201 going 201

[JayMatt]

11 hours ago, 201er said:

Composite gear doors, new[er] cowl, remove unused antennas/equipment, door pin mod, gap seals, body work and A pillar smoothing, windshield fairing replacement, repaint, wash, and wax.

Could you do a picture story of all the things you've done? I'm priming my airplane right now and if I could add some mods or remove some antenna's easy enough I will most definitely do that. 

[201er]

55 minutes ago, JayMatt said:

What in the tarnation are you doing to get that fast?!? I can't get anywhere near that and I have the exact same plane? Is there something wrong with my plane? Flat level no cheating at the optimal elevation I can squeeze 160 kts about. Granted I've never been taught how to properly speed manage a money and have learned from figuring it out, still I don't feel like there is anywhere in the rpm prop combo that could get me to 170kts

The 201kts was a joke. It’s just ground speed with a tailwind.

170 isn’t a normal cruise speed, just top speed for demonstration. I was doing a break in flight so I stayed at max power for a while. Everything forward. 3200ft, 27.5” MP, 2700RPM, 17.1GPH, 5C OAT, 165 KIAS, 163 KCAS, 169 KTAS.

A few more things to check that I got tweaked are mag timing and RPM adjustment. You’d be surprised how much speed you can lose by having timing off a couple degrees and missing 30RPM.

[KSMooniac]

5 hours ago, JayMatt said:

What in the tarnation are you doing to get that fast?!? I can't get anywhere near that and I have the exact same plane? Is there something wrong with my plane? Flat level no cheating at the optimal elevation I can squeeze 160 kts about. Granted I've never been taught how to properly speed manage a money and have learned from figuring it out, still I don't feel like there is anywhere in the rpm prop combo that could get me to 170kts

Unfortunately, none of us have the exact same plane as any other Mooney...that's just the way it is with hand-built masterpieces.  Half-joking, but there is variation from one example to the next, and then you add in decades of use, mods, maintenance (or not), worn paint, antennas, etc. and you'll get a big spread of top-end performance.  

The first thing you should attack is the rigging, to include control surfaces, flaps, cowling, cowl flaps, cabin door, and gear doors (on jacks, gear retracted).  This takes effort, Mooney knowledge, and the rigging boards.  

After that, it gets more difficult and/or expensive if you want to re-paint, add gap seals or other mods, remove or relocate antennas, prop replacement, IO-390 upgrade, etc.  You can search @testwest posts for the evolution of his ultra-efficient J that he documented here.  I've been slowly trying to duplicate much of what he did with drag reduction myself.  He was able to consistently get 165 KTAS at 10 GPH in his J after all of the mods and clean-up.  I don't know of any better J so far.

[Pinecone]

3 hours ago, KSMooniac said:

He was able to consistently get 165 KTAS at 10 GPH in his J after all of the mods and clean-up.  I don't know of any better J so far.

That's impressive.

My 2552/Encore does 174 KTAS in the mid teens on 10.3 GPH.  But I am up higher so get a nice TAS boost.

[larrynimmo]

A recent trip to Myrtle beach…

 

both directions