Turbonormalizing a Mooney Ovation

[kortopates]

  On 9/2/2022 at 3:36 PM, Will.iam said:

As tight as a J cowling is mooney stuffed a turbo in there with the 231. Then aftermarkets figured out how to stuff an intercooler in there. Then mooney came back with a turbo and intercooler with the 252. They will figure out how to add a turbo and intercooler in the ovation. Question will be at what price?

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Not if they can't figure it out at a price point they think it will sell, even in small numbers, to be profitable. Sure it can be done, but al three of those different airframes included complete cowling re-designs which the factory could absorb expecting to sell relatively large numbers. Your M20K actually went through 3 different cowlings as they kept re-designing it to reduce drag and improve cowling between the 231 -> 252 -> and Encore. They claimed a 10kt improvement between the 252 and 231 as well for their efforts. Their 3rd version used in the Encore used a Carbon fiber cowling that cost over $12K 10 years ago to replace. The only way I seeing anyone buying one is via an insurance claim for damage!

In the contrast the 231 aftercooler mod only involved making cowling mods and re-painting. That's the kind of solution TAT needs to keep the final price point down but that may be too big of a challenge. But the 231 engine has lots of room under the cowling compared to the 252 & Encore!

[carusoam]

  On 9/2/2022 at 3:43 PM, DCarlton said:

Slightly off topic but similar...  I noticed GMAX has a turbo J for sale with the Lyc IO-360.  It's a nice airplane but has been on the market for a while.  Anyone have any experience with that mod?  Impacts on engine longevity and maintenance?  Wondering if it could be easily removed if it started giving you trouble or you decided to overhaul the engine and eliminate the mod.  

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Having or adding a turbo to the NA IO360 is somewhat easy and costly at the same time…

It helps to really want it, and know what it does and doesn’t do…

a few people have shown up on MS struggling to determine what isn’t working right… and how to get it fixed…

on the easy side… it is a simple swap of plumbing…

but, if swapping out an exhaust system on your car and adding a turbo is more than you are interested in….   Doing this on a Mooney is more easy, and more stressful at the same time…

 

Find Rich… he has turbo in his screen name…

Find Doc John… he has a turbo on his modern F.

Best regards,

-a-

 

[M20F]

  On 9/2/2022 at 3:43 PM, DCarlton said:

Slightly off topic but similar...  I noticed GMAX has a turbo J for sale with the Lyc IO-360.  It's a nice airplane but has been on the market for a while.  Anyone have any experience with that mod?  Impacts on engine longevity and maintenance?  Wondering if it could be easily removed if it started giving you trouble or you decided to overhaul the engine and eliminate the mod.  

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You just take it off and put back on the original exhaust essentially.  It should be close to 200kts at Fl190 if I just extrapolate from my F performance. 
 
This is assuming it isn’t a Turbo Bullet which are a different animal. 

[DCarlton]

  On 9/2/2022 at 7:38 PM, M20F said:

You just take it off and put back on the original exhaust essentially.  It should be close to 200kts at Fl190 if I just extrapolate from my F performance. 
 
This is assuming it isn’t a Turbo Bullet which are a different animal. 

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How's your IO-360 holding up to additional "pressure"?  I tend to be in the LYC camp.  If only Mooney had built a IO-540 powered mid body.  That would have been nice.  

[kortopates]

  On 9/2/2022 at 7:49 PM, DCarlton said:

How's your IO-360 holding up to additional "pressure"?  I tend to be in the LYC camp.  If only Mooney had built a IO-540 powered mid body.  That would have been nice.  

They’re really isn’t any additional pressure. To be certified they are only turbo normalized meaning they aren’t boosted above sea level pressure.
It does allow running it at high power up high, but there is no range operating that way. The savvy pilot will run it at the same lower power cruise settings around 60-70%, but up high where they get 2 additional knots free for every 1000’ of altitude. Hence if you normally cruise at 5K, and climb up to 20k you’ll get another ~30kts in TAS at the same power setting.


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[DRACO Aviation]

  On 8/19/2022 at 3:05 PM, donkaye said:

Considering the price of an Acclaim, that sounds  pretty good.

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Straw orders are those first orders that come in as to make a new STC process (FAA and sorts) profitable on the long haul. So if he needs 10 straw orders, then it means the cost for the STC process is about 500.000€  (dollars is about the same in exchange rate nowadays). If he charges 60K for the kit then he`d make like a 10K out of the first 10 orders. Aproximately. It is very expensive to get an STC certified.