What's new
Van's Air Force

Don't miss anything! Register now for full access to the definitive RV support community.

Engine Mounts $

rockwoodrv9

Well Known Member
Patron
I am picking up my engine tomorrow so I was looking at how I bolt it on the mount. I just looked at the cost for the engine mount bolts. I thought the $125 was pretty high, then I saw that was each!!! $500 to bolt the engine on is crazy money. I think that may be my new business. Any other options?

edit: I read a bit more and found out THE BOLTS AND NUTS ARE NOT INCLUDED!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I am picking up my engine tomorrow so I was looking at how I bolt it on the mount. I just looked at the cost for the engine mount bolts. I thought the $125 was pretty high, then I saw that was each!!! $500 to bolt the engine on is crazy money. I think that may be my new business. Any other options?

edit: I read a bit more and found out THE BOLTS AND NUTS ARE NOT INCLUDED!

The bolts are sold separately HERE... fortunately a lot less expensive than the vibration isolators that you were looking at.

Yes the isolators are expensive... but use caution trying to find a cheap way to mount your engine. Other builders have paid the price with bad airframe vibration because of the isolators they chose to use. Some even end up buying different ones because it is so bad.
 
I was just unaware they were so expensive. I guess trying to save money on the mounts holding your life onto the frame is not a smart idea. I do have a hard time believing those rubber parts should cost that much, but if you are the only game in town(Lord), you can charge whatever you can.
 
Rockwood, I really feel your pain. I just went through the shock and awe myself over the price of these things. This was very hard for me, too. I choked back my reaction to spending money on these for a long time. It goes so deep against the grain in me to pay through the nose for something. Anything. I hate getting ripped off, and these items have to be one of the biggest rip-offs in all of aviation.

Yes, they're very nicely made and all. And I appreciate the seriousness of the job they do to hold your engine in place. But at the end of the day, it's just a couple of pieces of rubber, some nice metal end caps, and a squishy spacer that goes in the middle. There's no way these should cost as much as they do. Come on! I'd be interested in knowing what the company's bottom line cost of manufacturing is on these pieces. You should be able to get all 4 of them for the price of one, it seems to me.

The problem is twofold, as I see it. One, they're "certificated" for certified aircraft. Everyone knows that ups the price into the stratosphere right there. Second, the company has a monopoly. They can set whatever price they want and there's nothing you can do about it. The guys at Vans were very sympathetic to my groans. It's not their fault at all. They explained that they used to be able to get them from another company when there was some good competition. It was a good product, too, at a much better price. But that company isn't making them anymore and Vans now has no choice but to get them from Lords. Apparently, there isn't a big enough market to attract some competition into the arena. Anyway, it's done. So this will be the end of my whining. I can't hang my engine without them, and I now have them on my shelf.
 
... but they are nice. I cheated on myself when buying them treated the purchase as separate $99 items. :D
 
Bruce, I agree that Vans is just providing an easy way for us to order and make sure we are getting the right product and not trying to get rich off the mounts. I have been very satisfied with the value of everything I have purchased from Vans.

You are right on these mounts - they are just a piece of rubber with caps. It must be some special rubber! I have some rubber mounts that hold a generator to it's cart that have lasted for over 10 years. The generator is about 500lbs and it shakes way more than any airplane engine. I just looked and I can get replacements for about $9 each - including the bolt. Of course, if the generator mounts fail, I don't fall out of the sky, I just spend $9 and get another one.
 
Yep, the end of the build gets real expensive real fast! Wonder if it would be possible to get a group buy going for the mounts? Maybe not since Lord seems to have a monopoly, but may be worth a shot. Anyone know who to contact for a possible group buy?
 
Yep, the end of the build gets real expensive real fast! Wonder if it would be possible to get a group buy going for the mounts? Maybe not since Lord seems to have a monopoly, but may be worth a shot. Anyone know who to contact for a possible group buy?

I think that's pretty much what Van's has done for us already.....
 
I don't really have too much of a problem paying several hundreds of dollars for quality hardware that's well-proven to keep my engine attached to the airframe in flight within the acrobatic G force envelope. ;)
 
Yep, the end of the build gets real expensive real fast! Wonder if it would be possible to get a group buy going for the mounts? Maybe not since Lord seems to have a monopoly, but may be worth a shot. Anyone know who to contact for a possible group buy?

Barry Controls makes them. Not much price diff as I recall. I'm sure the (trial) lawyers carry a fair amount of responsibility for this fact.

I believe that's what I used for the first 10 yrs on my -8 (proactive replacement to Lord a couple of years back just because 10 years seemed long enough). They didn't fall off or cause any problems as I recall, but my brain has overwritten a lot of the info from that timeframe.
 
There's A Kit For That

Van's does offer a "firewall forward installation kit" for the RV-9A.

For a constant speed prop, FF-9A O-320 CP and for a fixed-pitch prop, it's FF-9A O-320 FP. If you out on fuel injection, then it's "IO" instead of "O."

The constant speed kit includes the governor and there are probably other differences; the prices for the kits in my paper catalog were very roughly $3,700 and $4,900. And that includes the engine mounts and their bolts.

I don't know why the airplane kit ordering forms don't show this.

For some reason they don't sell these kits for the -3....

Dave
RV-3B, of course
 
I have most of the parts from the FWF kit from Vans, but since I bought the fuselage from another builder, Im not sure of everything I do have. I know I have the bolts for the engine, but not the rubber parts. I have a pretty good list of what I have and what I need, but still working on the details.
 
Yep, the end of the build gets real expensive real fast! Wonder if it would be possible to get a group buy going for the mounts? Maybe not since Lord seems to have a monopoly, but may be worth a shot. Anyone know who to contact for a possible group buy?

Come to think of it, I haven't seen any group buys of any kind around here for a long time. Are we still doing them? What's up?
 
Back
Top