I have a Saito 180 on a new giant u can do 3d. I have been reading threads on 4 stroke engines and fuel. I see ppl using everything, 15% 20% %30 cheap or best fuel, I see ppl using %30 heli fuel and every type out there.


My real question is, what are the differance's between car/airplane/heli fuel, if any? I know they have differant oil amounts/type/percentage, but what else is differant? Why would you run heli fuel in an airplane engine?

I Thank you all in advance for your input.

The oil is the difference. A lot of 'heli' fuels have 22-24% oil. Many 'airplane' fuels have 16-20%. 'Car' fuel often has 8-14%.

The Saito manual says their "benchmark" numbers were obtained using Powermaster two stroke fuel with 15% nitro. They recommend 20% oil content, but some of the fuel brands they list as 'recommended' only have 17% or 18%.

I think a lot of people who use 30% nitro go for the higher oil content hoping it will make the engine last longer.

IF you really want to know what is in the fuel ask for the MSDS sheet on the fuel (Material Safety Data Sheet). Anyone that sells fuel is required by law to have this and it will tell you the % nitro and oil in the fuel.

Something the Heli instructor said to his student Saturday was that the 15% the student was running was fine, the 30% was only for when you were trying to get that last little bit of HP out of the motor.

Also, some companies use different oils with different viscosities and other traits in various types of fuels. While other companies have decided that it's not necessary and use basically the same stuff. PowerMaster, for example, has a lot of different lubrication packages (look at www.powermaster.com, they have a great FAQ about this on there). On the other hand, Morgan fuels (who make Omega and Cool Power) now use the same oils and % in both their heli and airplane fuels (I think I read that on their website a little while ago).

For sport flying, fuel is as much a matter of prefernce and seeing what you like than anything.

I'd say user regular 15% but make sure it has 18% or more oil. Heli fuels costs too much and many people have engines that last a long time on standard airplane fuel.