Other than an electric starter what tips, techniques or methods do you find most effective for starting a TeeDee 049 on a small combat size prop?
Best, DennisT
Too bad the combat rules didn't allow starters back in the day.
Imagine driving 100 miles or more to attend a contest just to either win or lose a combat match due to a failure to get the damn TD started.
I'll bet at least 1/4 of the matches ended up being "non-matches" on account of that.
So not necessarily in order of importance we have these needs....
Ample battery juice to light a wet plug
Ample compression...[I used to run no head shims or maybe just 1]
With a starter you don't need to prime..just choke the engine and then spin the engine.
I've never liked the stock needle valve assy....the fine thread NVAs are so much better.
If the glow plug is in good shape and the needle adjustment seems too critical then there is a chance that there is a crankcase pressure leak caused by any of the screwed in place parts on the engine or else your fuel system feed in sucking air..or the tank could be vibrating and causing the fuel to "foam".
I never had any catastrophic failures [like crank pin breakage or the rods snapping] until I started running the 5 x3 Cox props cut down into the 4 inch range.
The engines loved to run above 25,000 with a cut down 5x3 for a little while until the rods snapped.
The only major failures I had were the crankcases would break in half inside the plastic carb housing..most likely from repeated crashing.
What's interesting is that the Killerbees with the lightened [shaved] pistons will handle running about 25,000 much longer and this has to be due to less reciprocating mass.
I have done my own piston lightening and it is amazing how much material you can remove. I chuck the piston up in a holding fixture, tie the rod off to one side and use the back edge of a No.11 blade to shave the lead alloy piston free hand until the skirt is paper thin.
If you do a real good job of it the engine will need a small divot ground into the crankshaft counterweight to restore balance / smooth running.