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The process begins

I obtained quotes from several shops, including a couple of the more well-known ones. Preston, the shop manager at Snohomish Flying Service, obtained a quote from his preferred shop. He was confident that it would be a better price than I would get anywhere else. Well, it would appear he was correct. And, not only is the quoted price the best of all of them, the projected lead time is the best as well. Assuming all goes well, I could be back in the air a good month and a half earlier than I would with another shop.

Currently, the world of piston general aviation is experiencing a dramatic shortage of new cylinders. The shops I got quotes from all stated that they did not have any new cylinders and that they would only be able to use overhauled cylinders. While overhauled cylinders are always an option, and the engine should be just fine if they were used, every recommendation I've heard or read is to use new cylinders if possible. I've been truly fortunate in that, without going into detail, I've been able to source new cylinders. I would have used overhauled cylinders if required, or course, but I'm tremendously glad and grateful that new cylinders will be available for this.

The next step, as you'd expect, is for the shop to bring the airplane in, remove the engine, crate it up, and ship it down to the shop. As I noted in my previous post, the possibility exists that the engine will only require a repair and not a full overhaul. Once the overhaul shop has a chance to pull the engine apart and inspect it, they'll let us know what condition it's in. If repair is possible, and once I know just what will be involved as well as the cost, I'll decide whether to go with a repair, or go ahead and do an overhaul anyway.

I'm still emotionally mixed about this. My main concern is the amount of money I'm about to spend on this. Any plans I had for upgrading the airplane, for example adding a GPS navigator and electronic instruments, will have to be postponed, possibly indefinitely. And despite the current state of the used aircraft market, this isn't going to increase the value of my plane by the same amount as it's going to cost. It will certainly be worth more than it is right now with known engine issues, but I'm quite sure I wouldn't be able to sell it afterward for as much as I'll have in it if I add up the purchase price and what I'm about to spend, not to mention the other non-routine maintenance costs over the past year.

On the positive side, I almost certainly will never have to worry about getting close to TBO for as long as I own the plane. Even if I put 100 hours a year on it, that will still give me 20 years and, to be honest, I'll be lucky if I'm still flying by then. While I'm not what you would call an old man, I'm certainly not young and it wouldn't surprise me if by that time I'm unable to renew my class 3 medical certificate.

Should that time ever come, though, I'll just sell this plane and get something that qualifies as a light sport aircraft so all I will need is a driver's license. But hopefully that's relatively far in the future.

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