Go diesel, refurb or buy new?

[jayemm]

I'm a member of a small share-group owning a PA28. The *Annual has revealed that we need to zero-hours the engine or get a new one. The costs of this seem to be in the region of £10-14k.

We've been discussing the preferred approach to take, especially since one of the options might be to put in a diesel engine, based on the promise of significantly improved operating costs.

Is it too early to consider a diesel engine? Has it been sufficiently tried and tested so that we won't be pioneers? Do you believe the economics?

What would you do?

[Genghis the Engineer]

Too early to go Diesel, the engines available are only just starting to get certification, on top of which you'd need to certify it in the aircraft - round numbers the certification exercise is likely to cost £5-£10 and take 6 months to a year, plus issues like the design of engine mounts, getting a letter of "no technical objection" from Piper, writing a POH supplement including a complete new set of performance figures, etc.

It's the sort of thing I do for a living, and I wouldn't contemplate it on my own aeroplane, or at least not the PA28 I'm syndicated on. If you were talking about a Permit aircraft the picture changes considerably.

G

[xyz_pilot]

10 - 14K is way way to much to pay for a PA28 evan in the UK.

You should be able to get a good job for 7 - 9K. Unless youe eng has gone off with a big bang.

Talk to lots of people find out about good shops to work with and then WORK ON THEM, this is a good time of yesr to get a deal.

[Mark 1]

The cost of an overhaul can vary widely depending on what you're getting.
It can easily be broken down:
Typically £2500 for the labour of stripping and re-building
The rest of the cost is cylinders, camshafts, pumps, bearings, crank overhaul etc..
The biggest difference is often whether to overhaul the cylinder assemblies (about £1000) or to get new assemblies (about £1100 each). Sometimes the extra cost of a new engine is not much more than a comprehensive overhaul and you may be able to sell the old engine to a homebuilder (ideal for Pitts or RV6).
And don't forget the VAT.

p.s. I think Genghis speaks wisely about diesels, but £5-10 for approval seems like a good deal though.

[bertiethebadger]

As a fellow group member, the costs mentioned are for the full annual.

The engine cost is app £9.4K with the rest cosing app £2.5K. Is this a more realistic estimate.

The report on the engine would suggest that it was on its last legs.

[LowNSlow]

Alternatively you could get a lower timed used engine. There are a few aircraft scrap merchants, sorry parts recyclers, around :D

Nalson Aviation bought the wreck of my Aerobat after a storm flipped it. Their tel. no. is 01883 340062.

There is also an IO-360 zero timed by CSE for the RAF for sale in Popular Flying for best offer around £16k. It's set up for a cs prop and has an aerobatic oil system so is probably over specced for your purposes.

[Genghis the Engineer]

Okay, okay, there was a k missing. And I obviously wasn't including the cost of the engine and mounts.

G