Engine shop recommendations (teardown/IRAN)

hindsight2020

hindsight2020

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hindsight2020
Going on a month of getting nowhere, trying to branch out and see if you fine folks have any actionable recommendations for reliable engine shops in Texas. Figured if I'm going to cold call places on the basis of SGOTI, might as well ask here over relying on 6 year old reviews on Google. I'm astounded at the lack of interest I've encountered so far, but I'll leave that for my main thread.

Any leads appreciated, given my hull value issues, I'm willing to patronize lesser "name recognition" shops, if yall have any positive recent (post 2020) experience with them. Thanks folks!
 
helps to know what type of engine. . . continental ? lycoming ? I mean continental is there in alabama, Ram Engines is there in Waco.
 
Pinnacle Engines is terrific and has the longest warranty in the business at 3 years or TBO whichever comes first. For an extra cost they will flow match the cylinders and fully balance the rotating mass.

Aircraft Engine Overhaul Shop | Rebuilt Aircraft Engines | Lycoming Engine Overhaul Shops.

Are you looking for an aircraft engine rebuild shop? Get services of rebuilt aircraft engines with Pinnacle Aircraft Engines. Also, call us on 251-947-4848 for Lycoming overhaul price list with quality and on budget.
pinnacleaircraftengines.com pinnacleaircraftengines.com
 
Zephyr in Florida
G&N in Indiana
Corona in CA
 
hindsight2020 said:
Going on a month of getting nowhere, trying to branch out and see if you fine folks have any actionable recommendations for reliable engine shops in Texas. Figured if I'm going to cold call places on the basis of SGOTI, might as well ask here over relying on 6 year old reviews on Google. I'm astounded at the lack of interest I've encountered so far, but I'll leave that for my main thread.

Any leads appreciated, given my hull value issues, I'm willing to patronize lesser "name recognition" shops, if yall have any positive recent (post 2020) experience with them. Thanks folks!
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I know you asked for Texas but I recently had an IO360C1C6 IRANd by Western skyways. Base cost $11k plus anything that needs fixing/replacement. They will put it on a dyno and run it for 3 hours when they are done. Shipping costs to/from Colorado is baked into the price. They contract with different trucking companies for shipping. They will drop off a crate, then come back when you have it packed to pick it up. It was about 2 months last spring when I did it down time.
 
Datadriver said:
I know you asked for Texas but I recently had an IO360C1C6 IRANd by Western skyways. Base cost $11k plus anything that needs fixing/replacement. They will put it on a dyno and run it for 3 hours when they are done. Shipping costs to/from Colorado is baked into the price. They contract with different trucking companies for shipping. They will drop off a crate, then come back when you have it packed to pick it up. It was about 2 months last spring when I did it down time.
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Thank you! The new shop I contacted is providing me a quote from them. This is an excellent data point, hopefully they'll still honor your base rate when I get words from them.

And I've moved on from the imperative it be in Texas. My original intent was to patronize locals, given the rapidly gentrifying/consolidating of an already small market. But it appears the freight rates around the Great Plains are fairly insensitive to distance, plus the new shop I'm going with did not recommend anybody in TX. Given all the recommendations so far out of state on here as well, seems like out of state will be the way to go on this thing.

Thanks again for the recommendation with actual numbers, this should also help those in similar predicaments find less dated (aka pre-2020) data points for IRANs.
 
Airworx in AL did my O-300 last year. Engine has been running great. Certified overhaul.
 
texasclouds said:
Airworx in AL did my O-300 last year. Engine has been running great. Certified overhaul.
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Airworx also did mine. I got lucky that he had a cancellation on his schedule, so I got in as soon as the shop got the engine off and drove it up there. He turned it in a week. Unbelievable. Everyone else I talked to had lead times of six months. The guy is not talkative, but he gets **** done. He has a tremendous machine shop and has been churning out new stc repairs for unavailable parts at the rate of about one a month seems like. He charged 11000 to iran my 540 iirc. That total also included doing a service bulletin to the governor gear shaft retention. He is also a certified repair station.

October 2024 update:
My engine had the exact same failure occur again after 375 hours due to Airworx not following the Lycoming manual or the applicable service instruction. We also found that he did not install new bearings when he said he did in the log entry. I wanted to put this warning up because this thread pops up on Google searches. Knowing what I know now, I wouldn't let that guy within fifty feet of my airplane.
 
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murphey said:
https://www.zephyrengines.com/ in Florida. A number of Colorado folks use them (I wish I had).
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I live in Washington State, about as far away as you can get from Florida in the lower 48, had them do my O-320-D3G in 2012. I am completely satisfied. Easy to work with. Responsive. Engine going strong.
 
As long as you're shipping out of state I'll mention Pen Yann. They overhauled my O-360 in '19 and set up shipping. No surprises and they were on schedule. So far engine in running great. They have an online quote request and for overhauls it's instant. https://www.pennyanaero.com/aircraft-engine-service-quote-request Of course that was back in 2019. Good Luck!
 
I'm being quoted 8 hours and zero dollars in parts to remove the engine, but 30 hours plus 700dollars in parts to reinstall it. What say you all?
 
hindsight2020 said:
Thank you! The new shop I contacted is providing me a quote from them. This is an excellent data point, hopefully they'll still honor your base rate when I get words from them.

And I've moved on from the imperative it be in Texas. My original intent was to patronize locals, given the rapidly gentrifying/consolidating of an already small market. But it appears the freight rates around the Great Plains are fairly insensitive to distance, plus the new shop I'm going with did not recommend anybody in TX. Given all the recommendations so far out of state on here as well, seems like out of state will be the way to go on this thing.

Thanks again for the recommendation with actual numbers, this should also help those in similar predicaments find less dated (aka pre-2020) data points for IRANs.
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If your engine is shipped, buy insurance. Common carriers will pay about $2 a pound if the engine gets pinballed around inside a trailer.
 
Here's a tidbit I wish I knew when I did mine. I did the first oil change at 15 hours, and the oil filter was LOADED with material. I freaked out and assumed my engine was trashed, but we decided it was either carbon or lead fouling that broke loose from the ring lands, and decided to check again after another 10 hours. Sure enough after 10 hours the filter was mostly clean, and at the next change 25 hours later the filter was spotless.

hindsight2020 said:
I'm being quoted 8 hours and zero dollars in parts to remove the engine, but 30 hours plus 700dollars in parts to reinstall it. What say you all?
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Iirc I paid 5000 for the labor to r&r. Engine mounts, oil, filter....$700 sounds reasonable.
 
Jim K said:
Iirc I paid 5000 for the labor to r&r. Engine mounts, oil, filter....$700 sounds reasonable.
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Thank you for the data point. The quote I referenced does not include the engine mount; that adds another 10 hours labor separately, bumping up the labor total to 48 (8+30+10) according to their quote. Then add whatever the vendor would charge to refresh/repair/whatever the mount (they spitballed 800-2k for overhaul, 2k-4k for new depending on availability). At this point I'm inclined to get a second opinion on the mount, while I wait for the engine shop quotes.

What was the nature of your IRAN? I assume it came well under the cost of an overhaul. I'm still waiting on their quotes from their preferred engine shops, but I think I'm getting ready to give some of the shops you guys have suggested a call myself and see what I can find out on my own.
 
hindsight2020 said:
Thank you for the data point. The quote I referenced does not include the engine mount; that adds another 10 hours labor separately, bumping up the labor total to 48 (8+30+10) according to their quote. Then add whatever the vendor would charge to refresh/repair/whatever the mount (they spitballed 800-2k for overhaul, 2k-4k for new depending on availability). At this point I'm inclined to get a second opinion on the mount, while I wait for the engine shop quotes.

What was the nature of your IRAN? I assume it came well under the cost of an overhaul. I'm still waiting on their quotes from their preferred engine shops, but I think I'm getting ready to give some of the shops you guys have suggested a call myself and see what I can find out on my own.
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I should have been more specific and said "lord mounts". I did not remove my engine mount from the airframe.

You may or may not recall I lost all my engine oil (mostly on my windshield) in flight due to the governor gear shaft exiting the front of the engine. This was Feb 2022. https://www.pilotsofamerica.com/com...-most-expensive-way-to-get-to-florida.136647/

Speaking of which, make sure they complete SI-1560 while it's apart.

I don't remember what the quote was for an official overhaul, but I know it was at least double. My engine only had 700ish hours on it, so it seemed kind of pointless. IRAN replaced the bearings, and the cam looked new when he opened it up. I wasn't concerned about the cylinders with that low of time. Overhaul exchange was going to be around 50k. The biggest issue for me though was down time. Anything but an IRAN was going to be 7-8 months minimum.
 
hindsight2020 said:
I'm being quoted 8 hours and zero dollars in parts to remove the engine, but 30 hours plus 700dollars in parts to reinstall it. What say you all?
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Labor sounds about right. Took a day to remove mine and prep to ship. I am about 3 full workdays into install, with about 3 more to go, but this is my first time doing it. My install is also more complex than most, with inverted oil, CS prop, and new engine monitor.

Parts cost sounds low, unless you are going cheap on purpose. Some of my costs:

Lord shock mounts $800
New hoses $2000
New oil cooler $500
OH prop gov $1000
OH boost pump $1000
New baffles $800
Alternator belt $100

Some of that was overkill, and some is N/A for most engines. Hose cost for inverted oil system is 3x a normal aircraft. But I would absolutely go with new shock mounts at a minimum, as those are a huge PITA to replace later. If engine was making metal, you need a new oil cooler, and most engine shops will require new hoses for warranty. I don't see how you could do it for under $2K in parts.

Also, if you have ever wanted an engine monitor, now is the time. And if the cables to alternator and starter are decrepit, good time to replace those too.

Spending other people's money is way more fun then spending mine.
 
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hindsight2020 said:
I'm being quoted 8 hours and zero dollars in parts to remove the engine, but 30 hours plus 700dollars in parts to reinstall it. What say you all?
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We’re being quoted 40hrs for R&R. Firewall forward parts are highly dependent on each instance.
 
IDK but..

in my case O320E2D (4 banger lycoming with fixed pitch prop) in a Cessna 177

Engine Mount Overhaul $2884. it was pretty beat up and needed it, lots of chafes all over it, they replaced 80% of the tubes on it.
Engine Mount Vibration Isolators (the rubber shocks) are $999.80
Replacing the fuel strainer drain cable $75
New Reiff Engine Preheater $800
If I was replacing the hoses there are 7 IIRC and that would be about $1200
Replacing all the CHT and EGT probes and that's about $800
Exhaust s fine
Baffles are fine (DIY removed disassembled blasted etched and alodined, maybe 8 hours labor.
Oil Cooler is fine
$150 or so in adel clamps
Throttle cable is fine
Mixture cable being replaced $250
Carb heat cable being replaced $110
Aeroducting $50
Spark plugs are almost new already
Spark plug harness is fine
Mags, Carb, Alternator, Prop, Vacuum Pump, Fuel Pump, starter are fine.
Replacing the cable from the starter to the contactor on the firewall $100
New stater contactor $85

Almost all the electrical wiring that asses through the firewall was replaced 10 years ago so all that stuff is in great shape. That was at least 8 hours labor and maybe $250 in parts.
 
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Jim K said:
I should have been more specific and said "lord mounts". I did not remove my engine mount from the airframe.

You may or may not recall I lost all my engine oil (mostly on my windshield) in flight due to the governor gear shaft exiting the front of the engine. This was Feb 2022. https://www.pilotsofamerica.com/com...-most-expensive-way-to-get-to-florida.136647/

Speaking of which, make sure they complete SI-1560 while it's apart.

I don't remember what the quote was for an official overhaul, but I know it was at least double. My engine only had 700ish hours on it, so it seemed kind of pointless. IRAN replaced the bearings, and the cam looked new when he opened it up. I wasn't concerned about the cylinders with that low of time. Overhaul exchange was going to be around 50k. The biggest issue for me though was down time. Anything but an IRAN was going to be 7-8 months minimum.
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Did they harangue you about the crank? I keep getting circled around about what-if parts not passing inspection and this and that and 20k in new cam and crank (wasn't even my request for quote), and I have to remind the parties this wasn't a prop strike.

This has turned into such a clown show before a single wrench has been moved, I'm almost ready to just get someone willing to take the price risk of the teardown and entertain a firesale. It's becoming clear to me that outside of the all you can eat buffet that are insurance claim covered work, nobody so far is interested in fixing anything short of selling you a new engine. Real sad state of affairs indeed, I got some soul searching to do, this stuff isn't fun, but now it's just not even funny....
 
Just stay diligent and on top of it, like you would if you were IMC down to minimums. Don’t let the bastages win. Don’t have the hazardous attitude of resignation, lol!!
 
hindsight2020 said:
Did they harangue you about the crank? I keep getting circled around about what-if parts not passing inspection and this and that and 20k in new cam and crank (wasn't even my request for quote), and I have to remind the parties this wasn't a prop strike.

This has turned into such a clown show before a single wrench has been moved, I'm almost ready to just get someone willing to take the price risk of the teardown and entertain a firesale. It's becoming clear to me that outside of the all you can eat buffet that are insurance claim covered work, nobody so far is interested in fixing anything short of selling you a new engine. Real sad state of affairs indeed, I got some soul searching to do, this stuff isn't fun, but now it's just not even funny....
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The reason they’re giving you all the “what if” scenarios is because they are real and they are a risk you need to be aware of, especially if you send the engine to a CRS. I would not be at all surprised to have a tag on list of work that needs to be completed to make things right.

If you want this done the cheapest way possible your best bet is going to be to find a local guy who you can pay to open the engine up and figure out what it needs, then proceed from there. Seems like there has already been an awful lot of time wasted that could have been spent working.
 
hindsight2020 said:
Did they harangue you about the crank? I keep getting circled around about what-if parts not passing inspection and this and that and 20k in new cam and crank (wasn't even my request for quote), and I have to remind the parties this wasn't a prop strike.

This has turned into such a clown show before a single wrench has been moved, I'm almost ready to just get someone willing to take the price risk of the teardown and entertain a firesale. It's becoming clear to me that outside of the all you can eat buffet that are insurance claim covered work, nobody so far is interested in fixing anything short of selling you a new engine. Real sad state of affairs indeed, I got some soul searching to do, this stuff isn't fun, but now it's just not even funny....
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Has nothing to do with prop strike. Cranks have service limits. Won't know til teardown and inspection if wear has exceeded tolerances. If so, only options are new/overhauled crank, or call it an IRAN and don't zero time the engine. A quick Google search shows cranks costing anywhere from $8K to $20K depending on variant and availability.

Not replacing cam on a Lycoming would be bananas. If engine has sat for anytime in its history, cam probably has pitting, which WILL eventually fail. Cost is less than $1K.

You are not getting scammed. They are telling you what it may cost. Better now than after you spend money to crack the engine.

For comparison, hare some recent prices from an OH shop in Texas, along with a lot of detail on what is done: https://www.lycomingoverhaul.com/lycoming-overhaul-prices-cost-excha
 
hindsight2020 said:
Did they harangue you about the crank? I keep getting circled around about what-if parts not passing inspection and this and that and 20k in new cam and crank (wasn't even my request for quote), and I have to remind the parties this wasn't a prop strike.

This has turned into such a clown show before a single wrench has been moved, I'm almost ready to just get someone willing to take the price risk of the teardown and entertain a firesale. It's becoming clear to me that outside of the all you can eat buffet that are insurance claim covered work, nobody so far is interested in fixing anything short of selling you a new engine. Real sad state of affairs indeed, I got some soul searching to do, this stuff isn't fun, but now it's just not even funny....
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Not that I'm aware of. The mechanic did most of the communicating with him though. I was just presented with a flat rate to do the iran plus a little more to fix the shaft retention, with the standard caveat that any other carnage they find inside will be extra.

In my case I was genuinely worried about the bearing surfaces considering the engine ran with no oil pressure for 10 minutes. He opened it up, said it looks good, and built it back up. He certainly could've told me I needed a new crank and I wouldn't have known any better.
 
Thanks all for the feedback. I'll update with end results for others future reference. You guys are a great resource, certainly more responsive than what I've witnessed so far offline. Safe and happy flying to you all this holiday season.
 
Ed Haywood said:
or call it an IRAN and don't zero time the engine.
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Only the factory can zero time an engine. An overhaul makes it zero since major overhaul, the engine total time continues to count up.
 
Since you're considering out of state, maybe give Columbia Aircraft Services a call. They did my teardown in 2019.
 
JB Engines in Sebring FL did a great job with mine. Jimmy Brod is a standup guy.

Zephyr is less than 30 minutes from me. Was not impressed when I visited. Have met a few folks in local area unhappy with recent rebuilds from them. I think they are coasting on the brand name that Charlie Melot built.
 
Ed Haywood said:
JB Engines in Sebring FL did a great job with mine. Jimmy Brod is a standup guy.

Zephyr is less than 30 minutes from me. Was not impressed when I visited. Have met a few folks in local area unhappy with recent rebuilds from them. I think they are coasting on the brand name that Charlie Melot built.
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We're kind of beating a dead horse at this point, but I will agree that JB seems to be a great dude. He came recommended by several people, and he spent 20 minutes on the phone with me talking about my problem. He was very apologetic about how long his backlog was, and would've been my first choice until the spot at Airworx opened up.
 
Jim K said:
We're kind of beating a dead horse at this point, but I will agree that JB seems to be a great dude. He came recommended by several people, and he spent 20 minutes on the phone with me talking about my problem. He was very apologetic about how long his backlog was, and would've been my first choice until the spot at Airworx opened up.
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To some extent, an overhaul is an overhaul. If done competently, the engine runs reliably and you don't much care who did it.

But customer care can vary wildly. If you are a first time owner, an overhaul can be a major emotional event. Guys like Jimmy understand that and put the effort into making it a good experience. I do not hesitate to recommend him.

Here is my install as of today. Hope to finish tomorrow.
PXL_20231028_223350553.jpg
 
Ed Haywood said:
JB Engines in Sebring FL did a great job with mine. Jimmy Brod is a standup guy.

Zephyr is less than 30 minutes from me. Was not impressed when I visited. Have met a few folks in local area unhappy with recent rebuilds from them. I think they are coasting on the brand name that Charlie Melot built.
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Unfortunate. I dealt with Charlie himself just before he retired.
 
GeorgeC said:
Since you're considering out of state, maybe give Columbia Aircraft Services a call. They did my teardown in 2019.
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+1. Our A&P sends everything to them and seems to be very happy!
 
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