fishinpole

i THINKING ABOUT ASP 52 FOR MY ULTRA STICK 40. IS THIS A RELIABLE ENGINE AND HOW DOES IT PERFORM... THANKS

AllShadow

My Feedback: (1)

I have a Magnum (same as ASP). Took a long time to break-in. Now it runs like a clock. Starts easy, idles low. Slight hesitation in mid range, but good power. Likes OS #8 glow plug.

BULL-RCU

My Feedback: (15)

I own 2 ASP engines... they are the same as (Magnum) I have a 61 2 stroke and a 61 four stroke, both ran great from the beginning. Though now my 4 stroke isn't running very well at the moment, (had about 50 flights on it), it idels fin then when I give it full throttle it seems like it's starved for fuel and quits... but after talking to some people they say it is just some low end and upper end adjustments which you have to do with most engines. I would buy one again... and my 61 4 stroke is real easy on fuel ( not a gas guzzler)

BULL-RCU

My Feedback: (15)

My four stroke 61 is back to running perfect... just some quick advice from a member here and a few adjustments...

CarolinaCrasher

Never buy an ASP engine they will always let you down. I have owned one and vowed that I would never even think about getting another. The stupid engine would never run well. In my opinion if you want a good two stroke go with OS.

Montague

No offense, Josh, but if your experience with those engines is limited to one sample, I'd say you're jumping the gun a bit. "Never" and "Always" seem a bit strong.

There are a lot of people who will push OS as the only quality engine. They also tend to ignore the fact that OS engines have also had their problems, such as liner peeling (which they say has been fixed, and you don't hear much about anymore, so it likely is fixed).

Anyway, there are a lot of quality engines. OS are, in fact, nice engines, but they are very expensive for what you get. I personally haven't run any ASP engines, but I have 8 Magnums currently in service (3 .15s, 3 .28s, and 2 .25s). I've never run a .52, so I can't comment on it. I also have 2 OS .25FXs, an OS .40LA, a couple of OS .32Fs and a collection of 10+yr old engines in boxes that I haven't gotten around to reconditioning, most of which are older OS.

I have 2 students with Magnum .46 engines, a couple of students with OS .46FX engines, a couple with OS LA engines, and a bunch of students with Evolution .46 engines. Oh, and a Super Tiger and maybe something else I'm forgetting, just for variety.

When it comes to the .46 BB class engines, to be honest, I have to actually look at the engine to tell the difference between them. They all run about the same, I haven't had any problems with any of them deadsticking more than others, or being harder to start. Hide them inside a cowl, and I don't think you could tell one from the other.

If anyting, the Evolution is the easiest starting, and I've had more trouble with the OS FXs than anything. The OS seems to be more picky about glow plug than any of the others, it really wants the shorter OS brand plugs. (OS "long" plugs are shorter than other brands of "long" plug, who knows why). Get the right plug in the OS, and it's a fine working engine though.

Oh, btw, if you do go back 10 or so years, there used to be a much bigger difference between the best quality engines and the "second tier" engines out there. These days, though, everyone has CNC processes and the metalurgy isn't top secret anymore, though there are differences. So the difference in realiability and such that used to make OS "the" quality sport engine just doesn't seem to exist like it used to.

BULL-RCU

My Feedback: (15)

Just another quick note... I was flying my Eindecker today at the field. Two guys walked up to me after my second flight and commented on how nice my engine sounded and ran and how well it went with the plane... ASP61 four stroke...

Dale Campbell

My Feedback: (6)

I have purchased 3 new of the ASP52A 2 stroke engines. I put them in 3 differant aircraft. I ran all 3 to break them in and have the same problem with all 3. All 3 are mounted inverted and have tried everything I can think of and can not get them to idle down. They run strong at full throttle but as you throttle back to half throttle or below they quite. I have made all landings dead stick. I am using #8 OS glow plugs and changed them many times. I did notice when sitting with fuel in tank they all will drip fuel from carb untill tank is empty. Is the idle adjuster my problem or are they not good engines. Dale

Gray Beard

My Feedback: (-1)

Depends on what you want to compare them to. I'm not a big fan of ASP/Magnum but there are others that like them or they wouldn't sell.

ChuckW

I have owned the Magnum version. While it wasn't quite on the same level as something like an OS as far as overall construction, power and reliability is was very close and the price was hard to beat. I had no complaints. It performed much better than I would expect for an engine in that price range. I would definitely consider another one.

dredhea

My Feedback: (13)

When an engine is mounted inverted, typically, the carb is much lower than the standard upright mount. This can result in the fuel tank being mounted too high for an inverted engine. It sounds like you are syphoning fuel out of the tank. Try lowering the tank in the model so that the center of the tank is as close to being centered on the carb as you can get it.
Before you take on all that work, you might want to try running the engine with the plane inverted and see if this improves the performance. This will have the effect of lowering the tank.

ATVAlliance

I have 2 of them...a 52 2s and a 61 2s.  Both run fine.  The 52 is on a T34 Mentor 40 size plane and the 61 is on a 60 Ultra Stik.  The 52 is a very strong motor for a 40 size airframe, while the 61 is just enough to fly a 60 size.  Would be a good engine for a 60 size trainer, but I find that I want more power on the Stik, however Im not ready to invest in another engine just yet for it.

For the money and performance I get from them...they will be one of my first choices when having to buy NEW engines.  Of course I like getting deals on OS and other higher end engines at swap meets...but those deals arent always to be found.

jimmyjames213

My Feedback: (2)

ok i have some good news and some bad news
the good news is the problem is easy to solve, bad news is it takes awhile


i cant comment on the asp 52, but i think its the same as the magnum .52 and i have one and broke in 3 for other people (once they saw how mine ran)
here is the key to these engines, breakin breakin breakin,
and what do i mean by breakin? fuel your plane up, fly it at or near full throttle, then land deadstick, do this for about half a gallon of fuel and then adjust your idle, getting it to idle isnt terribly hard, getting the midrange correct is a pain because it changes EVERY FLIGHT when this engine is breaking in. so do what i do and dont try and get it perfect because you wont be able too, trust me ive tried for hours, then i got pissed at the engine and just started flying it at the only thing it would fly.....full throttle..... low and behold after a gallon of doing that i have an amazing idle, perfect transition and a beast of an engine at full throttle, better than the ax55 imo.

these engines are more work out of the box than an os, but that being said once their broken in (3-4 gallons) theirs nothing better, just be paitent

armody

My Feedback: (10)

I bought ASP .52 from hobby partz, broke in easy, and now packed in the box, as this baby is gonna fly my GP Revolver. I used once ASP .46 2 Stroke, since then I've become fan of it. It never let me down. One more thing fishinpole, check out some of the videos of ASP .52 on youtube, how these motors are pulling some good performances, this engine knows how to pull off.

http://www.hobbypartz.com/72p-s52a.html

I'd love to use O.S. 4 Stroke and JBA 2 Stroke, future plans

kiwibob72

I have an ASP 61 two stroke on my plane, brought it second hand with the plane. While it looks to have had a lot of use and at least one crash (busted fin on top of the head), yet runs strong with now issues - though it did take an expert hand to get the mixture right (not my own hand I might add).
From my limited experience with them, if an old used one runs that well, I'd get another one (they are getting more popular down here as well)

armody

My Feedback: (10)

Aah, I and my friend always thought to settle down in NZ, beautiful place, but he deceived me and gone to Ireland, I found the love of my life in USA and settled in USA, and I love it here. Someday I gotta visit NZ and Australia with my wife, I heard it's very beautiful.

Many guys told me that MAGNUM & ASP are made by the same company. Evolution, Magnum, ASP, JBA they are all made in China, and I think SK is also China made, Thunder Tiger I'm using first time which is Taiwanese , on my Phoenix model Strega, which gave me a dead stick as back plate screws weren't tight enough and came off during flight, I'm gonna fly this Sunday and Thank GOD wind is gonna be 10 to 11Mph (16 to 17 KMh). I've seen videos of JBA and Minnflyer did the review of Blue JBA .56 as well, the vertical is unlimited, I wanna buy JBA once. China does make good engines and yet affordable.

opjose

I own several Magnum and ASP engines.

All are reliable, but people used to tuning other engines may find the ASP/Magnum's more difficult because the needles are far more sensitive.

I find that 1/4 to 1/2 of a turn is the difference between an engine that will not start to one that runs perfectly... where as with other engines it takes more to achieve the same. Once you get used to this and find that 1/4 tuning window, the engines do well.

They run just fine inverted too.. no difference in rpm's and performance what-so-ever!



Re: Dale's problem...

The "the carb is much lower than the standard upright mount. This can result in the fuel tank being mounted too high for an inverted engine." only affects fuel SIPHONING when the engine is sitting on the ground and/or you are about to start it. That DOES account for Dales problem of fuel being siphoned out SLOWLY though.

Once started the engine behaves the same upright or inverted. It makes no difference to the engine.
The carb height difference ( which is miniscule btw ) produces an immeasurable pressure difference, the same as putting something .5" higher in our atmosphere.

If your engine is behaving differently when inverted than upright, the problem lies elsewhere... e.g. tuning is permitting the glow plug to see too much fuel, etc.

scooterinvegas

My Feedback: (1)

I've heard 90% good things about asp engines. If your looking for engines in that price range, you could also look at the .61 thunder tiger and super tiger's from tower hobbies. I would run a 61 over a 52 on a 40 size ultra stick.

kiwibob72

Yep, the South Island of NZ is very pretty, even more so when the earth isn't shaking at a 7.1 or 6.3 magnitude and trying to destroy my new(ish) home town of Christchurch!
Winter here is great for flying (even if it is cold) - lack of wind vs summer, sunshine, all good really!

dredhea

My Feedback: (13)

Dale did say that he noticed fuel dripping out of the carb until the tank went dry. That certainly sounds like siphoning to me. If siphoning is happening when the engine isn't running, it must also be happening when it is running. It makes sense that if too much fuel is running into the engine, it will not idle as it will be flooding. The change in LSN setting apparently isn't stopping the siphon.

Dale Campbell

My Feedback: (6)

I solved my problem today. I ran the fuel line up and over the back of engine to make it higher. That stopped the fuel drippping from carb. I also put a Sullivan glow starter on plane and adjusted it to stay on until 1/2 throttle. The engine now is very smooth at all RPM and idles down and sit there forever and not stall. Thanks guys for all your help. Dale

rambler53

My Feedback: (494)

Yep, I bought Magnum a few times and more often than not, it was a headache. So eventually after many samplings I came to the same conclusion and wished I ditched it fast and smart as Josh did. Glutton for punishment is repeating the same mistake again and again, so that's bad advice, don't walk away from ASP, run. The needle valve/carb issues never were remedied. My "fix" was to use OS needle valves and then it tuned like an OS.
I vote for OS, the AX 46 (Again, I sampled dozens) have never let me down, has snappy throttle response over my FX series which are now discontinued (again many samples with excellent results). I hear liner issues existed on this forum but didn't see it from my engines.
The old SF series from the mid 1980s had liner issues though. I think 30 years later we're safe from that glitch.
AX is reliable, VERY user friendly, consistent quality and worth every dime. Do you rather play engine mechanic at the flying field troubleshooting problems, or fly?
Moving the fuel line will be probably coincidence and then a new temperamental running problem will come back again, as it did for me.

By the way, I actually persevere and always enjoy Super Tigre engines. So if I don't like Magnum, imagine how low on the scale it is with people who can't handle Super Tigre and I do?
50/50 Magnum is going to give you trouble.
Use low nitro on Super Tigre, run a larger than "OS" prop, and they're fine.

Magnum not only has fuel delivery issues (needle valve related), but vacuum leaks more than a Hoover!

TedMo

I'm not totally sure of what you are saying, however been in this hobby for 60 years and have concluded that there are good and bad in all aspects of it. Just have to learn how to treat those that require a bit more attention.There is only 1(one) engine that I can definitly say was not possible to get running. That was back in the 40's a GHQ I doubt if you will even find anything about them. Of course they where spark plug ignition engines,(before glow).

opjose

Once the engine is running airflow through the carb controls fuel flow via the Bernoulli effect and the needle valves.

Siphoning by gravity has almost nothing to do with it.

The next time you break in an engine on a stand, try hooking up a 2 foot plus length of tubing to a tank.

Start the engine up, check the RPM's... now move the tank up 2 inches and watch the RPM's...

Also move the tank down 2 inches... no much difference eh?

When you go nose up or down, the tank is a good 6+ inches below or above the carb and yet the plane still flies fine.



If the engine is unduely siphoning when it is off, it may still be out of tune, as a tuned engine set to idle will at worst siphon or drip somewhat slowly.

Once on, it doesn't care...

Most of my engines run inverted just fine BTW including my ASP's and Magnums.... 24 inverted engines on planes.

I've never modified the tank height in a single ARF that I own after inverting the engine...

On a couple of planes with "T"'s I merely clamp off the fuel line while fueling or while the plane sits on the ground. Once I go to start it I remove the clamp until I refuel. No big deal.

Altered1

I've got one, with the remote needle.... nice powerfull engine. easy to start, no issues. for $50, you cant go wrong!