Gary, I guess I can say it here, and not in Club Saito, and get away with it. I've heard of more problems and have HAD more problems with Saitos than any other engine, 2 or 4 stroke. I've had my 82a, which is running fine just now (15 hrs flight time), back to the factory twice. Horizon Hobbies fixed the problems: first time they rebuilt the engine after about 5 hours flight time, no comments: second time they replaced the bearings and said they found rust, so the warranty really DIDN'T apply, "please use ARO," but they charged me nothing anyway. Nice guys, but the down time on that engine was terrible--for someone who flies almost every day.

The Saito 1.0 has crapped out on me, twice, in the air, probably a cowl heating problem or a fine tuning problem, but the end result was the P-51D and the UCD .60 both went in hard. The P-51 was circling on a low approach for landing, big mistake. I didn't have the speed to get her down safely--and not enough time with the bird to know what I needed--without power. The Can Do's problem was that inevitable floating. Dead stick, she was heading for a fence. I made a quick decision and bounced her hard before the fence, lost the landing gear, pants through the wings, and broke her back. She's ready to fly again but that's over $500 of airframes done in by a $280 engine. Why should I buy another?

They are messy as heck and always thirsty, uneconomical, without a velocity stack and Bruline filter (which Saito OUGHT to provide). I haven't had the 1.0 on the Can Do .60 up for a loooong time, too long for such an expensive engine--though it, too, has the velocity stack and filter on it.

I must say, admit, that I may be the problem. There's lots to learn about those 4 strokes, mounting and tuning--and the answers are not consistent. I asked my Wildcat fuel provider, the manufacturer, no less, if I should use ARO with Wildcat fuels (15% Premium Xtra {80%synthetic/20% degummed racing castor}). He said, "We don't recommend it." THEN I told him about the bad bearings in the 82a.

But now I use auto trans fluid (ATF) for after run oil and run the engine dry, then some, before I apply the oil. They SAY those Saitos should run 30 hours before servicing. That's $9.33/ flight hour! Club Saito talks of replacing bearings with ceramic bearings when they need them and discuss endless other problems. I don't want to rebuild engines. I want to fly! My OS 61FX engine, almost two years old, has probably more than a 100 hours on it, three crashes in three different birds, and still keeps running. That's a buck 70/hour--and going down every day.

Do we really love the sound and torque that much? I'd be happy to hear disagreement, but talk in terms of hours in the air--not length of ownership. Who has a Saito that has had more than 50 hours in the air without being rebuilt? 100 hours? 150?

Sorry for this, but I get ticked off.

Jack