Plug for Barrett Precision Engines regarding Superior XP-400 Recall
I wanted to just put in a plug for Rhonda Barrett-Bewley and team at Barrett Precision Engines. I was an unfortunate player in the Superior XP-400 recall. I am a member of the Rocky Mountain Renegades Airshow Team and I had been happy with the 169 hours I had flown the engine, putting it thru it's paces in the airshow environment. I got the first recall and I pulled the XP-400 in December and returned it to Texas where they tested it and said it was good to go and returned it to me. I didn't even get 2 hours on the reinstall before the call came that the XP-400s and XP-382s were being recalled and grounded.
The next morning I was on the phone to Barrett. Our team lead flies one of their engines and they came highly recommended. Superior was very gracious when I asked if I could keep the parts of the engine that fit my airplane, namely the sump, P-mags and Injection system. I coordinated with Rhonda at Barrett and Superior agreed I could ship the motor directly to Barrett.
Rhonda and her team coordinated the disassembly of the engine, returned the recalled parts to Superior, and set me up to build a 10:1 compression version of the IO-360. The engine would produce nearly the same HP as the XP-400. The process took roughly 90 days. We had to get new cases from Superior and do some work with doweling and O-rings for the high compression motor.
I was on a timeline since our first airshow of the year is at Evansville next week. The engine arrived Tuesday morning and was installed and ready to fly after two 12-hour days of work. I put the first 1.5 hours on it today. The engine installed perfectly since all the fittings matched my original setup. I had no issues on either flight. The motor ran smoothly.
I couldn't have done it without the help of the Barrett Team. I am told there were 111 XP-400 engines recalled. If you need help, I would encourage you to call Barrett Precision Engines. They offered a custom solution to my needs and delivered in a timely manner. Many thanks to Rhonda and Monty at Barrett. I also want to say thanks to Bill Ross at Superior. All these folks went out of their way to make the best of an unfortunate circumstance. Thanks guys!
Tom "Strato" Spratt
Rocky Mountain Renegades #2
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