Talk me out of this...

On Mon, 09 Feb 2004 02:10:04 GMT, Paul Folbrecht
wrote:

Well, a new 235 is about $20K, and I'd thought a major overhaul was
about half that, but apparantly I was wrong given the number of people
in this thread who're telling me I am.

Jeff wrote:

sounds like that engine is about due a overhaul.
I dont know what an engine costs for a 152, but you may want to check on
that so you know about how much your going to have to invest in the new
engine.

Factoryengines.com lists O-235s for 15.2k, 17.9k, and 22.5k (overhaul,
remanufactured, and new respectively). Plus, you will have install
costs and have accessories to overhaul or replace. You could hit $20k
easily for an installed overhauled engine.

-Nathan

So that $15.2K is for a remanufactured engine or to remanufacture _your_
engine?? Cause I thought doing the latter (tearing it down and
replacing most of the parts) was the 'usual' method, and I thought (had
been told) that around $10K for everything for a 235 was about right.
(No, not told by the FBO that's selling the plane.)

Factoryengines.com lists O-235s for 15.2k, 17.9k, and 22.5k (overhaul,
remanufactured, and new respectively). Plus, you will have install
costs and have accessories to overhaul or replace. You could hit $20k
easily for an installed overhauled engine.

-Nathan

On Tue, 10 Feb 2004 02:43:34 GMT, Paul Folbrecht
wrote:

So that $15.2K is for a remanufactured engine or to remanufacture _your_
engine?? Cause I thought doing the latter (tearing it down and
replacing most of the parts) was the 'usual' method, and I thought (had
been told) that around $10K for everything for a 235 was about right.
(No, not told by the FBO that's selling the plane.)

Factoryengines.com lists O-235s for 15.2k, 17.9k, and 22.5k (overhaul,
remanufactured, and new respectively). Plus, you will have install
costs and have accessories to overhaul or replace. You could hit $20k
easily for an installed overhauled engine.

Factoryengines usually has pretty good prices, but I was surprised
about the $15k for a O-235 overhaul. I have a O-360 in my Cherokee,
and its overhaul is only $13.8k.

Regarding the differences between overhauls - I'm not an expert at
this by any means, but here's my take...

Overhauled engine: Engine parts are replaced or reworked as necessary
to be within overhaul limits. You need to be careful about what type
of overhaul is specified. There are two main kinds of overhauls,
service limits, and new limits. Service limits are the absolute
minimums as specified by the engine manufacturer (a bad idea in my
opinion). There are also overhauls to new limits, ie the components
of the engine have the same tolerances as a new engine. Either way,
the engine comes out with the same logbook, and total time is not
reset. It is however 0 hours since major overhaul.

Blueprinted engines: There are speciality shops that match/balance
components to provide a smoother and more powerful engine. These
typically cost more than a regular overhaul, and perhaps more than a
remanufactured engine. Regardless, the engine will not be zero timed.
It is essentially an overhaul to super-specifications.

Remanufactured. Engine components are reworked/replaced to new
limits. Engine is issued a new logbook and is 0 TT / 0 SMOH. Many
question the value of the reman besides having a zerotimed logbook.

New engine: This the easy one. It is brand new from Lycoming. O TT,
0 TSMOH.

Avweb has a good article on engine overhauls:
http://www.avweb.com/news/maint/182826-1.html

-Nathan

Paul Folbrecht wrote:

So that $15.2K is for a remanufactured engine or to remanufacture _your_
engine?? Cause I thought doing the latter (tearing it down and
replacing most of the parts) was the 'usual' method, and I thought (had
been told) that around $10K for everything for a 235 was about right.

That outfit will sell you an overhauled engine for $15.2K. You will have to
remove yours, install theirs, and send them yours as a "core". You re-use all the
old peripherals, such as the carb, alternator, etc.. There are lots of extra
goodies that you should replace at this time, such as the cooling baffle material.

Now, an overhauled engine is one in which the engine is disassembled, every part
is checked to make sure it meets the specs for *return to service*, and the engine
is put back together with any part that doesn't meet those specs replaced with one
that is *serviceable*. A remanufactured engine is one in which every part meets the
specs for a *new* part, not just a *serviceable* one. A new engine is just that.

What you're describing is generally referred to as a "field overhaul". There are
pluses and minuses to doing it this way. If the mech is good and you opt for
replacing unserviceable parts with new ones, you can wind up with a better engine
than swapping for a major shop overhauled engine, but if you do that, it'll likely
cost you in the 15K range anyway.

George Patterson
Love, n.: A form of temporary insanity afflicting the young. It is curable
either by marriage or by removal of the afflicted from the circumstances
under which he incurred the condition. It is sometimes fatal, but more
often to the physician than to the patient.