[Mark McConaughy]

Well, congrats to the gentleman who lost the engine. I'm assuming that he retruned to the airport for a landing without incident.

The only thing I will say about overhauls is unless it's a factory new or reman be very sure you know who you are dealing with. Once the overhaul is buttoned up you just have to take on blind faith that whoever did the overhaul did IAW the overhaul manual and he didn't cheat on parts.

Having said that I have a very good friend who is an A&P he doesn't take in outside work but I know him and if he says it good to go, then my kids can ride in the back. (my highest quality standard). be very carfull of a "good deal".

Another issue is no matter who's engine it is there is always the concern about what is aptly termed "infant mortality" personally I always am suspicious with any engine with less than 100 hours (give or take). If you get by that then everything else everyone here has said about maintaining the engine and running it on a regular basis.

One other thing that you might keep in mind, and this is for recip engines in general, most (like over 90%) engine failures occur durring a power change. My rule of thumb in recips has been not to touch anything as far as that first power reduction until i'm in a position were I can afford to loose an engine. Like coming out of a short strip and/or obstructions I don't touch anything till I'm clear of the obstructions and vyse plus about 20. But that's just me.