Selecting an overhaul shop

[Quint Van Deman]

Does any one have any advice they'd like to offer on the subject of selecting an overhaul shop?
I'm down to either Penn Yan or a local shop. The price is almost exactly the same, and I've gotten very favorable reviews of the local shop.
The decision seems to boil down to: name recognition & warranty (favoring PY) or having the shop be local in case of issue.

[Kristin Winter]

My sense is that an overhaul by a name shop can make it easier to sell the aircraft down the road. I have a pair of Penn Yan engines on my twinkie and they are doing just fine.

[David Pyle]

Kristin is correct. A recognized name shop adds to the value of the airplane.

Another perspective on overhauls is where you live and whether you will take your Comanche to the shop and leave it, or have your (convenient) local maintenance facility remove, send out and reinstall the engine. This is usually more expensive. In addition there are choices an owner can make about the work that can influence the outcome and price. Lycoming also offers several choices for engine work that may be competitive with "field" overhauls. I believe that Penn Yan has a relationship with them.

If you were in the southwest there reliable overhaul shops that may be less expensive than in the East. Ask about the time to do the work.

[N3322G]

Quint,

The remove and reinstall the engines shop is equally important as the overhaul IMHO. They take responsibility for removing and reinstalling all the engine accessories such as vacuum pump, alternators and more. If not done correctly with cables and wires correctly routed, there will be trouble down the road.
While I didn't cover all the details see http://www.comancheflyer.com/NS/tech_ar ... erhaul.pdf

Hope it helps.

[David Pyle]

I believe that Quint is in northern VA and is a recent owner of a PA24-180 which might help those who can reference the area.

[Jay]

I did a lot of research a couple of years ago and had my engines overhauled at Western Skyways. If I had it to do over again, I'd go with Charlie Melot at Zephyr.

Jay

[Kristin Winter]

Jay,

I would be interested in hearing why you would change your mind as I know that you put a lot of thought into the decision to got with Western Skyways.

Maggie is a bunch of years away, so I don't know where I will go, but I will seriously consider shipping the engines to Charlie. I will likely do the R&R myself.

[SLIMDREDGER]

I had Penn Yann do my overhauls. Prices I was quoted were all very similar for "reputation shop" overhauls, and I agree with Kristin that a reputation shop adds value if the airiplane is to be sold. Penn Yann had a great deal with a trucking company that made the freight on the engines very close to any other shop, even though they went from Oregon to New York.

I made it clear when I asked for quotes that I wanted to minimize the down time while the engines were being overhauled. Lycoming (who I have used previously) would not give me any estimate of their time to overhaul. Penn Yann was very upfront and said they would promise 60 days for both, doorstep to doorstep, but they would try to beat their estimate on time. They delivered about 2 weeks before the promised date. I like their attitude.

Al Powers ICS 2978

[Jay]

Kristin, if you shoot me an email at jayhulbert "at" gmail.com I'd be happy to give you a rundown on Western Skyways.

Best,

Jay

[Quint Van Deman]

Great feedback guys.
In the end, having a shop on the local field that I was able to get multiple positive references (that I derived myself) for seemed to fit the bill for me.
While the name brand shop would be nice, I won't be selling this bird anytime soon enough for that to matter.
With the shop local, I don't have to send the engine back out if there's any problems down the road that would be covered by the warranty.
Taking the whole airplane to a remote shop wasn't in the cards for me either based on how I came to the overhaul (unexpected at 1300 hrs - with metal everywhere and an engine disassembled trying to find the cause!)

I definitely will look over the docs on the accessories though, thanks for the tip.

Perhaps as a follow on question, what kinds of prices do people usually pay? For an O-360 the going rate seemed to be about $19k everywhere I looked.

Thanks,

-Quint
(With a 180 in the Southern (Norfolk) Va area)