What's new
Van's Air Force

Don't miss anything! Register now for full access to the definitive RV support community.

Anyone know of Performance Engines

Cdreddell

Member
I'm in the market for an RV-10 and have run across a couple that claim 310 HP out of the Lycoming IO 540 engine. They were rebuilt (and mods made, I assume) by Performance Engines in La Verne California. The cimpany appears to be out of business, and I'm unable to gather any info on what was done to increase the stock HP from 260 to 310 HP. Concern is theeffect on TBO and abulity to get engine repaired orrebuilt if the mod are unkilnown and shop is no longer around to answer questions.
 
Mods

Barrett built my engine and ran it on the dyno.

I have a wide deck IO-540 with cold air induction, EFII, and 9:1 compression. It made right at 290 HP on the dyno.

I know of another builder with the same setup on a thunderbolt with the exception of 10:1 compression and a larger throttle body; his is apparently over 300 HP...

I would think that 310 HP would be possible with mods.

It is, however, always a balancing act. You are always trading performance for reliability.

Example: a funny car V8 can make 5000+ HP...for about 3 seconds.
 
I'm at Cable Airport (5 miles from LaVerne) and haven't heard of Performance Aero Engines.

However, a Yelp search shows only one review, from an extremely dissatisfied customer who claims fraudulent treatment followed by a lack of communication from the shop.

Performance Aero Engines seems to have had a web page, but it is now down.

https://www.yelp.com/biz/performance-aero-engines-la-verne

Caveat emptor.

David
 
Two of my buddies have Rockets with Performance Aero engines. No issues.

As for dyno claims - take it with a grain of salt. My 8.5 540 made a claimed 331 HP on the Ly-Con dyno. Only mods are ported cylinders and SDS EFI. That said, in the real world, side by side, I out perform both of my buddies and their Performance Aero engines. So there's that.
 
Both Lycon and Sky Dynamics have dynoed PV 540s at well over 300hp with fuel injection so the 310hp claim isn't impossible.
 
wow

Two of my buddies have Rockets with Performance Aero engines. No issues.

As for dyno claims - take it with a grain of salt. My 8.5 540 made a claimed 331 HP on the Ly-Con dyno. Only mods are ported cylinders and SDS EFI. That said, in the real world, side by side, I out perform both of my buddies and their Performance Aero engines. So there's that.

Then adding 9:1 and CAI, I should be up around 350!:D

LOL
 
I had a Performance Aero engine on my first RV-10. Yes, they claimed 300+ HP, but when I looked at the dyno run it was at some ridiculous RPM, not the 2700 RPM rated from Lycoming. All of them will make lots more HP if you run up the RPM's.
Fuel flow and aircraft performance indicated I was probably getting the 260-265 HP in real life.

Vic
 
Performance Aero Engines was started by Ron Monson. (spelling ?) He use to work at another shop before starting out on his own and opening Performance Aero Engines in La Verne. Ron was a very good mechanic and a trustworthy guy that I knew. He and Performance Aero Engines got a bad reputation when the shop grew too big too fast.

I got to know Ron when he worked at Magnum Aircraft Engines (Ontario, Kalifornia) before he started Performance Aero Engines. I would trust Ron to do anything to my aircraft engine but some of the people that worked for or with him without supervision not so much.
 
TBO

The late Monty Barrett told me that a 540 with 10-1 compression flown hard will be ready for a major at around 700 hours.
The other consideration is will the 100LL replacement work on a 10-1 compression engine??
 
Performance Engines

I noted the 1 review of a very disassisfied customer (via Yelp) and I take that with a grain of salt. Geniuses get misunderstood as much (or more) as the fraudulent types get exposed, imho..however, a search on VAF here resulted in accusations of complete mistepresentation of work done along with the named individual ghosting someone on a deserved deposit refund:

https://vansairforce.net/community/showthread.php?t=29712&referrerid=33124

Anyone want to do a prebuy involving some forensics on this engine I'm buying? Assuming it's dyno data is non existent but may be able to dig up reciepts/tags/claims as to what mods were made at rebuild. I will say the RV10 with the 3-blade MT prop 450 hrs on each), climbs extra ordinary...but tealized I'm used to sitting behind a Lycoming IO 540 in a certified aircraft (Trinudad TB-20). Cruise speed seems average when compared to other RV-10s on Flightaware search.
 
Back
Top