stunthanger.com
Engine basics => Engine set up tips => Topic started by: Motorman on November 01, 2018, 08:14:32 PM
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I ran one reasonably hard for over 6 year with no appreciable wear. Compression was excellent when I passed it on to another friend to use. Treat them with the care they deserve keep it clean and decent fuel and they will last long enough to make you better than you were when you started.
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My first "big" engine was an LA 40. Yeah, I'm not very old. Lol. They came out when I got into rc on my first trainer. Anyway, it's survived 3 planes and is currently on my TEOSAWKI. Mostly for nostalgia. It had one when I got it. Just wanted to see if I'll ever wear out mine.
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How many gallons of fuel or how many full pattern flights would you go through before your stock LA 46 is worn out? I'm building a couple of planes now that I'm going to fly the wings off of next spring and I'm wondering if I should get more piston/sleeves.
I have no specific information, but I have never found wear to be a serious issue on OS ABN engines without very extensive use. I wore out *one* 40VF in the entire time I ran it, and even then, I finished 8th at the NATs with it on one of its last flights - it had to be peaked out lean, that is, as fast as it would go, to get the proper launch RPM. That was after at least several thousand flights. Paul Walker had a similar story.
Having spares never hurts anything, but I wouldn't worry about it, myself. Use an air filter, don't run it in a gravel pit, and you will probably get tired of flying it before it gets tired of you.
Brett
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LA .25s on the other hand wear out liners very often . I have several with just the brass showing on the bottom portion of the liner . Combat and sport race are a lot more demanding than stunt .
The toughest 25 I’ve found is the Thunder Tiger. The TT .40 is probably longer lasting than a LA but for stunt you might find the LA is tough enough.
Brad
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I can't speak in general, but I campaigned for about 3 solid years with a Twister with a 46LA. I put between four and six flights a week on that for those three years -- so 600-900 flights (OMG!). The engine ran just fine when I hung it up; I think I could pull it off the wall and fly it again and it'd be just fine once the dried-up castor oil worked it's way out of the needle valve.
Note that this is with nylon mesh over the intake, and a fuel filter.
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LA .25s on the other hand wear out liners very often . I have several with just the brass showing on the bottom portion of the liner . Combat and sport race are a lot more demanding than stunt .
The toughest 25 I’ve found is the Thunder Tiger. The TT .40 is probably longer lasting than a LA but for stunt you might find the LA is tough enough.
Brad
Brad, I had an LA 25 with a worn out liner with brass showing around the bottom. I got a brand new piston and liner that worked fine for a long time(for combat) that had a similar patch of brass showing at the bottom of the liner.
I think if the brass showing is limited and below the ports it doesn't make any difference. Us combat flyers do more damage by crashing than any other way.
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Duke fox ran 55 gallons of fuel through a stunt 35, and gave up at that point since it still started and ran just fine.
Cox did a similar test and ran a Tee Dee 049 for 400 hours.
In a clean environment with good lube, you will pretty much never wear out an engine.
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In a clean environment with good lube, you will pretty much never wear out an engine.
Any engine? Even one of these (http://modelenginenews.org/drj/thor_b.html)?
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Duke fox ran 55 gallons of fuel through a stunt 35, and gave up at that point since it still started and ran just fine.
Cox did a similar test and ran a Tee Dee 049 for 400 hours.
In a clean environment with good lube, you will pretty much never wear out an engine.
You certainly can wear out engines in realistic conditions. But it takes *a long time* if you don't do something to speed it along.
Brett
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Hi
You can wear any engines out quickly, and there is a huge difference from hooking up a drum of fuel and running an engine, and flying an engine where you
1- do not have control over the needle
2- launching from the ground and sucking up dirt sand debris etc
there are more but this is the 2 main things, you can suck up sand and ruin an engine in 1 flight, or over dozens, You can also get a lean run and toast a rod or piston sleeve fit
AS Far as the Nickle plated OS 46 LA and others you can wear them out, I have seen 100s worn out and many many dozens with peeled plating, With that being said most Control line guys treat them better, and you CAN get good life out of an LA 46 or other engines by running good fuel, setting the needle correctly, and very important, keeping sand and dirt out of the engines, an Typical OS LA will run about 500 flights before the piston wears thru to the brass if taken care of,
and really that is a long life , any longer I would tear it down for inspection and at least replace the wrist pin
They are an excellent VALUE for what your paying for
Randy
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In a discussion like this one, you need to define the difference between "wearing out" and "abuse." Some would never wear out an engine because they never really get used. Some can just look at an engine and cause problems!
Type at you later,
Dan McEntee
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In a discussion like this one, you need to define the difference between "wearing out" and "abuse." Some would never wear out an engine because they never really get used. Some can just look at an engine and cause problems!
Type at you later,
Dan McEntee
It is sorta a new thing that people are using air filters and taking better care of their motors, and I still see the VAST majority of pilots NOT using them, I also see lots of improper fuel being used. So the main problem is abuse is a normal thing for many pilots, and they do not really think that they are abusing them, just flying like they always have. There is really no surface you can fly on that does not have sand dirt debris, that can do damage. The air filters are good, but really are not that effective, best case is to double up and use something like a Bru-Line filter, with a piece of panty hose underneaath it.
Then there is fuel. I have personally seen over my years many dozens of engines like FOXES McCoys OS S engine ruined very quickly by using RC Sport fuels with 12 to 15% total oil content, these can wipe out a rod in 1 run on some motors. The pilots did not know this, as many were told that these were the best fuels out there !
Randy