Abused Product Engine

Kim,

I love war dog. Good luck Chauncy

She does look pretty rough there , hope it cleans up and runs for you .

Nice recovery on the needle Chancey. You have a thing for soldering.

I still use your heat with a pencil soldering iron method to remove castor locked screws from plastic models. Works great.

Bob

I believe Kim has posted a few times, video of WAR DOG running

Good idea to remove NV

Just a little update. The little guy is now apart and soaking in methanol. I am usually a crock pot guy, but I want to try straight methanol and see what happens. If this does not work to my satisfaction, the Crock Pot is in standby mode! But while taking it apart, I found a couple of different things not seen before. There was some sort of 'shim' on top of the reed before the plastic reed retainer was installed, or should I say re-installed. And secondly, the one I remembered to take a picture of (not the greatest, but you can see at the edges of the exhaust)... Well, I am now confident to say that the cylinder was one of the 'dual slit' type. I saw this just before going to give it a bath. So, I did take my smallest file and smooth out the rough edges left behind from the modification. So now this will definately be a crap shoot whether or not it will run, or did it even run before at one time. The guy I bought it from said it did run, but I am having serious doubts as the reed would not have been able to move, and the broken needle as well. This is another reason I love these engines!

tongue in cheek....please stop abusing the rare commodity.....buy drug store 91% alcohol and preserve the ever depleting supply of meth

Well, it is about time for an update! I mounted it up today and went to give it a shot. I replaced the homemade head adapter with a working glowhead for the test. Withe the 'repaired' needle, it immediately popped on the first flip, as well on many after that, but just did not want to run. So, I replaced the needle with one from my other product engine and truned it out 3 turns. It again fired, ran for a couple seconds then died. brought it in to about 2 1/2 turns and it fired and ran on the first try! It was a nice steady run, but very needle sensitive, both rich and lean. I did not try a piece of fuel tubing on teh needle, so that may be a small problem. I am possibly leaning to the cylinder modifications that were done to remove the piece inbetween the slits. Regardless, I am happy that it worked out! Now I have a couple other things I would like to try with the original needle. Nothing will damage it anymore as it is already pooched! So, I will try another mod to see if I can get that one working yet! Sorry for the crappy picture, I did not have my garage lights on, and I did not realize how bad the picture was until I downloaded it....

And to add, the engine ran out the full tank in two tries. About half the first time, then someone was playing with the needle causing it to die, than said person, who will remain nameless, started it right back up and ran it dry!

And also a PSA for those who also may use a workbench like mine for running engines. This is the second time in just over a week this has happened. Today while running the Cox, the releases did release themselves again. This time I was right there so I did catch it and lock it back up. Last time, I was walking away from the engine to get my phone I believe it was when I heard some commotion behind me. First step was drop and duck. I realized then that it dropped with my OS LA .25 running, and it did not miss a beat during the fall. While running I heard a wierd noise which turned out to be the propeller hitting the bottom support, causing damage to the very tips of the propeller. I ran over and lifted it back into place again while running. Next step was to go inside and change my underpants after the 'bang', as I thought the engine seperated from the stand and was only who-knows-where! I removed the propeller and sanded it, painted the tips, and rebalanced it. Next to run again will be the repaired product engine or my .25 again.

Hanging in there pays off Chancey.  I tend to give up to soon on problem engines.  So much to do, so little time!

I have had engines vibrate themselves loose on a test stand, but always have a rag on hand to toss into the prop before they fall off.  I might have had an engine come off in flight, but I'm not getting into that.  Fuel soaked backplates and wood screws do not always mix.

Abused engines are caved in backplates caused by overtightening case screws, plier marks on cylinders, glow heads and prop drives, burrs on cylinder exhaust ports, broken/bent needles, etc.  

Neglected engines are rusted, castor locked, unloved, unfondled, and unrun......

Good news she is up and running again now another project to put it on

It's been a while, but while the engine still runs, I now have time to revisit repairing the factory needle again. Stay tuned for another attempt at the repair! Still not going to hold my breath though....

Anddddd. Repair attempt #2 was a complete failure! Lol. Tried to solder on a solid piece of brass rod to the existing needle and the threads really 'wicked up' the solder the same way the spring does to the fuel.....