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CARBURETOR - Rebuilt vs Overhaul

Funguy

Well Known Member
I have a 10-3678-32 on a 0320-E3B that has run flawlessly for well over the recommended 10 years with me being blissfully unaware of the 10 year recommendation for overhaul. Since I am reworking the Filtered Air Box, and now aware, I was wondering what the Aircraft Spruce options of Rebuilt vs Overhaul considerations would be. The CDN$175.00 does not appear to be a big differentiation given the CDN$1300 - 1400 price tag.
 
I would overhaul my known working carb or buy new.
I have seen a carb with an issue be OH'd and come back with same issues.
FYI...mine is 25 yrs old and still working fine.
 
No problems

What symptoms suggest the need for a carb overhaul?

It runs like a top... No issues whatsoever. Its simply been 20+ years and 2000 hrs and the manufacturer suggests overhaul after 10 years regardless of hours. It would appear prudent to consider.

Cheers, Sean
 
There is a long running debate regarding performing preventative maintenance on a calendar or hours in use schedule vs. on condition.

Many times working parts are taken out of service for PM and fail shortly after the PM has been completed.

Should your carb have an issue, it should give you some type of warning.

That said, this is your plane and you are the one flying it, so do what you are comfortable with.
 
My carb came with the engine core I purchased about 20 years ago. My IA at the time pronounced it good, and with a few seal (and one float) replacement, that carb performed well for me for 19 years. But, I'd started noticing play in the throttle shaft, the bowl to body seal was wiggling again, and I thought it was time. So I swapped it out for a rebuilt unit.

The only complaint I have is that the casting for my old carb didn't match the casting for the new one, so the bolt-on fit I expected didn't exactly work out. Instead, I had to modify the airbox mounting plate to get the new carb to seat.

If I hadn't been in a hurry, I'd have sent the carb to Aircraft Accessories of OK (Phone - 918-835-9924). They were Rhonda at Barrett's Precision Engines recommendation. They were nice on the phone and the price of their IRAN and/or overhaul would have been less than or equal to the replacement carb's price from Aircraft Spruce. They were looking at a 7-10 day turnaround, wheras I could get one same day from Spruce by driving down there.

So, if I was willing to wait a week or 10 days, I'd go with Aircraft Accessories. If I was in a hurry, I'd get a rebuilt unit from Spruce. The one I got looked brand new.
 
Carb

I bought new throttle shaft, bushings, reamer and special epoxy and did the bushings myself. New legal metal float to replace the plastic.
 
My Brother's lot looked at doing their own rebuild, then looked at the special bits and pieces needed to remove, ream etc.

The most important thing to consider is that it will be the first time you have done this !

If you send it away, the person who does it, does it every day.

Just a thought.

BTW, I would leave well alone as others have said.
 
About 7 years ago, my C-152 needed a new or overhauled MS carb. I ended up buying a overhauled carb from AS&S. It was around $600 back then with exchange. It was set almost perfect right out of the box. That C-152 was sold to a flight school and is still going strong.
 
Let me just say:

PREVENTIVE maintenance is the backbone of aircraft safety/reliability.
 
Thanks to all

This conversation certainly went in a different direction than expected. I was really looking to hear the merits of rebuilt vs overhaul as offered by by good people at AS. As to the merits of leaving it alone vs overhaul, I do appreciate the input from all however I had already rationalized going down the overhaul road. I am not above stealing some of the engineer's margin especially if there is good evidence (numbers) to support doing so. This would be one more inadvertent anecdotal data point for a 20 year overhaul:). However, I do not have any reasonable evidence to justify putting it off. And it will look spiffy with that new air box I'm building.

Cheers, Sean
 
How much harder is it to rebuild an aircraft carb vs an automotive or motorcycle carb?

quite a bit easier. They are much simpler than most late model auto carbs. The basics are similar with a few unique differences that are easiy to figure out.
 
Definition of preventative maintenance ?

If it runs good and not leaking, the filter is the only thing to maintain, correct ?
 
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