Better go watch some Olympics, before I get myself in any more trouble :-)

Yes; you are now definitely overstating and generalizing based on your own bad experience.

Al

Whether you want to admit it or not, a well maintained certified type engine is light years ahead in reliability.  Remember, while we're working on ours, tinkering, modifying, etc, they're going round, and round, and round the pattern without problems, day in, day out. 

Does this mean we should just pay whatever the cost is for a "real" airplane engine?  Well that depends on your goal.  If you want the current best chance of success, and something that can be serviced at any airport in the world, then yes it does.  If you want something different, and are willing to bet your life on a good challenge, then by all means, roll your own engine installation.  It's only natural to think you can do better than the standard, and for engineering types, it's a known disease :-)  There are some really NICE installations ongoing now, and they may very well beat the odds, but don't think Lycoming is going to feel threatened any time soon :-)