C

cdwambolt

Member
Anyone have thoughts/knowledge/experience with the new IO400 from Superior. 250hp kinda sounds fun.

(I was gonna use a 360 till I found out there was a 390. I was gonna use a 390 till I found out there was a 400...it never ends)
 
Info

Not much info but I did see them at the Reno Air Races. It is so far my dream engine of choice buuuut, a friend of mine talked to Ameritech Engines in Redding California and they told him to stay away. I talked to Superior on the same day and they did not say that they were having any problems. I will hopefully talk to Ameritch to clarify but I am not aware of any flying except on the Lancair Air Racer and his reports are very positive.
 
not yet available

According to inside information, the XP-400 is not yet available for delivery. my source says that possibly Spring.
 
Lead Time - IO-390

We are currently scheduling builds for the end of January, beginning of February (so approx. 13 weeks) for kit engines. We are expecting a price increase from the manufacturers for 2007. No idea when or how much will be passed down. Will keep you updated as we know.
 
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That is weird that someone was told to stay away from it, when i talked to Eagle Engines about the 400 they told me that Superior was having some supply issues but there was no talk about any problems with the engine.
 
IMHO, it's a little bit difficult to pass judgement on a product when there is no data available for making sound decisions. One engine, built to run at Reno does not have enough history behind it for me to discard the possible option of purchasing the engine. Regardless of whether there is a supply issue or not, rest assured that the engine is going to hit the market at some point.
 
Allen Barrett said:
IMHO, it's a little bit difficult to pass judgement on a product when there is no data available for making sound decisions. One engine, built to run at Reno does not have enough history behind it for me to discard the possible option of purchasing the engine. Regardless of whether there is a supply issue or not, rest assured that the engine is going to hit the market at some point.
Click to expand...

ANY engine built to run at Reno does not support good data for production-run engines. These engines are generally modified well beyond good common sense and represent experimental aviation in it's truest form, with engine TBO's commonly measured in 2 digits.

To get good operational data, you need to have some dozens of production-tooling engines out in the market for a year or more. Any judgements reached before that point are simply speculation.
 
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