ORIGINAL: Ed Cregger
The Saito prices for equivalent displacements are way too close to YS prices to buy anything other than a YS, if you're needing high performance.

ORIGINAL: William Robison
I used to think the Saito engines were "Not attractive" to the eye, the cam driven gear case does obtrude somewhat. However, being a long time lover of radial engines the Saito cylinders are beautiful to me.

ORIGINAL: XJet

Speedster, remember that manufacturers have to write manuals and make recommendations aimed at the lowest-common denominator -- ie: the morons who don't have a clue.

Regular folks can use commonsense when working with engines and make sensible adjustment to the manufacturer's "for morons" recommendations.

10% lube is more than enough for the piston/liner lubrication and, in a 4-stroke, the crankcase tends to accumulate a fixed amount of oil, regardless of how much is actually in the fuel.

I've run my 4-strokes on everything from 12% to 22% and every time I take thebackplate off, there's the same half-teaspoon of oil sitting in there regardless.

It's this blow-by oil that lubes the con-rod, bearings, camshaft and lifters so I figure that if that amount remains constant then there's no harm in cutting back the oil percentage.

All the normal caveats apply of course -- don't run too lean and don't overload your motor. Either of those can do far more damagne than dropping a few percent in oil will.

But, to play it safe, manufacturers assume that everyone's a moron and everyone will lean the needles to get the very last rev out of the motor -- so had better run far more oil than they actually need, just in case ;-)

ORIGINAL: XJet

That might be true if you live in a country where nitromethane flows like water :-) but as someone who lives in a country where it costs $80 a gallon (or more), the Saito works out a *lot* cheaper if you plan to do any flying.

I'm happy to throw a Saito 125 in where you might put a YS63. I'll get more power, very little weight penalty, and an engine that works just fine on as little as 5% nitro.

I very nearly bought a YS63 for one of my 3D profile planes but was shocked when I worked out the difference in iperating cost over a 1-year period between the YS and the Saito 82 I eventually bought. What's more, the Saito has never missed a beat, never been fussy and handles a very wide range of props with ease.

If nitro was cheaper here I'd certainly consider investing in a YS -- but until then, Saito rulez!

ORIGINAL: XJet

That might be true if you live in a country where nitromethane flows like water :-) but as someone who lives in a country where it costs $80 a gallon (or more), the Saito works out a *lot* cheaper if you plan to do any flying.

I'm happy to throw a Saito 125 in where you might put a YS63. I'll get more power, very little weight penalty, and an engine that works just fine on as little as 5% nitro.

I very nearly bought a YS63 for one of my 3D profile planes but was shocked when I worked out the difference in iperating cost over a 1-year period between the YS and the Saito 82 I eventually bought. What's more, the Saito has never missed a beat, never been fussy and handles a very wide range of props with ease.

If nitro was cheaper here I'd certainly consider investing in a YS -- but until then, Saito rulez!

ORIGINAL: Ed Cregger


Nitro is much cheaper here (USA) than it used to be. But I keep remembering when the sole American nitro plant was shut down in the early Nineties and how sad some folks were, even back then, when trying to fly their high performance models on straight fuel, or fuel with nitromethane substitutes. Fortunately for me, I was flying mostly Enya and OS engines back then. They didn't much care if they had nitro or not - in warm weather.


Ed Cregger