Ram Air Induction?
 

Hi everyone, this is my first post here on RC Universe.

It's been a rainy day here in Alabama, thanks to Tropical Storm Fay, and classes at Auburn have been canceled for the day, so I had some spare time on my hands. First off, I have a Hangar 9 P-51 Mustang PTS, which I fly as often as I can. It's powered by an O.S. .46FX with an 11x6 prop mounted. I started looking at the motor this morning, and wondered, "What would happen if that thing had a ram air scoop on it?" That question immediately led to a resounding "Well let's find out!" I got out a spare sheet of balsa, some epoxy, and a spare piece of MonoKote and went to work. Here's what I ended up with:

http://s138.photobucket.com/albums/q...r%20Induction/

Looks like it turned out ok, but I've never seen this done before, and have no idea if it'll make any difference or not. I'm certain that I'll have to richen up the mixture to avoid burning up the engine. But I was wondering, has anyone ever tried this before? If so, what kind of results did you get? It's raining outside right now, so I won't get a chance to test it out today. When I get that chance though, I'll be sure to write in with some results.

Thanks for reading!

~Pete

RE: Ram Air Induction?
 

Looks pretty cool Pete!! Let us know how it works out. If does OK ,I think I might put a Ram AIR on a Super Hots I'm building .. Good luck

RE: Ram Air Induction?
 

I'll be sure to. I was able to run the engine this afternoon, and I can definitely tell a difference just sitting on the ground. I think I'm getting a few more RPM's out of the motor. Also, I held the plane vertical while a friend worked the throttle on the Tx, and it'll just about hover now. I was able to hold the plane in the air with only two fingers on the frontside of the rudder. We'll see what happens when I take it up!

RE: Ram Air Induction?
 

these 2 stroke engines get enough air intake without having to resort to force feeding. all sorts of tuning problems happen when too much air is forced into the crankcase, so be warned. if you want better performance from the 46 you may want to try a more suitable prop than the 11 x 6, try a 10 x 6. the 11 inch props are too big on 46 size engines.

RE: Ram Air Induction?
 

Update time! I flew the plane today with the ram air installed. At WOT, the scoop did give the plane a noticeable power increase, but when I went to throttle down, it wouldn't throttle down, until I got all the way to about 3 clicks above idle. It forced so much air into the carb, it overpowered the carb rotor and kept the engine running full speed. So, I lost my midrange. It was either idle or wide open. Oh well, it was fun experimenting with it! I'm not finished yet though, I'll keep tinkering with it.

~Pete

RE: Ram Air Induction?
 

you should be able to sore that out. sounds like you need more percise control over the low range of the throttle. you might need to adjust the low end point and maybe putting expo on the throttle might help out.