Engine Shop Selection (was 'showing metal @ 1,100)

Maule Driver wrote:
: Based on the appearance of metal after 1,100 hours (filings in the
: filter and doubling of FE content in 36 hour oil analysis), I'm having
: my Lycoming o-360 taken apart. Two major choices to make:

: 1) Overhaul or 'look, see, fix'. That is, I could just go for an
: overhaul (est $12,000 for 2,000 hours) or LSF (guesstimate $6,000k for
: 900 hours). Of course there may not be a choice...

: 2) Shop selection. My mechanic is somewhat shop agnostic - they work
: with Signature in Ohio and Mattituck.

Depending on who does the work, the word "overhaul" means different things to
different people. In a regulatory sense, it's quite specific (e.g. accessories must
be overhauled, etc). Realistically, if you're splitting the case halves anyway, you
might as well do the "difficult" part of the overhaul as part of your exploratory.
Send the steel parts off to have the magnafluxed, and replace all the bottom end parts
you need to. Think hard about the cam if it (unlikely) doesn't *need* to be
replaced.... probably want to anyway. In any event, a quickie bottom-end "overhaul"
isn't that expensive. I wouldn't do the jugs or accessories if not necessary...
they're easy to do on the plane later.

I'm sure other people have differing opinions... ranging from leave it alone
to getting a factory new.

-Cory



--

************************************************** ***********************
* Cory Papenfuss *
* Electrical Engineering candidate Ph.D. graduate student *
* Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University *
************************************************** ***********************

That's interesting. I always hear about the top end overhaul which
makes sense for an engine with a lot of time and losing compression.
The bottom end checkup would probably make sense at this time. The
Magnaflux to check for cracks and doing whatever is required to fix those.

BTW, I've found my 5+ year collection of LPM to be invaluable in
understanding the terminology, procedures and practices surrounding
engine work.

wrote:
Depending on who does the work, the word "overhaul" means different
things to
different people. In a regulatory sense, it's quite specific (e.g. accessories must
be overhauled, etc). Realistically, if you're splitting the case halves anyway, you
might as well do the "difficult" part of the overhaul as part of your exploratory.
Send the steel parts off to have the magnafluxed, and replace all the bottom end parts
you need to. Think hard about the cam if it (unlikely) doesn't *need* to be
replaced.... probably want to anyway. In any event, a quickie bottom-end "overhaul"
isn't that expensive. I wouldn't do the jugs or accessories if not necessary...
they're easy to do on the plane later.

We've got one engine on the Aztec that has 1850 SMOH, but all cylinders are
less than 700 hours since overhaul. Our game plan (for now) is to do a
bottom end IRAN plus cam when it becomes necessary. Of course, this could
all change at any moment.
Jim

wrote in message
...
Maule Driver wrote:
: Based on the appearance of metal after 1,100 hours (filings in the
: filter and doubling of FE content in 36 hour oil analysis), I'm having
: my Lycoming o-360 taken apart. Two major choices to make:

: 1) Overhaul or 'look, see, fix'. That is, I could just go for an
: overhaul (est $12,000 for 2,000 hours) or LSF (guesstimate $6,000k for
: 900 hours). Of course there may not be a choice...

: 2) Shop selection. My mechanic is somewhat shop agnostic - they work
: with Signature in Ohio and Mattituck.

Depending on who does the work, the word "overhaul" means different things
to
different people. In a regulatory sense, it's quite specific (e.g.
accessories must
be overhauled, etc). Realistically, if you're splitting the case halves
anyway, you
might as well do the "difficult" part of the overhaul as part of your
exploratory.
Send the steel parts off to have the magnafluxed, and replace all the
bottom end parts
you need to. Think hard about the cam if it (unlikely) doesn't *need* to
be
replaced.... probably want to anyway. In any event, a quickie bottom-end
"overhaul"
isn't that expensive. I wouldn't do the jugs or accessories if not
necessary...
they're easy to do on the plane later.

I'm sure other people have differing opinions... ranging from leave it
alone
to getting a factory new.

-Cory



--

************************************************** ***********************
* Cory Papenfuss *
* Electrical Engineering candidate Ph.D. graduate student *
* Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University *
************************************************** ***********************