Back in December with a hot 182 market, I kicked around the idea of letting mine go. After a compression check to see if it would pass a prebuy, I decided to throw a couple cylinders at it even though it was already a bit past TBO. With the advertisement of $500 cylinder overhauls, I sent a shop the 5 cylinders that hadn't been off in a long time so it would at least have a recent "top overhaul." $500 turned into a lot more than that which I decided was wasting money on this old of an engine.
Plan B; Bite the bullet and just overhaul it. I had already been chewing on the PPonk idea for a year so I dropped the engine off with Lawson Aviation in Michigan and began cleaning the firewall up. Engine was supposed to take 8-10 weeks but the cases got delayed and it was 14 weeks from drop off to pick up. Dustin was great to work with and excellent with keeping in touch and answering questions.
Sent the exhaust stacks and engine mount to AWI which both of course needed "worst case" repair (replacement). Sent my PPonk compatible C66 prop to the shop for overhaul only to find out it was not economically feasible to overhaul
. At this point I nicknamed the project Fool's Gold and went all in with a new MT.Finally after 6 months of working a little bit here and there around work, homeschool, snack time, nap time, potty breaks, and an oil bath, the chief inspector with the flashlight said its good to go. Got to enjoy time with my girls in the hangar as well as my dad who helped me hang it on the mount once we got the engine back. Felt great to get back in the air and the extra power sure is nice!
Realized I haven't taken a picture of the finished project so maybe Ill add that later.
