Fiberglass Belly Kit

[Markku]

Has anyone installed the one piece fiberglass belly kit on a J or K model. I have a 78 M20J and just started the project. The instructions are poor and so are the photographs. So far I have drilled out the rivets and removed the 2 panel forward of the gear flap motor and the 4 wing to fusalage fairings. This is where it gets confusing. I can not figure out if I remove all the structure that supported the screwed in belly panels or just some of them. These are the former assemblies the brakes lines, flight control tubes, wiring and gear tubes run through. Any pictures or information would be appreciated. This is my personal aircraft and I do all the maintenance on it. Thanks

[1980Mooney]

41 minutes ago, Markku said:

Has anyone installed the one piece fiberglass belly kit on a J or K model. I have a 78 M20J and just started the project. The instructions are poor and so are the photographs. So far I have drilled out the rivets and removed the 2 panel forward of the gear flap motor and the 4 wing to fusalage fairings. This is where it gets confusing. I can not figure out if I remove all the structure that supported the screwed in belly panels or just some of them. These are the former assemblies the brakes lines, flight control tubes, wiring and gear tubes run through. Any pictures or information would be appreciated. This is my personal aircraft and I do all the maintenance on it. Thanks

Is this a Mooney factory one-piece belly conversion kit?

Mine was converted at the Mooney Factory Service Center decades ago so I didn’t witness everything that they did. 

Here is the KNR description of how to do it. 
https://www.knr-inc.com/shoptalk-articles.html?view=article&id=27&catid=25

[ProtoFly]

Where'd you get the kit?  I'm thinking about this on my F....

[1980Mooney]

1 hour ago, ProtoFly said:

Where'd you get the kit?  I'm thinking about this on my F....

LASAR sells them. Three (3) years ago this was discussed. The MSC owner Clarence/M20Doc said they cost $5,000 plus 40-70 hours labor at the time. LASAR is charging more now.(surprise…). They want $7,250 plus $200 to crate  it plus shipping cost. I bet shipping an ~ 7ft long crate will cost at least $500.  So that’s about $8,000 for the belly panel.  Maybe another $7,000 labor (brackets, relocating antenna, etc.) and you still need to pay to paint it.  Call it a $16,000 mod….

https://lasar.com/stc-kits/laskit129a-smooth-long-belly-kit

 

Edited February 28 by 1980Mooney

[Markku]

This is a Mooney kit that I bought from a seller about 4 years ago. That person had a move coming up and was unable to install the kit.

I read the KNR article, but pictures would be great to see.

The Mooney kit does not require an STC where the LASAR kit does.

[Hank]

I can't address installation as mine was done by the previous owner, but it's a nice mod. If you do owner maintenance or owner-assisted annuals, you will like it!

[Fritz1]

I had this mod done over 30 years ago at Modworks in Florida on my G-model, don't remember whether this was a factory kit or a Lasar kit, Modworks is long gone, a lot of installations were done by Southwest Texas Aviation, they are still around: Office: 737-206-3887 parts@swta.net; service@swta.net

Dan Riesland at LASAR or Brian Kendrick in San Marcos brian@mooneysupport.net or Don Maxwell will know if and where better installation instructions are available

overall this is a nice kit

 

 

[LANCECASPER]

Anyone who has a gear up should do this rather than replacing the original belly panels. In fact on a pre-buy when an airplane had this there's a decent chance that's when it was installed.

[Fly Boomer]

9 hours ago, Markku said:

anyone installed the one piece fiberglass belly kit on a J or K model

There may be a "kit" for early 231s, but I believe later 231s and all 252s came from the factory with a one-piece fiberglass belly.

[N201MKTurbo]

I have the LASAR one piece belly on my plane. It was put on after a gear up by the previous owner. The install isn’t trivial. You have to remove all the sheet metal formers that the belly skins attach to, then you have to weld on mounts for the center 1/4 turns, then you have to mount about 40 1/4 turn mounts along the edges. Some of mine aren’t quite right.

[Markku]

Kerry at KNR was very helpful guiding me in the right direction. Many Thanks

[Aerodon]

Mine is off at the moment, I can take a series of pictures if it helps? 1986 M20k

 

Aerodon

[Markku]

Aerodon, Is your belly the Mooney belly or the Lasar STC belly. They are different. If you have the Mooney kit I would appreciate a bunch of pictures from front to rear. That would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Mark

[1980Mooney]

15 hours ago, N201MKTurbo said:

I have the LASAR one piece belly on my plane. It was put on after a gear up by the previous owner. The install isn’t trivial. You have to remove all the sheet metal formers that the belly skins attach to, then you have to weld on mounts for the center 1/4 turns, then you have to mount about 40 1/4 turn mounts along the edges. Some of mine aren’t quite right.

40?  I think the factory one piece belly has less than half the number of camloc mounts. 

[N201MKTurbo]

1 hour ago, 1980Mooney said:

40?  I think the factory one piece belly has less than half the number of camloc mounts. 

I will have to count the next time I’m down there. There are 5 in the back, 7 or 8 in the front, 10 or so on each side and about 10 in the middle. Maybe less, but not by a lot.

[Hank]

3 hours ago, N201MKTurbo said:

I will have to count the next time I’m down there. There are 5 in the back, 7 or 8 in the front, 10 or so on each side and about 10 in the middle. Maybe less, but not by a lot.

I have the STC version, held on by 52 screws. Wish I had camlocs!

[Aerodon]

9 hours ago, Markku said:

Aerodon, Is your belly the Mooney belly or the Lasar STC belly. They are different. If you have the Mooney kit I would appreciate a bunch of pictures from front to rear. That would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Mark

Factory Mooney, send me a pm with email address.

[N201MKTurbo]

6 hours ago, 1980Mooney said:

40?  I think the factory one piece belly has less than half the number of camloc mounts. 

Since when did Mooney scrimp on the fasteners?

[Markku]

That is a lot of screws!

[Dennis M]

Is there a service letter or something that describes the factory kit and/or gives the approval basis for install on the earlier models? Is there a list of p/n's somewhere? I'm repairing a J model that gear upped, so now is the time to do if we are going to do it, but I want to better understand what it all entails first and how I would sign it off.  

Unfortunately the Lasar STC is a little to spendy for this project, but if I can piece together a factory kit I may go that route.

[Markku]

I do not know if the Mooney kit is available. Mooney shows it as a Beely Fairing kit part #940162-503 for the M20J starting with serial number 24-0361. Prior to thia is the part 940162-501 for 24-0001-24-0360. It says call for availability. I would contact Maxwell as they have done a lot of installations and would be able to tell you what parts are available. They are doing several right now.

[ArtVandelay]

I will have to count the next time I’m down there. There are 5 in the back, 7 or 8 in the front, 10 or so on each side and about 10 in the middle. Maybe less, but not by a lot.

IIRC, mine only had 2 or 3 in the middle (Modworks STC) FWIW.