Ted Khinsoe Posted September 4, 2019 Share Posted September 4, 2019 I have a Magnum 160 twin new I’m contemplating converting to petrol using the Morris mini motors kit. I’d appreciate any feedback. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon H Posted September 4, 2019 Share Posted September 4, 2019 My experience has been very poor. Many customers return their engines to me for conversion back to glow as they didnt work following petrol conversion. My own petrol development has demonstrated clearly that its really not as simple as carb swap and ignition. At least not for the level of performance that i deem acceptable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flight1 Posted September 4, 2019 Share Posted September 4, 2019 I know one person who converted an asp version and the big end siezed, made a wet sump with caster in it, which he replaces after each flight session and is still going now a few lears later. why go petrol you will get less power out of it? and it will run a lot hotter so cooling is very important with baffrels needed directing air flow etc. I have one and it is very reliable on 5% and has a low oil content fuel with fully synth oil to reduce any mess and I have not lost just one cylinder on it yet Edited By flight1 on 04/09/2019 14:52:17 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manish Chandrayan Posted September 4, 2019 Share Posted September 4, 2019 I have an ASP 160 converted to ignition and run on glow using CH Ignitions supplied parts. I had issues with one cylinder dropping and hence the conversion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ted Khinsoe Posted September 5, 2019 Author Share Posted September 5, 2019 Posted by flight1 on 04/09/2019 14:50:35: I have one and it is very reliable on 5% and has a low oil content fuel with fully synth oil to reduce any mess and I have not lost just one cylinder on it yet What oil content do you use? I was mainly concerned about reliability on glow but I guess onboard is a reasonable option. Thanks for the feedback Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cymaz Posted September 5, 2019 Share Posted September 5, 2019 I’ve used one of these for many years. Excellent bit of kit. You have to get it from the US though. I thought I had an issue with it a couple of years ago. The customer service was superb- even though I was 1000’s miles away! It turned out a pin had a dry solder joint. That said, I’d buy another. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ted Khinsoe Posted September 5, 2019 Author Share Posted September 5, 2019 Im in Australia 1000's miles from everytwhere! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon H Posted September 5, 2019 Share Posted September 5, 2019 I have an ASP version of this engine and my only gripe is the mismatch between the cylinders when it comes to the tuning. My right cylinder always runs rich vs the left up to half throttle. I have never flown it due to a change of plans, but in all my test running its never dropped out at random so i dont think its going to be a problem. After i changed projects i did set about modifying my engine so it now has laser twin ring pistons and this has helped the compression somewhat. I needs new rings though, i only had worn ones to play with when i rebuilt it. If i get time i might convert it to twin carb as that will fix everything Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ted Khinsoe Posted September 5, 2019 Author Share Posted September 5, 2019 It’s slated for a 1/4 scale L4 Grasshopper so as long as it stays running I’ll be happy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piers Bowlan Posted September 5, 2019 Share Posted September 5, 2019 Posted by Jon - Laser Engines on 05/09/2019 09:01:55: If i get time i might convert it to twin carb as that will fix everything I would be interested to hear about that Jon, if you get around to it, as I have an ASP160 twin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon H Posted September 5, 2019 Share Posted September 5, 2019 Posted by Ted Khinsoe on 05/09/2019 15:15:52: It’s slated for a 1/4 scale L4 Grasshopper so as long as it stays running I’ll be happy. that is what mine was for. A friend and i both had models but his crashed before i built mine. As we wanted to fly them together i abandoned the project but kept the engine. Piers, if there is interest i will step it up in priority from 'one day it might be fun' to 'something for the winter' One final gripe about the engine is the sound...its awful, or at least it is on the bench. I have two flat twins (160 and 300) and they both sound extremely harsh when unsilenced. My now sold 3 cylinder saito, my 5 cylinder asp radial and OS flat 4 sound fine on straight pipes but for some reason my two flat twins sound really bad so a pair of silencers is recommended. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piers Bowlan Posted September 5, 2019 Share Posted September 5, 2019 Thanks for that Jon and I will bear it in mind. Like most people I don't like noisy engines. I bought the engine a while back for a President D31 Turbulent for which I hope to have sourced a plan quite soon... Edited By Piers Bowlan on 05/09/2019 16:51:39 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flight1 Posted September 5, 2019 Share Posted September 5, 2019 the asp is not noisy like a 2 stroke engine and if you use a baffled silencer on each cylinder you will find the noise to be very amicable. two asp .60 size baffled silencers with suitable manifolds will do nicely or make your own. as for fuel I don't know what you use down under but 15% fully synth modern oil works fine, once run in and if you like straight fuel and know what you doing a lower oil content can be used Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon H Posted September 5, 2019 Share Posted September 5, 2019 Posted by flight1 on 05/09/2019 20:10:02: the asp is not noisy like a 2 stroke engine and if you use a baffled silencer on each cylinder you will find the noise to be very amicable. two asp .60 size baffled silencers with suitable manifolds will do nicely or make your own. as for fuel I don't know what you use down under but 15% fully synth modern oil works fine, once run in and if you like straight fuel and know what you doing a lower oil content can be used Quite right. What i mean is other multi cylinder engines have a nice sound on straight pipes but from some reason the flat twins i have experience with sound really harsh. One is an OS ft300 and it was unbearable. I bodged up a pair of exhausts with parts from work and it then purred like a kitten. As for fuel, 5% nitro and 15% synthetic is my starter for 10 on all engines these days. As the conrods are pure bronze in the 160 you would likely be fine with 10% oil and probably even as low as 5%. I have not yet run mine on anything less than 15% but there is loads of oil coming out at 15 so i think i will go for 10% when i finally get around to using it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stu knowles Posted September 6, 2019 Share Posted September 6, 2019 **LINK** Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon H Posted September 6, 2019 Share Posted September 6, 2019 A perfect example of the problems with these conversions. Flat out they can work, but low throttle is usually a mess. From the sound of the idle its only running on one cylinder and you can hear the other two come in as the throttle is opened up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris larkins Posted September 6, 2019 Share Posted September 6, 2019 **LINK** Skip forward to about 17mins if you don't want to watch the parts being fitted Edited By chris larkins on 06/09/2019 13:07:36 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon H Posted September 6, 2019 Share Posted September 6, 2019 I love their enthusiasm, and as it happens it sounds pretty good. Transition is slow/rich but not like the other video. Its a hefty old unit bolted on the bottom though. Its like another whole cylinder! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris larkins Posted September 12, 2019 Share Posted September 12, 2019 As the Precedent Turbulent was mentioned I thought I'd post a video of mine, it has an SC 1.20 converted to run on petrol. It hasn't been without problems but this was mostly because I was trying to use the original glow carb to start with, the needle was just too sensitive to be able to adjust it properly or get it running reliably. I have since bought the carb kit from Morris which I believe is an RCGF carb, it is now running much better and I have over 40 flights on this setup, it runs on a 25:1 oil mix (4%). **LINK** You will see in the video I am using an Evolution 16x6 prop and I'm getting 7800-7900 rpm at full throttle and around 1850 rpm at idle, this may be slightly less than on glow but I doubt by very much, and certainly not enough to worry about on this type of model. BTW I still have glow engines (Laser and others) so I am not saying petrol is better in all circumstances, here is a list of the pro's and con's (so far) CON's The cost of the parts Maybe a slight drop in rpm at full throttle It ran hotter so I had to add cowl baffles PRO's Cheap fuel, around £7 a gallon, it also uses less than 1/2 the amount so it's 1/4 of the price Easy starting, less equipment, all I need is model, TX and starter (it will hand start) Low reliable tickover Absolutely no exhaust mess, so no cleaning No fiddling with the mixture, I haven't touched it for around 35 flights Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris larkins Posted September 14, 2019 Share Posted September 14, 2019 I was recently messing around on my lathe and decided to have a go at making a magnet ring for another petrol conversion that I have in the pipeline, the one that Morris sells costs about £30 (I wonder how much of this is because it is anodised?), it is basically just a ring that fits over the prop driver with a magnet and 2 grub screws. I knocked one up for about £2 inc the magnet, I also made a fuel plug from scrap. I reckon I can get the bits together for around £78, this is £2 for the magnet ring and bracket, £38 for the ignition unit and sensor, £25 for the carb (RCGF), £4 for a sheet of phenolic to make a carb heat spacer and £9 for the 1/4-32 spark plug. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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