Engine overhaul

[Stanley E Dollen]

It's time to overhaul the carbureted O-540 in my 250 Comanche. It has the three blade Hartzell propeller with the counter weight STC turning 2700 rpm. I'm considering using Johnston Aircraft in Tulare California and opting for their Ultra package for the added smoothness and performance. Does anybody have any experience with their engine shop and the Ultra performance, or know of any reputable shops that preform similar custom engine overhauls? Thanks for any input.

[N3322G]

Hi Stanley,

Welcome to the ICS Forum. I'm hoping another owner will post of their O/H experience wrt the shop you are considering. I wrote an article for the Flyer after we did ours. Its posted under the Tech Tab on the Home page and here's the link http://www.comancheflyer.com/NS/tech_ar ... erhaul.pdf

One piece of advice that I can't stress strongly enough is to choose the shop that will remove and re-install you engine as carefully as you choose the O/H shop. Done improperly, it can give you headaches for years wrt accessories even though the engine itself is fine. The shop that did our remove etc is no longer in business.

Victor engines in Palo Alto also does custom work on engines. Again, no personal experience there other than we competed against a GlasAir III in the world race that had a Victor engine and beat them but it was a pilot-skilled race handicapped on manufacturer aircraft specs so the engine was not the only factor. I can say the GlasAir's engine ran flawlessly at max rpm and max power for whatever altitude they were at for 24 days around the world ... as did our extremely stock Lycoming IO320s which had been new 200ish hours prior.

[Kristin Winter]

I don't have any experience with Johnston engines. It is a small shop in Tulure, CA, and Dave Johnston is a Comanche guy and ICS supporter. Lycon has the best reputation as a custom shop that does a lot of the racing crowd, but I hear that they are very slow to get the engine turned around.

I cannot recommend Victor for a whole bunch of reasons, which I don't want to go into on the board. I can say that Victor Sloan has been sued a bunch of times.

[Stanley E Dollen]

Thanks Pat and Kristin for your replies. I've done some homework now and contacted both Lycon and Victor along with a few others. My final decision was to have Johnston to do the overhaul as I felt they offered a competitive value and their delivery time fit my schedule. Also the absence of any negative reviews in my research had a positive influence.
I will report back with my experience upon reinstalling and flying behind the new Ultra over haul.
Stanley,