Overhaul of 180HP Lycoming 0-360-A4M in a Skyhawk (C-172)

I got a Lycoming factory overhauled O-360-A1A and had it delievered to
my A&P/IA shop. There he and I installed the new engine on my '65
Skyhawk.. I sent the other one back for the "core" charge. I had to
leave a large deposit with Lycoming, that they quickly refunded when the
old engine arrived. Learing experience for me. 300 hours later, running
fine.

Ross

Andrew Gideon wrote:
I'm the "plane lt." for a skyhawk, based in northern NJ (KCDW), that's
getting ready for its engine overhaul. What should we do with it?

I'm curious what others have done, and how its worked for them. I've been
doing some of reading of articles, but it's raised more questions than
answers. Questions I do need, but I'd also like some of those answers.

Questions bouncing around head include:

Should we get our engine overhauled, or swap it for a previously overhauled
engine?

If we do overhaul, is "to new specifications" the only reasonable choice?

Is there a difference of significance between "factory rebuilt" (zero-timed)
and "overhauled to 'new specifications'"?

Any recommendations for shops for the overhaul (or shops to avoid)?

Finally, I'm confused about the process. Does one shop remove/replace and
another actually do the engine work? Or does the plane need to be flown to
the shop that either does the overhaul or has the engine to swap?

For others asking similar questions, here's some of what I've read:

http://www.mattituck.com/new/articles/ohterms.htm
http://www.avweb.com/news/maint/185049-1.html
http://www.aviation-consumer.com/arc...rt/4718-1.html

I've also looked through the forums on cessna.org, but I cannot relocate
what I'd previously found there.

Thanks...

Andrew

Ross Richardson wrote:
I got a Lycoming factory overhauled O-360-A1A and had it delievered to
my A&P/IA shop. There he and I installed the new engine on my '65
Skyhawk.. I sent the other one back for the "core" charge. I had to
leave a large deposit with Lycoming, that they quickly refunded when the
old engine arrived. Learing experience for me. 300 hours later, running
fine.

We had a similar experience getting a factory overhauled Lycoming
engine through Air Power two years ago. For the core charge, we sent
them a certified check which they held uncashed and sent back to us
when they received the old engine back. The engine has been running
great for the last 350 hrs.

Hai Longworth

My A&P was able to order mine directly from the factory. I had to wait
fo the skys to open after 9/11 so I could test fly and break in.

Ross

Longworth wrote:
Ross Richardson wrote:

I got a Lycoming factory overhauled O-360-A1A and had it delievered to
my A&P/IA shop. There he and I installed the new engine on my '65
Skyhawk.. I sent the other one back for the "core" charge. I had to
leave a large deposit with Lycoming, that they quickly refunded when the
old engine arrived. Learing experience for me. 300 hours later, running
fine.


We had a similar experience getting a factory overhauled Lycoming
engine through Air Power two years ago. For the core charge, we sent
them a certified check which they held uncashed and sent back to us
when they received the old engine back. The engine has been running
great for the last 350 hrs.

Hai Longworth

Longworth wrote:

We had a similar experience getting a factory overhauled Lycoming
engine through Air Power two years ago. For the core charge, we sent
them a certified check which they held uncashed and sent back to us
when they received the old engine back. The engine has been running
great for the last 350 hrs.

Does this "core charge" thing work similarly if one deals not with the
factory but with some "shop" that does the work? Or is Lycoming still
involved somehow?

- Andrew

Andrew,
We opted to get a factory overhauled engine instead of sending our
engine in for overhauling. If you have the overhaul work done on your
old engine, there should be no reason for a core charge.
Shortly after we replaced our engine, Lycoming had a policy of not
refunding the core charge if the old core did not meet certain
standards. It was expected that customers who did not get a refund
were not very happy. Lycoming withdrew this bad policy sometimes last
year.

Hai Longworth