RE: 60SP failure under warranty
Hi Michael,
These motors tend to run hotter, but i did alot of "airflow engineering" on the cowl and never had cooling issues in the air really. Maybe borderline if you flew middle of a hot FL summer day so i didn't. Only time it would start getting warm would be cowled on the ground, so i never did testing w/cowl on. Matter of fact pretty hot on ground without. Alan at WestonRCV strangely said an owner flying cowl-less and complaining of overheating was told to cowl it w/baffle and he heard no more complaints. These motors need to be in the air w/baffle to cool.
Alan had high praise for the 90. The 60 too. He said w/his Weston plug he's had them idle down to 900rpm! What about you? Lowest i ever got mine with it was an inconsistent 1400. Other times it'd idle a rock steady 1500. Someone on these forums familar w/RCV's early on said carb issues started when they switched from an established carb "brand" to what amounts to cheap Chinese. The RCV is a great design but I think that issue is killing them being a success in my opinion. I don't get it, the machining of the head/cylinder has to be very precise yet they're allowing cheap carbs to be used? Both carbs i have are very sloppy(the spare they sent me to try too).
I'm undecided on fuel really. My latest is Coolpower 10% too. Like it but thinking of going back to Omega despite mess. I think it does run cooler and offers more protection. Strangely can also gets up to the range of 30% better fuel efficiency! Mine ran over 1 hr on a 11oz tank once during run-in. Testing at typical flying throttle settings went near 40 min. With Coolpower 10%, the limit was about 28-30 min! Coolpower 15% was lower 20's. Alan KNOWS motors and speculated it could be Omega w/castor may have lower oil content therefore higher methanol = lower throttle settings for same power. About as sensible as i've heard yet. He also confirmed RCV lower fuel use has alot to with the efficient port design vs poppet valves.
What is your 90SP in and what kind of flight times do you get? Am guessing alot better than a Saito 82! Lucky you on the carb - glad it is working well!
Yes, I'll definitely be posting what happens w/my RCV...if all goes well the 90 was a likely next choice for a project(only reason i got the 60 is 90 wouldn't fit!)...
Katman