[inktomi]

I built my engine at Aero Sport in Kamloops last week, and it was a fantastic experience. It gave me a lot more confidence in working with my engine in the future, and gave me the opportunity to ask all sorts of questions along the way. Everyone at Aero Sport, from the people who've been there 30 years, to the folks just hired out of high school, was fantastic to work with and a pleasure to be around. This includes the sales process, Darren was fantastic to work with along the way - he used to build engines there and knows his stuff!

We built my AEIO-375-M1S in about a day, only needing a couple hours of work the second day. This of course doesn't include the couple days of prep work that they did before I arrived, but the actual build went very smoothly.

You can see all my photos from the build here if you're interested - https://photos.app.goo.gl/xeq4DP6wWE83Ujct9

They start you off with a tour where you go around the shop and meet everyone. I thought the non destructive test area was pretty cool, they showed how they take a part (they do a lot of overhauls) and expose tiny cracks that otherwise would be invisible. This gear has a lot!

Then it was time to start my build. The famous cart of all the engine parts. A friend pointed out that the cylinders look like owls, and I can't unsee it.

It starts with assembling the crankshaft.

Then it's put into the case with the camshaft and a form-a-gasket is created using thread.

Then the halves are joined and it's put onto the vertical mount for the rest of the work.

The gear train goes in, and the rear cover is put on. Onto that go all your accessories like fuel pump, mags (covered in my case), oil filter, governor mount, Monkworks (or vacuum pump) mount.

Then it's time to put the cylinders on. This is made easier using a multi-thousand dollar ring of steel that compresses the rings on the pistons. I was surprised that the rod that holds the piston on isn't really secured, it's just that the piston once in the cylinder can't really go anywhere. When installing these, we made sure that the gaps in the rings were far apart - if they line up you get no compression on that cylinder. This can happen in use as the rings do move - if we randomly have one cylinder with no compression, run the engine a bit to move them and test again.

After that it's time for the pushrod tubes and rockers. This is one place where there can be a bit of manual work, as there are specific gaps needed here and sometimes some adjustments are needed to ensure they're proper.

After that it's time to get it onto their test truck.

I'm not sure how to post a video, but it runs, and the video is in the shared Google Photos album if you are interested.

All in all, an incredible three days in Kamloops! I would for sure do this again.

 

[Norman CYYJ]

I built my engine at Aero Sport in Kamloops last week, and it was a fantastic experience. It gave me a lot more confidence in working with my engine in the future, and gave me the opportunity to ask all sorts of questions along the way. Everyone at Aero Sport, from the people who've been there 30 years, to the folks just hired out of high school, was fantastic to work with and a pleasure to be around. This includes the sales process, Darren was fantastic to work with along the way - he used to build engines there and knows his stuff!

We built my AEIO-375-M1S in about a day, only needing a couple hours of work the second day. This of course doesn't include the couple days of prep work that they did before I arrived, but the actual build went very smoothly.

You can see all my photos from the build here if you're interested - https://photos.app.goo.gl/xeq4DP6wWE83Ujct9

They start you off with a tour where you go around the shop and meet everyone. I thought the non destructive test area was pretty cool, they showed how they take a part (they do a lot of overhauls) and expose tiny cracks that otherwise would be invisible. This gear has a lot!

Then it was time to start my build. The famous cart of all the engine parts. A friend pointed out that the cylinders look like owls, and I can't unsee it.

It starts with assembling the crankshaft.

Then it's put into the case with the camshaft and a form-a-gasket is created using thread.

Then the halves are joined and it's put onto the vertical mount for the rest of the work.

The gear train goes in, and the rear cover is put on. Onto that go all your accessories like fuel pump, mags (covered in my case), oil filter, governor mount, Monkworks (or vacuum pump) mount.

Then it's time to put the cylinders on. This is made easier using a multi-thousand dollar ring of steel that compresses the rings on the pistons. I was surprised that the rod that holds the piston on isn't really secured, it's just that the piston once in the cylinder can't really go anywhere. When installing these, we made sure that the gaps in the rings were far apart - if they line up you get no compression on that cylinder. This can happen in use as the rings do move - if we randomly have one cylinder with no compression, run the engine a bit to move them and test again.

After that it's time for the pushrod tubes and rockers. This is one place where there can be a bit of manual work, as there are specific gaps needed here and sometimes some adjustments are needed to ensure they're proper.

After that it's time to get it onto their test truck.

I'm not sure how to post a video, but it runs, and the video is in the shared Google Photos album if you are interested.

All in all, an incredible three days in Kamloops! I would for sure do this again.

Nice write up and yes the guys there do great work!

 

[PhatRV]

Great write up and thanks for all the pictures.

 

[mgroleau2125]

I built my engine at Aero Sport in Kamloops last week, and it was a fantastic experience. It gave me a lot more confidence in working with my engine in the future, and gave me the opportunity to ask all sorts of questions along the way. Everyone at Aero Sport, from the people who've been there 30 years, to the folks just hired out of high school, was fantastic to work with and a pleasure to be around. This includes the sales process, Darren was fantastic to work with along the way - he used to build engines there and knows his stuff!

We built my AEIO-375-M1S in about a day, only needing a couple hours of work the second day. This of course doesn't include the couple days of prep work that they did before I arrived, but the actual build went very smoothly.

You can see all my photos from the build here if you're interested - https://photos.app.goo.gl/xeq4DP6wWE83Ujct9

They start you off with a tour where you go around the shop and meet everyone. I thought the non destructive test area was pretty cool, they showed how they take a part (they do a lot of overhauls) and expose tiny cracks that otherwise would be invisible. This gear has a lot!

Then it was time to start my build. The famous cart of all the engine parts. A friend pointed out that the cylinders look like owls, and I can't unsee it.

It starts with assembling the crankshaft.

Then it's put into the case with the camshaft and a form-a-gasket is created using thread.

Then the halves are joined and it's put onto the vertical mount for the rest of the work.

The gear train goes in, and the rear cover is put on. Onto that go all your accessories like fuel pump, mags (covered in my case), oil filter, governor mount, Monkworks (or vacuum pump) mount.

Then it's time to put the cylinders on. This is made easier using a multi-thousand dollar ring of steel that compresses the rings on the pistons. I was surprised that the rod that holds the piston on isn't really secured, it's just that the piston once in the cylinder can't really go anywhere. When installing these, we made sure that the gaps in the rings were far apart - if they line up you get no compression on that cylinder. This can happen in use as the rings do move - if we randomly have one cylinder with no compression, run the engine a bit to move them and test again.

After that it's time for the pushrod tubes and rockers. This is one place where there can be a bit of manual work, as there are specific gaps needed here and sometimes some adjustments are needed to ensure they're proper.

After that it's time to get it onto their test truck.

I'm not sure how to post a video, but it runs, and the video is in the shared Google Photos album if you are interested.

All in all, an incredible three days in Kamloops! I would for sure do this again.

Very cool! I have been considering them. Do you have HP numbers or dyno sheets? high, low, or standard compression?

 

[inktomi]

They don't have a dyno, but the data plate says 205hp. It's 9.7:1 compression.

 

[RNB]

How was the overall price compared to the alternatives?
Are you US based and if so what if any tariff impact is there?
Thank you so much.

 

[inktomi]

I am in the US, and because of a 1980's law the engines don't have any tariff. I was very happy about that.

My AEIO-375 cost about 56k, including an alternator, regulator, and the build school. The closest option from Van's seems to be the 200 hp YIO-360-A1B6 for 61k. I do think that Van's engine would weigh more than mine - it's an angle valve engine.

 

[dbuonerba]

What type aircraft are you installing this in and how far in advance did you order the engine/schedule your build? Do they have engines that would work for the RV-14?

 

[inktomi]

This is going into a RV-8. They sell everything from tiny carborated engines up to injected 540s. Im sure they have one that would suit the RV-14 well.

I put the deposit on my engine about a year and a half ago, but I delayed my build school to the end of the summer. I could have had the engine much faster. It comes down to parts availability for your engine more than anything.

I would highly recommend the build school, it was really amazing (other than starting at 7am. Those aero sport folks start early!).