Lycoming Documentation

[f14av8r]

On the heels of Sun'N'Fun, I decided to get my engine documentation house in order. When I acquired my airplane from the builder, I got an owners manual and an overhaul manual with parts catalog. When I visited with Lycoming at Sun'N'Fun, they helped me determine what documents I needed to bring mine up to date. I got on the phone with Lycoming the next week and determined that my owners manual was completely out of date. I had one of the little books that pre-dated the move to a standard letter size page format. So, I ordered a new one of those. My overhaul manual was so out of date it was just easier to order a new one than try to use revisions to bring it up to speed. The really interesting part was ordering the service letters, bulletins and instructions. Lycoming sends you the entire set and you get to determine which ones are applicable to your engine.

The stack of paper that arrived weighed about 25 lbs and stood 10" high. It took me about two hours to go through all of the service letters, bulletins and instructions, setting aside the ones that don't apply to my O360-A1A.

The photos show the result. I ended up with a 3" binder for the bulletins, a 3" binder for the instructions, and a 2" binder for the service letters, the index (SSP-112-2) which defines the required documents for a particular engine, and the troubleshooting guide. The second photo is of the documents that did not apply to my engine.

When you order the overhaul manual, you get a three year subscription to any updates. When you order the complete set of bulletins, letters and instructions, you get a one year subscription. All total, I think everything cost me about $300.

It's fascinating reading as you might imagine. No need for any sleep medication when you plow through all this stuff. All kidding aside, there is some really valuable information in the package and I've enjoyed learning about my engine.

Here's the photo of the documents that DO apply to my engine:


Here's a photo of the documents that DO NOT apply to my engine installation:

[Raymo]

Sure would be nice if Lycoming would sell the manuals in digital format and drop the price. I much prefer searching for information in a PDF reader than thumbing through paper.

[BillL]

I did not see the engineering installation drawings. I got that and very happy knowing real dimensions.

The specifications sheets have the installation limits for lots of things, like alternator rotor temps.

[f14av8r]

BillL,
So do you mean to say that, after attempting to order all the documentation applicable to my engine there is something I missed. Frankly, that will kinda PMO because I really wanted a complete set of documentation!

Please enlighten me about these engineering installation drawings of which you speak.
Thanks,
Randy