YSIK

Not sure what's going on with BME ? I mailed an engine to BME and Keith replied saying he would take a look. It has been over two weeks he does not return calls or emails. Not sure what to do next - any ideas?

Fly Low and Lower

niteowl5001

It took a month and a half but Kieth does get to it and does a great job. Just hang in there. Give him some time. I know it can be frustrating.

John Franklin

RTK

My Feedback: (1)

I recently received an e-mail from Keith explaining why he has been a little tardy returning his calls/e-mails. Unfortunately he has been fighting kidney stones and Steve has been on an extended vacation. I don't know if anyone has had this problem before, but from what I have been told they are very painful to pass.

Tired Old Man

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Akin to a man giving birth without a saddle block.

Pontiac_40

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Any news from Kieth Baker?? It's getting kind of ridiculous with nobody answering calls, returning calls or emails. I sent my 115 to Kieth and it's been almost a month and I cannot get in touch with anybody at his place. Keith if you read this, please at least have the courtesy to call back and let us know what is going on with you. Are you still in bussiness?? You have one of my engines that you need to acknowledged you have. Please let us know what is going with you.

JEFFRO503

My Feedback: (9)

I Believe the kidney stones have taken him out of the loop for a little while. I too am going to send him my new bme 115 i bought about 6 months ago , and never had a chance to run it. I want him to replace the older 2 needle carb with the newer 3 needle one he has now. RTK say's the tuni ng is a little easier with the newer carb....and hell , living up here in oregon , i have time to kill.......probably till march or april! [sm=crying.gif]

tonyc

My Feedback: (4)

JEFFRO503, did you take a look at your carb to see if it was the modified carb. I bouth a new 115 back in September and was expecting the 3 needle carb. What I got was the modified 2 needle carb. But the engine works just fine. The bottom line is that the original non modifed 2 needle card workd fine for a lot of peopel. I run into happy owners all the time and they have never had an issues. Some people have had a mid range burble with the 2 needle carb and thist was solved when Keith showed us how to modify the carb and add a small brass tube into the carb. This worked and solved the problem for those that had a problem.

I wouldn't send the engine back untill you had a chance to test what you have. You may have no issues. The 3 needle carb may be an answer to some problems or there may be some new problems that show up with this carb change. So far we know of one happy camper with the 3 needle carb. Thats good but not a track record. Your motor, your muffler, your location, will give you a set of results that you will or will not be happy with. But you won't know untill you try for yourself.

Tony

RTK

My Feedback: (1)

I agree with tony, try the modified 2 needle carb first. I only have flown the 3 needle carb a few times.
This last week I decided to take out my extra fun 3w28, carb was gummed up so I had to prime it a few times to make it draw fuel. When I looked inside the venturi I noticed that the stock carb came with a brass tube off of the high speed circuit. It was set up exactly like Keith's modified WB.
Oh, I would just send the carb not the whole engine.

Bill in TN

My Feedback: (1)

Last month I bought a combo from Chief Aircraft that contained the BME-115, a pair of stock mufflers and an AM Yak-54 35%. What a great looking engine, I'm looking forward to hearing it run.

The carb has the 2 needles, how can I tell if it is a modified carb?

Also the tunnel in the left muffler does not line up with the needle valves on the carburetor. The block between the engine case and the carb measures 1 ½� which puts the needles almost ¾� too low so that the needles cannot be adjusted through the tunnel. Is this the right block installed?

I too have tried to contact BME by phone, fax and email but no response.

Bill in TN

altavillan

My Feedback: (1)

The mufflers were designed for the early longer reed block. Have not heard if there are mufflers for the short reed block. This engine likes canister mufflers. You will too after you see how clean your plane is after flying, Also by shortening and lengthening the headers you can tune the throttle response a bit. As in peaky, low or high rpm.

Look inside the carb for a brass nipple poking into the venturi. That will be a modified carb. Is it a WB carb or WGA? WGA is gen1.

Bill in TN

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It looks like the reed block installed is the longer one and puts the needles out of alignment with the tunnel in the muffler. Does this longer reed block present a problem?

I was waiting for a reply from BME before I installed the throttle servo and linkage.

Bill in TN

My Feedback: (1)

The carb is a WB, best I can tell the no. on the side is WB25 825.

There is no brass nipple poking into the venturi

altavillan

My Feedback: (1)

The WB's were sent out with the shortened reed block. You might have mufflers for the 110. If I remember right I was able to get to the needles ok when I tried using the stock mufflers. I think mine have tapered front ends and the needle holes. Maybe the taper let me get to the needles.
Over in the other 115 thread Keith details how to modify the carb.
There will be some more fixes coming soon so if you can't reach Keith or do not want to mod your carb feel safe to fly the engine just avoid prolonged WOT unless you have a ritch high needle. but the ritch high needle might cause it to have the KE burbles.

Bill in TN

My Feedback: (1)

What is the dimension of the short reed block? Mine measures about 1 1/2" so I assume it is the long one.

My engine came with the Rcexl ignition, instead of the Falkon unit. I'm not familiar with this brand but it looks like a nice unit. Is this the igintion system used by BME before Falkon?

tande

My Feedback: (48)

I think this is the ign. used by BME "AFTER" the Falkon---

Tired Old Man

My Feedback: (1)

The RC Xcel is the second ignition unit used on the 115. It's a very good unit and very close to the original CH Syncrospark in quality. CH had considerable influence on the internal components and helped turn it into an excellent unit. Have no concerns about the ignition, it's good stuff.

As for those with concerns about one carb, reed block/insulator or another, running it a few times with a little tuning will tell you more about what you need to know than anything else. There are currently three different versions of the engine where the carbs are concerned. There have been people quite pleased with each type so trying it before trying to change anything is the best way to go.

The mufflers provided with the 115 were originally designed for use with the larger carb so the pass through tuning holes will not align with any other carb version. No biggie since you're not going to tune the engine with it running. Not if you value your life or anatomy in any case.

jrkarmy

My Feedback: (5)

I bent the crank on a 115 in july sent it in and was repaired. Got it back with a third needle installed. Poured gas out the third needle modification. Would siphon a tank empty in 3 minutes with out the motor running. Keith had me send the carb back. It has been four months now and I can't even get an E-mail response about it. Wouldnt even give me a carb model number so I could get one through a small engine repair shop. Motor doesnt do me much good sitting in a box. I don't know what to do any suggestions?

Bass1

Call Ralph!

Tired Old Man

My Feedback: (1)

This is not good....

marksextra

My Feedback: (28)

Pat. Not Good? come on..you're WAY to kind... that just plain sucks! if that happened to me I'd be driving down there to have a heart to heart with somebody. Everyone with bme's, all I can say is I'm sorry to hear that.

I pray keith is ok. really I do. I'm just glad I don't own one of their engines right now.

marksextra

My Feedback: (28)

jrkarmy, on second thought. if you have proof that he's got your stuff.(including a specific part that makes your $1200 engine work) you can always go to your local district justice/magistrate. To me that action is simply warranted now. After that amount of time, you would definately be within your rights and within reason. At this point, you have no idea what BME's intentions are, since communication has broken down. Once one party stops communicating, the other party really isn't left with much recourse. I'm not one to kick a guy when he's down, but if someone decides to go into business and take peoples money for a product, then that company is responsible for their actions. If the company can not live up their obligations for whatever reason, then they have to do whatever it takes to be responsible. It may cost them a bit of money as I said before but....that's just business. And for that matter, with the history of this particular company, it seems like they have found through "past experience" that it is "acceptable" to conduct themselves like this.


On a not so unrelated topic:

I can tell you one thing, their have been companies out there who have conducted themselves poorly and have had to pay through the nose for it. Those companies either don't conduct themselves like that anymore or decided to get out of business or went bankrupt! BME needs to do one of those. I mean to say that if BME has no consequences for it's actions then they can do whatever they want.

jrkarmy

My Feedback: (5)

Your advice sounds like Lawyer talk and I don't need that. I would like to know from any one the model of the WB carb and I will go get one from else where.

altavillan

My Feedback: (1)

Post #12 this thread Bill in TN said, His has a WB25 825. Sounds right. I'll look at mine tomorrow and post if I have a different carb #.

The guy in the post above can't help it, he's a turbo, they are only made to suck and blow.

bzyguy01

I have two brand new BME 115's I have sent the engines back this summer to have the carbs updated....It took three months to get them back...I was frustrated! But Keith did pull through and get them back to me updated. I am still waiting on the Ignitions and hope all is well with Keith. I am still frustrated but I feel his pain....Sickness,Work Overload, and weather is all playing a part in this I think. My personal impression of Keith is that He's a stand up guy and means well but is trying to see the light at the end of this gloomy tunnel. I'm hanging in there and hope everyone else supports him right now...... It does suck but things could always be much worse.

Besides...His products absolutely Smash the Da's and 3W's in performance. My buddy's WH 35% Sukhoi is like a freekin foamy at 25 lbs...It pulls out of a hoever like a sling shot. I was in absolute awwe after watching the BME 115! Everyone at our club that flies 3W's and DA's were all droooling! He was running the new 2 needle carb with the short reed block. This thing hoevered literally just a click off idle! He actually had trouble with it wanting to climb and was constantly shutting the throttle to idle to get it to the deck. It was Awesome! The Prop was a Vess 27" "B"....He likes the "A" prop better tho as it is not as difficult to get it on the deck without climbing, but he had the "B" on it when I watched it fly.

Tired Old Man

My Feedback: (1)

You just hit the mark about why I'm hoping this all works out for the good. Keith makes a very superior engine and to see carb issues be the demise of something so good would be a cryin' shame. A lot of the problem is more with a lack of trust and patience on the part of the consumer. We've all grown much too accustomed to an instant response from everyone because of the internet. Then there's the group that may be "loyal" to another manufacturer and just want to ferment more discontent. There's also the issue of a lack of public info from the manufacturer, which exacerbates all the other issues. There's nothing at all wrong with the engine. Absolutey nothing! Locating a carb that has the ability to feed it properly has been the issue, and at that it's not been a problem with every engine by any means.

I'm of the opinion that if the manufacturer was to post a note about exactly what's been goin' on behind the scenes, what his intentions are, and what an estimated time frame would be to get back up to speed, all the grousing would come to an end. At least for the reasonable people in the group. For some there won't be any satisfaction because they can never be satisfied anyway. Or they don't even own a BME product, which we've seen in some BME threads already. Providing legal information about how to go after someone is truly bad form, especially when there's no cause for it. In California you had better be a certified lawyer or para-legal before you do that or you can face prosecution yourself.

I have a 115 now and truthfully I'm looking for another one. I'm not too concerned about carb issues because I have a plane that I have no problem using for a test bed. What's the worst that can happen, a dead stick landing, right? Nobody should ever be doing down on the deck stuff until they're sure about the engine settings anyway.