gkamysz

My Feedback: (19)

I think E85 is going to require a good oil. One with very good rust inhibitors. My Enya 46-4C showed some signs of fresh rust after running E85. I however did not have the engine apart prior to that. I was using castor oil.

Jezmo

Never had any problems running it in my SuperTigre, carb or otherwise.

captinjohn

I think this E85 thing is still in the first stages. Looks like more has to be verified??? Be sure and read how metals can be eaten away from the use of E85 and similar fuels. I would use after run oil and while engine is still running...hook up a small tank to carb and purge out the carb with fuel you know is ok on engines and cards. Capt,n

captinjohn

Can you find the author again....I do not understand his findings. Thanks Capt,n

av8tor1977

My Feedback: (6)

This is easy to misunderstand. The reason they say when running a glow fuel with 65% alcohol one should use a cold plug is because a fuel with only 65% alcohol would have a nitro content of anywhere from 15 to 30% depending on what the oil content the fuel has. With higher nitro, one uses a colder plug. It really doesn't relate to the alcohol percentage; it relates to the nitro percentage.

Engines running FAI fuel, which is 80% alcohol and 20% oil run hotter plugs than ones running nitro. The determining factors are the compression ratio, nitro content, atmospheric conditions, etc. for choosing a glow plug. Generally, these engines running Gas/Glow respond well to a hotter plug such as the OS four stroke plug.

When removing the glow plug power, if the engine drops in rpms, it could use either a higher compression ratio, more nitro, or a hotter plug.

AV8TOR

captinjohn

I think most of us here understand just what you said. I know I do....but I would like to read the complete article, with the Author,s view point and why. There must be more to that strory!!! Best Regards Capt,n

WFOWRX

To summarize: E85 with about 10%-15% high quality oil be it a synthetic or castor and a "hot" plug to keep this mixture lit. A leaner mixture setting to account for gasoline's higher heat content/volume compared to alcohol. Does this come close to getting a glow engine to work with this new mix? Is adding some nitro a good idea to keep power up and have good throttle characteristics?
Thanks, Greg

av8tor1977

My Feedback: (6)

Unless an engine has a compression ratio too high to support it, and unless it has a too hot plug, nitro will benefit in many ways, including power, idle, and idle to high power transition. If the compression ratio is too high, or the plug too hot, you will encounter detonation, possible engine damage, and burned out glow plugs.

AV8TOR

leegreg

My Feedback: (16)

I WAS READING IN THE AMA MAGAZINE AND ARTICLE BY GREG HAHN.....HE SAID THAT WE COULD RUN GLOW ENGINES ON METHANOL AND OIL....CAN ANYONE TELL ME MORE ABOUT THIS.....THANKS....LEE GREG

av8tor1977

My Feedback: (6)

Methanol and oil is glow fuel without nitro.....

All you need to run no nitro, also called "FAI" fuel is higher compression ratios. It will run in low compression ratios engines, but not as well, and the idle, transition, and power will suffer.

AV8TOR

rasprot

well, (pardon me in advance), the glow engines already run on methanol and oil. But, if mentioned in your post that the methanol is the same used in vehicles, i really don´t know. I think that the fuel wich runs on surface is a little bit different from the fuel that flies. In Brazil we don´t use methanol in vehicles, just E85. So in this case, my post doesn´t help at all.

best regards.
rafael

av8tor1977

My Feedback: (6)

The alcohol used in passenger cars, and that which is in E-85, is ethanol. The alcohol commonly used in racing and in our glow fuel is methanol.

AV8TOR

bluesky123

My Feedback: (2)

Has anyone compared the RPM of the "normal" glow fuel to E85 mixes?
Tom wrote a while ago that his tacho died, but he must have received a new one since. Is the RPM drop so significant that no one wants to post the numbers?


Boris

larrysogla

Sopwith on post #50,
Thank you for posting your success with E85. I live in Los Angeles and there is an E85 station 10 minutes driving distance from my house. I am very much interested in using E85 mixed 50/50 with Tower Hobbies 5% nitro/glow fuel. I fly 4 of my twin engine glow aircraft so to add reliability to the E85, I plan to add Tower Hobbies 5% nitro/glow fuel. The savings could be very good, provided the Morgan green 4 stroke oil is not too expensive including the shipping charge. Why did you choose 4 stroke oil instead of 2 stroke oil?? Is it because you fly 4 stroke engines?? I do not have a 4 stroke engine so should I use Morgan 2 stroke oil?? This is a very interesting thread as nitro/methanol glow fuel is bound to keep going up in price. Thanks for your valuable reply.
God Bless, always
larry

wingspan99

My Feedback: (2)

Hi All,
After a 16-month hiatus without flying RC very seriously, I am back. I recently joined the main RC club here. I had joined a smaller club where only gliders and electrics were flown, and between that and my experimental airplane I was entertained enough. But now I need a fix I can only get from the higher performance gas and glow planes. So the first thing is to get my Saito 120 spark conversion completed. I just need a rubber boot for a 1/4-32 Rimfire plug. MJN Fabrication is temporarily shut down til April. Does anyone know a source for the small boots required by the Rimfire plugs? The engine will be run on E85 with 10% castor. I had modified the carb slightly by filling the brass jet slot with solder then opening it up with a hobby knife to a smaller size, and this worked well and gave a good transition. I want to convert my heli to E85 too, an OS 50H, I wonder what the oil requirement would be compared to an airplane? Is the cooling better or worse on a heli? I'd like to get a temp gauge and find out but I'm guessing just from the way it runs that it's not much different in temp. I will get some tach numbers as well. -Tom

captinjohn

I have used the boot off a Hanger 9 remote glow wire. I cannot give you much more data on that exact setup....I am on vacation in sunny Florida!!! Best regards Capt,n PS Good to have you back!!

wingspan99

My Feedback: (2)

Thanks Cap'n, I think I have one of those boots kicking around here somewhere. I'd love to get one of those new Saito spark plugs and boots for their 4-stroke spark ignition engine. -Tom

trumpetman

My Feedback: (1)

I have a MAC 28 cc running on E-85 with full time glow (weight 3 oz for batteries). Previous run on
4 % nitro\7% oil syn.\meth I got 8000 rpm with 18\6 apc w. Refilled with E-85 3% oil, no nitro I got
identical reading 8000 rpm. I am going this route in all of my conversion engines. Cheap, light, easy to
get. Using green coolpower oil.
Jack

wingspan99

My Feedback: (2)

That's a great result. Interesting that the 4% nitro did not give any RPM boost, but the change in oil meant you had 4% more fuel in the second mixture which can be a boost of it's own. Hmmm. The E-85 runs great in my leaf blower, and I use a 3% castor mix. It smells nice, and if I get into a corner where I smell the exhaust it reminds me of when I was a kid playing with Cox fuel and some cranky .049's.
-Tom

av8tor1977

My Feedback: (6)

Ha ha ha... Yeah, I remember those little .049's. 40 years later my brother is still afraid of engines because of them. I wonder how many Electric fans can trace their electron urges to traumatic experiences as a child with those stubborn little Cox .049's??

AV8TOR

Hmmm, just noticed by accidental play on words there.... "Electric fan". Better shut up before I get shot at here....

wingspan99

My Feedback: (2)

Those little .049's were really cantankerous. I probably spent hours trying to start them. Not even the zip starters were any better. I'd say the Cox .049's with the spring starters were best, the Testors planes were much more difficult for whatever reason. I probably had them flooded out constantly, with repeated priming that always seemed to be the answer. There is no joy without a previous contrasting period of frustration though, and if those control line planes were electric and just started up with a switch what would be the fun of that? I had the orange colored Cessna Skymaster twin-boom plane, and then the much faster Cosmic Wind. It turns out the Cosmic Wind couldn't handle 25mph crosswinds, and would only perform an upwind wingover to a downwind smack. The chrome paint would come off with the 25% nitro Cox fuel too. A Ringmaster would have been a boon to me. Too bad I never built a real CL plane. I remember when someone gave me an Enya .09 R/C. Oooooo. That was way bigger and filled the basement with castor oil smoke twice as fast. The Eaglet 50 just wouldn't fly with the .09 though, not even a hand launch could get it going, it would just set down in the snow and disappear, filling the nose with snow all over again. Then I got a .25 for it and got it much higher before crashing it.

Jezmo

I started out with control line and the little Cox .049 in 1962. I soon started building Goldberg 'Lil' Satan's (I absolutely loved that plane) and actually got very good at starting the little monsters. Those days are some of my fondest memories and often wish I could build a time machine and go back.

av8tor1977

My Feedback: (6)

Believe it or not, I still have a "Lil Satan". A flying buddy of mine wanted something to build, so I gave him that. We are going to get all nostalgic and go fly it soon.

A "Lil Satan" gave me my first hovering experience. I had my son hand launch it for me, and he accidentally gave it a little flip before he took off running. There I was holding the lines, with the plane pointed straight up and not going anywhere. I though "OH @%@, this is not good." But I gave it some down elevator, and it actually accelerated and took off flying normally. Too funny.

My very first .049 engine didn't last very long. My parents bought me a Mustang contol line model with a .049, and I used to start it up in the basement. I got tired of waiting for my dad to take me out and fly it, and so one day while it was running full bore, I thought "I wonder what would happen if I just let go?", and I did just that; I let it go. It made the prettiest take off across the basement floor, and then turned itself into pieces against the far wall. Man were my parents pissed....

Hope we don't get "popped" for hijacking this thread....

AV8TOR

tkg

My Feedback: (1)

I typically have to do "make runs" on 30-200cc engines. I have more scars from Cox 049s with spring starters, than cuts from the biggies.

Jezmo

AV8TOR, will you take some pics when it's ready to fly?

Terry, I have to confess that early on I did get the privilege of bleeding a bit on the little .049.