Engine overhaul / repair shop recommendation

My engine (o-320) was a Lyco factory overhaul on a swap out basis. It arrived in 2.5 wks and I flew it to Sweden the week after installation. No problems in 700 Hr and very low oil consumption. Main reason for Lyco was they accepted (at the time) the hollow crankshaft which had corrosion in the bore with no core charge.

My current engine was an exchange engine too – ex Israeli Air Force Took a few weeks instead of ~16 weeks.

The drawback of the exchange route is that most of the engines floating in the exchange marketplace are shagged old ones – because most people overhaul their own until they cannot overhaul them anymore because the crankcases have been skimmed so many times, etc…

But if you can find a good exchange engine, with a known history, from a top reputable shop, it’s a good way to go. The 1st issue is that there are so few reputable shops in Europe.

I have offers from four different shops:

Norvic, Nicholson Mclaren, Loma Air and Scan Aviation. The first three mentioned was all within 1500 € in their offerings. Scan Aviation was over 8000 € more expensive then the cheapest wich was Norvic. My maintenance shop has worked a lot with them and he was very surpriced. They actually lowered their offer after this was pointed out, but only very little…

I just had our Continental IO360-ES overhauled by Loma – came in on budget and on time, can certainly recommend them. Overhaul took 4 weeks from their receipt of engine to getting it returned. Runs beautifully.

We had the engine overhauled at scan aviation and, though expensive, they did a good job. Conti IO520.

It’s not necessarily the overhauler. They’re getting parts in a box from the OEM and assemble them. The quality of these parts has been decreasing over the last 15 years or so, be it rods, cylinder heads, pistons, piston rings, and the sort. Most parts in overhauled engines have essentially been around since ages….

This is “the problem” with the European scene.

I have been attacked for saying this (mostly by people who have long gone, from particular countries where there is a “total fanboy” mentality over certain companies, even though there are many reports of bad work by those companies) but it hardly matters which shop you pick… if you do due diligence on it (basically ask for views from previous customers, publicly or especially privately) there are hardly any shops which are mostly or wholly “good”. Almost every one has screwed up really badly. Most shops come back at about 50/50.

Whereas in the USA you can find good shops. The difficulty is finding one with an EASA145 approval. The one I use, Barrett Precision in Oklahoma, is no good except for an N-reg. The only ball they have ever dropped turned out to be mostly just an oil leak at the base of a pushrod shroud – very cheap to fix.

Barretts avoided the recent Lyco bearing scandal because they use Superior parts.

For a G-reg, there used to be a way to use such an engine if you got a US DAR to write out an Export CofA (8140-3 form, not to be confused with the 8130-3) which used to be about $300, but I am not sure about the current status of that, or the usability in the rest of Europe. I know one Turkey-based TB21GT guy who got his engine done there and while they did a great job, they forgot the Export CofA form, and he had a big job getting it accepted (eventually his CAA accepted it).

“total fanboy” mentality over certain companies,

Of course others again have a “total fanboy” mentality over certain countries… So pick your choice.

Steve6443 wrote:

I just had our Continental IO360-ES overhauled by Loma – came in on budget and on time, can certainly recommend them. Overhaul took 4 weeks from their receipt of engine to getting it returned. Runs beautifully.

I had the engine for my Super Cub done at Loma too, no problems for me either, although I’ve not done a lot of hours since overhaul. They did an upgrade to 160HP too, no cost except the STC