Hi; One more dumb question. What is a quickie engine?

Quickee engines are dedicated designs specifically for one class of AMA rulebook Quickee 500 pylon racing. Known in the rulebook as #428, There is a slower class Q-500 (424) that is the same airframe that uses standard sport engines, TT .40 and .46FX depending on the region. The races are run four at a time with a racehorse start on a trangular course with the long leg 608 feet away and the pilot /caller teams fly from within the triangle and around themselves for ten laps. The airframes are very regulated as to wing area and must be box section fuselages and no cowling among other things. 428's are awesomely fast at around 165 mph on a very short couse and a 10 lap race 2.5 miles is typically won with times as fast as 1 min and 3 seconds.

Nelson and Jett Quickee engines are currently the only two competitive 428 engines. There is no carburator just a venturi with an air shut off by the rules and they are .40 displacement engines that both will typically turn up an APC 8.8x9 prop at a static 19,500 and unload in flight to around 22,000 or better. Needless to say the rules reguarding the engines are very strict.

To learn more visit the pylon forum on this board.

John

So I can use a Quickie engine on say a 40 size sport plane?

Well no, Those engines are timed and ported to run at 20k or just above and to do that they must use a tiny 8.8 diameter prop with a huge bite that coupled with no throttle that engine is at 19k or better from the minute you hit the starter untill its out of fuel. Also the minimum weight of the airplane is 3.5 lbs and even just three or four ozs over is not going to be competitive. These engines will not run with the larger diameter prop needed on the sport plane. The bottom line is that tiny prop is simply not going to work with the large fatwing hi drag and heavy sport airplane. Here a minor consideration to ponder: both the Nelson or Jett Q500's new with mount run $400 or thereabouts and you can,t even run a standard plug.

John

I am just getting into q 500 racing. And still have alot to learn. When you said that you couldnt run a standard plug in a nelson or a jett what did mean by that? thanks

A standard glow plug uses a 1/4 32 thread. The Nelson Q500 uses only the larger diameter Nelson plug which comes in a standard or heavy duty variety. This plug uses no washers bet instead has a beveled surface which mates with a matching surface on the head. The plugs are not expensive about the same as most sport plugs but they are not interchangeable. In my post above I may have been a little incorrect concerning Mr. Jetts Q500 that I have not used. There may be avaliable an adapter for his engine allowing the use of a standard plug but not sure of this. Looking forward to meeting you at Speedworld in March.

John

same here John---> if I can get my viper done in time. I ripped the landing gear off of it yesterday. (never would have seen that coming from a viper. I have heard it is common.)on that note do you know where I could get a set of low profile wheels locally. I lost my bushing yesterday and one wheel came off. That mixed with a landing that was to rough (Ie dumb thumbs) yanked the gear plate off. Not a hard fix but I am thinking about recovering the entire fuse to make it look right.

Yes gear peeling is quite common, By the way never try to land a Quickee with the engine running. It is by far eaiser on gear deadstick. fortunately it is a simple repair that does not take long. Don,t bother recovering the entire fuse.

The cheap styrene wheels that came with Preditors is junk that will break just sitting the airplane down on the table and have heard of some troubles with the axles that come with the Viper. You are better off with genuine accessories just for Quickees and you will not find them in LHS's. Four great suppliers are: Performance Specialties, LCS, Jett and Darrol Cady. Darrol Cady follows the races and I think is at Speedworld now. In his motorhome is all the specialty items we use. He will probably be there at the march race and untill then give him a call 360 903 3520.

John

Thanks John

I have actually already got the covering off of the fuse which to me is the hard part. So I will have to recover her now. the other day my landing was dead stick I have noticed my TT40 doesnt like to idle as well as it did with the larger prop so it seems to always dead stick. Which is fine. I just brought her in to hot and I payed. I guess I am just a little afraid to let it fly slow even though it does it very well. Thanks for the info on the parts though I will give him a call.