Rob
MEMBER
AZ06
Man has this one drifted.... lol
When shopping for a Pponk, Lycon as in Lycon in Visalia, not Lycon of AZ, was my first choice as well, as it was for my last cub engine. I had flown behind Ken's O-320's, O-360's and a couple Pponk's as well, and really, really appreciated those engines. In the end, knowing that the time frame they tend to quote was 'optimistic' at best, coupled with the fact that Steve Knopp had one in his shop that was half way through the build process, and available, I went that way and couldn't be happier. My Cub engine went to another shop
Fast forward several years, and my neighbor was looking for some assistance in building up a Pponk for his '56 180. Steve was not as available this time, and we happened upon an IO520 core. Having a serviceable O-470 in the airplane the 520 was sent to Lycon, and I expect it will produce all the expected smiles as well. It has been going in this week, along with the typical 'freshening up' of the usual stuff like exhaust, mount, baffles etc...
The engine was a month and a half or so later than expected, but to be fair, we never called and checked on it until then, as we had a time gap between when we anticipated the engine, and when we could install it. I'm also pretty sure they knew we had a flyable condition until they were done.
While I don't regret having Steve K build my engine instead of Lycon (I think he does an amazing job as well). I can't say the same for my last cub engine. It came from a reputable engine builder in CO, and it is no where near as smooth or robust as the Lycon cub engines I have flown. In fact it, a wide deck 160 is a dog compared to the clapped out narrow deck 150 it replaced. I wish I had parked that one a little longer and exercised the patience in having that one built up.
BTW, some of the posts above tend to suggest that building to 'trade standards' should yield as good a result as any :-?. In my prior life as a building contractor, I used to make a point of reminding both employees, and customers, that 'trade standards' were a pretty low benchmark to shoot for.
In the end, some shops shine at customer service, some at paperwork, some at speed, and some at build quality. It's pretty rare to get one to shine at two of these points, and rarer yet to get one to shine at all of them. Ask yourself which one of these is most important, and then when / if you start getting impatient during the build remind yourself of that. ;-)
Take care, Rob
All,
If there are recent experiences with Ly-Con I would appreciate you sharing. It seems everyone likes the PPONK and I am committed to that direction over other options but would like to feel confident of the vendor I am doing business with.
Thanks in advance for any thoughts on this.
When shopping for a Pponk, Lycon as in Lycon in Visalia, not Lycon of AZ, was my first choice as well, as it was for my last cub engine. I had flown behind Ken's O-320's, O-360's and a couple Pponk's as well, and really, really appreciated those engines. In the end, knowing that the time frame they tend to quote was 'optimistic' at best, coupled with the fact that Steve Knopp had one in his shop that was half way through the build process, and available, I went that way and couldn't be happier. My Cub engine went to another shop
Fast forward several years, and my neighbor was looking for some assistance in building up a Pponk for his '56 180. Steve was not as available this time, and we happened upon an IO520 core. Having a serviceable O-470 in the airplane the 520 was sent to Lycon, and I expect it will produce all the expected smiles as well. It has been going in this week, along with the typical 'freshening up' of the usual stuff like exhaust, mount, baffles etc...
The engine was a month and a half or so later than expected, but to be fair, we never called and checked on it until then, as we had a time gap between when we anticipated the engine, and when we could install it. I'm also pretty sure they knew we had a flyable condition until they were done.
While I don't regret having Steve K build my engine instead of Lycon (I think he does an amazing job as well). I can't say the same for my last cub engine. It came from a reputable engine builder in CO, and it is no where near as smooth or robust as the Lycon cub engines I have flown. In fact it, a wide deck 160 is a dog compared to the clapped out narrow deck 150 it replaced. I wish I had parked that one a little longer and exercised the patience in having that one built up.
BTW, some of the posts above tend to suggest that building to 'trade standards' should yield as good a result as any :-?. In my prior life as a building contractor, I used to make a point of reminding both employees, and customers, that 'trade standards' were a pretty low benchmark to shoot for.
In the end, some shops shine at customer service, some at paperwork, some at speed, and some at build quality. It's pretty rare to get one to shine at two of these points, and rarer yet to get one to shine at all of them. Ask yourself which one of these is most important, and then when / if you start getting impatient during the build remind yourself of that. ;-)
Take care, Rob