1 hour.
Last night I dismounted the engine from the stand and stuck it in the back of the truck. I’m really glad I didn’t throw out the plywood stand it arrived on. Yesterday, I spoke with Tim at Tim’s Aircraft Engines. A standard teardown and inspection is going to be around $6200. Ouch. But whatever, I need a safe engine, right? I have no way of knowing what happened to that airplane between 951 hours (last engine log entry) and 975 hours. It could have been prop-struck, Maybe sat on the ramp and only flown once a month for two years (I seem to remember the seller telling me it was pulled from service in 2001 or 2002), who knows? But Tim is going to pull it apart, magnaflux it, figure out what’s wrong, then tell me what’s up. He can also rebuild my cylinders and put my sump and FI system on it.
At this point, I’m beyond my ability or capacity to mess with this engine. I don’t have the tools to split the case, or check the components properly for wear. And I really don’t trust myself to put it back together, even if I had the proper facilities to do so. A cylinder or two, I can handle. Maybe building up a kit engine from new components. Not this. I’m going to pay through the nose for it, but I will have a safe engine of known condition. I hope. And if I wind up paying 20 grand for the service, i’ll know better next time, and that’s not to buy an engine off eBay without absolutely knowing its pedigree. I bought this engine before I was ready, and when used O- and IO-360’s were relatively rare. So now I get to pay the price, in stress, inconvenience, and a near-spinebreaking torpedo to my savings.
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