The engine is attached!

[gevertex]

It was a long wait, but it's finally done.  One of the Squawks I noted from before completion was the brakes taking a lot of effort to actuate. Mechanic told me when they changed the brake fluid it came out like molasses. I guess it hadn't been changed in quite some time.  I'll have to try and track that down in the logs. In total this was about a 6 month journey.

 

[DXB]

8 minutes ago, gevertex said:

It was a long wait, but it's finally done.  One of the Squawks I noted from before completion was the brakes taking a lot of effort to actuate. Mechanic told me when they changed the brake fluid it came out like molasses. I guess it hadn't been changed in quite some time.  I'll have to try and track that down in the logs. In total this was about a 6 month journey.

 

Congratulations!! 6 months is very fast.  Now get to work on those other two derelict Mooneys I see on the ramp

[slowflyin]

Congrats!

[Pinecone]

On 11/22/2022 at 12:14 PM, gevertex said:

• Vacuum pump is intermittent. It worked eventually when I was idling at 1200RPM per checklist, but new one is on the way.
• EGT probes #1 and #2 are bad

Why do you need the vacuum pump if you are putting in a G3X?

Can't you just fly it VFR to the avionics shop?

Will they reuse the EGT probes?  Or are you going with the Garmin EIS?

[gevertex]

31 minutes ago, Pinecone said:

Why do you need the vacuum pump if you are putting in a G3X?

Can't you just fly it VFR to the avionics shop?

Will they reuse the EGT probes?  Or are you going with the Garmin EIS?

I am planning to fly it for a bit before getting the panel done, and I'd like to file IFR for some XC trips I have planned. New panel will have Garmin EIS.  Since this is a freshly overhauled engine I wanted to ensure engine was fully monitored. Call me overly cautious, but at least I'll be able to detect some problems early.

[Pinecone]

1 hour ago, gevertex said:

I am planning to fly it for a bit before getting the panel done, and I'd like to file IFR for some XC trips I have planned. New panel will have Garmin EIS.  Since this is a freshly overhauled engine I wanted to ensure engine was fully monitored. Call me overly cautious, but at least I'll be able to detect some problems early.

Ok, makes sense.

But I would probably have just waited.   Mooney frugal.

 

[gevertex]

21 hours ago, DXB said:

Congratulations!! 6 months is very fast.  Now get to work on those other two derelict Mooneys I see on the ramp

6 months isn't bad from hearing others experiences. I heard many people say they were out for a year. I work in a very aggressive industry, and sometimes it's a little shocking to me to hear how projects are organized in GA. Hearing from others there tends to be a lot of lead time that is discovered sequentially.  In my industry we would (as much as practical) discover all of that up front and execute on it as soon as possible. In GA it tends to be a stream of issues that are discovered one after another. That drives me a little crazy . In any case, I greatly appreciate how quickly this got done and very grateful to have an airworthy airplane. As you all know, it's very expensive to have an airplane sitting on the ground + renting another to keep your skills up / complete your missions.

[gevertex]

21 hours ago, DXB said:

Congratulations!! 6 months is very fast.  Now get to work on those other two derelict Mooneys I see on the ramp

I am sure their owners are just as anxious as I am to get back in the air.

[Guest]

48 minutes ago, gevertex said:

6 months isn't bad from hearing others experiences. I heard many people say they were out for a year. I work in a very aggressive industry, and sometimes it's a little shocking to me to hear how projects are organized in GA. Hearing from others there tends to be a lot of lead time that is discovered sequentially.  In my industry we would (as much as practical) discover all of that up front and execute on it as soon as possible. In GA it tends to be a stream of issues that are discovered one after another. That drives me a little crazy . In any case, I greatly appreciate how quickly this got done and very grateful to have an airworthy airplane. As you all know, it's very expensive to have an airplane sitting on the ground + renting another to keep your skills up / complete your missions.

Hopefully your new engine comes with a few spare oil filters.  Supply chain issues are affecting everyone as badly as the labour shortage.

[gevertex]

2 hours ago, M20Doc said:

Hopefully your new engine comes with a few spare oil filters.  Supply chain issues are affecting everyone as badly as the labour shortage.

That would be quite something.  6 months to only be grounded shortly after by an oil filter.

[gevertex]

I had my first flight today, and found a leak after all the rain this week. Floor below rear seats was quite damp. That's what I get for not using my covers. Now to track down the leak.

 

[gevertex]

Over due update. Had my first annual and a lot of other work done. Here's what I've had done so far since I got it

• Overhauled engine
• New prop
• New oil hoses / oil cooler
• Overhauled prop governor
• New scat hose
• Fixed brakes by rebuilding / replacing fluid
• Replaced baggage door and cabin door seals
• Second oil change
• New avionics panel
• New locks (baggage door lock was inop so replaced both locks with medco)
• New alternator
• Overhauled voltage regulator (was running hot at 30v)
• LED landing and taxi lights
• New battery (with engine reinstall)
• New stall switch

I am sure there are more things that I missed.

[gevertex]

There are a couple issues I wanted to get input on from the hivemind.

Frequently, if I turn off the Alt field switch with the master on, the alt field breaker flips. It does not flip when I turn off the Master first.

I have noticed a burble in the engine rpm once the engine is hot on the ground (need to confirm if it doesn't happen when engine is cold, but only noticed it so far after landing and taxiing). Every few seconds, engine will decrease 10-30 RPM and then go right back to where it was before. I might not have even noticed if not for the digital RPM readout. I can also hear it slightly in the headphones. Still happens even if the engine is very leaned out for ground ops.

[Vance Harral]

3 hours ago, gevertex said:

Frequently, if I turn off the Alt field switch with the master on, the alt field breaker flips. It does not flip when I turn off the Master.

One possibility is that your alternator field breaker is old and weak, and trips at less than rated current.  This is the usual failure mode of circuit breakers, by design.

If you're confident the alternator field breaker is only tripping at rated current, things get more interesting.  I do not have schematics for a '92 J model.  But in general, the amount of current that flows through an alternator field circuit is controlled by the voltage regulator.  If you turn off the alternator field switch with the master on, the voltage regulator will "observe" transients in the system, and it's possible it is very momentarily commanding enough current to flow through the field circuit to trip the breaker.  If that's what's happening, it might mean your regulator is beginning to misbehave.  It's also possible this is a "doctor, it hurts when I do this" problem - maybe you're just not supposed to do that.  Why, exactly, are you regularly turning off the alternator field with the master on?

 

4 hours ago, gevertex said:

I have noticed a burble in the engine rpm once the engine is hot on the ground

The Lycoming IO-360 in our M20F has been "burbling" when hot like this, for 20 years.  We've had no other problems with it.  Every once in a while, someone will hear it and say something like, "you ought to get that induction leak looked at".  But the engine has no other symptoms of an induction leak, or other bad symptoms of any kind.  I also have a friend with a Mooney who is irritated by a similar problem, and who has spent considerable time and energy checking the fuel system and intake system, to no avail.  His engine also continues to burble on the ground when hot.

The conclusion I've drawn, right or wrong, is that this is simply normal behavior for IO-360-powered Mooneys: that on the ground, when sufficiently hot, enough heat rises from the cylinders to disrupt ("boil") the fuel in the injector lines, even while the engine is running and fuel is flowing.  Hence the distinctive burbling/spitting/whatever you want to call it.  I'm open to contrary opinions, but I guess I feel like it if were indicative of a real problem, surely something worse would have happened in the 20 years and thousand-plus hours since the first time I heard it.

[gevertex]

4 minutes ago, Vance Harral said:

One possibility is that your alternator field breaker is old and weak, and trips at less than rated current.  This is the usual failure mode of circuit breakers, by design.

If you're confident the alternator field breaker is only tripping at rated current, things get more interesting.  I do not have schematics for a '92 J model.  But in general, the amount of current that flows through an alternator field circuit is controlled by the voltage regulator.  If you turn off the alternator field switch with the master on, the voltage regulator will "observe" transients in the system, and it's possible it is very momentarily commanding enough current to flow through the field circuit to trip the breaker.  If that's what's happening, it might mean your regulator is beginning to misbehave.  It's also possible this is a "doctor, it hurts when I do this" problem - maybe you're just not supposed to do that.  Why, exactly, are you regularly turning off the alternator field with the master on?

 

The Lycoming IO-360 in our M20F has been "burbling" when hot like this, for 20 years.  We've had no other problems with it.  Every once in a while, someone will hear it and say something like, "you ought to get that induction leak looked at".  But the engine has no other symptoms of an induction leak, or other bad symptoms of any kind.  I also have a friend with a Mooney who is irritated by a similar problem, and who has spent considerable time and energy checking the fuel system and intake system, to no avail.  His engine also continues to burble on the ground when hot.

The conclusion I've drawn, right or wrong, is that this is simply normal behavior for IO-360-powered Mooneys: that on the ground, when sufficiently hot, enough heat rises from the cylinders to disrupt ("boil") the fuel in the injector lines, even while the engine is running and fuel is flowing.  Hence the distinctive burbling/spitting/whatever you want to call it.  I'm open to contrary opinions, but I guess I feel like it if were indicative of a real problem, surely something worse would have happened in the 20 years and thousand-plus hours since the first time I heard it.

 

Thanks for the reply.

Fair point on the order of operations for shut down. Checklist calls for master off first then alt field. Sometimes I inadvertently reverse those steps. I did just have the voltage regulator overhauled and this was happening before then also, so I don't think it's related to voltage regulator.

 

Good to know this is common. My A&P didn't seemed concerned (it's a standup outfit, I trust them), but I wanted to understand it a little better.

[Amelia]

I wish I’d been following this saga for the last ten months! I’ve just had a field overhaul for my 20S, Io55o, with N cylinders replacing the Gs. Tomorrow is, I hope, the last of the preliminaries, gathering up spare parts and screws and wondering where they go. My home field mechanic is a quiet, methodical fellow who promises me with a straight face that if I break it in properly, it’ll make TBO. Not his first rodeo, he says. So early Tuesday morning, we will know more. Brave man is promising to climb in with an old lady who hasn’t been in a left seat for nearly a year, monitor monitors, and keep her from messing up his good work.

All y’all’s good advice is most welcome!

[gevertex]

1 hour ago, Amelia said:

I wish I’d been following this saga for the last ten months! I’ve just had a field overhaul for my 20S, Io55o, with N cylinders replacing the Gs. Tomorrow is, I hope, the last of the preliminaries, gathering up spare parts and screws and wondering where they go. My home field mechanic is a quiet, methodical fellow who promises me with a straight face that if I break it in properly, it’ll make TBO. Not his first rodeo, he says. So early Tuesday morning, we will know more. Brave man is promising to climb in with an old lady who hasn’t been in a left seat for nearly a year, monitor monitors, and keep her from messing up his good work.

All y’all’s good advice is most welcome!

Took way longer than anticipated in my case. If you truly haven’t been in the left seat in a year, highly recommend getting with a CFI beforehand and or bringing a CFI with you for your inaugural flight. If it were me, I’d hate to have a problem with a new engine and be a year out from my last flight.
 

In my case, I hired a CFI to do the initial test flight and brought another CFI with me on my first flights after a long time not flying. 
 

I wish you luck, it’s exciting getting a beautiful machine like our Moonies are back after a long time down. 

[Andy95W]

Please make sure you’re current with at least 3 takeoffs and landings in the last 90 days before taking him up.

[Amelia]

Good point. Dang. I forgot about that. My BFR is current, but not the 3 takeoffs and landings, at least in the Mooney, obvs. A lovely airport friend arranged for one of his ag pilots who’s a CFI  to go up with me a month ago in a vintage 172. We did three in that and she didn’t try to climb out midair, spose that counts? I need to run the new engine hard for at least an hour to seat the rings, no idling around in the pattern. The engine wizard agreed to come along for good luck. Then check for leaks, and go log nine more high power hours over the airport and change the oil, is how I understand it. Then I get to venture farther afield. 

[Andy95W]

After flying last month in the 172, it sounds like you’re at least legal- 3 takeoffs and landings in category and class (airplane single engine land) in the last 90 days.  I’d say be careful, have fun, and probably review your POH, speeds, etc. before going.

[Amelia]

Yep. At least that is done. Thanks!

[gevertex]

8 hours ago, Amelia said:

Yep. At least that is done. Thanks!

Good luck! Have fun!

[Amelia]

The latest snag is a defective (allegedly new) wiring harness direct from TCM. So back to Mobile it goes, and we wait somemore. Sigh. I’m going to die of very old age before I get to fly this thing.

[gevertex]

11 hours ago, Amelia said:

The latest snag is a defective (allegedly new) wiring harness direct from TCM. So back to Mobile it goes, and we wait somemore. Sigh. I’m going to die of very old age before I get to fly this thing.

I know the feeling. I had about a half dozen of those until the engine was finally ready.

[Fly Boomer]

11 hours ago, Amelia said:

The latest snag is a defective (allegedly new) wiring harness direct from TCM. So back to Mobile it goes, and we wait somemore. Sigh. I’m going to die of very old age before I get to fly this thing.

Feeling your pain.