Hey everyone, thanks for all the great posts on here, really helped me get my plane right the first time!
I fired up my engine this afternoon, I got a used one off of ebay and wanted to make sure it was running right before it came time to fly it... Anyhow, it's a YS45, and wow I was really impressed on how hard this engine pulled on the airframe of my LT-40. Took a bunch of flips the first start, but after that it starts 2-3 flips now.
My question is this... I went to the YS site, and it said a normal needle valve setting is 2-2 1/2 turns for the YS45. I had mine originally set at 2 1/2 turns but it kept dieing when I gave it some throttle past idle, Finally its around 1 to 1 1/2 turns where it seems to run the best, and there's still a little bit of blue smoke coming out still...
What I'd like to know, is how do I know I'm not running it too lean? by ear? what do I look for? do I want some sputtering at idle (cause it was purring like a kitten without any hickups and roared nice with some gas). Should I invest in a tach? is there some way to tell by ear or things I should look for ? I'm guessing that I'll open the throttle wide and lean it out to where it's at peak (by ear), and then richen it a bit?
I really got a good deal on this YS45 and I have a feeling its gonna be quite a good powerfull engine, and don't wanna blow it up just yet. Tach's arn't too expensive so if thats the way to go I have no problems buying a cheap tach....

Rain rain go away! gonna rain another week here in NY!!!! I wanna actually fly this thing.

Thanks!
~Andrew Dawson