Warbird Information Exchange

Just wondering, suppose I wanted to purchase a radial engine to put in my lawn mower. I've found very little on the prices of these engines . Found a used 1820 on Ebay for 9500$ and a site that would sell rebuilt a 1340 for 57000$ and a 985 for 47000$. My question would be what the prices would be on rebuilt 1830,2000, 2600, 2800 ,3350. All the rebuild shops need to be contacted for prices and I just thought maybe the WIX members would have an educated guess. Yeh- I know that if I have to ask I can't afford it.

Several years ago, the engines for DOC were shipped to PRECISION ENGINES @ KPAE for overhaul guestimations, the magic number was right around $1Million each, the engines went back onto a flatbed and went home to Kansas unmolested.

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Don't make me go get my flying monkeys-

Several years ago, the engines for DOC were shipped to PRECISION ENGINES @ KPAE for overhaul guestimations, the magic number was right around $1Million each, the engines went back onto a flatbed and went home to Kansas unmolested.

A $1 million each! I know there's a lot of cylinders on a 3350, but even at a couple of thousand to overhaul each cylinder leaves about $950,000 for the rest of the work. What were they going to do for that amount? I can see why they went back to Kansas unmolested.

Several years ago a R2800 core could be had for around a grand. What's driving the prices up in this economy?

last I heard, an overhaul with core from the top R-2800 shop runs in the neighborhood of 50-70k, id think a 3350 would be right in that range as well.

The cost additions come from scarcity of some parts, but mostly from you can't buy overhauled 3350's like they were 350 Chevy rebuilds there are a very tiny handful of places like PRECISION who have the expertise, the ability, and are willing to take the legal risks involved in doing overhauls on something so complex.
I heard the $1 Mill number from several disparate sources who knew the guy who knew the guy who....It's also possible that the amount was set so high to discourage the job because they didn't want, or couldn't accommodate the workload.

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Don't make me go get my flying monkeys-

The last time we had a 3350 O/H'd by Precision back in 2005, it cost the CAF B-29 squadron about $160,000 with a core engine.

R-2800 on the low side is about $50k and can go as high as $80-90k.

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A&P/I.A., A.A.S./Aviation Maintenance technology
Warbird salvage/recovery
One day I'll get that P-40!

I think the going rate for something like a wasp major is 150K for OH. Could be more there is lots involved in aircraft engine overhaul. Way more than the average ground based engine. Lots of rules and manufactures specs, and special treatments to be adhered to. Also wouldn't the average overhaul facility have to maintain some good malpractice insurance so to say?

Not sure. But my insurance is $1,000,000.00 liability, thats just for repairs and maintenance, removing engines to send out for overhaul and then re-install. So I would think an engine overhaul facility would have to have quite a bit more coverage.

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A&P/I.A., A.A.S./Aviation Maintenance technology
Warbird salvage/recovery
One day I'll get that P-40!

We deal a lot with 1820's, 1830's and 2600's. The prices will vary significantly if you have to purchase the engine outright, or if you have a core engine just to overhaul. For the three engines I just listed, a "good" core will run between $10,000 and $20,000. To get the engine overhauled will depend partly on what parts need to be replaced. If you are doing an 1820-97 for a B-17 and your core does not have good cylinders, you can look at spending around $2000 per cylinder to replace them. On average we are seeing the overhauls for 1820-97's to be in the neighborhood of $45,000-50,000 if there are no major pieces that are broken beyond repair or missing. For 1830-65's the price has been hovering around $50,000-55,000 again if there are no major pieces that are broken beyond repair or missing. For the 2600's we have found them a bit cheaper even though it is a larger engine. I think the parts are easier to find, so the overall price for overhaul has been around $40,000-45,000.

To me the $1 million to overhaul a 3350 sounds a lot high, but maybe there is an individual component of that particular model number that is really hard to find. If they are creating a hybrid engine like they have done with Fifi I am sure the cost is a bit higher because of the paperwork and testing that goes into building a "new" engine. That cost would either have to be paid upfront, or spread out over a small number of engines that you plan on making.