Just a couple of simple additions to a good posting: build your engine last,
after everything else is done. I let my 0-320 sit while I worked on my BD-4,
and it aged terribly! Newly-honed cylinders, and newly-ground cams and lifters
are particularly vulnerable to oxidation. Whenever possible, let someone else
take the risks that come with experimental flying. Just getting into an
untested aircraft is a major risk of death and injury, why compound that risk
by adding an experimental engine to the mix? Competent and purposeful people
have gone before you and I and pioneered many options for engines. Some have
given their lives and fortunes in that endevour. Use what they have learned to
help make your project successful, and reduce your risks. In order of risk from
low to high: a well- run-in (1000 hrs would be ideal) certificated aircraft
engine, a newly-overhauled certificated with test-cell time, an experimental
engine with millions of flight hours (rotax comes to mind), a proven
auto-engine conversion with flight time, and lastly, auto conversion with
personal experiments added. This is nothing new, but very important advice
because you want to fly that plane longer than just the 40 hr test period. You
want to enjoy it for the rest of your life. Peter
