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When should I order the engine

coffeeguy

Well Known Member
First time builder. I've been happily (most of the time) banging away at rivets. I'm currently working on riveting the tail and fuse together. I started looking ahead at when to order the finish kit, given the long lead times. Looking at the tasks it seemed to me that the big items were canopy and cowl. Fitting the cowl requires an engine. Engines prices are going up in two weeks. Order your prop with an engine and get $1000 off. crud, the snowball is halfway down the hill and I can't catch up. Now I'm wondering if I should order the expensive stuff.

Spent the night on this website trying to get a feel for going forward. I'm pretty much stock everything, but using flyled lighting.

I'm also looking at painting it myself and will probably do that at home prior to taking it to the airport because I have a large compressor here, but only have 20A service at the hangar. So that also begs the question, when did you paint? I could do the wings and tail parts now prior to assembly, possibly paying an autobody shop to paint them.

I'm also planning on doing a Dynon panel myself, probably VFR and upgrade later if I want to.

This thing is starting to get real for me. I think that this is one of the reasons that I bought the 14, like many 1st time builders you don't know what you don't know and I thought the 14 would give me the best chance to finish. Just feeling overwhelmed today.
 
Simple answer

Order before the Nov 1 price increase. Could save you several thousand dollars. :eek:
 
Ordering engine

Prices are always going to increase every year. Fact of building. If you can afford it buy the engine or deal with price increase every year unless it is going to be awhile before you need engine? Van's increases pricing yearly. If you have everything you don't have delays in parts shipping. I wanted everything in hanger at hand. Still had an engine delay of 6 months and it took a year to build panel from Oshkosh 2018 to June 2019.

I painted as I finished up parts. Tail/empenage, wings, flaps ailerons and fuselage cowling. Sent to local automotive painter.

140506 RV 14A flying
Donation paid
 
The important thing is not to install the engine several years before starting it up...unless you pickle it.
 
Order your engine sometime before the first flight... ;)

Ok, with the silly answer out of the way, be aware that there are some tasks to do to the engine before you hang it, so plan for a little extra time. Unless you are Ok with removing the engine a couple of times...

Some people advocate fitting the cowl before the baffles. I did the baffles first and cut them down roughly as I fitted the cowl. Once the cowl was fitted, I did the final measure for the baffles.

Even if you don't do the baffles first, you will find it easier to attach some of the fittings and accessories before hanging the engine. Those at the back get difficult with the engine mount in the way. On the -6A for me, it was the prop governor, mag port covers (LSE instead of mags), and a handful of fittings. For the -10, there was the mag port covers, backup alternator, remote oil filter, and the handful of fittings, plus extra time to add the rear baffles because my engine has a different case than the one Vans' made the baffle kit for.

I think those tasks only took a week or so, part time, but if you get your engine a bit early, there is still more you can do, like attach the exhaust headers or other accessories besides just those at the rear. On the -6A, I had installed the fuel servo, starter, and alternator, as well as the LSE coils on the top of the engine, before I hung it on the airframe. So, you have some leeway, if you feel like you are ordering it too early. In fact, it also gives you a chance to look it over and ask questions that may not have occurred to you before having the engine in hand.
 
I'm paying for each kit as it goes, but at some point I am going to sell my Cherokee and pay for some of the big stuff. I may consider financing the engine and prop so I can keep flying while I build. Ordering now saves $3500 and that is real money. I'll call the Lycoming guys tomorrow to talk about it.
 
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