YES
I bought my O-360-A1A through Van's drop shipped to me direct from Lycoming complete with the yellow test run log sheet with LASAR installed and indicated as checked on the log sheet. I did not check the timing and made several very dangerous flights trying to find out why I had to run the engine so slow to keep from pegging the EGT (only had one then and no CHT) and why I could barely keep the airplane in the air. Made contacts with Lycoming, Precision Airmotive and Van's - all were alarmed but the problem still had to be worked through. Van's rep said if Lycoming tested it you can assume the engine is OK. Well it wasn't OK. The timing was between 85 and 90 degrees before top dead center on the compression stroke in Cylinder #1 instead of the required 25 degrees. After I bought the LASAR timing box from Van's the first time I ran through the process I came up with exactly the same setting that came from Lycoming which I knew by this point was wrong. There is room for scanning the manual instructions and interpreting them incorrectly I found out as I went through the timing process again PRECISELY following the manual instructions and it worked perfectly after that. I race with the LASAR system and it has served me very well but there is a non technical-problem.
They are not being manufactured anymore! My sensor mag is starting to act up and I can't afford to be down during the racing season (currently 2nd place overall and trying desperately to hang on). I tried to go through Unison who was the original manufacturer by the way and got nothing - not even return phone calls from their technical support people that I left messages for.
Aircraft Spruce lists the mag I needed (4771) but they do not stock them, they are special order, no return items and there is up to 45 days lead time. I need one now so I asked for their source. Through Aircraft Spruce I learned that LASAR now belongs to:
Champion Aerospace at 864-843-1162. I spoke to Joe Logie who told me he is the man to contact at Champion for all questions about LASAR.
He went to work for Unison in 1998 and was the product manager there. He came to Champion with the system when it was sold. He told me that they no longer manufacture the LASAR system and some components in the controller are so obsolete that they are no longer available. He added that they are about ready to produce a new electronic ignition but it is not available yet. He gave me a contact for getting replacement units from a company in Canada called:
Progressive Air Service and their phone number is 250-376-6226.
I called Progressive Air Service and spoke to a very well informed man named
Brad who said they do service the LASAR units but he did not have a 4771 in stock at this time. He gave me the name and phone number of a man in Illinois that has a stock of LASAR hardware:
Harry Senton at 815-566-2735
I called Harry and he said he had a new 4771 in stock. I ordered the Mag and mailed my check.
So in conclusion the system works very well when properly timed and timing is very important to do in my opinion before the first flight. Timing requires a special LASAR timing kit and I could not find one in the ACS website or hardcopy catalog nor in Van's website where I bought mine in 2004. I dug out my 2004 Van's paper catalog and it is listed on page 5 as:
EA T-300 Timing Light.
It is critical to have this unit as the replacement of a mag requires this unit to reset the timing.
My experience with the system has been good but my history shows the non-sensor mags fail after approximately 400 hours. Nothing else has failed yet but the sensor mag is showing signs after 800 hours.
Bob Axsom
