A65 chrome cylinders, good or bad?

[Guest]

Hi all,

I heard over the last week from folks that I talked to that they thought that chrome cylinders were just terrible lousy things and prefer steel.

Once one exceeds P15 it seems that chrome is the only option and a means of getting one more run out of a cylinder.

Any of you guys familiar with this dislike of chrome cylinders and why?

Dave

[Edwin Otha]

Re: A65 chrome cylinders, good or bad?

I never had any trouble with chrome, a little harder to break-in, but once done they wear like a pigs nose.
EO

[crispy critter]

Re: A65 chrome cylinders, good or bad?

We have a Cessna 170 down here with an 0300, cylinders were chromed by Harrison Engine Service about 12 years ago. At last count they had 1900 hours on them and never had a problem. We always run MMO or TCP anytime we use 100ll to keep the carbon build up down. Last annual three of them did flunk and the airplane came apart for paint and a major overhaul since the bottom end had 4200smoh. Everything except three cylinders still checked perfect and I suspect the cylinders to be crack because the owner took it to 10,000 feet then pulled the power and done a simulated fire emergency to see how fast he could safely get back down. The next two flights he complained of a little roughness and occasional missing.....stupid is as stupid does,lol.

[Ryan]

Re: A65 chrome cylinders, good or bad?

Our pacer has chrome cylinders (0-320) from Harrison. Around 400hrs and absolutely no issues. Breaking in a chrome a-65 cylinder right now. About 7 hours so far no issues and oil consumption is falling. Is taking longer to break in than steel.

[crispy critter]

Re: A65 chrome cylinders, good or bad?

It usually takes 5-20 hours to break in chrome depending on the type of chrome and how you run them. The best and fastest way is to fly at least 45-60 minutes every flight, reframe from slow flight and back to back takeoffs & landings inside the first 10 hours, and run it hard and constant......maximum continuous operating rpm is best.

[astjp2]

Re: A65 chrome cylinders, good or bad?

They are fine if you break them in right.. suck if they don't...Tim

[Guest]

Re: A65 chrome cylinders, good or bad?

The folks I talked with were saying that they don't even try to get chromed cylinders repaired or overhauled just tossed them and got replacements as a matter of routine.

There must be something missing in the statements because it doesn't make sense.

Thanks for all the responses, Dave.

p.s. when I say folks above I am referring to mechanics not engine shop personnel

[Nefj40]

Re: A65 chrome cylinders, good or bad?

You can't take a STD. A-65 chromed and bore it out to .015?

[Guest]

Re: A65 chrome cylinders, good or bad?

You can't take a STD. A-65 chromed and bore it out to .015?

The engine shop told me that they can do that. So the answer is yes as far as I know.

You could chrome it back to STD also.

[Garry Crookham]

Re: A65 chrome cylinders, good or bad?

Dave

Don't know if you're still open to chrome cylinder discussion. I meant to reply earlier but go wound up in that losing prime thread.

At the shop I work at we junk any "channel chrome" cylinders that come in. It's really hard to find a chrome shop that can control the porosity of the channel chrome and as a result due to numerous warranty problems with channel chrome we have stopped using it. There are other chrome compounds now being used on aircraft cylinders. We use a lot of Nickel coated cylinders and have had excellent results. ECI in San Antonio and Aircraft Cylinders of America (ACA) here in Tulsa both offer the Nickel process. Another chrome process that works good with small engines is Nu Chrome, a process with a satin chrome finish. ACA and Harrison both offer the NU Chrome process.

Garry

[Guest]

Re: A65 chrome cylinders, good or bad?

ahh!

I see Garry.

I talked with Harrison and I send to Harrison for chroming so I essentially was lucky and fell into the right niche.

Thanks for the info now it makes sense to me.

Dave

[robbie]

Re: A65 chrome cylinders, good or bad?

If I can ask what is a ball park $$ for a chrome Cly job at Harrison?

[Ryan]

Re: A65 chrome cylinders, good or bad?

$150 for the chrome + your other work.

[robbie]

Re: A65 chrome cylinders, good or bad?

Thanks for the information.