As a dealer/broker of Ercoupes, I have an educated guess why some Ercoupe engines burp. Ercoupes are great planes to fly and own, we all know that. Fortunately for us, they are still affordable to buy, at least by comparison to most other aircraft. Thus, they are particularly attractive to those of us with limited budgets. As many of us are counting pennies, we tend to try to do more maintenance ourselves, rather than hiring a trained, licensed A+P mechanic at $50 plus an hour to fix our Ercoupes. I believe this may be the reason for some of the engine failures. While a couple of us may have the skill level of a trained A+P, few do. Nevertheless, we tinker with our airplanes (and engines) more then we should, or are even legally allowed to do. This is clearly evident by some of the queries on this users group like "I was changing my crankshaft this afternoon and I could not get it back in correctly...any suggestions". I exaggerate here for emphasis, but I trust you get my point. The good news is my observation over the past five years is that this "do it all yourself" attitude is changing. I see the level of well maintained Ercoupes clearly on the rise. Those held together with bubblegum and bailing twine are showing up less and less, thank goodness! Frankly, I feel that an aircraft mechanic charging $50 or so an hour is a bargain. At the car dealers in my area (NYC), the dealers charge $85 to $95 for mechanical work on automobiles. In comparison, the A+P/IA charging $50ish is a bargain. I think we all owe our A+P/IA's not only our dollars, but our appreciation for what they do.
Glen Glen Davis 917 297 1111 www.ishootpictures.com
