Thought I'd pass this info along. I recently finished my annual a month or so ago and as with most annuals, had a component that needed replacement. This year was the mags. They had a good amount of time on them and the pins were worn to the point of being unservicable. After shopping around, I found some "rebuilt" mags for what seemed a reasonable price, about $400.00 less than Savage Mags in L.A. wanted to rebuild them. That's alot of gas so I jumped. Upon installation, I found that the engine was hard to start. Normally, I prime for three-five seconds, cycle the throttle and hit the start button. A quarter turn of the blade and we're off. Now, It takes upwards of a minute and a cough or two before we start. This has resulted in a flooded engine and worn down battery until I learned how to accomodate. Better when warm but not great. I am uncomfortable going into remote places not knowing if the engine will start. BTW, We made no other changes to this engine. Here's what we discovered: Kelly-Aerospace rebuilds these things and has had them approved by the FAA. The one thing that they don't disclose is that they do not use genuine TCM parts. They use some other coil/capacitor combo. The Kelly coils have an impedence of 7-11,000. The TCM coils have an impedence of 11-14,000. While the Kelly mags make spark and satisfied the minimum for the FAA, in real life THEY DON'T WORK. I am in the process of replacing my coils/capicitors with TCM parts and voiding any warranty with Kelly. There are several IA's in the area that have discovered this independently and are trying to take action collectively. Hopefully, this will save someone the difficulty and frustration that I have experienced. Sometimes, saving a couple of bucks isn't worth it. The replacement coils/caps are about the same as the difference I was saving. Caveat emptor!

Kurt,

That sucks. Any recourse with the reseller?

The reseller has been great, zero complaints (Chief Aircraft) There is noise about finding other sources. The (re)Manufacturer offers a customer service # that is anything but. No return phone calls. Spoke to one person in 5 calls with a promise to call back. Still waiting.........
Meanwhile, a couple of calls to Savage, you get a knowledgeable person that wants to find a solution. Can't say enough about good outfits.

As I recall it was about $650 each. $275 for labor for the teardown and inspection plus parts for the rebuild. And they answered their phone.

Often I will pay the premium to someone that I feel good about doing business with. In this case, it sounds like Savage is a stand up outfit, and likely would stand by their work if something failed or didn't work right after installation. I think that's worth $400. An airplane powerplant is not the best place to cut corners I think. Hopefully you expressed your disappointment in the crap mags to Chief. The owner of Chief is a good guy, he is a family friend.

Z

They have a gal on the phones, Noreen I think, She is incredible. I expressed myself and they are shopping for a new supplier. Again, nothing but good about Chief.

A friend of mine who operates a maintenance shop at Jackson, CA, had the same problem with Bendix Magnetos from Kelly Aerospace.
They wouldn't work. And if I remember right, he had a hell of a time getting things corrected,---if ever. Really bad service, and really,really bad product.

A friend of mine had an old Marvel carb laying around the hangar for quite a while, he decided to turn it in (sell it) as a core. Talked to Kelly Aerospace, got it all worked out Don't know how he shipped it, but no S&H insurance & no receipt requested. He didn't get his core payment and after quite a while called Kelly to inquire about it. They claimed to have never received it. I don't know what recourse was available from the freight outfit but anyway he's out the core money & the carb too, and not too happy about it. He thinks they're crooks. FWIW

Eric