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Saito exhaust repair


Neville Hill
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I have stripped the exhaust thread on a Saito 82a. Fitting a Helicoil is not feasible as there is insufficient casting round the original thread. Aluminium welding re-machining and re-tapping is a possibility but I am concerned about the heat involved. Another thought is to Loctite and oversized threaded male/female adaptor into the existing thread. Would it have to be steel or aluminium? Has anyone successfully done this repair.

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This has all been discussed on this site before Neville,

And their is a chap that fits an insert available very reasonably priced

And I cannot find the thread, but will

Search helicoil, with a view not to fitting one, as in that thread is the new insert guy

Found it

Posted by Justin K. on 30/04/2017 06:58:33:

I can thoroughly recommend Peter , his service is first class and the cost extremely reasonable. I had partial thread damage and didn't need an insert , he sent internal pictures of the head & thread and even test ran the engine for me , first class.

 

 

**LINK**

Edited By Denis Watkins on 25/07/2017 06:36:16

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I think the above post with link is mainly for stripped glow plug threads . I haven't heard of a successful repair for the exhaust thread . The .last one I did needed a new cylinder / head . Welding would be out as associated heat would cause damage to the plating in the liner . you might be able to find someone who has the equipment to machine and fit adapter to the head but would probably cost as much as a new cylinder. Wizard of OZ ? could be a long walk up a yellow brick road and a wasted journey.

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I believe that the thread on the Saito 82 exhaust is 12mm x 1mm pitch. IIRC the Saito 125 uses 13mm x 1mm pitch on its exhaust which is only 1mm bigger diameter. Maybe there is enough metal on your Saito 82 to tap out to 13mm (as it is the same TPI as the existing damaged thread) and then use a saito 125 exhaust. (Or tap out your muffler to 13mm too and then just buy a 13mm header pipe from a Saito 125?)

I don't have a Saito 82 or Saito 125 to check with so I'm not sure how do-able it would be. Maybe Engine Doctor would know?

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Posted by Engine Doctor on 25/07/2017 10:42:06:

I think the above post with link is mainly for stripped glow plug threads . I haven't heard of a successful repair for the exhaust thread . The .last one I did needed a new cylinder / head . Welding would be out as associated heat would cause damage to the plating in the liner . you might be able to find someone who has the equipment to machine and fit adapter to the head but would probably cost as much as a new cylinder. Wizard of OZ ? could be a long walk up a yellow brick road and a wasted journey.

Lee Custom Engines in the US renovates stripped exhaust threads in model engines including Saitos. He did a good job on one of mine. Once Saito exhausts start coming loose the problem tends to get worse. I've found that the best option is to immediately fit a Pitts-style muffler if the Saito pipe start coming loose. I have never had Pitts-style mufflers come loose. Just Engines also sells some other good alternatives.

The standard exhausts on Saito engines are the one thing I don't like about them.

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  • 3 months later...

Hi Everyone, thanks for all your advice. In the end I turned up a male aluminium hex adaptor with an oversize 12 x 1mm thread and a normal fit female 12 x 1mm thread on the other end. Screwing this into the engine head, no work was carried out on the stripped thread, with thread lock was successful and on running the engine on a test stand seemed to hold OK. If it will stand the rigors of actual flight remains to be seen, lets hope.

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