Back on Her Feet Again

We purchased N2690W in late October, 2013. The plane was flown on a ferry permit to the hangar in early November and we began work a week or two later. To date, we have completely dis-assembled the undercarriage and rebuilt it to "as new" including new brake lines, stripped the interior, stripped many of the nose-bowl and underbelly skins, and dis-assembled many of the external components of the engine including the propeller, starter, alternator and baffling. Ahead of us is replacing the plexiglass, fabricating and replacing the interior, installing the new mechanical components surrounding the engine and putting the various pieces back together. After all of that it will go off to paint.  For now, most of my attention will be on the interior and Glenn will concentrate on the mechanical.

Up on her feet taking in a bit of sun...and getting the engine prepped for paint.

I'm taking lots of photos of the painted parts as we want to get the whole thing back to original, including decals. Right past "PC" it used to say "Super 21". "PC" stands for Positive Control and is a term that Mooney used referring to its automatic wing-leveling device. The system is a pneumatically operated two axis automatic control device using vacuum power from the aircraft engine driven vacuum pump. The control consists of a small trim knob near the center of the pilot's yoke and a vacuum release valve where a push-to-talk button would usually go. PC is always 'passively active'. In the traffic pattern, it's appropriate to push the release valve on the turns. Hey--it still works!

Chemical stripping is a beast.

We have found NO corrosion anywhere.

Top baffling, painted silver

Another puzzle to put back together; these will include fresh black rubber baffling material.

Waiting for the Aircraft Stripper to do its work...it doesn't work hard enough.

Plastics surrounding the nose wheel well; tedious, but they fit well.

A view of the roof before the headliner goes back in. This will make a great before and after. Notice the round vents were taped off and painted in place as not to have to remove the duct system to get them off.

New starter installed.

Circled is the fuel strainer valve. Who has replaced this with a curtis drain valve and a 337?