#engine overhaul

Some days builds go so smoothly it makes you question if you forgot something. Some days, nothing goes smoothly and you have to use all your brain power to fix that last stud that ripped out when bolting the sump on.

Baby2’s engine all prettied up :)

Short block assembled and ready for cylinder installation! Wish I could say this is half way but there’s a lot of work to go yet, but hopefully it will be ready for the test stand in a couple days.

Yesterday I started the teardown on this TCM O-470. Disassembly is extensive, particularly on these bigger engines. There’s a lot of steps required to ensure that we preserve the engine parts and detect any issues that might cause us grief later during assembly. As much as I enjoy the builds, teardowns are pretty interesting, and you get a comprehensive picture of the engine’s life. We can tell most of what an engine has been subjected to just by looking at the state of the components, from overspeeds down to even the quality of engine oil that was used. It all leaves a mark. This engine for example, used a quality of oil where the small amount of detergent neutralizes quickly and it turns acidic after a short number of hours, and also stops absorbing water that builds due to condensation. This is evidenced by the abundant corrosion we found all throughout the engine.

A left hand turning, turbo charged IO-360. It started like a dream and ran great. These engines are notorious for being difficult to overhaul and break in.

New year, new grind! I started building this TCM IO520 before the holiday break, and now it’s time to get her finished and on the test stand. Continentals are new builds to me, so I’m excited to get more time working on them. The shop has several more big blocks like this one waiting for reassembly, so I’ll get plenty of practice 😅

Sometimes we get to do specialty repairs to engine components, like this idler tower bore repair. The bore was damaged and oversized, so I machined an aluminum bushing and installed it as per a Lycoming service instruction repair. It gives components new leases on life and gives the customer options outside of having to buy a new crankcase.