I'm looking into a possible purchase - my first, so I feel rather naive
It's a permit plane being sold by a mighty nice bloke. It has a 582 installed at the moment but the sale includes a reasonably youngish Jabiru 2200. If I bought it, I'd want to change the engines over before I did much time in it - seems silly not to take advantage of the extra power and possible higher MTOW since the Jab would seem to be only a couple of pounds heavier. Plus I'm not sure I want to learn too much about maintaining a 2-stroke right now.
My question is - has anybody got experience of changing engines, and getting the necessary approvals? How long is it likely to take to get through the necessary paperwork, and what all is involved (besides the spanner-related activity of course)? I know that the application fees for a mod are £45 but what else would I need to budget for? Or is it just a daft idea that I'd do well to stay clear of?
This is all, of course, dependent on me being able to persuade the wife that I'll spend
less over the course of the next 12 months if I shell out a lump of dough now!