RE: Are 4-strokes better in the cold than 2-strokes?
Hey Trung,
TIP - the longer you wait before starting (in the cold) the more difficult it will be to start the thing! I once started a Webra .60 at home - placed the idling airplane in the back of my car and drove to the flying site. I wouldn't advise doing this unless you have a BIG van with LOTS of circulation of fresh air!
I'm in Ottawa and I had trouble starting an OS .65 LA (at -27 Celcius) last week. So, I used an old trick we used to do when I lived in northern Quebec (Sept Iles) in the 60's - place the engine head directly in front of your vehicles (running engine) exhaust pipe outlet - if it doesn't start then it's not because of the cold. It doesn't take much heat to loosen the oil in the cylinder head to get it to fire - in fact I was thinking that those small butane torches available at hardware stores would be good - just be careful not to burn the fuel line!
If you have a cowl (like I have on my Sterling PT-17) run a piece of vacuum cleaner hose (or something) from exhaust to engine head under cowl. I have started engines at -52 degrees in northern Quebec like this without fail.
I just moved (two years ago) from Florida (JAX) and never did get to fly my airplanes - what do I do when I get back to Canada - I get real busy with flying again! And boy it is cool out there this morning - -27 with a HIGH of -20 this afternoon (think I'll place my own head near trhe exhaust!)
Ron