well i got lucky twice. happened again today, new prop and all. this time their was a train going by and i couldnt hear the engine. so when i saw a silver thing fall from the plane i shouted "their goes my muffler" and everyone watched it fall. since i fly on a farm and theirs nothing growing it took a whole of 2 min to find. this time i put 50mm screws on instead of 35mm ones and i ditched that stupid gasket and bolted it directly to the engine, and loaded on the locktite. problem solved.

engine was being weird all day (4 hours), it wouldnt idle which it usually does very well (i can never get it to stop), until near the end of the day i noticed that the screw that keeps the carb together (that little one on the top) was very loose. once i screwed that down all was good again.
and i flew my gp rapture at the end of the day, that plane is so smooth (compared to my spad), although the roll rate isnt as high as i would like, its still fun to fly, a great "sunday flyer"