Continental A-65 Price

Hey all,

I'm starting a homebuilt project (obtained partially completed) and was
wondering what kind of price I'm looking at for a Continental A-65 with a
couple hundred hours left on it. How about an overtime engine?


Thanks,
-Tony

[[email protected]]

$1500-2,000 if you can find one. Careful, though, the market has its
share of scammers.

You can find good deals on C-85's, C-90's, and O-200's too.

Superior makes cylinders for the sweet little A-65 ($3500 for four,
last I checked), but other parts are hard to come by, and the new parts
you need are sold by sources who know by their prices they have a near
monopoly-- Fresno, Captain Woody (TAP), and one or two more.

The last A-65 I rebuilt had almost $10,000 in new and rebuilt parts in
it. Then I had to put it together and then take it back apart because
the front seal leaked. Yellow-tag crankshafts are getting rare. Good
exhaust valves are $100 apiece. Hydraulic units and lifters, cams, new
springs, rocker arms, pushrods, connecting rods and rod bolts,
crankcases, oil pumps and rear cases --- these things are hard to find
by scrounging any more. Then you want logs and a decent tag on the case
too.

I wouldn't advise you to install a run-out engine. Those old run-out
things will suck a valve and put you in the trees. And I doubt you can
get much more than a thousand hours out of a rebuilt A-65 before the
bottom end starts to get loose.

They are such wonderful little engines. It's a shame Continental
doesn't build them any more. Somebody ought to.

Good luck!

[Scott]

I knew I shoulda bought 4 complete cylinders for mine when Fresno had
them for something like $499 each several months ago. But, they're gone
now! Someone probably bought them all up to have a monopoly on those as
well...bummer. Yes, I wish Continental still made the A-65 and the
C-85, but I doubt they will retool and start making them again. Just
like I am still waiting for the return of 80 Octane so I wouldn't have
had to buy the new valves that I did a couple weeks ago...

I disagree that 1000 is it for the lower end. These little Continentals
are just one step below tractor engines and look how long those tractor
engines run ;)

Scott
(Presently with a Corben with an A-65 attached and no cylinders on --
taking them in Monday for overhaul/conversion to 100 Octane)



wrote:
> $1500-2,000 if you can find one. Careful, though, the market has its
> share of scammers.
>
> You can find good deals on C-85's, C-90's, and O-200's too.
>
> Superior makes cylinders for the sweet little A-65 ($3500 for four,
> last I checked), but other parts are hard to come by, and the new parts
> you need are sold by sources who know by their prices they have a near
> monopoly-- Fresno, Captain Woody (TAP), and one or two more.
>
> The last A-65 I rebuilt had almost $10,000 in new and rebuilt parts in
> it. Then I had to put it together and then take it back apart because
> the front seal leaked. Yellow-tag crankshafts are getting rare. Good
> exhaust valves are $100 apiece. Hydraulic units and lifters, cams, new
> springs, rocker arms, pushrods, connecting rods and rod bolts,
> crankcases, oil pumps and rear cases --- these things are hard to find
> by scrounging any more. Then you want logs and a decent tag on the case
> too.
>
> I wouldn't advise you to install a run-out engine. Those old run-out
> things will suck a valve and put you in the trees. And I doubt you can
> get much more than a thousand hours out of a rebuilt A-65 before the
> bottom end starts to get loose.
>
> They are such wonderful little engines. It's a shame Continental
> doesn't build them any more. Somebody ought to.
>
> Good luck!
>

Thanks for the input JLS and Scott! I was wondering roughly how much that
particular item would set me back.

(Sorry for the week's delay. I've had computer troubles for the last week
and no time to fix them. All is good now, fortunately.)

Cheers, and thanks again!

-Tony