Painted or metal area around exhaust

[Marc_B]

The area just above the exhaust tip (and to the side of the nose gear door) was originally painted, but was speaking with a paint shop that mentioned they typically leave this bare metal as it's easier to clean?  Are there some Mooneys with stainless steel above the exhaust rather than aluminum?  Do you typically not paint this??  The part that's labeled "Exhaust cavity" number 64 below...

[kortopates]

You have 2, fig 64 & 65 and always painted. the exhaust tail pipe is right below the right hand one and pointed down away such that most exhausts doesn’t hit the belly till after these parts that cover brake master cylinders - both sides if you have dual brakes.
never seen them unpainted and mooney parts are aluminum.


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[EricJ]

I don't think I've ever seen one unpainted, either, fwiw.

[Z W]

Mine was painted but the paint has peeled, for whatever reason, only on that piece. I've always thought it was from the exhaust heat.

It's only visible when lying on the floor so not a huge deal.

[LANCECASPER]

I've never seen one unpainted either.

[Andy95W]

Mine is painted, but the red has discolored in the concave portion above the exhaust pipe.  I’ve thought about painting flat black high temperature paint inside that concave portion.  It would be basically unnoticeable unless you stick your head under the airplane.

[PT20J]

They should be painted. I think the exhaust gases would likely be corrosive to aluminum.

[Hank]

This is what mine looked like yesterday. 

[DCarlton]

Mine is painted.  No issues with the paint after approx 15 years.  

[Jim F]

I think the 231 and Encore are the same part.  Here is a pic, its aluminum and should be painted

 

 

[shawnd]

@Marc_B you saw mine, painted like the others here. Sad to hear the shop left it bare metal instead of asking. Will this be on the  TODO list when you take it down again?

[Sabremech]

On a 1993 J model I take care of, I stripped the paint off of the panel above the tailpipe. On this airplane it is stainless steel and the paint was burned and peeling. Nice and clean just being stainless. 
David

[Marc_B]

17 minutes ago, Sabremech said:

On this airplane it is stainless steel and the paint was burned and peeling.

I wonder if past a certain year Mooney made this area stainless steel? Mine is non-magnetic but not sure how to see if it’s stainless or aluminum otherwise. 

[PT20J]

2 minutes ago, Marc_B said:

I wonder if past a certain year Mooney made this area stainless steel? Mine is non-magnetic but not sure how to see if it’s stainless or aluminum otherwise. 

If you remove it, you can tell by the weight as stainless is heavier than aluminum. Also, some stainless is mildly magnetic and a rare earth magnet may be attracted to it. 

Both exhaust cavities on my 1994 M20J are aluminum. 

[Hank]

20 minutes ago, Marc_B said:

I wonder if past a certain year Mooney made this area stainless steel? Mine is non-magnetic but not sure how to see if it’s stainless or aluminum otherwise. 

 

12 minutes ago, PT20J said:

If you remove it, you can tell by the weight as stainless is heavier than aluminum. Also, some stainless is mildly magnetic and a rare earth magnet may be attracted to it. 

Both exhaust cavities on my 1994 M20J are aluminum. 

Aluminum is also a paler color, and 300-series (non-magnetic) stainless tends slightly towards brown; 400-series stainless is usually magnetic and looks similar to steel but not as shiny.

[Marc_B]

I reached out to Frank at Mooney and he informed me:

Hello Marc,
That 630121-501 & -503 are made from Stainless Steel AMS5510.

Go figure! So I guess some are stainless.  Not sure which other models this applies to…

BTW this PN effectivity applies to M20K SN 25-1000 thru 25-TBA. 

[Sabremech]

Here’s the panel stripped on the 93J model. 

David

[Mark89114]

My friend has an ovation Eagle, I have an ovation from same time frame, 2000.

His is unpainted and mine is painted.  Unaware of materials on either one.

Not a terribly helpful post.

 

and corrected for the difference if anybody cares, his is unpainted and mine IS painted

 

Edited April 25 by Mark89114

[PT20J]

On 4/24/2025 at 9:07 AM, Marc_B said:

I reached out to Frank at Mooney and he informed me:

Hello Marc,
That 630121-501 & -503 are made from Stainless Steel AMS5510.

Go figure! So I guess some are stainless.  Not sure which other models this applies to…

BTW this PN effectivity applies to M20K SN 25-1000 thru 25-TBA. 

I was certain mine are aluminum, but I may have been wrong. At any rate mine are painted and I'm going to have them repainted when the airplane goes in for paint Monday.

[N201MKTurbo]

Mine are like in sabermech’s picture. Mostly aluminum with stainless flanges where they hook to the firewall. That makes them kind of weird, I can see them changing them to all stainless. The ones on my old M20F all aluminum if I recall, or maybe all stainless.

[kortopates]

On 4/25/2025 at 10:07 AM, N201MKTurbo said:

Mine are like in sabermech’s picture. Mostly aluminum with stainless flanges where they hook to the firewall. That makes them kind of weird, I can see them changing them to all stainless. The ones on my old M20F all aluminum if I recall, or maybe all stainless.

I didn't even think of the flanges that attach to the firewall might be stainless while the main part under the belly being aluminum. I know the main part is rather soft aluminum as its somewhat taken a beating over the years but it would make good sense that the flanges are stainless and now that you bring this up I've never found that portion of them to be as soft as the main part - I'll take a closer look next time I have mine off as that could explain what's going on here. Although his do look to be entirely stainless.

Edited May 4 by kortopates