arcdude

Thanks 1QwkSport2.5r, You may be right in allowing the engine to draw the fuel rather than priming so much. This ST seems to have no issue in drawing fuel with the tank top even with the spray bar. I found an intermittent ground where the remote plug wire is attached to a motor mount bolt, there appeared to be a shiny finish on the attachment ring so I scuffed that up and tested the continuity with the meter and it seems o.k. now. I'm thinking what happened is with the grounding issue I was under the belief it wasn't getting fuel so I did additional priming and inadvertently over primed is my guess, and once it floods it doesn't take much to flood again I suppose. I do have an electric starter, just have to pick up a new battery for the tool box. Any tips on warming the engine up in these colder temps? I'm determined to give this beast a go before the ice starts on the river it's been 3 - 4 degrees lately so running out of time.

1QwkSport2.5r

If you can heat the engine up by keeping it in your car/truck as well as the fuel, the engine will start fine if the case temp is at least 40-50F. Glow fuel doesn't burn very well when it's really cold (below 30F). My best advice is pull the glow plug and turn it over for a couple seconds before trying to start it to ensure there isn't any oil pooled up in the cylinder head. Also ensure your glow plug is cleaned out of any oil and hit it with the glow driver for a couple seconds to ensure its clean and burning hot. A wise idea is to hook up your remote glow driver to the plug while its out and hook up your glow driver to the remote dummy plug and touch the glow plug to the engine to ensure the remote driver is working well. If your remote glow driver uses aluminum wire, I'd replace the aluminum wire with copper wire of the same gauge or 1 gauge larger. Copper flows electric current better than aluminum. Once the engine is clear and the plug is good, reinstall the plug and give her hell. If the engine draws fuel fine at a normal idle speed setting, just use the starter to draw fuel to the carb. Otherwise you can briefly plug the exhaust while turning the engine over with the starter to speed up the fuel draw. My SuperTigres like to get pretty wet before they fire off so it might take a few seconds of turning it over to get the engine wet.

arcdude

Thanks again there 1QwkSport2.5r I'll keep those tips in mind for the next outing, hopefully soon. In the meantime I took 15 min and made myself an attachment for the battery drill to start the motor. I did a quick check for a 12v battery and unbelievably they are in the $50. range and up so this is what I've come up with and for those on a tight budget this may be an option. I took an old 7/8" socket and a 3/8" bolt with washers and nut and put a piece of 3/4" nylon tube inside which fits quite snuggly leaving about 1/4" of the tube sticking out. Put the little attachment in the battery drill being a 12v Ryobi and it spun the engine over with ease so this should help get things started.

dadkins

Hi Arcdude, Nice looking build by the way! Cant wait to see it run. As for the lectric starter -I took it one step simpler and used the battery from my cordless drill (14 volt Lithium Ion) to power my starter motor, Works fantastic - I had to modify the alligator clips a bit to grab the teeny connectors.

1QwkSport2.5r

You might be asking for trouble using a drill as an electric starter. If the engine hydraulic locks, you could bend the conrod. As to the battery dilemma, you could wire two 7.2v NiMH packs in series instead of using a 12v 7Ah type battery. Around here, 12v 7-9Ah batteries are about $25. I know canadian currency isn't worth the same as the U.S. dollar, but $50 is ludicrous. I'd keep looking if I were you.

arcdude

Thanks for the compliment dadkins, appreciate that! Nice to see another face on here been quiet, thankfully I can stand my own company, at least for a little while. Good idea on the battery thanks I just happen to have an old 14v drill I could plunder if needed.

arcdude

Thanks 1QwkSport2.5r This will likely end up on the shopping trip to the States list, if you want to get gouged look no further than North of the border. There is a warehouse on the state side that I can receive to and they hold items for 1 year free so I order stuff from the States and go on a shopping trip to pick them up. I'll just keep looking around for a reasonable price, that's why I'm coming up with a temporary solution.

1QwkSport2.5r

I do understand, however using a socket type drive, on the prop nut is a really bad idea not only for the engine but as a safety issue for you as well. I would hand start over using a drill and socket any day of the week. I'm not picking on you, I'd just hate for you to get hurt. Engine damage is a distant second concern.

Just use the drill battery for your temporary power source. I think you could get a set of alligator clips to clip into the drill battery's contacts.

arcdude

Sorry there m8 think you missed something in the picture, there is a nylon tube sticking out which will act much like a regular starter so it'll slip if needed. With the tube sticking out it just nestles on the face and slightly cups the starter nut nose by about 3/8 of an inch. Wouldn't even dream of actually using a socket for this.....I wanna live Lol.

arcdude

Thought I'd clear this up before someone inadvertently ends up hurt or worse. As per my earlier description there is a nylon tube installed into the socket to act in a similar manner to a standard starter.

1QwkSport2.5r

Fine and well. I still don't get why you don't use your regular starter and a drill battery. Then you don't have to deal with your DIY starter device which even still doesn't strike me as all that safe (though better than I originally thought it to be). To each their own though. Hope the weather holds up for you enough to get a good run in.

arcdude

Charging up that 14v as I type and see if there is a way to attach connectors to it, always good to have options and the smile on ones face when doing it yourself rather than handing over a fist full of bucks......priceless. The 12v drill is the small form factor that fits right in your hand so really don't see any safety issue in using it, I'll give it a go and see what happens. I hope to at least have one run before freeze up so I won't be wondering all winter long. I'm sure you can relate having finally gotten your rigger going.

arcdude

Now that all the bugs have been sorted after 3 trips to the river it's been pretty cold and snowing everyday so it looks like testing will have to wait until spring unless we get a lucky break. Cheers

Jeremy_H

I've been using a drill starter for some time, but with a regular cup on an adaptor:


It's fine for many engines, but at 3000 rpm too slow for some. There is no danger the engine if the torque adjuster is used, less risk than a regular starter in that respect.

1QwkSport2.5r

Regular airplane starters have about 1/2 the torque, if even that much, than a drill. I'd be less worried about damage to the engine, myself, or both in the event of a hydraulic lock. If my starter won't start an engine when it normally would, the starter doesn't have enough torque to cause any damage. A drill isn't as forgiving. But you guys can use what you like. I'm not that gutsy.

As with anything, YMMV.

Jeremy_H

You appear to be missing what I said. Torque adjuster, nearly all battery drills have them, set to enough to turn over the engine but slip in a lock up. No risk.

Jeremy_H

Duplicate post

1QwkSport2.5r

No, I got that, loud and clear. I personally don't trust a drill over my purpose made starter. The leverage and distance from the prop seems too sketchy to me. I'll pass on that. But I am clearly not the expert here, so for anyone else reading this, use whatever you have that will work safely.

arcdude

Obviously everyone has safety at the top of the list and I fully agree that anyone taking up an activity has to be comfortable with what they're doing and provide a safe environment for those around us. I do have both the air engine designed starter that I used several years ago which is a Hobbico starter and the drill and adapter that I made. I have held the prop with one hand and set the drill on the torque setting and experienced little difficulty holding the prop from moving so I would have to conclude it is quite safe for the engine. Also IMO I do feel the drill to be a better fit ergonomically with the force being applied by your hand almost directly straight in line with the engine whereas with the Hobbico starter your hand is applying pressure in a sideways motion and should your hand say if you had a little fuel or oil on your hand slip with nothing between the prop and your hand you would suffer serious injury. We all have safety at the top of the list and need to conduct ourselves in a safe manner and as stated anyone reading the threads this safety concern needs to be expressed, I for one don't want the responsibility of someone ending up hurt by an unsafe practice and don't suggest anyone do something they personally deem unsafe.

On a brighter note I still hope to make at least a quick run, even if it's a short one unless icebergs start floating by considering we've received over 3" of snow already.

1QwkSport2.5r

I wish you the best of luck.

arcdude

Well, thought I'd give it another go.....wrong, more problems, discovered the glow plug was weak after all even after swapping it out on an earlier trip and starting the ST inverted is a hit and miss proposition. When starting up side down you have to have the timing just right before the glow plug fills with fuel and found that this engine needs to be real wet to start (I believe 1QwkSport2.5r stated the same issue with one of his engines). I modified the boat stand to flip the boat upside down and primed the heck out of it with a new glow plug and voila started several times with no issue at all. After starting it with the chicken stick I noticed the prop looked a little odd at idle so I stopped it and discovered a couple of good nicks out of one of the blades. Best I can figure is I wasn't quick enough with the stick when it started backwards, so that ended the day with the spare prop being guess where, at home because this was a last ditch effort to give it a go before freeze up which there is already ice around the edges of the river. Shelved until spring.....ho hum!

dadkins

Nice try with the last ditch effort. We had a really nice weekend in the 40's bordering on 50, and after a couple weeks below freezing felt downright warm out!
No matter how prepared you are there are so many little things that can trip you up with these temperamental little suckers - I have probably had two or three -NO SHOWS either not starting, break something trying to start, or crash right off the bat.
At least you brought er home in one piece and didn't have to go swimming in the ice water. Kidding.

arcdude

Considering the temperature I was kind of glad things went wrong on shore and not out on the water and to add to the pressure the wifey was kind enough to come along to video in case something spectacular was to happen, like the boat doing a lap or two lol! Poor wife was standing there teeth chattering so it wouldn't have been a good video anyway with all the shaking.

dadkins

That reminds me... I have THE funniest video of taking my family out to the frozen lake for airboating - someday... I will learn how to upload a video and post a link on here and hopefully others will find it as funny as we do because every time we watch it we crack up.
Someday...

arcdude

Maybe we could start a thread of bloopers and of course the funny, I too have yet to post a video on line, apparently quite simple once you join youtube or the like, cheers