Engine Doctor

Hi Don the 97 oct fuel like BP ultimate or Shell V power although thry have to be sold as E5 dont contain ethanol .There is a sign on the pumps "suitable for all cars". Its still worth checking though as I believe the ethanol is mixed with the petrol when it deliveredto the prtrol station. Simple test is to mix with water . I still add the lucas fuel protector to my 25 year old car just in case. For my garden petrol tools and plane engines i just buy E5 supermarket with 5% ethanol and remove it with a water mix . I find that all my two stroke and my 4stroke mower run far better without any ethanol and no issues after a winter layup.

Glass is good but takes longer is messy and on a model like the AcroWot is it really worth it and tgen you have to paint it ? The new cheaper coverings are brilliant and cost effective . I use Rapid RC's covering as its a fraction of the cost of Oracover and miles ahead of the coverings offered by ripmax etc. Its your choice so do what you enjoy most.

Thats a pity Hillclimber. I was looking forward t9 seeing it run . Are the transfer ports opening ok ie piston not too high or low ? Is cranckcase compression ok as this is more important than cylinder compressìon on a two stroke ? If crankcase comp is poor then you will only get a pop now and again.

Dependingon what car you have the ECU usually doesnt regulate the charging. Its the BCM (Battery Control Module) that needs resetting . Some cars can be reset by pressing certain buttons but other need a OBD reset tool often combined within a code reader. Not a lot of money these days and after a couple of uses for code reading etc they pay for themselves as garages often charge an hours labour to plug it in and read any codes. The engine light or mill light is often refered to as an idiot lighf by some mechanics. Halfords charge £27 for fit and reset i believe !

For low use or hobby cars or cars on a SORN a maintenance / trickle charger is a good investment. Dont forget nealy all cars from the 80s onwards had a an alarm or built in computer that draws a few mah that will drian and damage a car battery after a few weeks . I have a trickle maintenance charger in my hobby car , costs around £20 uses hardly any power and keeps car battery healthy and ready to go and far cheaper than replacing battery.

Could you not mount engine on its side ? Picture of model would help .

Could the problem not be simply overcome by flying with the karts behind your flightline and a suitable distance between them and you creating a NFZ ? Obviously not being able to see the site there may be other obstacles .

Hi Rich . Dont forget to allow extra time for delivery as 20 mph will slow the post van 😉

He who hesitates Rodney , he who hesitates. Just buy them Rich postage wont break the bank .

Just change the socket to match the Futaba plug. Far easier , cheaper and more reliable than using an adaptor on an old socket .Also check the associated wiring as if the socket is corroded its likely that corrosion will have crept up the wiring . Just had to do a similar job on a car door plug and socket with 17 wires. Plug and socket unavailable without buying the loom costing £100's . Fixed using hollowed out original plug and socket with ñew pin and socket connectors fitted . Cost a couple of £'s.

Hi Jim . I have to disagree with you on using a large prop on a small diesel. The leverage from a large heavy prop can and will severly damage a small diesel if it hydraulic locks. Ive seen bent rods broken cranks,split pistons and even broken crank cases all from doing just that.

Just keep looking on Ebay for r hine spares. Often an engine ideal for spares will come up. You can always ask on here . Ive been helped out a few times for bits. Are you looking for any parts at the moment ? There used to be a few dealers in old spares but they come and go. Things like needle vakve asemblies and piston rings are readily availabke from a few dealers. Other bits like cranks or cases are now mainly from a breaker engine . Pistons / rebores can be made and a few poeple do this. Judt adk around at a club or on here. The swap meet at Old Warden can be a hold mibe fir engine parts. Yes small props are getting rarer but visit any swapmeets etc . Often find loads of props for very little money but beware of chipped props and nylon props should be left in a pan of near boiling water for a few hours as they dry out and can be brittle. Re the sharp props . Always always sand off the sharp flashing and re- balance props before using. Nothing worse than slicing your finger along a prop on cold day and getting diesel fuel in it ! Child hood memories are very vivid about that. Good luck and keep the diesel revival going

Most of the ED Mk2 or comp specials only had to get a whiff of ether and they would fire . Dont get caught out , only 2cc but can still give a hefty whack on the fingers😖. Lovely old engines and worth getting a proper prop driver .

Thats simple . Turn phone off, , lock yourself in workshop, use slower setting epoxy with decent clamps qnd let the world do one until your ready 😉. If its important any caller will call back or leave your answerphone on, oh and switch off the devils invention... the mobile.

Funny how times change . FrSky started off making clone rx's to use with Futaba , JR etc. When other companies started cloning their stuff they didn't like it and changed protocol to stop them I believe. Still excellent gear though.

As you say a compromise hence the lower power than the electrnic ign models. The timing was also set at a compromise for srarting and best running. Very simple the mag models but you paid the price in weight and a heavy flywheel .

Hi paul . Yes pinking thats what i said. Its nothing to do with injectors but compression and burn speed of the fuel being used in the cylinder. As for how our glow engine ignition works i can only give my practical or real world opinion as I have no degree and im not into the theory side of things. If you run an engine where you can see inti the exhaust port , something like a cox 049 you can see the reflection of the glow plug. As you increase speed you can see the gp coil gets much brighter/ hotter . Connect a battery and it will glow almost white hot. Its the extra heat causing a quicker reaction with the fuel and platinum coil that advances the ignition process. The ignition ofmethanol is partly heat and partly due to a catalytic reaction with platinum and as we all learnt ar school heat speeds up these reactions. Diesel engines or compression ignition work similarly but with a much higher compression ratio typically 16:1 or higher. The faster the engine revs the hotter the cylinder gets so advancing the ignition point /timing. If our model diesels get too hot they over compress and will eventually stop. You may also have noticed if a vintage model when a diesel starts to over compress they eiund heavy and laboured. A long shallow dive often cools it enough to run well again and even induce a occasional misfire or under compression as timing is retarded again.

The majority of small petrol engines , 10 to 15 are JMO a waste of time. At 20cc they start to become useable but weight often make them a poor choice. The DLE 20 though is a good lively chiice although you still have to factor in the weight of a proper exhaust and ignition system , battery etc. Most other designs dont come into their own until they exceed 30+ cc. And 50cc is where they really become a good alternative to glow....but a decent exhsust will often cost as much as the engine. The supplied exhaust deflectors as a waste of time and a cause of many site problems .

Very simply ,your engine looses a few revs as the glow plug cools slightly without the electrical current to heat the coil. This efectively retards the timing slightly. As already said other factor all play a roll in the timing of a glow engines. If glow plugs are very old this slowing can be more noticeable. For the same reason you should never run a glow engine at full thtottle with the glow swithched on as this can cause pre ignition or knock and damage the engine resulting in extreme cases with a hole in the piston crown. Prop throwing is a prime example of over advanced ignition often caused by a weak mixture at full throttle. This knock will also shorten the plug life. Modern designs have to a greater degree engineered out this extreme knock. Assuming mixture is correct then its perfectly normal. If the coil in your engines glowplug looks white an crystally instead of silver then its getting past it. If engine still runs reliably apart from that then just fly it. Us oldies will remember when fiddling with our cars that if the timing was set wrong we heard a tingling sound , a bit like the sound made when tapping the bottom of a cup with a pencil . This only occured when engine is under load as when accelerating , its called pinking. Also heard is a lower octane fuel than the engine was designed for was used.

I used to buy my batteries from 7dayshop.com but when Covid struck the supply chain fell down and they no longer list them. I still hsve some left so ok for a while. I have some of their AA cells made into Tx pack probably 8 or nine years old and some AAA packs in models a few years old and working fine giving good voltage etc under load . Never been a fan of Vapextech cells . I bought some when they first appeared and they didnt last very well. What to use when my stock is used up ?

With Nimh cells i have found that anything above 2000mah capacity are more prone to failure and drop their voltage drastically under load as IR increases. I lost a good model sone time ago when a cell in a 6v 2700mah pack packed up. When checked the pack showed 6.3 v but as soon as any load was put on it the voltage dropped to zero ! Just one cell cost a lot of grief .Up to 2000 mah they seem fine. I now only use the ready charged or LSD type as they seem even more robust than the standard type.

Southern model craft used to sell a ltr for less than that ! Luckily i stocked before Dave retired. The new owners have gone quiet but were supposed to be keeping the name going. Fingers crossed.

Every two years ? Really. I ran a Saito 45 for five years on one set and a ys 63 for longer with no bproblems . All my fuel is synthetic based , never use castor except in old engines and diesels with iron pistons / liners.

Look for Sellotape Diamond tape if you can find any otherwise their Superclear tape 8s the currdnt nearest. Very strong adhesive, UV resistant and once on its unoticable as its so clear. The Scotch tape super clear is not very good.

All goo Good tips add up and " Many an ickle makes a muckle"