Schllc Posted March 24 Report Posted March 24 It’s been a year long journey and I can see the finish line. Picked her up from paint today and I’m pretty happy. There are a few little punch items, but nothing major. Planning to tint the rear windows today to finish out the scheme. The flight stream works wonderfully as well. Tucked her in for the night after a short flight home. 12
LANCECASPER Posted March 25 Report Posted March 25 Just now, hammdo said: I think I’d keep her… ;o) -Don He won't. . lol 1
AndrewPatry Posted March 25 Report Posted March 25 Beautiful! Any word on the earthx for us? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
dkkim73 Posted March 25 Report Posted March 25 Out-standing! @Schllc what's the deal on that pocket shelf next to the ELT switch below the MFD (where I am considering putting a gauge or other device)? Is that a custom mod of yours? Very cool. I use a kneeboard but that also results in pen marks on my seat... ;(
Schllc Posted March 25 Author Report Posted March 25 Batteries are goin strong so no EarthX yet. My old lady had the stec when built, got the gfc700 shortly after and they had installed a cd player. Rather than close it up I made it a glovebox. Fits notepad, pens phone and wallet. Very handy. 5
Schllc Posted March 25 Author Report Posted March 25 1 hour ago, LANCECASPER said: He won't. . lol At least I leave them better than I found them! 3
Mooney in Oz Posted March 25 Report Posted March 25 Very nice and definitely a keeper! Looks super hot with that 4 bladed prop.
Scott Ashton Posted March 25 Report Posted March 25 Oh wow!!! I have to come over and see it in person. Looks amazing!
TheAv8r Posted March 25 Report Posted March 25 Wow! Love the attention to detail. What paint shop did you use? Would you use them again?
Schllc Posted March 25 Author Report Posted March 25 Hawk services at KZPH. yes. I would use again. Joe was easy to work with. 1
exM20K Posted March 25 Report Posted March 25 very nice. keep it. can't sell an acclaim now anyway. little touches like the carpeted hat shelf and the bonanza-style glove box are very cool. I'll be back down this weekend if my new mag comes in tomorrow. Let's try to connect. -dan
Schllc Posted March 25 Author Report Posted March 25 Tint done. Now it’s starting to look like the rendering!
Schllc Posted March 25 Author Report Posted March 25 The folks who did the interior is the only shop I would ever recommend. I know some guys have good auto shops. This works for seats and dash, the rest really needs to go to someone who knows the busines. aerocomfort has done hundreds if not more. They have it all down pat. it was 23 not including removal and install, which Brian K did for me. Worth every single cent. 2
Schllc Posted March 26 Author Report Posted March 26 On 3/24/2026 at 8:23 PM, LANCECASPER said: He won't. . lol with this market i probably wont have a choice!
LANCECASPER Posted March 26 Report Posted March 26 On 3/25/2026 at 2:20 PM, Schllc said: The folks who did the interior is the only shop I would ever recommend. I know some guys have good auto shops. This works for seats and dash, the rest really needs to go to someone who knows the busines. aerocomfort has done hundreds if not more. They have it all down pat. it was 23 not including removal and install, which Brian K did for me. Worth every single cent. The only Mooney interiors that come close to Hector's are this guys - and his are $50,000.
Schllc Posted March 29 Author Report Posted March 29 Update for the week….. Flew to meet another Mooney driver to do a back to back comparison for noise abatement. It looks like I have achieved somewhere between a 3.5-4 decibel reduction in noise. Good news: My plane was between 90db-92.5db, his plane 94db-96.5db. Given that decibels are measured in a logarithmic curve, three decibels is pretty significant. The combination of the new glass with UV protection and tint, along with the substantial insulation makes an almost unbelievable difference in the temperature inside the cockpit. I left it on the ramp in full sun yesterday between 1-4pm in northern Florida, no cover, and no sunshades. When I got back and into the plane it was comfortable inside. Outside temp was in the low to mid 80’s. When I was flying back, flying south, after an hour I put my hand on the top of the dash and it was barely warm. I can tell you prior to these windows it would have nearly burnt my hand. We flew home today and I had to turn the vent off completely and OAT was in the low 60’s. I don’t believe the black on top is making an attributable difference. Pretty sure this is the insulation. Bad news: I am pretty sure nearly all of the sound improvement was the prop and the door seal. While I would probably not say the extra glass thickness is worth the expense and weight, the UV protection and tint is worth its weight in gold After all the time it spent at the shop the fuel setup is still not correct and I’m trying to tweak it to get it to peak performance. The engine is dying at low idle, and I think my fuel spread is going to require gami’s. It is making all the parameters to fly LOP, but the tit’s are still a bit higher than I would like. One cylinder shows really low temps at idle. It comes up in flight and is in range with others, but then a different cylinder drops off, about 70deg lower. I have also learned that one of the idiosyncrasies of the MT prop, due to its light weight, is that if you have any cylinder that is not providing optimum ignition, it is reflected in a slight surging at this point in the cycle. It is impossible to see the “surging” in the data, or gauge reflections, but it is something you can feel if you are paying attention. It is much more noticeable in the climb as the engine is heating up, and goes away pretty quickly. I called MT about this and they told me that every prop comes with a free engine analyzer! This led me to looking more closely at the engine data while you can’t see the rpm fluctuating, you can see if the cylinders are not on par… Even though I think I may have been a little optimistic about some of these upgrades, I do not have any regrets. Everything I have done has made the plane more pleasant to use and operate. I sincerely hope some of you thinking about upgrades to your airplanes can benefit from my experiments, and I’m always happy to discuss in more detail with anyone that has questions before embarking on their own upgrades. 5
exM20K Posted March 29 Report Posted March 29 I had the good fortune to meet and fly with @Schllc on Saturday after coming down from Illinois. At my last annual, Brian K put a 1/4” weather strip around the cabin door frame, and that quelled the wind noise and Venturi suction at the bottom rear of the door significantly. However, flying them back-to-back, with a precision iPhone sound meter I think the number understates the improvement that the inflatable door seal makes. The door noise is very harsh, and the sphygmomanometer-powered seal really knocks that harsh noise down. The paint and interior are truly better-than-new. Somebody is going to get a properly sorted out plane. Method Seven, the sunglasses folks, came by the Diamond booth a few times with their light spectrum meter. They concluded that the new Diamond canopies had an excellent coating, best in the field. I hadn’t thought about that in the Mooney, but it makes a noticeable difference here. I don’t know what application he used, though. In coastal Florida, I was advised that the locals keep their (mineral) sunscreen next to the toothpaste. Finally, I’m gratified that a man with a fleur de lis on his plane found our local Apalachicola oysters up to snuff. And I smoked a DA62 coming in at the same altitude. I had probably 20-30 knots on him. Never gets old. -dan 5
Rmfriday Posted March 30 Report Posted March 30 Wow, awesome plane with great attention to detail. very nice work!
Fly Boomer Posted March 30 Report Posted March 30 59 minutes ago, exM20K said: And I smoked a DA62 coming in at the same altitude. I had probably 20-30 knots on him. Never gets old.
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