Overhaul Cost

[AndyFromCB]

So,

The engine is back from Central Cylinder here in Omaha, NE. Other than the camshaft and two tappets, it looked pretty damn new at 1700 hours. Total cost a bit under 33K with new camshaft kit, rebuilt cylinders ($1200 a pop vs $2500, they only had 900 hours on them), all accessories overhauled other than the turbo (400 hours on it), alternators (25 hours on them) and mags (25 hours of them) and hoses (25 hours on them), so all and all not bad, engine run great in the test stand yesterday.

So now my question for those of you you had done this before. What is a fair labor for removal and reinstall. My mechanic said it took him 2 days to remove and says a week to reinstall. So about 60 hours total. That sounds about right to me, but just want to make sure.

-Using new engines mounts even thought they have less than 400 hours on them. Would you reuse them?

-All new exhaust v band clamps. 400 hours on them. Would you reuse them? Being this is the number #1 killer of Bravo drivers, I think it's worth the cost.

What else am I missing?

Andy

A little video of the central cylinder crew running a P51 engine on a test stand

[Awful_Charlie]

Very interesting to hear this.  I've not had to go through the rebuild yet, but I have a feeling it is coming up.  My view would be: a) Cylinders I'd probably do the same, subject to a wear/bore size report.  Turbo at 400 hours: I might be questioning how much downtime and labour to change it later vs getting it done now.  c) alternators at 25 hours are near as dammit new, so would probably keep both of them, but if I got given a hard time might consider replacing/IRAN one of them, d) Hoses: probably do the lot, at a minimum all the oil hoses (so you know there is no cr@p in them)  For the engine mounts, I would do them, even at 400 hours.  Now you know what a PITA it is to get them done ;-)  and the v-band clmap, as you point out, it is a killer to get wrong, and for the relative life/return, would probably bankg a new one on, unless the delivery was months, in which case I'd run the old until the new one came along (you are allowed a few R&R occurrences, but personally I would't like to be using the last one until the max)

Only other things I think you might have missed would be the oil cooler flush, prop govenor (and maybe the prop whilst the a/c is offline), starter & ring gear, and the injection unit.  I guess the pressure valves and wastegate you are happy with?

[AndyFromCB]

My overhaul shop, I would say, one of the better ones in the midwest, 2 year/1000 warranty says the following:

-hoses: no way to replace 25 hour hoses, flush them, they do the same to brand new ones as most are full of crap as well.

-prop and governor: same story, the small amount of metal that might be inside them is nothing comparing to what will be created during the piston ring break in

-oil cooler: yes, no question about, you need all the cooling you can get 

I agree on engine mounts, if it ever sags in the next 12 years, I would be pretty unhappy.

The fuel injection was overhauled during the overhaul, in house, by Central Cylinder. 

What's the reasoning on IRAN on the alternator? Just put this one on about 5 months ago, only got 25 hours or so on it. The other one is 125 hours or so.

I think the turbo, being it's only 400 hours old, will last a few years or more at the rate I fly this airplane. I think it's only a few hours of labor to replace plus I'm hearing Kelly is having some issues with their latest batch of them.

As to cylinders, I agree, mine looked brand new when we tore them off, so 1200 a pop for all new pistons, guides, springs, valves, rockers, etc vs 2600-2800 for new ones made a lot of difference, about $8000 to the cost of overhaul

[KSMooniac]

I think you followed a very prudent course of action here.  With two relatively new alternators, I would just keep flying them.  The odds that both would die at the same time are slim, and then of course you still have a battery.  Ditto for the turbo... if it is known-good, then I wouldn't touch it beyond a good inspection before re-installing.

I would like to know why you opted to replace the pistons?  Were they showing enough wear or other damage?  FWIW, I IRAN'd all 4 jugs on my Lyc at 1650 SMOH and I replaced the pistons too as the shop thought they were marginal.  They said I could easily get a few hundred more hours out of them (to TBO + some) but if I planned to overhaul my engine down the road, I could very likely reuse the new pistons.  That added about $600 to my IRAN cost ($2200 total).  

[AndyFromCB]

Pistons actually looked fine as well but with all the other costs involved and me hoping to get at least get TBO out of this "new" engine, 1200 bucks I would have saved wasn't worth it. Kept the jugs, replaced pistons, pins, valves, springs, guides and rockers at $1200 per cylinder. Saving $200 per piston and rings just didn't seem worth it.