Advice on A-65-8 rebuild

I'm looking for advice on how to proceed with the rebuild of an A-65-8 that I inherited in pieces. The case has not been split and my question regards whether I should split the case or not. The crankshaft turns freely and doesn't show a lot of endplay or runout, but the history of the engine is unknown. I'm sure it would be the conservative choice to split the case and check the camshaft and bearings, but a part of me wants to leave well enough alone and just proceed with a top overhaul. With no logs, no history, and the intention to put it on an experimental, I'm not concerned with legality, just prudence. I'm an A&P and have the IPC and Overhaul Manual, so this is more a philosophical question, but given my lack of experience with the small Continentals, I'd welcome technical advice as well.

Patrick Sween
7MN3

My opinion - split the case, look at everything, and decide what is OK to go back inside. Everything may be spotless. Everything may be worn out or rusted. It is best to figure that out on the ground rather than 50' in the air.

Just my $0.02 worth.

Patrick,

I'm also and A&P and a couple of years ago I took the Teledyne Continental Motors (TCM) factory training in Mobile, AL. The folks at TCM are incredibly knowledgeable and do offer technical support. Their contact information is on the TCM website. My advice is to talk to the TCM tech reps.

Cheers,
Kurt
Cheers,
Kurt

The small Continentals are easy to work on. Split the case and fly with peace of mind.

Think I'd split the case and look at the main bearings, etc. Most of these A65's are +60 years old and you don't know what have been done to them previously, especially since you don't have any logs. My experience is that you'll most likely find the cam bore worn several thousands of an inch toward the front of the case. This causes low oil pressure. A good tight 65 should hold 35-40 # depending on the regulator spring. This can be cured by either boring the case for a oversize cam or milling the case halves and align boring the case again. Probably not cheap but.......................

Couple of other things I thought about: some parts are fairly available from Fresno Air Parts (advertise in the front of Trade A Plane) but cylinders are getting pretty hard to find. Superior used to make a matched set (we have them on one of our A65s) but no longer as far as I know and some of the steel cylinders are rusty and pitted especially below the ring travel so they may or may not be 'airworthy' but I guess with an experimental it's your call as an A & P. Also, some of the old A65's have brass valve seats which may be a concern. If they're within specs the A65's seem to chrome well without as much of an oil burning problem as the larger engines that run faster or so I've been told.

FYI: I sent my 0200 engine less the cylinders to Bolduc in the Twin Cities and let them do the bottom end. They were able to reuse the cam, crank and the block needed no major work. Rods, rockers, etc. were reworked along with the accessory case including the oil pump and the price was slightly less than $5000 which I thought was reasonable. That also included magnetic inspection of the metal parts, new bearings and reassembly. Other than hauling the engine up there I didn't touch it. That might not be for everyone but it worked for me.

Hope this helps.

Mike

Having had a dangerous front main bearing failure on a freshly-overhauled A-65, I am of the same opinion as the other respondents: split the case, do it right. You won't regret fully knowing the condition of this engine and that it was properly assembled and safe as an ancient engine can be!
Hunter

An update seems in order. First, I decided to go ahead and split the case, just for my own piece of mind. Haven't dug into it yet, but should be a good winter project. Also, the engine log was located by my Grandmother-in-law (I inherited the motor from her husband), so I now have a lot better idea of the history. Going through the logs was a fun exercise on it's own, given the interesting past. Thanks for the advice! Now, are there any other resources out there that I might want to look for, besides the overhaul manual and IPC, before I dig in?

Patrick

Save yourself some possible startup oil pump priming agony & become familiar w this info:

http://www.cessna120-140.org/forum/f...e_loss_all.pdf

And be sure the pump is put together with grease - not oil. DAMHIK