About 3 1/2 years ago when I bought my IV P kit, it was clear that the TSIO
550 would be the engine.  About 2 years ago at Sun & Fun, I thought, after
visiting the Continental booth,that the LL100 issue was resolved with FADEC.
I put a $1000 deposit on it and THOUGHT I would have had a FADEC engine by
now.

Not only do I not have a FADEC engine but, as I see it, there is no reason
to think it will be available in the foreseeable future.  The fact is,
Continental Aerosance has had the IO550 FADEC on a IV P for at least 5
months and they have not yet been able to get it running properly.
Furthermore, until reading some of the posts on this site, I failed to
realize that FADEC cannot make up for lower octane in terms of engine max
horsepower output.

Combining the LL100 issue with hearing over this past 3 1/2 years the
reliability issues surrounding TSIO 550 on the IV P has me thinking it's
time to look for a better way to go.

Again, as a result of this web site, I was aware of the Engine Air engine.
Clearly, here again, major controversy exists.  Believe it or not, as I
investigate this engine further, it becomes harder to sort out the facts
about the reliability of this engine.

What is important to me, is  this engine "NOW" at least as reliable as the
TSIO 550?"  It is absolutely cleat that the Engine Air product
specification-wise is far and away superior to the TSIO 550.

I should stress that for me reliability is TOP priority.  It has been
suggested that the Walters is the way to go - it apparently has a proven
track record of very high reliability but, of course, not in a IV P.  I am a
600+ hour pilot and wanted a traveling airplane.  750 shaft horsepower and a
3 1/2 hour in-the-air time is not what I had in mind.

If engine reliability is as high a priority to others, as it is to me, the
issues raised here ought to be of concern.  For me, I think it boils down to
"what is the reliability of the Continental TSIO 550 verses the Engine Air
NOW that, as it has been stated, the problems have been solved with it.

I do not begin to think that a definitive answer to my questions can be
formed, however, perhaps enough FACTUAL data can be brought out to come to a
relatively clear opinion for a lot of us.

Scott Turner  90% 90%