Hi Fellas

Flyjunkie and I removed the bearings from the Saito and the rear bearing is completely shot. Red rusty and very rough when turning. The front bearing doesn't seem too bad. This is the second set of Saito bearings we've had to change in low hours motors, both having run less than 10 hours. New ceramic bearings with stainless steel cases are on the way from Paul at RC bearings.com, unbelievably reasonable prices, £22 ($41) delivered to the UK.

The motor showed signs of debris inside with some pitting in the machined area of the crankase where the crank and conrod revolve. We also found one of the tappets was sticking, debris again. After lots of careful cleaning and polishing everything is clean and smooth again, just need the bearings to start reassembly.

Having thought it through I think we've hit problems because the engines are inverted so when we put after-run oil in if we turn the aircraft the right way up the oil goes into the cylinder rather than the bearings. Also we keep the aircraft in a heated shed, inside a garage but in the UKs damp climate rust is a real issue. We've used Irvine formula fuel which uses synthetic oil. This has produced plenty of power but with our problems so far we're going to go back to a fuel with castor, not a reflection on the fuel just our hope it will provide better protection.

We'll let you know how the rebuild goes when back together.

Davesdad