Warbird Information Exchange

I've mentioned the details of FIFI's engine mods in quite a few posts on WIX over the last year or two, but due to popular demand, I'll be sure to post a new thread explaining it in due time. I'm having one of those busy weeks here, so if y'all can give me a few days (and more reminders), I'll be sure to post something soon.

Gary

All sounds great. When is the B-24 coming over??

TIA,

Lynn

I believe it should be here in the next month or so...

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Taylor Stevenson

I don't see why there is such an expense if alot of things are going to fit and work. What you need is a few machines and a few good machinists to fab the brackets and other parts needed for the change over. Or is there engineering that is going to be required for these cowling brackets etc. ?

I believe an engine O/H for the B-29 is approx. $150,000...times 5 (1 spare)...that adds up quick

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Taylor Stevenson

Engineering is required for a lot of things because the FAA has to approve it. Some stuff you can get away with by just showing the inspection what you've done after you've done it or explaining what you intend to do, but things like cowlings typically require actual drawings to be approved, even on an Experimental certificate. Also, the insurance may have something to say about such modifications because they don't want any mods being made that might increase their risk of having to pay on the policy.

BTW, last time I checked, an R2800 overhaul was in the $250,000 range, an R1830 was $150,000, and an R3350 was somewhere around $325,000.

WOW!

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Taylor Stevenson

Yeah, overhauls are EXPENSIVE on round engines.

Who on earth is quoting you $250,000 for an R-2800 ???!!!!

I think it's time you switched shops...might I suggest:

http://www.jrengines.com/home.htm

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It was a good idea, it just didn't work.

I don't remember who it was now (this has been 2 or 3 years ago) but it was for a major overhaul. Maybe I added an extra zero on it, but I seem to remember it being extremely substantial, because an overhaul on a O-470 with new cylinders is somewhere around $20K, so I'm surprised that a much more complicated engine like an R2800 would only cost a few thousand more.

Are you getting your figures from the most expensive shop on the planet? Those numbers don't sound right at all. At Reno, maybe 2 years ago, I talked to the rep from Precision and he told me an -2800 overhaul was either $ 60,000 or $ 80,000 - I can't remember which. But it defnitely was under $ 100,000. By the way, you can get a complete overhaul to 0 time of a Daimler-Benz 601,603,605, etc., for about $ 350,000.

Either the price shot up SUBSTANTIALLY in the last year or two, or you are getting gouged very heavily!

Just FYI, I found the notes I made and figured out that the numbers are right, but they are for 2 engines fully overhauled and shipped with freshly overhauled major accessories (Mags, Generators, pumps, etc) and all the needed parts that usually get replaced during an engine change. The purpose of this quotation was to determine the feasibility of aquiring and maintaining a pair of engines in a "ready-to-ship" status to be sent out to our remote bases with everything in a single crate so that the change could be done as quickly as possible. As it was, we had a regular rotation of engines going, but as always, we did have unexpected failures, so this was to protect against that.

I don't remember why we got quotations on the R3350 now, but there was a reason for it. Again, it's been a few years, so I can't remember all the details of what the project was.

We are estimating that our engines should cost somewhere around $150,000 each to build/overhaul. We also have to remove the right, outer wing panel for some corrosion repair and now is the time to do it before it gets too bad. That expense is included in the funding that Mr. C is giving us.

engguy, I know this all may seem very simple on the surface, but it isn't. There is a reason that we are leaving it to the professionals to build these engines for us. Again, if I can ever get enough time, I'll try to post again, a basic idea of what our construction plan for these engines is.

Gary