AOPA Pilot Magazine - April 2014 - 26

PILOT BRIEFING
AOPA sweepstakes coverage sponsored by BANK OF AMERICA

ON THE

WEB

THREE WAYS TO WIN
ONE OF 76 PRIZES IN AOPA'S
DEBONAIR SWEEPSTAKES

Join or renew your AOPA
membership and you are
entered to win in AOPA's
Debonair Sweepstakes. AOPA
is giving away a completely
restored 1963 Beechcraft
Debonair B33 with an all-new
ergonomic interior, the latest
avionics, and up-to-date airframe
as the grand prize. You also
could win one of 75 other great
aviation prizes. Visit the website
(www.aopa.org/Membership/
Sweeps.aspx) to enter.

AN OLD, -K engine cylinder and piston (left)

Prepping for the shows
The Debonair's new engine rounds second
BY THOMAS A. HORNE
THE DEBONAIR'S engine saga is
in mid-completion as this goes
to press. All of the engine's
internal components-crankshaft, camshaft, crankcase,
accessory case drive gears,
magneto drive gears, and
much more-have been either
replaced or inspected and
reconditioned to like-new status at Genesis Engines in North
Carolina. Any reconditioned
parts are "yellow tagged,"
meaning that an FAA-certified
repair station has found them
airworthy. Yellow tags are
often referred to as the "birth
certificates" of replacement or
reconditioned engine or airframe parts; that's because they
document the parts' origins and
service and repair histories.

26 | AOPA PILOT April 2014

ECi has generously provided six new cylinders, and
these are being fitted to the
internal assemblies and crankcase. The new cylinders' valves
are set at an angle, according to
ECi account manager Jim Ball.
This, along with its domeshaped combustion chambers,
will make the engine burn fuel
more efficiently than the old
engine's parallel-valve arrangement. It's this setup that helps
the new engine make 35 more
horsepower than the original.
In addition, the engine is
getting a new air-induction system, along with a new propeller
governor, starter, and oil cooler.
The old oil cooler is junk, the
assumption being that iron particles in the oil of the original

and its new -N engine ECi cylinder. Notice
that the ECi valves enter the combustion
chamber at an angle, and that there are
four studs for mounting the intake and
exhaust stacks. The -K engine's valves
operate parallel to each other, and there
are only two studs for mounting the intake
and exhaust manifolds.

engine had been trapped inside.
If we reused the oil cooler, all
that trapped metal would recirculate into the new engine,
creating damage all over again.
So it's Genesis Engine's policy
to install new oil coolers to prevent this from happening.
What else will be new?
Plenty. New oil and fuel hoses.
New scat tubing. New magnetos. A new ignition harness.
And D'Shannon Aviation's new
engine baffling and cooling kit,
to keep oil- and cylinder head
temperatures optimal. The baffling will be painted, and the
baffling's edges have custommolded, flexible seals done up
in colors that match the airplane's paint scheme.
Aero Engines of Winchester,
located at the Winchester
(Virginia) Regional Airport,
will install the new engine and

dress up the engine compartment as well. Aero Engines will
also do the job of plugging in
the new engine's redlines and
other limitation values into the
Electronics International MVP50P engine/systems analyzer.
When all is done, The
Debonair will have a fieldoverhauled, 260-horsepower
Continental IO-470-N engine
with zero time on it. There's
a bit of time-travel bound up
in that last phrase-because
by the time you read this the
engine upgrade should be complete! What's more, it will be
on display in front of AOPA's
tent at the Sun 'n Fun Fly-In
from April 1 through 6 at the
Lakeland (Florida) Linder
Regional Airport and at later
AOPA Fly-Ins.
EMAIL tom.horne@aopa.org
http://www.aopa.org/Membership/Sweeps.aspx
AOPA Pilot Magazine - April 2014

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