CloudSkipper

Hi,
I'm looking at my glow engines after a few years of not flying. In a word .... ARG. I thought the only issue would be to unstuck the crank shaft, but the carbs were stuck too and those are bad.

Ok there are two engines that I'm dealing with (slightly different carb related issues):

O.S. 46LA:
In this one the carb lever was moving but the air intake wasn't. So I tightened the screw that holds the lever on. After I got the air intake moving, I noticed the NEEDLE that is supposed to be inside the carb is GONE. What? So I take it that's inside the engine now? That is so strange. I have just now ordered a new carb for the 46LA and will replace it, but I guess I'll have to dissassemble the engine to get the needle out from inside the crank case? Any one seen this happen before? I'm puzzled by that one.

O.S. 46AX:
With this one, the carb air intake was totally glued shut by the gunk. It took some time, but I eventually managed to loosen it with glow fuel. It's starting to move more free now. In the process of getting it unstuck, I ended up loosening the nut that keeps the throttle lever attached to the carb (happened by accident). The problem with this is that I'm not sure how to properly re-tighten that (plus that nut looks difficult to get any purchase on). So far I have backed out the needle in the carb so as not to accidently jam the needle too far in while trying to tighten the nut for the lever. Was that a correct move? In general I am not sure about properly tightening the nut so that I can be sure that the lever will not later on move without moving the carb intake. I'm surprised that there is no notch or something similar preventing that.

So annoying. I did not expect the carbs to be such an issue.

Thanks for any enlightenment, Cheers.

CloudSkipper

Answering one of my own questions: I just realized that 46LA carb has no needle inside it for idle adjustment. It does that function via the air bleed valve.

Am I correct in that?

Luckily I managed to cancel my order of a new 46LA carb.



I'm still curious though about the 46AX and about properly retightening the carb lever nut and whether backing out the carb needle is necessary during that.

Cheers

CloudSkipper

Answering myself again, but this time to help this along with an illustration:

Here is a picture of the throttle lever and nut from the 46AX. As you can see, that's difficult to tighten properly. The lever itself gets in the way of getting a proper bit on to that nut.
I don't want that to be able to become loose from engine vibration and then getting no throttle response as a result.



So is there a little custom wrench in existence out there for tightening this?

JohnBuckner

My Feedback: (1)

CS you are correct concerning the LA engine and the bleeder type carb all the LA's have. There is no needle for the low range adjustment there is only a bleeder hole and an external screw that serves to plug that hole with some degree of adjustability. You lost nothing inside the engine.

On the 46AX it is not clear whether or not you have the series I or series II, The carbs are considerably different the series II carbs use a single Philips head set screw to hold and allow adjustment of the throttle arm to the barel. On the series I carb the tiny low range screw with a slotted head is inside the throttle arm.

Agine you are correct, If the ring nut has been loose it is a good idea to back the low range needle out a bit, do not remove just around one full turn is fine. The ring nut is what tightens and adjusts the throttle arm to the barrel. After it is tightened readjust you low range needle to what is suggested as a starting point in the manual and I believe that is with a gap of a few millimeters between the needles when the barrel is open.

Typically with both types of carbs the throttle arms are adjusted so that when the barrel is open the arm is down and forward around forty five degrees.

John

JohnBuckner

My Feedback: (1)

I am sure there is however what has sufficed for me over the yeas is to use an old fashioned slip joint pliers with the nose of pliers gripping and the pliers straight out from the nut You can acheve enough degrees of travel to do the job.

Oh and by the way that throttle lever confirms you have the Series I .46AX.

John

CloudSkipper

Hi JB, Thanks for the answers. Before posting here I backed out the needle by several turns but without removing it. Oops. So basically I’ve created the need for a second question. So now I’ll need to turn the needle back in enough to make room for tightening the nut enough to hold the lever firmly (when backed out more, it starts to block the nut).

After that I need to determine how many more times to turn the needle inward as a starting point. I have never adjusted my idle without some help from guys at the field. So I’ll have a slow and blubbery rich idle while the needle is way too backed out to start with right?

Cheers

JohnBuckner

My Feedback: (1)

If you have backed the needle out too far no big deal just move it back in a bit. There is no need to move it out more than bout one half to a full turn. I always count turns when moving needles so I can easily return them back to ball park. Your manual is always the go to for resetting needles. Some carbs the midrange needle is often set to where the head is flush with the outside but that is not what I believe you have. Some have a mid range needles head quite deep in the barrel.

In this case most will suggest having a gap you can see down the venturi when the throttle is fully open of just a few millimeters between the mid range needle and the jet. Always defer to you manual which is on line. Agine always these type of needle settings suggestions by manufacturers for first start ups is in the case of the main needle intended to provide a safe rich mixture and it is usally expected that some leaning will have to take place at full throttle and in the case of the mid or low range needle some adjustment is normal either leaner or richer is expected to acheve smooth throttle ups. This can be after adjusting the main needle or some times some engine several readjustments back and forth between the main and low needles.

John

CloudSkipper

Thanks for the tips. I'll fetch a copy of the 46AX manual. I'm annoyed with myself for backing out the needle without counting the turns. The engine was really well tuned before. So I just gotta re-tune it.

I did a test-run with the 46AL today. I just blocked the muffler during a few hand-flips of the prop to get the carb sputtering fuel and then it started after just two buzzes with the starter. The 46AL is a great engine. O.S. is a good brand in general.

Cheers