Calling all 180 Gurus,it's time to top the O-470k in our 1958 Cessna 180. The engine has 600 smoh,and the cam lobes are in good shape. The cylinders have been very hot in it's history before we owned it. I am looking at new Eci Titans with nickel carbide and Venturi intake seats,as well as an insight g2 to keep an eye on temps. Any and all advice is welcome. We seldom see high density altitude and run light,so no p-ponk.

I think the ECI Titans are fantastic, I've fitted and flown them on everything from O-200's to IO-550's to GTSIO-520's. We've had a great run with them even though they've had a few AD's and cracking issues. Regardless what cylinder you buy there could be unforeseen problems in the future. TCM, Lycoming, ECI, SAP, all had problems.

It's a bit like the nosewheel/tailwheel, threepoint/wheeler, high wing/low wing argument! Everyone has a preference. Opinions are like arseholes, everybody has one and most of them stink...

We did a 470-K last year and fitted genuine TCM cylinder kits purely on price, a slight amount of extra labour required to gap the rings but otherwise from an engineers point of view they're all pretty good now.

If your budget will stretch get the G3, it's fantastic. My only gripe is the dumbass placement of the Page knob in the upper left corner. If it's fitted in the centre or off to the right you can't see the screen while selecting pages. The screen is a little on the small side so you need to choose the best spot to install it. Insight support is great and they have a constant stream of updates come through. They have a pretty good trade in deal on the old GEM's if you can get one cheap

All of the engine shops I've talked with in the last few years recommend the ECI's with nickel on Continentals. It is a crapshoot and any cylinder can have issues but these seem to be the preferred kits for now.

I vote for flow balancing and knocking the high-spots off the ports (AKA polishing) if you can afford it

Thanks for the rapid response,as Bigrenna and others have stated the 180 club is a little harder to get timely info from. While I agree with onefifty on the g3 my budget does not. Also I was thinking that the g2 being a little less cluttered may be easier to read. I did pick up a used gem 602 for trade,but I think you only get the head unit. Glider geek I will knock down any porting issues if need be,but again trying to stretch a buck as far as I can. I will post updates after I make a little progress.

We had a Set on a io-550 now we have 34000 less dollars in the bank and a new engine, thanks eci only wrecked one new engine and almost the plane twice. They wouldn't do a thing for us even though they were brand new and three had complete failures in the first 200 hours.
You couldn't run fast enough to give me an ECI jug!

Currie,sorry to hear about your io-550. I have heard of that issue in the 520 and 550 engines but so far nothing but positives on the smaller bore o-470. I'm glad you and your plane didn't get bent.

I'm surprised you had a warranty issue? We've had nothing but positive warranty experiences with ECI. Most recent was a couple of 520 cylinders that started cracking after about 300 hours, they reimbursed the cost of a full replacement set. Turns out the originals were from an old batch pre the latest style

One thing I really detest is companies not standing behind their product. As a retailer I will ALWAYS warranty a part I've supplied and then pursue the manufacturer. Unfortunately being in New Zealand means some of the suppliers we deal with are less than helpful and it's cost me a lot of $$ but it keeps my customers happy. For years I dealt with a large company in Waco who build a lot of engines, their name rhymes with SHAM.... Never again.

Anyway's sorry for the creep! I think you'll be happy with ECI's but you're the one spending the $$ and flying behind them so choose the ones you feel most comfortable with