First time benching

The Idea Of the flying rag was originaly a joke and it never worked well as the was no real structural integrity and the amount of fuel that could be held in the tanks would meant that it would only get to about 15 seconds flying time.

So I got to run her today, I was really excited, I poked a rod in the Venturi inlet where the screen used to be for a few seconds, just to see how responsive the throttle could be here, she ran for about 35 seconds before the RPMs spiked a bit, so I adjusted the needle down a bit and she shut off. I felt good about it, but I couldn't get her to start again and run for more than about 1-2 seconds. So after dinner I gave it a few more tries and same thing, only about 1-2 seconds. So before I tuck her in for the night I figured I'd disassemble her and clean her out and keep an eye out open for anything.
I noticed in certain spots the fuel had a metallic look to it. I had a suspicions that this motor hadn't really been run before, is this normal on first runs of these motors? The areas I noticed this were in between the crank and tank area, on the inner walls of the gas tank, and very lightly in the crankcase. The residue on and around the reed valve was a healthy opaque Amber color with no metallics at all.
At this point I had everything mostly disassembled as far as I could without the Cox tool, but I decided to just give the cylinder a twist by hand anyway, and I was surprised to see it come loose on the first try, with only firm pressure. So I decided to remove it and wipe down inside the cylinder wall and the piston too, and by this time there wasn't much fuel residue anywhere but what was there seemed clean.

A couple other questions I have are, how much tolerance should there be behind the drive plate? I can pull and push on the spinner and get the crankshaft to toggle slightly and was able to fit a .008 feeler gauge in between the drive plate and crankshaft.
I'm also getting a little bit of play in the pistons ball socket, substantially less than what I feel in the crankshaft, by feel I'd say about half as much. I remember seeing somewhere a way to tighten this back up without having to buy the actual tool, but I can't find it now. (FYI, a full set of the proper tools are on my list of things to buy, but bills must come first)
Anyway I'm about to reassemble her, and tomorrow I'll see if I can get her to actually run through a full tank of fuel.

Yes I make sure everything around the station is very clean and dust free before I run it, and the engine will only ever be run on a clean aluminum stand, in a clean environment.
I turned the needle down once I heard the RPMs rise because to get it started I had it at 3 turns out like I was told, and then figured with the this would be a good time to run it at only 2 turns out, also like I was told.
I opened it up because obviously something was keeping it from running again, and if I hadn't opened it up then I wouldn't have seen or been able to effectively clean all the metallic leftovers. I'm very picky with keeping the whole engine as well as the workspace very clean, so I know these particles were from this particular run because I know everything was clean before I started.
I know the parts available for throttling the engine, and also how easily a throttle can be made from the proper size rod, I simply wanted to see how effective this type of throttling would be before I continued with making a throttle.
If you possibly have any insight on my questions I have from this run it would be greatly appreciated.

Don't focus too much on the "3 turns out, 2 turns out" thing.  Every engine is different.  Adjust it to where it runs best.  It still sounds like you're running too lean.  If it starts at 3 turns out, screw the needle out a little more and see if it slows down and "burbles" a little.  See how far out you can screw it where it will keep running.  It will be slobbering oil everywhere but don't worry about that, the oil helps take the heat away.  Once you've run out a full tank of fuel with it slobbery rich, gradually increase the speed by screwing the needle in a little at a time, about 1/4 turn each time.  When it is at peak revs you will know by the smooth high pitch scream, but if you are using that small prop you will probably scare yourself, and potentially damage the engine.  We're talking 18,000 potential RPM here.

Not sure how you could get metalic particles inside the fuel tank.  I've seen metalic oil coming from the exhaust of an engine while running it in, but there's no way it can go back into the tank that I can think of.  Hope you've been using enough castor in the fuel.

Rod.

PlaidHatter wrote:
I have a good size list of parts I need to order, I'm just on a budget and wanted to order everything I needed once I figured out what "everything" was, to take advantage of shipping. A new smaller prop is in my near future, maybe I'll see if Victors Hobbies will return this one tomorrow.

I was in a similar place a couple months ago with building my first order with Cox International on necessary basics.  Over 5 or 6 weeks I built a $168 order from Bernie and 2 weeks after receiving it had another 7-8 items on a new list. It's gonna happen.  FORTUNATELY Bernie's shipping from Canada is very reasonable so it's not a deal-killer.

One thing you might want to consider if it's not been mentioned is earmuffs or plugs!  Have fun!
Greg

Exactly what Rod said. If it's peaking as soon as you crank it, richen it immediately until it slows and starts slobbering. Then you can lean it slowly and search for peak RPM from there. Any leaner than that initial peak, and it will quickly overheat and sag or quit. In other words, once you come out of rich and find it's peak, that's it. More lean than that will never be faster. It will be slightly different from day to day due to environmental pressure, temp, and humidity. After breaking it in, it will stay at full speed without sagging. Some engines may crank at 3 turns or less, some at 4 or more. No two are alike.
Be slow with fine tuning the needle adjustments, it can have a delayed reaction.
Rusty

I did end up getting a larger prop the other day, one of the sizes that 1/2A NUT suggested, I think I got a 5x3, I'll have to check when I get home.
Also the engine was definitely slobbering, every piece of every part was very thickly coated in oil and dripping and was misting it everywhere.
I'm gonna try for another run today if I have time I'll try to get another video, my girl took the last video and put it on FB so that's te only place I have it otherwise I'd post it here.