I know I've got a bad reputation, and it isn't just talk, talk, talk ..." So says Freedy Johnston, one of those wonderfully quirky songwriters who's way too good to ever reach the mainstream. His music oozed into my head the day a friend of mine called to ask about my experiences flying a Mooney 231. He's been doing the usual rental roulette with high-performance airplanes and was in the early stages of shopping for something of his own.His initial research led him toward the Mooney 201 as the right combination of speed, payload and capability. But as he dug further, he realized that Mooney 231s of a similar vintage could be had for not much more than a 201, and they promised considerably more altitude capability and speed. Plus, he noted, the 231s seemed to be better-equipped year-for-year, and he saw this as getting some nifty electronics for next-to-nothing.But, like a lot of shoppers in this category, he was worried about the 231's reputation. He's heard and read that the M20K's Continental TSIO-360 was ill-tempered, hot-running and prone to all sorts of maladies from quick-wearing cylinders to turbochargers that could grow cracks overnight. "Frankly," he said, "I'm worried that I'm going to get an airframe I like with an engine I loathe."
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.avweb.com/ownership/motor-head-4-bad-reputations