av8tor1977

My Feedback: (6)

Hey, what's everyone doing, flying only Chinese engines? It's really been dead in this forum. Come on guys. What are you all up to these days? Conversions are still great! Better quality than the Chinese engines, cheaper, the sense of accomplishment when you convert one, and the priceless look on people's faces when you tell them your engine came off of a weedeater/leaf blower/chainsaw, etc. (Especially after a great flight!)

AV8TOR

flyingagin

Hi av8tor1977 Yeah it has been a bit dead here. The threads I followed here are very void of action. I have heard some say why bother when you can get the cheap chinese engines.
I have two that I want and plan to convert at sometime. A Ryobi 31cc. and a Poulan 42 (42?). Just ain't had the money or a stable place to do so. 3 moves this year plus two spine surgeries.

But I can always hope next year a stable roof and a little money.

The Ryobi will be slated for an airboat, But I don't have a clue what I want to build around the Poulan. The Ryobi is bare in a drawer, but the Poulan still sits in the chainsaw head. Nervous about pulling it til I am ready to convert. What if I loose something I will need in the future.
I am about 95% a scratch builder, With two builds on the board to continue on next month, and a bunch of templates for wing ribs cut out.

Ken

Nosedragger

Zenoahs are good quality.Lighter,smaller, and more power than a trimmer engine.I haven't done a conversion in a long time. The remaining (surviving) club members either went to Zenoah or switched to brushless after noise issues closed our flying field.

adrian222

My Feedback: (1)

I think you will find that zenoahs are trimmer engines.

http://www.zenoah.co.jp/int/

Nosedragger

I'm well aware of their roots, but they come with mounts and prop adapters.

While the current small aircraft engines such as the G260PU are an offshoot of the original large flywheel G2 generic engine. You won't find a Zenoah G260PU in a trimmer.The small finless flywheel is not suitable for handheld tools and the crankcase doesn't allow a large flywheel to be mounted.
Not to mention the G260PU has about 3 times the power of other 26cc trimmer engines and if you know where to look you can get them for just over 200 clams.

I only mentioned it because this is the trend in our ragtag group.

av8tor1977

My Feedback: (6)

Well, here's a "teaser". I took the crankcase and crankshaft from a Redmax/Zenoah 26cc engine from a "yard machine", turned the crank around backwards, cut it short, plugged that opening, and mounted the engine by the four threaded bosses that stick out of the front of a normal "aircraft" Zenoah 23 or 26cc engine. Then I added a "Chung Yang" hop up cylinder and piston that the scooter guys use to hop up their Zenoah engines, and added an RCEXL ignition and a Walbro 12.7mm carb with accelerator pump. The end result is an engine that weighs 2 lbs. 6 oz., and turns a 16 x 8 APC propeller at 10,200 rpms; WITHOUT a pipe!! it's a screamer!

AV8TOR

flyingagin

That is some screaming revs. Rev's like a glow.
What is the cost of such mods?

Ken

captinjohn

Nice job av8tor on that engine. You are right....this forum is kinda sparse for sure. Any slower & I think cob-webs are going to form. I come here once in a while...I will be converting engines to my last day. Take Care my Good Friend.

billzair

My Feedback: (29)

Wow... I haven't been on here in a while but you guys are right, it doesn't seem like people are converting like before. Maybe that is because all the gas engines that are now.... Everywhere and in many displacements as we'll. that being said, I still love machining parts for my conversions!

flyingagin

I simply really like making stuff myself, repairing something myself or if I do get my mitts on an ARF, tear it down and completely redo it myself. Getting harder though as my body is getting more obstinate about doing what I ask of it.

Thank God I am so stinking stubborn, I can force my way thu

Ken

captinjohn

I think we are still converting engines in a way, just a lot more of us are buying inexpensive china made engines and are doing a lot of changes to them to get them to hold up better & run better. Sorta like converting a engine. Also a lot of folks are buying big glow engines and are converting them to spark ignition, that can be run on glow fuel or gas. I am converting a Saito 1.50 to spark. No more kick-back from that glow type of ignition. Far better idle & better on fuel. So in effect conversions are still being done !

flyingagin

I started taking my 42cc Poulan out of its host case (chainsaw housing) last night. Still got the big parts of the case on it. There are no more screws but seems to be some drift pins holding things.

How the heck do I split the rest of the case to get at the motor?

It won't be till after I get my disability or car wreck settlement that I buy the rest of the parts for conversion.
The 42 cc Poulan would be nice on a scratch built giant stick or similar I think. A go to every day plane.

Ken

no_spamola

I have been following the Gas/Glow thread(s). All you guys sound like a fun bunch, would be cool to fly with you guys....
I have a question. I am working on a WeedEater. I forgots the displacement; it has only 2 mounting bolts in the back plate. I removed the magneto, flywheel, and spark plug. Made a backplate out of 1/4 plywood. One last hurdle...Prop hub. WackerEngines seems to be out of service. Carr does not respond to emails. Where can you get a prop hub that will fit the taper of the crank shaft of WeedEater engine?
How is this for an idea...The crank shaft thread is 5/16 - 24, take an aluminum cylinder, drill out a hole in the center, tap it for 5/16 - 24. Use a bolt and a washer to hold the prop in place,...and wall-ah. a prop hub is born!?
Also I have a few other engines that would need a longer prop hug to fit all the way to the taper of the crank shaft. That is what is holding up my production, the prop hub.
thanks, and keep up the good work!
R.

captinjohn

Look for Ken Lambert on various forums. He makes a lot of engine adapters...ect.

Found his website.... website
www.lambertsrc.com

no_spamola

Thanks captinjohn

av8tor1977

My Feedback: (6)

There are four long bolts that go in through the bottom of the saw, through the bottom crankcase half of the engine, and into the upper crankcase half. You have to remove those to remove the engine. Be careful, because once you remove those, the whole engine can come apart on you and you might damage a crankshaft seal, or yank the piston right out of the cylinder and damage the piston or ring. If you're careful, you can lift the whole engine out without it coming apart. There will be four metal spacer sleeves in the bottom plastic of the saw housing. Save those, you might need them.

It's been a while; I think you have to remove the muffler, the carburetor AND the carb adapter, and the flywheel to get the engine to slide out after you undo those four long bolts.

AV8TOR

av8tor1977

My Feedback: (6)

A prop adapter really needs the support of extending back over the tapered portion of the crank. I wouldn't trust the threaded end only to take the various and extensive propeller loads by itself. So, you need an adapter that incorporates and accommodates that tapered portion of the crank for strength. This means either machining a prop hub with an internal taper, or cheating. I often times "cheat" by using a hole saw to cut out the center hub of the magneto flywheel. (Watch out for any steel parts in the hub area; they don't cut well.) I then chuck this center piece in the lathe and true it up. Then I make a prop hob that just screws onto the crankshaft and goes up against that flywheel center piece. This gives it much more support than just being screwed onto the end of the crank with no support nor connection to the rest of the crankshaft.

Yeah, I think lambertsrc.com is just about the only person doing conversion parts now.

AV8TOR

no_spamola

Thanks av8tor,
I don't know if he got my email. Does anyone have his phone number?
thanks,
no_spamola

dogshome

My Stihl 60cc conversion is still running like a watch. What more to say ? :-)

flyingagin

Thanks AV8TOR Working on it in between other projects. Like fixing the stinking car since I posted above.

Ken

rangerfredbob

My Feedback: (13)

Yeah, I know it's been slow and I imagine it's the chinese engines...

Me, I'm still around, I moved last April, bought my first house and it's been a project... trying to get the garage setup and everything situated when the walls aren't finished and the back wall needs a new foundation is difficult, along with having vehicles break down, and I think 9 business trips last year, with all that there hasn't been a lot of time for flying. When I do have time to fly, it's either raining or my batteries are dead, which I think I lost most of the receiver and ignition batteries in my large planes...

I hope to start flying the big stuff again this spring sometime, and once my garage is more setup I'll get my engines out and start converting them again

Nosedragger

Its not the "Chinese" engines. (there's a racial slur in there somewhere)

The fact of the matter is people who wanted conversions, have them, the population of large scale flyers is diminishing everyday.Smaller scale ARFs, brushless power are cutting into the gasoline power as noise is a bigger issue every year.
Quad copters have taken over the survivors of the group I used to hang with.

spaceworm

Should we call them "Asian", or "Oriental" engines? Or, some of them just "slag" engines. The Japanese, Taiwan, Korean, Russian, etc, engines all "enjoyed" similar adverse reception here in the states, starting, for me, in about 1953 with the OS engines. But, although they were more expensive, (too much for me ), OS survived and are revered by many today. I doubt that many of the "Chinese" engines will have that following in the future.

I have a converted Echo engine, a Zenoah G23 converted to ECDI, a Ryobi 2 stroke , a Ryobi 4 stroke, a Rhino, A O&R 1 cubic inch engine from a generator, several Poulan and other strimmer engines. But, I don't have a machine shop and have increasing difficulty sourcing conversion parts.

In the smaller sizes, I like my Saito engines, the larger that I plan to convert to ECDI and run on methanol.

Sincerely, Richard
Club Saito #635; Saito 56, 100, 120abc, 130T, 180
YS F 120

flygilmore

Ok, so I have an awesome Homelite 33cc ( Bandit Saw) that I'd like to convert to EI.......who can point me in the right direction? A step by step would be real helpful!

I did one of these as a reg. mag. years ago and it was an amazing engine!!!

I should say it is done and ready for mag. but I'd like to maybe do it as EI.............I need help with the whole EI aspect.

Thanks

av8tor1977

My Feedback: (6)

The Homelite 33cc engines got a lot of good reviews a few years ago. I have one that I have saved back for myself that I have yet to convert. You might do a search for "Homelite 33cc" and see if there is any info or pics to guide you. Unfortunately my Homelite 33cc is in storage 200 miles from here so I don't have a reference.

Basically converting to electronic ignition consists of providing, in one manner or another, a magnet in the prop hub, or on a rotatable sleeve on the hub, and a sensor mounted in some way to the engine. If the hub (magnet) cannot rotate to adjust the timing, then the sensor must be able to be moved to adjust the timing. I often cut the middle of the magneto out with a hole saw, and use that as an adapter to mount a regular screw on prop hub as would be used on a magneto engine. I dress that middle part of the magneto perfectly round, and then make a sleeve that fits around it, holds the magnet, and has a set screw that holds it in place once the timing is set. Then I just create a bracket or holder for the sensor that mounts solidly to the engine, in whatever manner necessary. The neat part of doing it this way is that the old magneto center is keyed to the crank, and so if the prop hub slips just a bit, which they can do sometimes, your ignition timing is not upset.

Here is a picture of one of my prop hubs done exactly as described above on an Echo 58cc engine.

Good luck, have fun, and let us know how it goes,
AV8TOR