my daughter in it as she’s working on her PPL with me. 

 

 

 

 

This is a great candidate for an airtex interior.   Get everything, upholstery, carpets, side panels and sound insulation.  Use velcro, not the glue they provide.  

For the plastics, vantage plane plastics "makes" them, but the fit is horrendous and either needs cutting, or comes too small and is unusable.  If you can re use the old plastic, that's probably easiest.  

I would toss that entire panel in the garbage and do a new aluminum panel with dynon or garmin.  Cheaper option is to do an aspen e5 and re use some of those old steam gauges, in addition to a new garmin nav com (gnc 355 maybe) and new audio panel and xpdr.  This way you can remove the vacuum pump.  

 

[Perri Dyer]

21 minutes ago, Shadrach said:

I went through a similar situation in 06.  I started flying our F long before I had my PPL.  I moved away and rented a number of different singles during the 90s. I got insured and checked out in the Mooney in 02 and then moved to the Bay Area and pretty much gave up flying for about 4 years.  When I returned to east coast, the plane was 8 months out of annual and flew less than 30hours in the preceding 4 years. It also started right up and ran as though it was a regular flyer.  I got a ferry permit to take it to a familiar IA.  To my surprise, there were no major squawks.  I flew it for about 45 hours that year and decided to do an owner assist annual the next year. That next annual certainly called the previous annual into question. 

Exhaust needed to be rebuilt (external crack and non existent flame tubes).

PC vacuum hoses were badly cracked though miraculously functioning.

All 3 wheel bearings needed to be replaced.

Flap system was puking fluid inside the belly.

Needed new brake linings and gelled fluid flushed out.

All four injectors were cracked from someone overtightening the B nuts.

Air box was full gunk and funk. 

Ram Air door was not closing properly in flight.

and that's just what I remember... I was amazed that a plane with so much wrong could run and fly so well. It was very rewarding bring it back to a reliable bird with great dispatch reliability.  The goal was to keep it as original as possible given it had been in a hangar for almost all of its life.  I'm going to have to get it resprayed soon as my partner got caught in frozen precip and sand blasted the leading edges with sleet. 

You're indeed lucky to have a flyable family heirloom.  I have lots of childhood memories in our plane. From bumping through clouds in my dad's lap to trying to crawl into the baggage compartment to escape his right hand after a partially full can of Sunkist I had been drinking somehow wedged between the J bar and the nose gear well as he dropped the gear.  There's a picture of me peeing off the wing somewhere when I was about 5 years old.  I love all planes, but the bond with a plane that you've known your whole life is hard to describe.  I took my first GA airplane ride in it before I was a year old.  I'll likely take my last in it as well.

 

Great story, The squawk sheet is 9 pages long and lots of what you mention is being done. I hope all is good with it after this and the real test will be the next annual for sure after we fly it quite a bit. It's coming to Texas and I wish that it was a Feb/Mar annual instead of the heat of the summer lol. I will post more when the updates happen. I need to prioritize the next steps as almost 30K was not quite what I had planned for this phase. 

Edited July 6, 2022 by Perri Dyer

[RLCarter]

@Perri Dyer where in Texas?

[Perri Dyer]

1 minute ago, RLCarter said:

@Perri Dyer where in Texas?

I Live in Argyle and it will be either at Denton or North West Regional. Trying to find a hangar close by.

[Shadrach]

28 minutes ago, Perri Dyer said:

Great story, The squawk sheet is 9 pages long and lots of what you mention is being done. I hope all is good with it after this and the real test will be the next annual for sure after we fly it quite a bit. It's coming to Texas and I wish that it was a Feb/Mar annual instead of the heat of the summer lol. I will post more when the updates happen. I need to prioritize the next steps as almost 30K was not quite what I had planned for this phase. 

It's great to do a total restoration all at once if the resources are available. That was not practical in my case. We got it airworthy and then additional refurb 5K at a time. It's not the nicest on the ramp by a long shot but it is an excellent example of an original and unmolested time capsule.  Pulling the interior should be top priority. SB M20 208 is often neglected.  I know it was neglected on our bird prior to me being involved in the maintenance. Ours had some minor surface corrosion where past fuel leaks had compromised the paint in some areas of the tubular structure. Had it not been hangared away from the coast, who knows how it would have looked.  After a thorough cleaning and inspection of the steel cage tubing, a few coats of zinc epoxy as well as sound proofing,  my confidence in the airframe was restored. Shoulder harnesses came next. A lot of sweat equity involved but that's all part of the story. Do check the tubular structure before you start throwing money at other items.

[RLCarter]

11 minutes ago, Perri Dyer said:

I Live in Argyle and it will be either at Denton or North West Regional. Trying to find a hangar close by.

I’m 425nm due south of Denton…… My hangar partners son will be going to UNT this fall, so I’m sure I’ll be flying him up there…. Bunch of little airports up there so hopefully you’ll find something 

[BobbyH]

Congratulations Perri !  Last year I also purchased a 1966 M20E, and have been slowly working on it since then.  Like @Shadrach my cash flow comes in slowly and I also prefer to do owner assist as much as the IA will let me.  Some great guys and gals on this forum with more experience on Mooneys then we can imagine.  Looks like you have the right idea of taking your time and doing it right.  These classic planes are well worth the effort to keep maintained and flying well.  They are fun to fly, as you know, and can be efficient transportation at times too.  Did I say they are fun to fly? 

Go Mooney!

[Guest]

9 hours ago, Perri Dyer said:

A fine tooth come is being used by our mechanic. Lots of small issues found and fixed. Mechanic said he's looking forward to being the first to fly it here very soon.  We will be watching it very closely. It was put to bed in the correct way which we hope has helped not allow any corrosion. 

Do yourself a favour and pull the fuel injection servo and flow divider for checking/ overhaul.  My first engine failure was an E model I had brought back to life.  A few flights later the servo died, luckily I didn’t.

Clarence 

[Guest]

16 hours ago, Perri Dyer said:

I Live in Argyle and it will be either at Denton or North West Regional. Trying to find a hangar close by.

I’m curious to know what cowl nose bowl is on your plane?

Clarence

[Guest]

5 hours ago, bluehighwayflyer said:

It is a Southwest Texas Aviation cowling mod that is no longer available.  It retains the OEM removable aluminum cowl “cheeks” but visually still manages to be a pretty darn good approximation of an OEM 201 cowling.  At least to my eye, it looks way better than the ARI mod that I think is still available.  

I’ve never had a Mooney with that mod in my shop, much nicer than any ARI kit I’ve seen installed.

Clarence

[DCarlton]

5 hours ago, bluehighwayflyer said:

It is a Southwest Texas Aviation cowling mod that is no longer available.  It retains the OEM removable aluminum cowl “cheeks” but visually still manages to be a pretty darn good approximation of an OEM 201 cowling.  At least to my eye, it looks way better than the ARI mod that I think is still available.  

I have the SWTA cowl too.  You can see it on my profile pic.  It's held up well.  I do like being able to remove those side cheek panels separately.  

[Hank]

22 minutes ago, DCarlton said:

I have the SWTA cowl too.  You can see it on my profile pic.  It's held up well.  I do like being able to remove those side cheek panels separately.  

Me too.

[211º]

This is a fun post to read. Go Mooney. Go Mooney M20E!

[hammdo]

I'm your older brother:

N2652W

and I'm in mesquite (HQZ).

I got a hanger within 2 months. Also, Dallas Executive (RBD) called me last week and they may have some soon.

-Don

[Perri Dyer]

9 hours ago, hammdo said:

I'm your older brother:

N2652W

and I'm in mesquite (HQZ).

I got a hanger within 2 months. Also, Dallas Executive (RBD) called me last week and they may have some soon.

-Don

awesome tail number brother, we will have to get together for a picture when I get it out here. 
 

Perri

[hammdo]

If you're curious:

-Don