Considering The Value of a Sonex - Jabiru Gen 4 or not?

[austexaviator]

It seems to me that Sonex airplanes are grossly undervalued in the market. Since Covid, many airplanes have at least doubled in value, but not the Sonex. I’m not quite sure why. It is a great little airplane, easy and fun to fly.

I’m at a crossroads and here is my dilemma:

My Sonex Model A is equipped with a Gen 1 solid lifter engine, about 370 hrs TT. I have posted about the high oil consumption before and from the borescope it looked liked my engine had some significant pitting. I decided to do a top overhaul. I was pulling the cylinder heads off and found heavy carbonization and lead deposits. Worse yet, all of them had some amount of head recession. To hone the cylinders, new pistons and rings runs about $3500. Then what to do with the heads? clean them and stick them back on? Buy new ones (Jabiru will have them available soon, see my post in the Jabiru section). Or I could go the LCH route, but not really desirable after reading many stories on various forums. So I'll likely spend about $10k on a full top overhaul but I'd still be stuck with periodic head torquing and valve adjustments every 25 hrs.
Next option would be to buy a used engine - Arion has a few available from pople who have upgraded to GEN 4. Currently listed from $6k-$14k. I'd get an engine with unknown history and all of the older Jabs have their issues, especially if not closely watched for overheating.
Which takes me to what would normally be my preferred option and just order the Gen 4. I a have reached out to a few Sonex owners who have installed the Gen 4 and they seem to love them. These are now in stock and I could have it in 2 weeks. The price of a new Gen 4 is $22,500 right now. I don't have an issue with the price itself, but that would push my Sonex close to $50k between airframe, engine and avionics.
Most expensive Sonex I have seen so far was advertised at $35k.
So, a new engine doesn't seem like a smart investment.
I don't mind tinkering with the plane but prefer spending more time flying than working on the plane. Any recommendations? What would you do?

[Area 51%]

If you buy a boat thinking it's cheaper to catch fish than buy them at the fish market...........you have made a bad decision.
Otherwise, pony up and enjoy the ride.

[Bryan Cotton]

I guess the other question is - are you flying it or selling it? If you are flying it and don't want to work on it, spend the money and get personal value out of it.

[WaiexB22]

I will have over $60k in mine when I finish (I am already past 50). Given my engine choice my resale will probably be lower than most, but the fun factor should be greater than most too.... but this isn't about resale value.

The ROI shouldn't be measured in dollars. It should be measured in fun times, smiles, and memories.

Having said that, I personally would go with a Gen 4. Sounds like you would be 10-12k more than an overhaul, excluding any salvage value you can get from the old engine. Assuming you could get a few thousand for the old engine, your cost is not all that much greater in the grand scheme of things for a new engine.

[daleandee]

The ROI shouldn't be measured in dollars. It should be measured in fun times, smiles, and memories.

I'm not looking for ROI as I don't plan to sell but anyone is free to make an offer.

Keep peeling off the large bills and I'll let you know when to stop ...

Dale
3.0 Corvair/Tailwheel