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Thread: Engine overhaul and shops question

  1. #1

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    Engine overhaul and shops question

    To do and overhaul on an aircraft engine does it have to be a shop that does the work? I'm not talking about a home built type of deal.
    A search for do it yourself aircraft engine overhaul brought up tons of unrelated stuff.

  2. #2
    Dana's Avatar
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    An A&P can do an overhaul if he has the proper tools. But a repair shop set up for this kind of work may be better able to handle it.

  3. #3
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    At a bare minimum, the overhaul must be supervised and signed off by a mechanic with a powerplant license Installation back onto the airframe requires a signature of an A&P mechanic. The overhaul should be thoroughly documented in the logs and/or accompanying aircraft forms. When doing logbook reviews, I find most overhauls to be so poorly documented that they might as well have not bothered to make an entry, which makes the engine close to worthless when it comes to placing a value on it when you sell the plane, and is often times indicative of shoddy engine work. A log book entry that says "overhauled engine" may make it legal, but is pretty much meaningless without accompanying paperwork, parts lists, yellow tags, and specs.

    -Cub Builder

  4. #4

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    A technician who tears down and rebuilds 100 engines a year or more is just more likely to do a higher quality job that a tech that does one engine a year. The practiced tech is also likely to do the work in less time.

    Looking at it another way, would you like to go to a heart surgeon who does 100 of your type of surgery each year or a surgeon who does only one?

    Best of luck,

    Wes

  5. #5

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    Quote Originally Posted by enginesrus View Post
    To do and overhaul on an aircraft engine does it have to be a shop that does the work? I'm not talking about a home built type of deal.
    A search for do it yourself aircraft engine overhaul brought up tons of unrelated stuff.
    Narrow your search down to 14CFR43. It's all there.

  6. #6

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    Quote Originally Posted by WLIU View Post
    A technician who tears down and rebuilds 100 engines a year or more is just more likely to do a higher quality job that a tech that does one engine a year. The practiced tech is also likely to do the work in less time.

    Looking at it another way, would you like to go to a heart surgeon who does 100 of your type of surgery each year or a surgeon who does only one?

    Best of luck,

    Wes
    I have worked in many shops, as machinist and have been an engine tech, and from day one as a youngster I've seen many so called experienced in both fields that know very little and do shoddy work. I asked myself many times how did they ever get into the field. No longer a kid.
    I found nothing that said an A&P has to do said work, as in many shops there are many workers with no A&P, and shops I've been in(visited) no one is standing over the techs. Also if said engine goes on an old war bird it does not have to be certified, it is done so under the aircrafts certification. None of the (edited) military class engines were ever certified.
    Its up to an AP to inspect and approve said engine for use, and if its say an R-2800 that was found in a barn in Mexico and the AP gets it running and approves it then, my question is answered.

    I've searched and can not find a full part 43, just some bits and pieces, revisions etc. I may have found it after this post.
    Last edited by enginesrus; 11-24-2019 at 01:29 AM.

  7. #7

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    More searching on the internet by the last poster will clarify a lot of misunderstandings. You will find that warbirds typically have their own FAA approved operating limitations that specify maintenance. You have to look at the paperwork for individual airplanes. It is not as loose as the previous poster suggests.

    As noted above, a "P" mechanic must do the return to service paperwork for an engine on non-exp airplanes. Shops certificated by the FAA as Repair Stations must have manuals that state what its inspectors do, what records must be kept, and which staff member, that has what qualifications and training, may sign the return to service paperwork.

    The theory is that if all of those steps are followed competently and in good faith, a quality product is delivered. In reality, before you trust your overhaul to an individual mechanic or a shop, you should do some asking around to find happy and unhappy customers. Especially in this age of the internet the word gets around as to who are the true craftsmen, who is sketchy, who is expensive but worth it, who is just overpriced, and who services the cheapskates but might be OK.

    Last week I went to a Wings talk on landing in a tree. The pilot who did so discovered after the fact that the Cub engine had the wrong crank in it and an important internal part was not installed correctly, resulting in engine silence at a very awkward time. Let the buyer beware.

    Best of luck,

    Wes

  8. #8

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    And what about the barn find of the large engine for a multi engine application? The whole reason for a barn find would be to avoid the $100,000 plus overhaul cost. And with any barn find it could have been Joe Blow whom ever that last did the overhaul. In the end its just up to the AP or P to approve it for use. That is how I see it rule wise.
    I guess no one here knows how a well known in the past outfit, handled their big round surplus engines used for back up replacements, for their fire planes?


    I would just like to add some of my latest findings. And in response to how a nice experienced shop would be at doing overhauls etc.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T117Y8FHe_0 this is interesting.

    And on this one at 31:10 an inspector talks.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvkEpstd9os

    Maybe its best to let the real "professionals" do the work, you know the place that manufactures
    the engine. Yes lets talk about all the top experts with an A&P or P that are so qualified. ((I can't get rid of the underline!!!!))!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlPtMVijIzs
    Last edited by enginesrus; 11-24-2019 at 09:39 PM.

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