National Aeronca Association Bulletin Board

I'm just wondering how a person can determine whether A-65 cylinders are serviceable or can be repaired to serviceable?

The reason why I ask is a neighbor of mine passed away unexpectedly. Anyhow over conversations in the past he stated that he had several A-65 cylinders in his basement or house from when he used to be a partner in a champ.

Anyhow with the family most likely needing to sort through and sell his estate stuff. I was thinking I may be a good candidate to take at least 1 or more cylinders from the estate.

However I don't want to buy junk and I do want to pay a fair price for them.

Is there some sort of inspection or dial caliper or some measurements that can be done to see if any of them are viable, or if they are all just paper weights?

My A-65 is running great with great compressions etc. (knock on wood). But it seems wise to have a serviceable cylinder or two around just in case. It seems sooner or later a cylinder will go flat. And I want to be prepared but I don't want to go broke or waste money.

Until you measure and crack check them, consider them cores.

First off there is an AD on the small Continental cylinders for cracking rocker mounts. This must be complied with anytime they are removed from an engine and re-fitted.

Then they will need to be checked to see how close they are to the factory measurements. Also the first thing I would do is to give them a good visual check. If the bore's are rusted from sitting for years then doubt that they are worth anything.

Truthfully I would discuss this with the family and see if they would let you send them to an overhaul facility and await the results. If they are cracked then they are junk. If they are rusted then again they are no good.

If they measure out fine then maybe they can be honed and re-used but you will not know until they are checked out.

Joe makes a couple of good points. If they are steel barrels and they have been sitting around in a basement they're most likely rusted unless they have been protected with grease or something on the bores. Also, some of the old timers had brass intake seats and I'm not sure how they stand up over the 'long haul. That being said, if they're not cracked, etc. they can be bored .015 over or chromed. Off the top of my head :standard bore is 3.882 (max) anything over that needs to go to .015 over. I agree with you though, it's nice to have a cylinder or two built up and ready to install if one goes 'soft'. I have a couple along with a bunch of A65 parts 'just in case'. For a price, I sold a core for $50 and told them if it couldn't be reworked I'd refund the money but must have been OK. Serviceable A65 parts are getting hard to find.

Mike

What Mike says is spot on, especially with the A-65 parts. A-65 cylinders are getting more and more difficult to find, so having a few spares "ready to go on the airplane" is a good thing.

In the O/H manual, there's a section called Table of limits. Take that, and calipers then get dirty.

A-65 O/H Manual...
http://www.wotelectronics.com/airplane/ ... 20A-65.pdf

nkh