Best A-65 Upgrade Options

[jd888]

Hi all,

New to the Cub world, so bear with me here.

I purchased a 1939 J3C-65 in January and have loved flying it ever since, putting over 50 hours on it in the past 6 months. It has an older A-65-8 with around 600 hours SMOH, done in 1990. It's been running strong, especially after an extensive first annual in May: two new slick mags, new harness and plugs. Also installed the Real Gaskets pushrod tube STC. I change the oil every 25 hours, running W80 Plus year-round. Overall solid compressions, occasional minor oil leaks.

Anyways, with the lack of engine part availability has encouraged me to start thinking about my next engine. I am not in a rush to replace or overhaul my current one, but I want a solid plan formed considering the length of time it takes to build up or overhaul one of these old engines. As far as I know, there's no shops out there that sell new engines "out of the box" ready to plug and play. If you know of any, let me know!

These are the 3 options I'm considering, mostly in order cost effectiveness and downtime. Also in preference of higher horsepower of course!

1. Buy a used C-85/C-90 ($10-20k)
2. Buy a used C-85 ($10-20k) plus O-200 crank ($10k) plus labor ($?) to create a stroker
3. Overhaul current A-65 ($22k, 6 month downtime)

Are these options realistic? Do I have the "build up" process of the stroker correct - and is the extra cost for the crank and labor worth it?

Thank you!

 

[bob turner]

 

[43-29080]

 

[AKJurnee]

 

[reileyr]

 

[JimC]

 

[Rik]

 

[huston marlowe]

 

[reileyr]

 

[Rik]