If you can find one...
One has already been named above (excellent but maybe a little costly compared to some tinker-shed in the States) and I could tell you at least one more that I would personally prefer because it is run by a true artisan and engine lover (so to say).
One has already been named above (excellent but maybe a little costly compared to some tinker-shed in the States)
Engine rebuilds in the USA are probably a bit cheaper but it's not a lot by the time you throw in €700 air freight each way. Even less if you use proper shipping which isn't going to get lost for a few weeks at some warehouse e.g. DHL at €3000 each way (250kg box).
My reason for going there, Barrett Precision in my case, would be to use a really reputable shop.
and I could tell you at least one more that I would personally prefer because it is run by a true artisan and engine lover (so to say).
So could I, but the one I am thinking of takes your engine to bits and 6 months later the bits are still on his bench, while you (and a load of other customers) are tearing their hair out and getting quotes from other engine firms for the cost of taking a box of bits collected from the bench and reassembling them into an engine 
So project management is also essential - a big missing component in much of the GA maintenance scene.
One gotcha is that all the US shops with a really good reputation do not have EASA approvals (cannot generate an EASA-1 or a dual release FAA 8130-3 form) so the engine (which at this point is is technically "used" even if you owned it from new) cannot go into an EASA-reg plane. The solution to this was for the US shop to get a DAR to sign an Export CofA (8130-4 form) which was about $300. I had a case of a TB21 pilot (in a country just outside Europe) who used the same engine shop but (as with me) they forgot to get the DAR in and just shipped the engine. Fortunately he somehow managed to straighten this out with his CAA. However I vaguely recall reading somewhere that this situation has recently changed because the FAA stopped issuing the 8130-4 so all the other countries had to do "something"...
One interesting thing I heard yesterday from N McLaren is that they will remove casting flaws in the inlet manifolds. This is unusual for the UK (and in the USA too) because it goes under "gas flowing". It must be 100% legal everywhere because the component remains within manufacturing drawing tolerances, but some inspectors (who like to feel important) don't like it.
Engine rebuilds in the USA are probably a bit cheaper but it's not a lot by the time you throw in €700 air freight each way. Even less if you use proper shipping which isn't going to get lost for a few weeks at some warehouse e.g. DHL at €3000 each way (250kg box).
Which can be considered cheap compared to this: Last year, one of the engines of "my" Citation got its hot section inspection done. By the german maintenance base of the manufacturer (no names on a public forum...) close to Berlin. They sent someone with a minivan who hauled the thing to Berlin (500km by road) and back again a few weeks later. Just the hot section, less than 100kg. On the bill, they put 5.000€ each way for transportation. Which the aircraft owner refused to pay. He got away with it, but I bet that when they do the second engine next year, those 10.000€ are going to come back again as "seals" or "mounting brackets" or similar.
Grotesque overcharging is not uncommon in the piston GA world, either.
One very well known UK company is well known for inflating its bills by 2x, only to reduce them if the customer makes a fuss. However, most of their clientele are people who left a pre-signed blank cheque on the seat anyway...
The problem, as you perhaps suggest, is that you can't use them again because you know they will claw it back on the next job, only using a better disguise.
Peter
I prefer not to name the shop, they took responsibility, re-overhauled the engine to ‘0’ hours and asked me to pay for the shipping only, that is if i don’t mind. All if this was done under warranty that required them to repair the engine, not to re-overhaul. Per my request they have installed all new cylinders, camshaft, lifters and the rest.
We carried lots of work in the UK to find out the problem (I was with Marshall at the time). Cyl #6 had worn rings with sharp edges, the exhaust valve was stuck to the valve guide and both were pushed in the cyl. Head. The lifters were worn and the cams were worn and uneven . Cyl. #4 showed the same symptoms as #6 but was in a slightly better condition. The shop suggested that the camshaft had bad metal that caused it.
When the engine faild for the second time a tooth came off the double gear (the one that drives the camshaft and the L/H magneto), in the photo that was sent to me a dark spot could be seen in the base of it so maybe there was some manufacturing defect, I will check to see if I still have the photo. During this repair the shop have dismantled the engine and inspected all components, they also paid for the shipping to and from the US (they did not have to do it).
The reason that I don’t want to name the shop is because people will think that they are rubbish, i don’t think so. They have treated me fairly and protected their reputation. Even if it was them who were at fault, any one can have a bad day and everyone can screw up from time to time. However, the lesson was to use top European shop rather than ship the engine forth and back and fighting customs in between (they wanted £££££££££££££££££ because the agents didn’t fill the paperwork correctly).
Another shop with good name is Aero Engineering and Powerplants http://aepengines.com/
Ben
I certainly agree that any company can get caught by a defective component, but if defective components were that common we would see GA planes falling out of the sky all over the place, with bits of camshafts etc inside their oil filter.
The fact they they obviously don't do that at all often suggests that the vast majority of major mechanical problems (which admittedly are themselves thankfully rare) are due to poor workmanship.
My view is that by going to an engine shop in the USA, which processes perhaps 10x more engines than a UK one, one is going to benefit from a higher standard of workmanship.
It doesn't always apply, for sure. For example I know of a US instrument overhaul company which does some or all of its work in Mexico - presumably because Mexicans are cheaper than Americans. And I have had some real crap from them... a KI256 which lasted 200hrs being one of them. Obviously I would not use a US engine shop which rebuilds its engines in Mexico...
If you send e.g. a magneto for an overhaul to here the work will be done right there and I have even spoken to the very man who did an overhaul on a D3000 mag of mine. The mag I sent them was "overhauled" immediately beforehand by a UK firm (with an "interesting" reputation) which refused to send me a copy of their work pack, after which I drew the obvious conclusion...
Good thing we have these reliable engines from 1940 that every mechanic knows his way around and can overhaul in his/her sleep... What if these were diesels, they might last only 50 hours or so... yikes!
Ben wrote:
Use a reputed shop in the UK or Germany and you might save yourself lots of agro.
@Ben
I know this post is about shipping (destination selected), not selection of the best shops. But your response puzzles me. European engine OH companies have had their fair share of problems in recent years. Not all due to bad spare parts from Lyco or Conti. Just call any flight school in need to overhaul one engine every year or more. Troubling examples abound, for almost every household name in engine OH. If Beechflyer blindly followed your well meant advice, both he and you may be very unhappy in the end. It’s pure chance.
@Beechflyer
Read Peter’s report (see above) carefully. As every shop makes a bad engine every now and then, the best engine comes with warranty, warranty, and more warranty. Talk to several engine shops and have them explain their warranty clauses. In particular what is excluded. A 100%, all inclusive, super-duper warranty (in big print) limited to “these” parts and "those"parts, while excluding labor (fine print on page 7) is a good reason to walk away.
The above thread is more than 6 years old, BTW.
There is a thread here on engine crating and shipping. I have recently found some services which are a lot cheaper than one would have paid a few years ago, so the shipping costs are worth checking out carefully.
Regarding warranty, I think a warranty on an engine is worth as much as a warranty on a parachute. It is better to get an engine done by a reputable shop. Any hassle with an engine results – at best – in a load of hassle. For example my sticky valve cost “only” £700 for the cylinder repair (which would have been done under an engine warranty, if I had one) but no warranty will cover the extra £xxxx spent on avgas, flying ROP for the next 50hrs or whatever until the re-honed cylinder stabilises. And the inability to do higher altitude IFR flights (unless the engine is turbocharged).
And I have never heard of an engine shop in Europe for which there is a solid customer feedback. One frequently recommended one, in central-ish Europe, managed to produce an engine which seized up after not many hours (I am told this happens if the crankcases are not properly machined at overhaul and the bearings get clamped too tight, rather than slipping bearing shells which is harder to do on a Lyco because the shells are pinned) and then they went bust…
Unfortunately the US route will not give you a usable warranty. In extreme-cost cases you can usually come to an agreement for a local firm to rebuild the engine and the US firm will pay something towards it. But this is rare; the engine normally has to go back to the builder.
@Peter,
you are right about many things, foremost that I missed how old the posts were ;) and the hassles which no warranty can ever cover. What I was trying to say is this, among the shops which survive the winds of change over years, there are some with fake warranty, and some with real warranty. If your engine fails in flight, it ain’t matter. But, if it fails the next annual in the shop you wish you had selected the stand-up shop.
