Hi, I had a 38cc poulan engine on my plane, but it did not pulled enough, I decided to change it for a 46cc (Scott Ellingson engines), now the plane flights very good., but the another problem that I found with these engines is that they need a lot spin to fire it up. I was using my drill but if it did not fire up by the 1st or 3rd time the battery would die , I was thinking to install an electronic ignition that way it would be easier to fire it up, but it costs >$100, I decided to install a pulley, I put it at the front of the prop, now I pull the rope 3 or 4 times and now it fires up.
Maybe in the future, I'm going to install the electronic ignition.
here is the picture of my pulley.

I had thought of the same thing except putting the pulley behind the prop. This way the rope does not get sucked into the prop when the engine starts.

Don't hold onto the rope too hard. The prop may decide it wants to look at it?

Enjoy,

Jim

There are at least 2 engines that came with a rope and pulley, the original Ryobi called the EVRA 190 and the Chinese Twin star...Both were mounted behind the prop....I had both, you gotta be careful to not rip the engine off the firewall

hello

well regarding this poulan 46 is this engine good enough for a 27 % extra for 3d performance i cant afford to buy a DA 50 out of my budget what do you think how is the power and reliability.


regards
harry suple

Maybe I'm just chicken Little, but the pull cord thing just scares the bejeesus out of me. Heaven forbid the engine kicks back and ask for the cord back... Yikes! I would just as soon use a HD starter if electronic ign is not an option.

go to central hobbies.com.buy the maverick starter.its the one for 79.95 i beleive.buy the extra cone for gas engines.my total bill with shipping for all mentioned was 109.00 shipped and it came with 2 batteries.these batteries are the same ones the cars use.7.2 volts each.i put it on my us 41,i didnt slam it on while spinning.i just put on the cone and pressed button and the engine spun over fast and fired on the 3rd or 4th revolution with no problem at all.it is claimed it will start up to a g-62 no problem and i dont doubt it the way it started mine.it uses 2 bats,2 motors,then there reduced to one drive.

Fwman and I were trying to start his G38 the other day. All either of us had was the HD Hobbico starters. He had a motor cycle battery and the starter would not turn the G38 over. We went over to his F150 with the motor running. The 14V was enough to fire that G38 right up. It was cold in the 40's outside. So a good battery does make a difference.

Enjoy,

Jim

I drill a hole all the way through my prop hubs diameter between where the shaft bolt ends and the prop bolt ends. I use the hole to put a screwdriver through it to tighten to prop hub on the engine shaft. The hole then is a good place to feed about 1/2 inch of pull start rope into and wrap around the prop hub. It works great. It also puts the side pulling force closer to the firewall so you will be less likely to rip the engine off. It also keeps the rope behind the prop. Be sure you do not put the rope all the way through the hole, or it may not pull out and that could be ugly.

you could try channaling a groove in the fly wheel and try it back there. it wold be a little safer and you would have more tourqe to turn it over.

If you must insist on using a pullstart, why not try to incorporate the factory pullstart into the airplane install. Most weedies and chainsaw pullstarter mount in the rear of the engine and has a built-in one-way clutch. They don't generally weigh much, either.