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 Post subject: Mooney M20L (Porsche engine)
PostPosted: 20 Jul 2022, 19:12 
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Joined: 10/07/10
Posts: 523
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Aircraft: Pitts S-2B
Just saw this rare beast pop up on barnstormers.

https://www.barnstormers.com/classified ... rsche.html

I didn't realize there were any of these left in the US with the Porsche engine. With no support for the engine and the aircraft not having flown since 2013 I don't even know if you could get this airplane flying again, even with an open checkbook.

Curious if anybody in the vast Beechtalk brain trust has had exposure to one of these, either flying, owning or maintaining. (No, I'm not going to buy it. Just curiosity!)


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 Post subject: Re: Mooney M20L (Porsche engine)
PostPosted: 20 Jul 2022, 19:55 
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Joined: 01/17/20
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Aircraft: Mooney 231
Those are such cool looking airplanes. Fully automatic mixture and propellor controls. I heard they were a little anemic in performance despite the extra 10 horsepower. Here is a video posted of a Mooney PFM on the MooneySpace website.

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/ ... ure=oembed


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 Post subject: Re: Mooney M20L (Porsche engine)
PostPosted: 20 Jul 2022, 20:03 
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Joined: 09/12/11
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Company: RPM Aircraft Service
Location: Gaithersburg MD KGAI
Aircraft: Mooney 201, A320
It was the first long body Mooney, and it was under powered, the later airplanes like the ovation that had the same fuselage are actually really speedy fast roomy airplanes, but the M20L Porsche was not. Plus it cost like $100,000 more than a J model and was slower, and it had a lower useful load. Porsche tried like hell to revoke the certification of the engine and stop supporting it but they FAA wouldn’t have that, so they created a valve spring A.D. were they had to be replaced every 1200 hours I think it was, and then they promptly stopped producing valve springs which killed it for good.


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 Post subject: Re: Mooney M20L (Porsche engine)
PostPosted: 20 Jul 2022, 20:17 
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Joined: 10/07/10
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Aircraft: Pitts S-2B
I'll say one thing for Lycoming and Continental: at least they still exist and support most of their engines.


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 Post subject: Re: Mooney M20L (Porsche engine)
PostPosted: 20 Jul 2022, 20:47 
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Joined: 11/15/17
Posts: 668
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Company: Cessna (retired)
I was at an SAE conference and a senior and/or knowledgeable Lycoming engineer said that if he had proposed that engine to an OEM customer, he would have been invited to leave and never come back.


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 Post subject: Re: Mooney M20L (Porsche engine)
PostPosted: 20 Jul 2022, 21:25 
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Joined: 05/13/14
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Location: Central Texas (KTPL)
Aircraft: PA-46-310P
It's an orphan. There was at one time a path to upgrade to an IO-550, but there were still some limitations making them less desirable than straight Ovations.


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 Post subject: Re: Mooney M20L (Porsche engine)
PostPosted: 20 Jul 2022, 22:48 
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Joined: 06/17/14
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Location: KJYO
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It sounds like it is a museum showpiece!


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 Post subject: Re: Mooney M20L (Porsche engine)
PostPosted: 21 Jul 2022, 00:03 
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Joined: 03/04/14
Posts: 1770
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Location: FREDERICKSBURG TX
Aircraft: MOONEY M20TN
There's still one or two Mooney Porsches flying in Canada and two or three in Europe.

The biggest problem was that the retail price in 1989 ($193,375) was $16,000 more than the Mooney TLS, which was a lot faster. The Porsche only had 217hp, the TLS 270hp. Mooney had raised the price from $142,900 in 1988 to $193,375 in 1989.

Porsche was very hard to deal with on the engines and made a lot of promises that they never kept and continually raised the prices.


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 Post subject: Re: Mooney M20L (Porsche engine)
PostPosted: 21 Jul 2022, 01:22 
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Joined: 06/17/16
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Location: Santa Monica, CA
Aircraft: 1981 Baron B55
I flew one and it certainly was a dog. Porsche failed miserably with this.

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 Post subject: Re: Mooney M20L (Porsche engine)
PostPosted: 21 Jul 2022, 07:39 
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Joined: 02/28/17
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Location: Panama City, FL
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Username Protected wrote:
It's an orphan. There was at one time a path to upgrade to an IO-550, but there were still some limitations making them less desirable than straight Ovations.

Does that path no longer exist?


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 Post subject: Re: Mooney M20L (Porsche engine)
PostPosted: 21 Jul 2022, 07:41 
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Joined: 05/05/09
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It belongs in a Porsche collector's museum!


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 Post subject: Re: Mooney M20L (Porsche engine)
PostPosted: 21 Jul 2022, 07:52 
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Joined: 02/14/14
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Many years ago, Mod Works in Florida was converting Porsche Mooneys. I had the opportunity to buy one that was a hanger queen for a really good price. After test flying one that Mod Works had already converted, I decided against it for many of the issues already listed, and the really good price did not look as good.

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 Post subject: Re: Mooney M20L (Porsche engine)
PostPosted: 21 Jul 2022, 10:27 
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Joined: 03/04/14
Posts: 1770
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Location: FREDERICKSBURG TX
Aircraft: MOONEY M20TN
Username Protected wrote:
Many years ago, Mod Works in Florida was converting Porsche Mooneys. I had the opportunity to buy one that was a hanger queen for a really good price. After test flying one that Mod Works had already converted, I decided against it for many of the issues already listed, and the really good price did not look as good.


When Hurricane Charley hit in 2004 it destroyed many of the airplanes that were in for conversion. After Mod Works shut down no more IO-550 conversions.
http://www.aero-news.net/index.cfm?do=m ... 3f1b2afb8e


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 Post subject: Re: Mooney M20L (Porsche engine)
PostPosted: 21 Jul 2022, 11:33 
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Joined: 02/28/12
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Company: CiES Inc
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Username Protected wrote:
Many years ago, Mod Works in Florida was converting Porsche Mooneys. I had the opportunity to buy one that was a hanger queen for a really good price. After test flying one that Mod Works had already converted, I decided against it for many of the issues already listed, and the really good price did not look as good.


I remember the pile of twin plug Porsche engines in the corner @ Modworks
The engines had to be scrapped - no parts were to migrate


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 Post subject: Re: Mooney M20L (Porsche engine)
PostPosted: 25 Jul 2022, 21:58 
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Joined: 01/06/08
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I'm curious, why did anyone buy them? Other posters have mentioned all the bad things, what was good?


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