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in a largish hall closet and runouts have more value as scrap metal than as rebuild cores.The demise of the cylinder overhaul business was an inevitable consequence of the overall decline in GA. As Lycoming and Continental saw their new engine business shrink, they got into the overhaul game and that translated into fierce competition in the cylinder market. The upshot is that for some engines, a new cylinder costs only a few bucks more than an overhauled jug.
“Its usually a no-brainer to go with new,” says Charlie Melot, of Zephyr Aircraft Engines, a leading overhaul shop in Zephyrhills, Florida. Nonetheless, as do many overhaul shops, Zephyr still does cylinder overhauls and still buys and installs overhauled cylinders from the exchange pool. And despite the price plummet in factory cylinder prices and intense competition in new cylinders from Superior and ECI, there’s still a place for overhauled jugs. But given the retraction in the market, buyers need to explore the options carefully before opting for overhauled jugs.
Cherry Picking
The choice of new versus overhauled is driven nearly entirely by price and that in turn is driven by engine population. The more of a particular engine model there is in the field, the more likely that Superior and ECI offer aftermarket PMAd replacement jugs, which has forced the factories mainly Lycoming to lower prices to respond to the competition.