Welcome to Club SAITO !
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Or an outhouse! That reminds me of that story line in the movie Green Berets. The one soldier can't figure out what his name would like right on if he died in combat and his Colonel tells him to let him know when he figures it out.. He ended up whispering his choice to John Wayne's character when he dies in battle. He picked a Privy so his fellow Green Berets would always be thinking about him!
Last edited by FlyerInOKC; 12-23-2019 at 09:02 AM.
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best wishes back at you Lonnie
Jim
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Christmas started early for us on Saturday. We went to Sedgwick, KS to celebrate with my No. 2 son and his family. After opening presents we took the kids to Wichita to see the Fire Museum housed in a 1906 Fire station and the the Wichita Aviation Museum. At the aviation museum we saw a gorgeously restored Staggering and a rare Beech Starship amoung other aircraft. The wife and I drove home that evening, it was a great trip! Tonight is the Christmas Eve service and tomorrow we are hosting a Prime Rib dinner for our two youngest sons, their wives, and a grandson. My oldest is in NJ visiting his wife's sister for Christmas. His Christmas gift to me arrived last week a 97 mm (3.8 inches) diameter aluminum spinner from Sarik in the UK to fit a Brian Taylor Spitfire MK 1A. The spinner is an odd size and can't be found in the USA so its a great gift. Now I don't have an excuse not to get it build except the 5 other projects in front of it.
I got two presents this Christmas, an absolutely lovely 60°f and near zero wind day to tear the gear out from under my P51 and an FG21 valve train that munched itself. Lol
Flying was really nice today with a couple of my Saito powered planes but the fa100 in the P51 dead sticked again. This time I didn't have the elevation to go around and bleed off speed nor did I think quick enough to deploy the flaps, I just had to land quick and hot on the roughest part of our grass runway. Bye bye gear mounts. Easy fix.
Now the fg51, this thing is really not being nice to me. My previous complaints about it coughing out and dying on rapid throttle up is now the least of my problems. While running on the bench today and experimenting with changes in timing and plug gap I noticed that peak rpm was dropping. Even when I returned the settings back to where they began it was losing peak rpm. Turns out that in the 30 minutes I had run the engine today the inlet valve lash had opened from .002" to .018'! Things looked pretty dry under the rocker covers. Something not right there for sure.
We usually have a house full of screaming kids and peeved parents at Christmas but this year it's just Julie and I. Good thing, I can keep what's left of my sanity.
Flying was really nice today with a couple of my Saito powered planes but the fa100 in the P51 dead sticked again. This time I didn't have the elevation to go around and bleed off speed nor did I think quick enough to deploy the flaps, I just had to land quick and hot on the roughest part of our grass runway. Bye bye gear mounts. Easy fix.
Now the fg51, this thing is really not being nice to me. My previous complaints about it coughing out and dying on rapid throttle up is now the least of my problems. While running on the bench today and experimenting with changes in timing and plug gap I noticed that peak rpm was dropping. Even when I returned the settings back to where they began it was losing peak rpm. Turns out that in the 30 minutes I had run the engine today the inlet valve lash had opened from .002" to .018'! Things looked pretty dry under the rocker covers. Something not right there for sure.
We usually have a house full of screaming kids and peeved parents at Christmas but this year it's just Julie and I. Good thing, I can keep what's left of my sanity.
Increase your oil content to 16:1 and richen up the LSN. AN 1/8 turn should do it, you shouldn't be dry on the top end.
Today I played around with the software and made an instrument panel for the Liberty sport using the 3 view that comes with the kit. Then I plugged in the laser and started engraving and cutting.
Today I played around with the software and made an instrument panel for the Liberty sport using the 3 view that comes with the kit. Then I plugged in the laser and started engraving and cutting.
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That is a nice looking instrument panel! Are you going to add one to the rear position too?
FG21 Oiling Issues
Here's the lash adjuster end of the intake and exhaust pushrods. The exhaust is .025" shorter than the intake. Munched in less than 45 min of runtime! This pushrod never broke in properly, it just abraded against the lash adjuster socket due to lack of lube. The exhaust adjuster socket appears dull in appearance just like the pushrod whereas the intake side is shiny and broke in properly. The tappets took some abuse as well so I'll be ordering new. The camshaft and pin survived unscathed.
Just look at the difference in oiling between the front and rear halves of the case! The vent needs to be moved imo. I have never seen this amount of disparity in oiling on front vented Saitos.
There is virtually no oil pooling in the front half of the case and there are no seals or shields on the factory rear bearing.
Sad, very sad Saito.
BTW, notice the remains of the cylinder head to case gasket. The gasket must be a gasser thing, never seen one on a glow engine.
Last edited by Glowgeek; 12-25-2019 at 04:18 PM.
Set up a scavenging system, I did that on mine and it works wonders. A short brass tube attached to the muffler with the end cut at a slant and sticking in the flow of exhaust with a piece of fuel line connecting it to the vent. The exhaust blowing past the tube end will suck the oil . There should be some oil at the valve stems though, so maybe they are too tight and not allowing oil past them.
Jim, this is a low time engine, barely broke in. In the pic the shiny dark colored stuff in the back half of the case is oil. It's completely swamped with oil back there and virtually dry up front.
acdii, your instrument panel looks great!
Hmmmm, I'm not so sure I want to scavenge oil from the case, at least not from the current vent location.
acdii, your instrument panel looks great!
Hmmmm, I'm not so sure I want to scavenge oil from the case, at least not from the current vent location.
Last edited by Glowgeek; 12-26-2019 at 02:30 AM.
I want to move the vent on this FG21 before replacing parts. It's a "B" case design and I'm looking for recomendations on a new vent location, specifically when mounting the engine inverted.
What do you guys think would be the best location?
What do you guys think would be the best location?