rtn9105:

My pushrods are the Sullivan grafite kind. They are the black ones with the white sleeve. I believe the package says "Semi-flexible". I had to buy the 48" long rods and cut them down to the proper length. This was because my elevator servos are in the tank compartment--way forward in the fuselage.

I would mount the engine on the firewall first. Then just put your elevator servos somewhere on the tail and check the balance. That way, you can get an idea of where the plane would balance with the servos in the tail. I'd bet that with the big 2.18 motor on the nose- you'll be pretty close to balanced with two servos in the tail for the elevators. You can always move your rudder servo around as well as the batterry for balance.

If, after putting the servos in the tail for the elevators- you find that your too tail heavy- you can always move the tank back to the CG and put your throttle servo and battery in the nose. Then add a pump- for those High G maneuvers- and you just might come out with a big fat and happy on your balance.

It's worth a try. I wish I had been able to put my elevator servos in the tail. It was a real pain in the @$$ getting all my linkages and bracing in for my long pushrods.

Galen:

My thrustwasher is 6.25" from the firewall. Yup; it sticks out a bit with the cowl on, but thats okay with me. Even if I had cut the triangle stock on the firewall to move the engine back to 6"-- I'm screwed, because my throttle servo is on the firewall right behind the engine backplate. I posted a pic of the throttle servo in this thread somewhere, just can't remember which post.

As for the weight of the ST3000- I have no idea. I'm using a J-Tec muffler with a 1/4" aluminum spacer between the muffler and motor. Without the spacer, the muffler hits the engine mount.

I'm swinging a Zinger 20-6 prop at about 7800-7900RPM with Omega 5% fuel. It swings a Zinger 18-10 or a MA Schimitar 18-10 at about 8200RPM with the same fuel.

I'm still fumbling with the pump. I'm having trouble getting the engine dialed in just perfectly. After moving the tank way back to the CG- the pump seems to be having trouble keeping up with the fuel demands of the big ST. I have the volume adjustment on the pump turned up too maximum- but still starving the engine. I am going to try and restrict my bypass loop to force more fuel into the carb. I'll probably just put some small fuel tubing on the bypass loop to restrict it. The smaller tubing on the loop will cause enough restriction to slow down the fuel in the loop. Hopefully this will force more fuel to the carb.. I hope-- I hope-- I hope..........