Where is the best place to send a crank....

[CptKelly]

Who has experience with the company's that yellow tag a crank? I recently bought a crank, and I want to get it yellow tagged? What would one expect to pay considering that the crank doesn't need to be ground, just polished and magnafluxed?

Mike

[joea]

Moving this to the "Engine" section where it should get more coverage.

Have heard good things about the guys in Oklahoma. Believe Divco does crankcases and maybe a place next door that does engine giblets?

Joe A

[kyleb]

When I did the engine for my RV, I used Aircraft Specialties Services in Tulsa for the crank, and all the internal bits (rods, camshaft, followers, gears, etc.). They were easy to work with and I'd use 'em again.

http://www.aircraft-specialties.com/

Give 'em a call.

Kyle

[MikeB]

Mike,
I think Bolduc quoted a price of $150 for checking the crank and magnafluxing. However, any repair work they send out.

MikeB

[Captgrumps]

Mike

Check with Aircraft Specialties in Tulsa, OK 1-800=828-9252. I have used them--they do alot of engine work--in fact they have an O-200 crank STC for the C-85's also. Their STC includes a New O-200 crank and pistons. They have done work for me. I recently found a crank that was supposed to be airworthy--sent it to them and they found two cracks--one in the hub and one around the slinger. Evidently it had been in a nose over--with those symptoms.
Also beware on Ebay--there is a camshaft listed as a C85/C65--but the part number shown is for an A-65.

Doug

[jepropst]

As mentioned above, I also have used Aircraft Specialities of Tulsa both for inspection of existing parts as well as a supplier of new parts. I also used their STC for the C-85 O-200 modification. Their service and support was good and I would recommend them.

[Lostdutchman]

I also used their STC for the C-85 O-200 modification. Their service and support was good and I would recommend them.

Do you remember the cost for the STC and parts I was thinking about uping the 85 on my L16

[Captgrumps]

The STC which includes a brand new O200 cranshaft and pistons is around $3200. But you will have to consider probably a rod exchange--and your cylinders--you can buy new ones complete except rocker arms and shafts or overhaul your old ones. The achiles heal in the conversion is the camshaft--basically there are No C-85 camshafts out there. If you have a good one hang on to it. Problem with the C85 cams is where they they ride in the case, not the cam lifter lobes. The majority are beyond limits. I suspect that many of the conversions out there are operating on the end of the part limit cycle. I am bulding up one where the only thing salvageable was the case (with reconditioning) rear case (with reconditioning) and six lifter bodies. Basically I now an working on a new engine--O200 STC, new crank, cylinders, pistons, gears, oil pump, mags, harness, overhauled carbureator, new hardware and the beat goes on. BTW, when you buy new cylinders the pistons that come with them won't work--so you have a new set standard pistions to sell to someone with an unmodified C85. If you go this route you will have to buy your wife something to make her happy--but you will have a new engine--not a service limit job.

Doug

[joea]

BTW, when you buy new cylinders the pistons that come with them won't work--so you have a new set standard pistions to sell to someone with an unmodified C85. Doug

Doug,

Bet that 80 hp Continental pistons will fit!

[jepropst]

You can still get 85 cams from Fresno. They have both standard and oversized. They also have C-85 hydraulic lifters and lifter bodies. Note that the 85 cam is cast iron and you most likely will have to have it ground between the lobs to provide clearance for the connecting rods on the O-200 crank. Bill Pancake ground mine. It doesn't take much but it may have an interferrence fit with the rods if the casting is the least bit oversized or out of round. I bought an O-200 crank and new ECi nickel cylinder kits from Aircraft Speciality. ECi makes up special cylinder kits for them to use with their STC that includes the correct piston and rings. You will need to order piston wrist pins separate as they are not part of the clyinder kit. Also, if you use ECi cylinders they don't come with rocker arm covers. I used yellow tag connecting rods and rocker arms. Aircraft Speciality provided the rods with new bolts, nuts, and cotter pins. We had to do some shuffling of rocker arms to minimize the variety of push rod lengths. Fresno also has pushrods of various lengths. Fresno also has bearing sets and crankcase studs and their prices are much less than most places.

[Captgrumps]

John--
You are right, Fresno has C85 cams at $850 new, $665 +.020. That is where most will have to go as for some reason te C85 cams wear where they ride in the crank case bosses. Evidently it is the material or the way they were treated. I went with the new Continental cylinders with the Specialities STC which comes with new crank, pistons and rings. I had my rocker arms reconditioned by them and used new push rods to eliminate a mix. None of the cylinder kits come with rocker covers. Another shock people will get is if they install new Slick mags and don't have the gears from their old C85 mags. The Slick mag kits do not come with the gears. Before Champion bought out Slick atleast the C65 kits came with new gears--no more. New gears are $450 a piece. I used my C85 rods for cores for the proper STC rods. Of my lifter bodies, six were good so I got two from Specialities. All the lifters passed the test.

[CptKelly]

Thanks Guys,
I appreciate all the excellent input. This forum has members who have a wealth of knowledge, and sharing this knowledge is a wonderful thing.

Mike

[jepropst]

My engine was the first one that I actively participated in the major overhaul, which was done by Bill Pancake. I had the rocker arms "reconditioned" and yellow tagged by Aircraft Specialities. For some reason I had assumed that there was a specification for reconditioning rocker arms and that all eight would be returned identical. I was surprised when Bill told me that beyond rebushing, the face of the rocker arm is passed across a belt sander to clean the face and every rocker arm may end up with different dimensions. As we assembled the engine, each lifter was installed totally decompressed. Bill then installed standard length pushrods and measured the valve to rocker arm clearance as the cam was at the bottom of the lobe for each valve. The overhaul manual has a range for the gap between the valve and rocker arm. We ended up using pushrods that were everwhere from .070" to .090" over standard length. After assembling the engine with pushrods from Bill's stock, I ordered new pushrods from Fresno to replenish Bill's stock. I found that Fresno has pushrods other than the lengths listed in their Trade-a-plane ad.