What's the going rate for a O-540 overhaul?

midcap said:
Asking out of curiosity. Let's say it's in a Comanche.
Click to expand...

I got a verbal estimate of $27k from a reputable shop to overhaul a disassembled engine with a yellow tagged crank, case, cam, rods, lifters, and gears.
 
Depends on how you go about it. I'd generally figure $30k all in (including R&R), but can be done "on the cheap" for less, or can go all out for more.
 
midcap said:
Cfdfffdffdffdffdfdfffdffdfdfffdd


Turbo charged models?
Click to expand...

Some of them are silly expensive to overhaul. Malibu Mirage and chieftain are probably the most expensive. Dual turbos, iconel exhausts etx.
 
midcap said:
Cfdfffdffdffdffdfdfffdffdfdfffdd


Turbo charged models?
Click to expand...

The thread title says O-540. Although there are a few turbocharged, carburated aircraft engines out there (like the 4-cyl, 360 engine in the Rockwell turbo-Commander), I'm not aware there's ever been a 540 versions of such?

Regardless, the overhaul of the core engine won't be much different assuming one always installs new cylinders on an overhaul. It's the accessories, including the turbos, turbo controllers and fuel pumps (the fuel pumps on a turbo-Aztec are horrifically expensive to overhaul compared to the conventional pumps on the naturally aspirated version) that help break the bank.
 
Last edited:
I flew a Cessna 182 that was carbureted and turbo charged. Flew fast and sucked a lot of fuel... Did a full on power on stall and the sucker dropped like ROCK and felt like it was going to spin. Had retract and speed brakes. Quite the airplane. Cost of rebuilds vary a LOT.
 
Zephyr Comanche O-540 $28,500 with new Superior cylinders $1,000 more for Lycoming cylinders. New harness and plugs, O?H Bendix mags, O/H starter, carburetor and fuel pump. Case and crank must be repairable. This is NOT installed. Charlie Melot Zephyr Engines
 
Well this makes me feel better about my PA-32 purchase next year. Someone told me closer to 45k
 
gitmo234 said:
Well this makes me feel better about my PA-32 purchase next year. Someone told me closer to 45k
Click to expand...


If you're willing to pay it, I'm sure someone will charge it ;)
 
gitmo234 said:
Well this makes me feel better about my PA-32 purchase next year. Someone told me closer to 45k
Click to expand...

Slow down brotato chips. If you're talking about a cherokee six 300? That's an ANGLED VALVE injected 540. Not a parallel valve, carburated, and de-rated no less (anywhere from 2400RPM in the 235HP PA-28-235/236 application, to 2575RPM 250HP PA-24-250 Comanche application), bare bones 540. Might as well be completely different engines. The lower figures specifically do not apply to the engine you're thinking about getting involved with. And if you go with any Lance, or some serial numbers of the saratoga retract, they're siamese mag'ed to add insult to injury, and Conti (the competitor has rights to the mags!) stopped supporting said accessory. Yikes...

Go price out the delta between angled lyco cylinders and parallel lyco cylinders. I have them on my 360; not happy about it but they haven't given me trouble so I try not to think about it. I could use another 40 HP, so I can't really afford only 180HP on this spam can. In a perfect world, I'd love to have a Comanche 260 engine on a PA-28R airframe, as I prefer the the cherokee airframe on the basis of cost, lack of bladders, better availability of control surfaces and misc airframe support. Basically a Dakota RG they never made. A parallel valve, non-siamese -32R would be cool too for my mission; alas didn't make that either. LOL

--break break--

This is an interesting thread in that it really underscores why these airplanes are not worth overhauling. The overhaul, according to sticker price anyways, ends up being more than the value I got on an otherwise flying sample of the aircraft. I'm better off scrapping the thing and buying another sample altogether. (or IRAN with abandon until it approaches a personal threshold, then scrapping). Overhauling my engine doubles my capital expenditure, and there's no way in hell this airplane commands 90K. Throwaway airplanes... all because of stupid engine pricing; no offense to those on here who make a living overhauling outdated tractor engines of course. :D
 
That's one way to go if you want to only have cheap aircraft.

I'd rather get something polished and exactly where I want it.

Kinda like going out and buying $100 boots every year or two

Or buying $300 boots and spending $80 every year or two on a rebuild.
 
I don't see an issue repowering a old airframe. We spend 50k+ to repower boats at 1000 hours. Boats which are older than me.
 
charlie said:
Zephyr Comanche O-540 $28,500 with new Superior cylinders $1,000 more for Lycoming cylinders. New harness and plugs, O?H Bendix mags, O/H starter, carburetor and fuel pump. Case and crank must be repairable. This is NOT installed. Charlie Melot Zephyr Engines
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply Charlie!
 
James331 said:
If you're willing to pay it, I'm sure someone will charge it ;)
Click to expand...
Or....you might find someone to do it for a lot less but incorrectly. A place like zephyr lives on its reputation which is first class. Much depends on what is found once the case Is broken and everything is carefully examined. You could be lucky or maybe not.
 
Jimmy cooper said:
Or....you might find someone to do it for a lot less but incorrectly. A place like zephyr lives on its reputation which is first class.
Click to expand...

What do people do wrong? Do the manufacturers provide specifications?
 
Jimmy cooper said:
Or....you might find someone to do it for a lot less but incorrectly. A place like zephyr lives on its reputation which is first class.
Click to expand...

Well after paying that much it would be tuff to admit you over paid, best way to justify it would be to say it "first class"

Heart of Texas offers a warranty, no very profitable having to rebuild the engine a second time becuse you screwed up.
 
James331 said:
Heart of Texas offers a warranty, no very profitable having to rebuild the engine a second time becuse you screwed up.
Click to expand...

Long thread on beechtalk on several members experience with the proprietor of that engine shop. Lets say it is mixed.
 
Jimmy cooper said:
You can't be serious can you? Very worrysome thinking. Would you have the corner gas station overhaul your porsche? ......well maybe you would!!!
Click to expand...

So you don't know what the qualitative difference is between a high priced and low priced overhaul?
 
172andyou said:
So you don't know what the qualitative difference is between a high priced and low priced overhaul?
Click to expand...

If you're using the same parts and following the same manual, there is none.


weilke said:
Long thread on beechtalk on several members experience with the proprietor of that engine shop. Lets say it is mixed.
Click to expand...

I'd be more interested in seeing what working planes and backcountry pilots thought.

I pay for results and quality, not how pretty the business card is, or the "prestige" of the name of the joint.
 
172andyou said:
What do people do wrong? Do the manufacturers provide specifications?
Click to expand...

There are quite a few corners that can be cut to save money. Some legal, some not so.

Also, look at the link that James provided. I couldn't find mention of overhauling/replacing ancillary components (prop governor, starter, carb, mags, pumps, etc). This all adds up. Charlie includes most this in his pricing. James' link also doesn't appear to include new cylinders (otherwise why would they talk about cylinder cores?)

I just went thru an overhaul. I got pricing from quite a few shops including a detailed breakdown of work performed for the price quoted. It was revealing. Lots of variance,

Then there are the little things that a good shop will do. My engine had older, smaller bodied, mags on it. The overhaul shop changed them out to the improved version for no charge. My engine had thin wall induction tubes...conti thickened up the walls later. They changed them out at no charge. And more.

Lastly, there's a big difference between what an engine OH costs and what the complete job will cost If you take the extra steps to ensure everything firewall is taken care of while the engine is out. This is the most cost effective time to address other items. Are you going to OH the engine mount while the engine is off of it? Install new rubber mounts? OH the prop? Are your engine monitor probes getting long in the tooth? (you're R&R'ing them anyway). OH or replace exhaust system? (I replaced mine). What about shipping the engine to/from the OH shop? Another $500 or so. It all adds significant $$$ and now's a good time to look over all the other components if they are suspect in any way.

IIRC...my 0470 overhaul was about $27,500 with Seth's tricked cylinders ($23,500 was the price with new cylinders but not tricked out, again IIRC). Both include all the ancillary items replaced or overhauled just like Charley does. But I spent another $8k (ish) on OH'ing other items and R&R of the engine itself. Then my crank and cam both failed. That was about a $3k ouch.

I was over $40k by the time I was flying again.

But that's okay because...

I have but one engine.

I won't cut corners or take chances with bottom dollar engine builders, thank you.
 
Last edited:
James331 said:
Well after paying that much it would be tuff to admit you over paid, best way to justify it would be to say it "first class"

Heart of Texas offers a warranty, no very profitable having to rebuild the engine a second time becuse you screwed up.
Click to expand...
We engine builders are all dependent upon the quality of the parts we buy to replace the worn stuff. so it is really what the overhaul shop will do after the overhaul that counts.
 
timwinters said:
There are quite a few corners that can be cut to save money. Some legal, some not so.

Also, look at the link that James provided. I couldn't find mention of overhauling/replacing ancillary components (prop governor, starter, carb, mags, pumps, etc). This all adds up. Charlie includes most this in his pricing. James' link also doesn't appear to include new cylinders (otherwise why would they talk about cylinder cores?)

I just went thru an overhaul. I got pricing from quite a few shops including a detailed breakdown of work performed for the price quoted. It was revealing. Lots of variance,

Then there are the little things that a good shop will do. My engine had older, smaller bodied, mags on it. The overhaul shop changed them out to the improved version for no charge. My engine had thin wall induction tubes...conti thickened up the walls later. They changed them out at no charge. And more.

Lastly, there's a big difference between what an engine OH costs and what the complete job will cost If you take the extra steps to ensure everything firewall is taken care of while the engine is out. This is the most cost effective time to address other items. Are you going to OH the engine mount while the engine is off of it? Install new rubber mounts? OH the prop? Are your engine monitor probes getting long in the tooth? (you're R&R'ing them anyway). OH or replace exhaust system? (I replaced mine). What about shipping the engine to/from the OH shop? Another $500 or so. It all adds significant $$$ and now's a good time to look over all the other components if they are suspect in any way.

IIRC...my 0470 overhaul was about $27,500 with Seth's tricked cylinders ($23,500 was the price with new cylinders but not tricked out, again IIRC). Both include all the ancillary items replaced or overhauled just like Charley does. But I spent another $8k (ish) on OH'ing other items and R&R of the engine itself. Then my crank and cam both failed. That was about a $3k ouch.

I was over $40k by the time I was flying again.

But that's okay because...

I have but one engine.

I won't cut corners or take chances with bottom dollar engine builders, thank you.
Click to expand...
From that, I take it that you believe the more you pay the better the job.
 
Plenty of planes get work done to them that's higher than the resale. That work usually increases the resale value, but you also have to look at the utility of the plane. Even airlines will do this sometimes.

An O-540 in a Comanche is not the same as a TIO-540-J2BD in a Chieftain. Do not expect the prices to be the same.
 
Tom-D said:
Like a lot of things, you get what you pay for. hopefully.
Click to expand...


You pay for what you get as well. Nothing says that a smaller shop with less overhead cannot produce an overhauled engine that is just as good if not better than the higher priced shops. Shops have caught on to what the customer will pay and charge a premium because they can. I'm all for supporting the smaller shops who repair by the same specs as the larger shops but at a far less price to the consumer.
 
Checkout_my_Six said:
Yup....more expense is better. :ohsnap:
Click to expand...
Not really, if your mags are less than a year/50 hours from new, would you want to save them? All the accessories are in that category. I know several owners that changed a lot of parts trying to avoid overhauling the engine.
 
timwinters said:
No, because I didn't pay the extra $5k to have my oil filter glued on.
Click to expand...
Too bad. When you are such an expert, why didn't you overhaul your engine yourself?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top