ORIGINAL: Gene Chernosky
My fuel is 10% castor, 10% synthetic, 10% nitro...more than adequate lubrication for any 2 cycle model engine other than old McCoy's, Fox's, Enya's, etc.
Gene, try using 5% or even 0% nitro in your fuel.
I'm wondering if the TS56 doesn't have a compression ratio that's better suited to very low nitro. I know that when I ran mine on 10% it once threw the prop by backfiring and if they are a low-nitro engine then it could be detonation that's causing the rods to fail.
I stick to about 5% these days and the engine is much more nicely behaved in terms of starting and running -- except that it won't transition for SHIrT due to a massively over-rich mid-range so I'm waiting for a new carby (it didn't transition on 10% fuel either).