IO-346

Will Kumley

Will Kumley

Line Up and Wait
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Will
Whats the good, bad, and ugly on this engine? I was looking at a 63 Musketeer, but the deal fell through. I was trying to avoid the continental engine as I have read some concerns about it with parts availability and even mechanic availability. Should I be considering a Musketeer with this engine???

Figured, the maintenance bay was the best place to pose this question.
 
I can’t speak directly on the engine, but a low production, discontinued engine that’s installed on just a couple types of airplanes would be enough to scare me away.
 
Will Kumley said:
Whats the good, bad, and ugly on this engine? I was looking at a 63 Musketeer, but the deal fell through. I was trying to avoid the continental engine as I have read some concerns about it with parts availability and even mechanic availability. Should I be considering a Musketeer with this engine???

Figured, the maintenance bay was the best place to pose this question.
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was the aircraft a real good buy?
 
Is 2/3 of a 520.

Is there a replacement engine STC available for the eventual engine change?
 
I’ve never got involved with one but I believe it’s a 4 cyl version of the IO- 470 or
520. Most Techs will be familiar with the cylinders and Fuel Injection system. IA bud worked with them for years and said good things.

My biggest concern would be availability of parts. HOWEVER; this engine is not alone in this status. Even the at-one-time numerous Lycoming O-235 and 0-320 fall in this category. Many parts for the O-235 C1B are not available although O-235L2C
are. Ditto for for O-320 ( no suffix) .

Type Club would be a good source. Engine shops as well.
 
I fly behind one and had it OH'd about 3 years back. Happy to have a conversation with you about my experiences. (all good, btw. It's a good little engine)
 
Will Kumley said:
Should I be considering a Musketeer with this engine???
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FWIW: On aircraft/engines outside the mainstream models I usually recommend 1st concentrating your inquiries to your local or regional maintenance providers as I've found the answers tend to be subjective to your general location. Sure you can jump on the phone or search the internet for answers but if your current APIA is a bit hesitant or the closest provider with experience on that model is 300 miles away things tend to get off track on occasion. That said I've never heard anything bad about that particular engine in my travels.
 
Bell206 said:
FWIW: On aircraft/engines outside the mainstream models I usually recommend 1st concentrating your inquiries to your local or regional maintenance providers as I've found the answers tend to be subjective to your general location. Sure you can jump on the phone or search the internet for answers but if your current APIA is a bit hesitant or the closest provider with experience on that model is 300 miles away things tend to get off track on occasion. That said I've never heard anything bad about that particular engine in my travels.
Click to expand...

Agree with the above. What made things work for me was that I took it upon myself to learn as much as I could about the engine and shared that knowledge (e.g., how to set fuel flow) with a mechanic who was willing to listen and learn from me.

beechaeroclub.org is an essential resource for this engine

IMHO. An IO-346 isn't really outside the mainstream as it's just a smaller IO-520. Once you get into one it's obvious. Problem is most mechanics just haven't seen one and don't know the engines "quirks" like they know the quirks of say an IO-360.
 
IMO it gets a bad rap from people who have never owned one. You hear about them being orphans and impossible to get parts for. If that was true there'd be a bunch of airframes waiting for the scrapper. But there isn't. We had an overhauled 346 sitting on the shelf for almost a decade without any takers. Had to sell it at a loss because of lack of demand.
 
Mxfarm said:
was the aircraft a real good buy?
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Depends on what anyone considers a good buy anymore. Prices are nuts and everything is inflated. But are you referring to the deal that didn't work out or the possible deals in the Musketeer with Continental engine world?
 
Will Kumley said:
Depends on what anyone considers a good buy anymore. Prices are nuts and everything is inflated. But are you referring to the deal that didn't work out or the possible deals in the Musketeer with Continental engine world?
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Aircraft or not, finding any item under current market value always causes me pause. Sure, I could have gotten lucky, but the seller could have too.
 
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