ORIGINAL: Roo Man
jetmech05
Your comment regarding a good smoke trail is very timely. I am rebuilding an SSE that I crashed several months ago and am replacing the OS 46 with an EVO 46. Was having problems tuning the EVO, first had air leak which turned out to be caused by the carb not seaqting aginst the o-ring properly. Once air leak was fixed started tuning when I got it where I thought it was close, I went to WOT for 30-40 seconds and checked temp at the base of the glow plug, it read 310 degreed F. I opened the needle valve until temp was at 289 and guess what, a nice trail of smoke appeared. Looks like our two techniques both produce the same results, it's nice when divergent opinions come up with the same end.
Gary
Yeah Downunder went into head temps on another long thread. Under 310 degress seems to be a magic number as I also learned.
The advice he gave has helped me help others with problematic engines.
A temp monitor has become a staple in my field box.
Much like using a tachometer, you can approach a correct setting, speed, etc. using the old mark 5 eyeball, but instruments help you greatly, to get more accurate readings and results.
In some cases, a tach and temp probe is the only way to assure a good engine tune... while at other times a recommended prop and a bit of fiddling suffices.