REFLECTOR: How to find an engine core

[Jones Nick]

My situation may be unique in that I have built several engines and I am comfortable with doing my own engine work. I found two engines that were damaged in landing accidents, the first was an TSIO-550-C1B from a Piper Malibu and the second was from a Cirrus SR-22. The Malibu engine had 850 hours and the Cirrus engine had 48. I only paid $3500 for the Malibu engine but it was missing a lot of parts and would require some expensive repairs to the turbo system. The core was in good shape so I bought it. In the mean time, I found the Cirrus engine that was complete but had prop strike damage that required a new crank and some case repairs but the engine was complete with all accessories and components with only 48 hours. I bought this engine for $12,500 from Wentowrth on ebay. The crank was an additional $5000. I went to the Continental engine school ($750) and learned how they built engines and rebuilt mine. I have less than $20K in the new engine. I sold the case from the TSIO-550 for more than I paid for the whole engine and now have tons of spare parts.

Sorry this is long but the point is, if you're willing to learn to do your own work, you can get some great deals. Every time a Cirrus activates the CAPS, there's an engine on the market. I would check with reputable bone pickers for a deal.

Best regards,

Nick and Connie Jones
Velocity XL-RG
N10CN
99% done 90% to go

From: reflector-bounces at tvbf.org [mailto:reflector-bounces at tvbf.org] On Behalf Of Reiff Lorenz
Sent: Wednesday, February 22, 2012 10:46 AM
To: reflector at tvbf.org
Subject: REFLECTOR: How to find an engine core


Reflector,

I want to put a continental IO-550-N in my XL-RG. I don't want to buy a ready-to-run engine now because I have a many years left in my build. So I'm thinking of buying an "inexpensive" run-out engine that I could use for position, weight, spacing, fitting, etc. When I get close to being done, I could send this core in for an overhaul and end up with a like-new engine that still has its full warrantee.

What's a good way to find an run-out, but overhaul-able IO-550 engine?
What are the problems in this plan that I'm overlooking?

Thanks!

Reiff Lorenz
XL-RG, 30% done
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://www.tvbf.org/mailman/private/reflector/attachments/20120222/8337208f/attachment-0001.htm>