mitchilito

My Feedback: (7)

The radio quit and I crashed my Waco a while back. Amazingly enough it went in upside down in tall brush and aside from the wings it wasn't damaged. Here's the thing: it didn't even break the prop! I was able to get new wings and get it back in the air.

But even though the prop wasn't broken I've notice the engine seems to run differently now. It still starts as good as ever and runs well but the first flight of the day it almost always quits in flight. I adjust the mixture every time on the first flight of the day but apparently I never get it rich enough and it seems to die lean. After a dead stick landing I richen it up a little and it flies great the rest of the day.

The mixture also seems more "vague" now. The carb setup on these Saito radials has always been weird (with the high needle not doing much of anything and the low needle doing pretty much everything) but now the low needle adjustment can move more than half a turn without affecting much of a change. It was always a little vague but not this much.

I also has started doing something I had to get used to on my big gasser (DLE) airplanes: it does a "deep rpm dive" coming off of full throttle to idle. It did not do this before the crash. This is where it dies in flight - it dives too deep and quits. The idle is set plenty high but it dives on the way down.

Weird. Otherwise, after the first flight (and dead stick) of the day it runs fantastic!

elmshoot

My Feedback: (6)

Check the run out on the prop shaft. Replace the prop and remove the spinner if you have one installed. Make sure the fuel tank hasn't moved and replace the fuel lines in the tank as well external lines.
If that doesn't fix it rebuild the carb.
Sparky

mitchilito

My Feedback: (7)

All good advice, Sparky.

I suspect the carb but I know BUPKISS about this weird Saito "pumper" carb and I'm not really looking forward to breaking it open. Unless it gets worse I'm going to live with it.

JieM

The FG60R3 carburetor does not have an internal filter (unlike the Walbros). And if small debris or dust enters with the gasoline, it is almost impossible to clean it properly. These impurities then block the internal conduits and prevent correct adjustment of the carburetor.
Only one solution: a lot of patience to clean the carburetor.

JM

mitchilito

My Feedback: (7)

I am depending on the felt clunk that I have in the tank to filter the fuel but I definitely should have a filter up by the carburetor also - which I don't.

It's running well enough at the moment but some day () I'll clean this crazy carb and install a filter also.

Timbers

My Feedback: (3)

I was running a felt clunk on my FG-21 and fibers from the clunk got into the carb and it was causing all sorts of problems like unable to get a consistant tune, lean runs, etc. The FG-60R3 is the same type of carb. Maybe order a rebuild kit from Horizon and open it up and clean it out.

1967brutus

I would not do that if I could give my 2 cents. My experience with additional inline filters in small gassers is that sooner or later larger bubbles of vapour collect in the filtercasing, releasing during high G or negative G manouvres and causing running irregularities at the exact moments you least want them.

That is weird... I run extremely small gassers (down to .30 cu.in.) and the smaller they get the more senstive they are to even the tiniest of debris.
I have never had any issues with what you mention despite now at least 10 different of these set-ups with the feltclunks I use.

I have experienced problems with feltclunks as sold by HobbyKing and comparable outlets, I use exclusively these: https://i0.wp.com/www.justengines.co...24%2C324&ssl=1 and yet have to have the first issue with them.