Easy to start.

Looks good, feels good, chick dig them.

It was a pretty good idea, just fell short. If Porsche had supported it and upgraded, it could have been a game changer.

Totally agree. It was an innovative idea that was ahead of its time. Compare the different generations of Cirrus. The latest ones are significantly improved from the original.

Because … branding is a very powerful marketing tool.

I guess, but I thought "lycoming", "continental" and "mooney" had more cache than Porsche. Porsches don't even fly...

It’s like one of the car magazines back in the day reporting on the Porsche 914. After listing all their complaints with the vehicle, at the end of the article they excused it all by proclaiming “but it is a Porsche”. To many people, the name plate is worth more than what’s under it.

MANY people have NO CLUE as to what is under the name plate. They only want that name.

This from a person who owns 2 BMW M cars. But actually KNOWS what makes them what they are.

All of this.. and his ad, and no pictures? I'm super curious what these looked like.

Here’s a link or two for you.

https://books.google.com/books?id=ukD6z ... he&f=false

https://books.google.com/books?id=IxmAk ... he&f=false

I’ve built many air cooled 911 engines, I would not use one of these in an aircraft.

I think it had a lower max weight too. So even if you were lucky and got rid of the Porsche motor you still didn’t have much of a plane. I can’t remember if the modworks swap delt with that.

Some of the Modworks conversions got a GWI, and some didn't. I wasn't an owner/active in the community at the time of this, but have been observing for the last 15+ years now. I don't know if the GWI (essentially up to the later longbody Mooneys weight) was awarded after conversions started or not.

Over the years I've seen a few IO-550 converted M20L's that look great for an attractive price. In general, the aftermarket-modified Mooneys (like these converted PFM's, as well as Rocket Engineering Missile & Rocket conversions, or Modworks "262" or other similar upgrades) go for quite a bit less than the newer factory versions...partly due to older airframe and partly due to the stigma of a "mod." Digging deeper into the cheap M20L conversions reveals they never got the GWI above 2900 lbs, so their useful load was 6xx lbs! Very, very limiting with big tanks and a 550 to feed! I don't know if owners just routinely flew overgross or not... performance is certainly there at 3200 lbs or the modern 3368 lbs limit, and the airframe can certainly handle it, but not legal.

For reference, the midbody J model/201 like I have, started with a GW of 2740 lbs and had a 200 hp IO-360 and 64 gallon standard tanks. Later production models got fat (just like Beech!) and Mooney bumped max gross weight to 2900 lbs in ~1989 IIRC. The PFM M20L I believe had the same max gross weight, but with the longer fuselage, heavier engine, and essentially the same 200 hp rating. It was slower and I believe burned more fuel than the J model, which is why it failed. But it did usher in the longbody era for Mooney that turned into the successful M20M TLS/Bravo with the 270 hp TIO-540, and later the Ovation with the IO-550 and Acclaim...

What later gave the M20M a gross weight increase was the addition to dual puck brakes. That never was offered as a retrofit for the M20L (which is the same airframe as the M20M).

I flew an early M20M that didn't yet have the brake upgrade and the stopping power was not great if you were heavy. I had a couple of later M20M's with the brake upgrade and they stopped well.

The dual puck brakes (and changing engine specs to -SB) gains a 130 pound GWI for the 252 also.

The Gross Weight increase on the Mooney Encore over the Mooney 252 was 230 pounds, not 130.