Frank, Highflyer,
I am aware of the parts issue. But so far I've been able to find what
I've needed at an reasonable price, (except for motor mounts, still looking
for those). I've gotten a rebuilt Beech 215 prop with zero hours for
$5,500.00 which I think is a good deal. I've picked up an E225-8 with 500
hours since factory re-manufacture that has been sitting around for a while
and it cost less than what a 360, or 540 core would have, (I've had it look
at by a 3rd party shop and it needs top end work). That doesn't bother me
because as you say, the weak part of this engine is the cylinders. ECi makes
a version of O-470 cylinders that fit and they have addressed the weakness.
So I think I am good there.

I have been told the Continental engineers were concerned about 225hp in
the light weight case and crank so when they added 80 lbs of metal to the
crank and case and called it an O-470.

But if I should mess up this engine or wang the prop playing in the
bush, getting replacement parts on a short notice would be VERY expensive.
So I keeping my eyes open for a second Beech prop and am looking to set up a
pre-oiler on this engine to address those issues.

Thanks for the reply,
Kelvin



"Highflyer" wrote in message
...

"Kelvin Gurney" wrote in message
...
I am building an Smith Aviation Tundra Boss, (a experimental stretched
tri-pacer derivative) for use in Alaska's back country. It will have a
Beech 215 84" prop on it. My question concerns installing a pre-oiling
system. I was thinking the oil pressure fitting on the left crankcase
might be a good place to install the accumulator. My concern was with
the 1/8" hole, assuming the oil is a decent temperature, can I flow oil
through the 1/8" hole fast enough to pre-oil the engine? Or would the
oil follow some path of least resistance and just flow into the scavenge
system?

I would love to hear any other suggestion about the E-225. I am
looking to keep this engine low compression, light, and reliable.


Kelvin,

The E-225 eventually grew into the Continental O-470, which is the same
basic engine with many detail improvements. The older O-470 in the 230 HP
class such as were found in the earlier Cessna 182's are low compression,
run well on mogas, and have proven to be extremely reliable. Except, of
course, for the cylinders. The lower end on these is usually good for
over three thousand hours but the cylinder assemblies seem to give serious
problems after about 1000. They were used in everything from Barons and
Cessna 310's down to Ryan Navions and early Bonanzas. It is a pretty much
bulletproof engine and there are many available for reasonable prices on
the used engine market.

Another excellent engine in that category is the derated O-540 Lycoming
used in the early Pawnees. They derated it to 235 HP so they could run it
on 80 octane fuel. These earlier O-540's are also a bulletproof engine
that chugs on forever and are available relatively reasonably priced on
the used engine market.

Using the E series Continental engines these days is comparable to using
the Lycoming O-290 or O-435 series engines. They are good and were
excellent in their day, but the newer engines that have replaced them are
at least as durable and a lot easier to find parts for, making them less
expensive to overhaul. I say that, and I have an O-290 Lycoming in my
hangar for one of my homebuilts and am helping a friend install a Lycoming
O-435 into his Bellanca. :-)

Highflyer
Highflight Aviation Services
Pinckneyville Airport ( PJY )