Since my last update, essentially nothing has happened.
Poplar Grove has disassembled the engines and done preliminary checks on the parts that will be reused. It looks like the crankshafts are in good enough shape to be reused, which is good, as IO-470-L crankshafts are hard to find right now. The visual and dimensional inspections were OK, but the crankshafts still need to have a “magnetic particle inspection,” colloquially known as a “magnaflux” test. In this test, the tester magnetizes the part using a big ol’ electromagnet and coats the part with iron particles to look for incipient or actual cracks. The shop needs to do that before signing off on the crankshafts, so until that’s done I am not 100% confident that I won’t get stuck waiting for replacement for one or both crankshafts.
As of two weeks ago, the last time I checked, my engines were #19 and #20 in Poplar Grove’s build queue. With luck, they’ll complete the magnaflux tests before the 4th of July and then, assuming they pass, the build can start. Steve tells me that maybe he can shave a couple of weeks off the initial timeline estimate of 25 weeks, which would be nice.
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Paul, I am glad you went with Poplar Grove. I see in your blog where you considered RAM. If I had seen this consideration ahead of time I would have messaged you ahead of time, sorry. Hope your rebuild goes well. I dont know if I told you, buy I had an inflight engine failure in my 1976 A36, IFR, in Wyoming resulting in a forced landing back in 2019. I lost a valve which then punched a hole in the piston head (from the time I lost the valve to hole…less than five seconds, five very long seconds). From 10k ft to on the ground in less than four minutes. My engine had the EDM 930 system. Sent oil samples off at every oil change and annual. Great compressions. Engine had approximately 1830 hrs. It came suddenly. I think one difference here was this engine was old, like 1980 +/- old wrt overhaul (gear up incident early on). It is my understanding that European (or is it really ICAO) standards require an overhaul based on both time in use and age. I will be hard pressed to go beyond overhaul time on an single engine aircraft again! When I ordered an IO550 RAM replacement engine, I expected a quality reman. It is very likely that the overhaul shop gave me an engine with pitting in the cylinders, how does pitting of this magnitude show up in less than six months on a never installed and packaged engine!. The repair facility in Greely CO, Beegles, and their neighbor IA, caught this pitting during the (engine installed and test run within “90 day period”) during install and aircraft re-assembly (i never received the AC when they found the problem). RAM insisted it was Beegles fault (the shop they sent the engine to) and refused to even inspect, they filed a lawsuit against me there in WACO TX, yes, you heard that right, they filed a lawsuit against me! After my experience with them, I will always view that company with caution! My experience with customer service turned into a nightmare. Ultimately, the aircraft was found airworthy but with very real concern that the cylinders would not make it halfway to the next overhaul. This of course has to be revealed to any buyer resulting in a sizeable monetary hit! v/r Jim
yikes! that must have been a miserable experience all round– not just the engine failure but then the ensuing shuffle.
My engines were at about 2700 SMOH but they were flying pretty regularly, and I’m sure that helped. I am a big believer in condition-based maintenance and I borescope the cylinders at each oil change (every 50 hours). Pitted lifters are pretty widespread over the last several years; no one seems to know exactly why but I’d bet on a metallurgical issue in production.
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