Check Essential
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jan 14, 2005
- Posts
- 75
My father is building an RV10 as a retirement project. This is his first build. Although he's had his private pilot license for 40+ years and has owned light singles in the past, GA is not the focus of his life and he hasn’t been active for nearly 10 years.
I fly for the airlines and have somewhat lost touch with GA over the years and don’t feel fully qualified to guide him in this process.
That being said, my father has located a Lycoming 0-540 from a wrecked Comanche that he is considering buying to rebuild for his RV project. The Comanche crashed into trees killing the pilot about 8 years ago. The crash was not the result of engine failure. The pilot was attempting to land at night on a runway not approved for night ops and subsequently collided with tress on approach. Witnesses at the time supposedly described hearing the engine “rev up” before it quit. The prop separated so it’s possible/likely that the engine over-sped before shutting down. The mags are a loss as well as one of the jugs which had fin damage, both as a result of contact with the firewall.
The person who has the engine for sale said the crank has been magnifluxed and shows no sign of cracks. It was also checked for straightness and is true. The case has been visually inspected and shows no cracks. This will all be reverified by a third party prior to sale.
My father plans to replace all of the jugs (he has some kind of ceramic aftermarket jug in mind) and install an electronic ignition system as well as fuel injection. All of the remaining parts would be magnifluxed as necessary before sale and the case would be professionally examined for cracks.
Assuming the engine can be had for a reasonable price, I’m curious what would be required to sell some of the parts (the 5 remaining jugs for instance) w/o misrepresenting them? In other words, who can legally inspect parts and label them as serviceable? Can this be done by any A&P or does it need to be an AI? Or someone else?
Obviously all of the rings and bearings would be replaced. I’m also assuming it would be smart to replace the camshaft.
I spoke with the seller and asked whatever questions I could come up with. The prop governor “appears” to be okay. I don’t know what’s involved with inspecting/rebuilding one of these. The seller has “lot’s of starters sitting around” and I think the alternator was also a loss. The carb has a crack that the seller thinks can be repaired, but again, my father wants to convert this to an injected engine.
If we can get this engine cheap, and sell some of the unused parts, it might be worth doing.
I’m interested in getting some perspective.
TIA.
CE
I fly for the airlines and have somewhat lost touch with GA over the years and don’t feel fully qualified to guide him in this process.
That being said, my father has located a Lycoming 0-540 from a wrecked Comanche that he is considering buying to rebuild for his RV project. The Comanche crashed into trees killing the pilot about 8 years ago. The crash was not the result of engine failure. The pilot was attempting to land at night on a runway not approved for night ops and subsequently collided with tress on approach. Witnesses at the time supposedly described hearing the engine “rev up” before it quit. The prop separated so it’s possible/likely that the engine over-sped before shutting down. The mags are a loss as well as one of the jugs which had fin damage, both as a result of contact with the firewall.
The person who has the engine for sale said the crank has been magnifluxed and shows no sign of cracks. It was also checked for straightness and is true. The case has been visually inspected and shows no cracks. This will all be reverified by a third party prior to sale.
My father plans to replace all of the jugs (he has some kind of ceramic aftermarket jug in mind) and install an electronic ignition system as well as fuel injection. All of the remaining parts would be magnifluxed as necessary before sale and the case would be professionally examined for cracks.
Assuming the engine can be had for a reasonable price, I’m curious what would be required to sell some of the parts (the 5 remaining jugs for instance) w/o misrepresenting them? In other words, who can legally inspect parts and label them as serviceable? Can this be done by any A&P or does it need to be an AI? Or someone else?
Obviously all of the rings and bearings would be replaced. I’m also assuming it would be smart to replace the camshaft.
I spoke with the seller and asked whatever questions I could come up with. The prop governor “appears” to be okay. I don’t know what’s involved with inspecting/rebuilding one of these. The seller has “lot’s of starters sitting around” and I think the alternator was also a loss. The carb has a crack that the seller thinks can be repaired, but again, my father wants to convert this to an injected engine.
If we can get this engine cheap, and sell some of the unused parts, it might be worth doing.
I’m interested in getting some perspective.
TIA.
CE
Last edited: