I'm looking for info on the quality a d performance of Ame .049 engines.

Thank you,
Jim

Very little that one can add to Ray's summary. The AME is an inexpensive, relatively high performance 0.49, be it one of the original AMEs or the later Norvel AME. They need pressure, as in bladder, don't even try them on a hard or clunk tank. The Big Mig version works well on normal tanks, but has lower performance.

Regards,

Andrew.

Jim,

Looking at the pictures you referenced I think you bought a NORVEL Big Mig Startup engine. The hole between the mounting bolt holes on the one mounting lug is to hold the starter spring used with the nylon tank. Mine came with a spring, tank, and muffler. At that time none except the Startup had that hole.

You can easily check. The AME had three large bypass ports opposite the exhaust. The Big Mig had five smaller ones.

Running wise, there is no difference between the Big Mig and the Big Mig Startup. All of mine run well.

George

Jim, i would try the engine first. Removing and reinstalling those venturi's can be a pain,the spraybar should be correct from the factory.  Yes it should be run on bladder pressure. May be easy to flood at first trying to get a good needle setting, i would try almost shut and adjust open as needed. Good luck hope you get it going, i have a couple on 1/2a combat planes that work well.

I unfortunately have only one of those unobtainable Larry Driskill NVs. I made one for a Big Mig with a Cox 128tpi fine thread NV from a product engine. Texas timers sells NVs like this. A 5/32" tube fits into the spraybar hole on the back of the venturi and the NV can be JB Welded into the tube. I added a set screw just for extra grip.




The barb on the old Cox NV needs a piece of soft wire to hold the fuel tube on securely. The Texas Timers NV probably has a better barb.
Now that I think of it, I think it was you a long time ago that sent me that old Cox NV, Jim. A belated thanks. BTW Ken Cook pioneered that particular method. Needless to say, his is more elegant than mine.
Rusty

               Heat will remove the venturi assembly and I've done this many times. I also get up inside with a needle file and angle the hole as much as possible to point down towards the crank. You can sometimes do this with a #11 blade in a Xacto. One thing you can do as well is to either try a Big Mig venturi or neck down your existing setup. I recently removed the venturi and installed a adapter into the case with JB weld. I drilled and tapped with a 1/4"-32 tap and now a Cox TD venturi can be used. You can easily and quickly change venturi sizes which can really assist the run for those that want to run suction vs pressure. Having a muffler with a pressure tap can work but not as well as the venturi mod. Ken

Thanks for the input. The first thing I may try is a bladder with the fuel tubing stepped down to the smallest size between the filter and engine to regulate flow. I have time to think about it. I ordered a starter spring yesterday but after reading what Rusty went through starting his norvel for the first time I  may not mess with it till the weather cools down a little. Too damn hot to be on the carport fighting an engine right now

Jim

Yeah I wore my prop finger out until I put a Babe Bee head on it with 4 washers and it cranked right up. After that I put the Norvel head back on and all was good. A bunch of washers under the Norvel head should serve just as well.

Don't follow those stupid instructions about cold spinning it with castor to reduce the pinch, that can only reduce its life. I think the main reason they print that is to cut down on phone calls from customers who can't get them cranked. You'll like the Norvel. For an old Cox user, it's like a Tee Dee on steroids. I've never used an .049, but an .061 is awesome.

Rusty

I was going to use one of those adapters that let's you use a standard glow plug on a cox at first. Low compression but lots of fire. How much fuel did you put through it before you put the norvel head back on?

Jim

Just one good run, and I went back to the Norvel head. That break-in routine I mentioned above wouldn't apply to yours either, when I wrote that I forgot yours wasn't Revlite.

Mine are Revlite engines and you don't want to run those slobbering rich, it needs to come up to full temperature right away the first time it cranks, so the pinch is relieved by heat expansion and doesn't have excessive friction, and pretty soon everything fits up like it should. Before it cools, you might not feel the pinch, but it will come right back. And before the first run, don't be flipping the prop over, forcing it through the pinch. You might want to double check with Ken about the pre-revlite, but I think he'll say the same as far as getting it hot quickly. Once you get it up to full temp, then you can alternate between rich and lean, and they're like other ABC engines in that they don't need much break-in. Just a few run and cool down cycles. Let it cool with the piston at BDC. That may not matter, just one of my funny little things. Once you've run a few good runs on the bench, fly it and it will continue to get faster for quite some time. Those AMEs will turn up faster than the Big Migs. I have one Big Mig that spins an APC 5x2.5 up to 28.8k. That's after a lot of run time.
Rusty

25 FEET??? Man, you must really get a LOT of power out of those engines!   

Haha, yeah, he swings some serious lumber on that .049!

You have to be willing to use extraordinarily high nitro fuel and go through glow plugs at accelerated rate. I also use 30lb spectra just to be safe