121203

Here's the deal, this thing runs like a monster, on the ground at least. I can crank it up to full, throttle it up and down, and hold the plane straight up, and it seems to run perfect. Put the thing in the air, and it won't do it, starts chugging, and eventually dies. The manuever that it seems to hate the most is when I fly inverted, give it full down elevator (like I'm going into a outside loop) until it's vertical and throttle up. Dies everytime. It is a relatively new engine, should I just be patient and let it break in more? Should I try blocking off one of the exaust ports? (I have a bisson pitts) Try out the perry carb? I dunno, I'm new with the big two strokes... any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Bax

My Feedback: (11)

It sounds like the engine's leaning in flight. This could mean fuel foaming...when air is agitated into the fuel that's in the tank. This causes the engine to go lean, overheat, and quit. You won't get it on the ground because the airplane's being held, or otherwise restrained, and this damps some of the vibration.

It could also be a cooling issue.

Leaning in some maneuvers can be related to fuel tank position, or the position of the clunk in the tank. If the clunk's not moving properly, it's probably unporting in some maneuvers. You also could have the clunk too close to the rear of the tank. You want about 3/8"-1/2" on large tanks. This prevents the fuel "slosh" from creating variances in fuel pressure.

The key is how the engine runs on the ground. If it will run indefinitely on the ground, with any throttle behavior, then there's nothing wrong with the engine, iteself, but something in the entire airframe/fuel system/mount/cowling/engine/prop combination.