Chris Nicastro

My Feedback: (3)

I'm looking for images and info on port mods done successfully to the DLE 55 and 55RA engines.
Ive had very good running engines of each type but I'd like to push it further so I'm fishing for info. So far my searches haven't produced any info.

ahicks

My Feedback: (2)

There are darn few people that are capable of producing worthwhile results.

Even if you were to increase your power noticeably using port timing mods, it's going to come at a cost of reduced low end performance.

Unless you are class racing or something with a cc or engine model limits, my experience is you are WAY further ahead going with a bigger, stock, engine when looking for more power.

I think they can take a great running engine and turn them into picky SOB's, but have you considered going with a tuned pipe?

kmeyers

+1
But, what do you want to achieve exactly?

MTK

Chris, as Al suggested, try the tuned pipe. It produces considerably better top end and better torque in mid range. The idle and transition are not compromised. I've run the DLE55 on a tuned pipe for all of its life so far, some 200 flights give or take. Never ran the stock muffler but I see others all the time with the stock muffler.

The engine turns the same prop at considerably higher rpm. One of the best experiments to date for me has been running the Mejzlik 20x12 hollow carbon 3 blader with the engine piped and soft rubber iso mounted. It produces just about 7.1 K rpm at full throttle, some 35 lbs of static thrust. Plus, it is so quiet you have to hear it to believe it.

No, it won't be a revver if that's what you are after. But if you want a simple, strong, lightweight powerplant that hauls uphill like a truck on low gear, then this should be considered. The carbon pipe I use is the 55G from ES Composites; it is a bit pricy at around 250$ but worth every penny to me.

Chris Nicastro

My Feedback: (3)

Well like I said I'm fishing for info. I have an idea for a plane designed around this type of engine but I want to see data from stock to modified to get an idea of the engines range. I've looked at tuned pipes but again not much info. I'd like to know if the pipes been tuned to length or just bolt on and the results.
Stuff like that to see the range and cost benefits too.

Im running a Xoar Carbon 22X10 on both stock 55's and the RA pulls harder for sure, over 8k rpm.
92 non ethanol gas and 32:1 Bell 2 stroke oil. I use Klotz also but I'm settling for Bell oil for now.

Ive done the intake manifold tune on both engines to seat the reeds better. I've tested other reeds I've made inspired by dirt bike reeds and didn't notice any gains. The best results came from prop testing. After trying many wood props I found the best overall performance and transition came from the Xoar wood and carbon props.

Another area I want to test is Walbro carbs vs the stock unit. I've run a lot of tests on 26cc boat engines from CY, Syyc and Zenoha before. In those cases the best results came from port matching everything and trimming any gasket material away that's causing turbulence in the intake or exhaust.

Ive made intake port mods on heads before but have also had engines become more like light switches so I do understand the limits.

Seach continues, any info welcome!

Chris Nicastro

My Feedback: (3)

What about the DLE 61?
Any opinions on that engine vs the 55RA?
I wish they released it as an RA instead, such a compact clean installation.

1QwkSport2.5r

You could always add some straight nitromethane to your fuel. Or if you have the availability - run the engine on methanol. If you leave the compression ratio as-is, you can probably run 5-10% nitro in it. If you raised the compression ratio, then you likely wouldn't be able to use nitro. I have added glow fuel to my 2-stroke gas mix for years. The little bit of castor smells nice and the nitro gives the engines a bit of a kick in the pants.

WRK

My Feedback: (2)

There are two kinds of tuned pips, one that gives a power gain over a wider rpm range and one that is very peaky and will produce a lot of max power over a rather small rpm range. With the max power pipe you have to be in the proper max power rpm window or you will have less power than a stock engine. The max power pipes sacrifice lots of engine flexibility if run out of their proper rpm window, this includes poor transition and sometimes poor idle.

If you want more power with good engine handling then use a wide rpm range pipe and alcohol this will increase your power at least 30%, you will have to use an alcohol carburetor that can stand up to alcohol which has special diaphragms made for it.

Joespeeder

Hey Chris,

Have you contacted Ray English ? [email protected]

Joe

1QwkSport2.5r

The Walbro WT-499 is jetted for methanol. I believe it has an 11-12mm Venturi. Really, any carb can be re-drilled to flow enough for methanol use. Increasing compression ratio and running methanol will increase your power at least 10-15% alone.

Truckracer

My Feedback: (19)

But at the expense of much higher fuel consumption! You'd need almost double the fuel capacity for the same amount of flight time.

By the way, what kind of airplane would this engine be used in? Is the object more speed or more pulling power? More power comes in many different forms to suit specific applications.

speedracerntrixie

My Feedback: (29)

Using 92 octane on a stock engine is leaving some power behind as well. With the compression ratios these are set with 87 octane gives more power. While on the subject, going to a thinner base gasket and bumping the timing to 32 degrees with 92 to 100 octane may be the easiest way to get a power increase with virtually no investment or irreversible mods. The next would be a tuned exhaust. Still curious what the usage is.

MTK

I'm not familiar with "Bell oil". Did you mean "Bel Ray". I use Bel Ray MC1 motorcycle racing synthetic and have used it from the start 6 years ago. My engines love it at 50:1. Everyone has his favorite oil and this in mine.

My copies of the 55 needed no mods to their reed cages. The 35RA did.

The ESC pipe requires tuning but isn't a critical pipe on its length. Anywhere from 28" to 30" to the resonance baffle is the sweet spot. I tried a 22x12 and 23x10 2 blader on it and had very good results. I didn't tach the engine with either prop so don't know for sure what rpms. From the sound I'd put the rpm at 7300 or 7400 using Avgas 100LL at 50:1. Regular or high test gas will produce about another 400 rpm. Except the noise went through the roof in comparison to the 3 blader.

Chris Nicastro

My Feedback: (3)

The reason I advocate 92 octane gas that's non ethanol is two fold. The chart I looked up about octane and compression ratios shows 91/92 is designed for higher compression engines like these at 10:1.
It's supposed to reduce or eliminate detonation when you match the fuel to application. Second, the fuel won't eat up gaskets and rubber parts like E10 or whatever is out there. So for consistency at least with the gas I use this.

I have not played with the timing but have considered using a timing light to set it more accurately and test.

The oil is Bell Ray H1R synthetic ester oil at 32:1.

Yes Ive spoken with Ray and my friend and I had a Saito FG84 all modified by him just a few months ago. I haven't spoken with him about this subject though.

My interest in this engine modding comes from war birds and possibly racing them at our field. I've flown a TF Corsair and currently a kit built TF P-51 on these engines and would like to push it further. Tuned pipes will cause installation issues in most cases I think.
I was very impressed with the 55RA and my Corsair was the faster of the TF GS planes we have flown together including another P-51 ARF and FW 190. That's s what got me wondering what you guys may have done so far with this engine.

1QwkSport2.5r

I never said there was a free lunch. Making more power requires more fuel. In the case of methanol, it's about 30-40% more fuel. With the proper modifications, the engine will make more power on methanol than gasoline and if one used some nitromethane and a tuned exhaust, even more power than gasoline. All of this in a cooler running engine. Again, there's no free lunch. A 55cc engine burning alcohol will suck it down pretty quick. Spark ignition will help with this when compared to a glow plug ignition engine.

Chris Nicastro

My Feedback: (3)

Could be fun and competitive to run a claiming class.
We are set to race for fun next season TF 60 size war birds on DLE 20's. My Mustang is running over 100mph on the side exhaust version with all that muffler hanging out. We have about 6 guys so far

Chris Nicastro

My Feedback: (3)

As a class for fun runnin I'd like to stay away from "exotic fuels" anyway so guys don't screw it up and hurt themselves making some moonshine race gas in the garage. Just gas and oil and call it good for now I think!

Truckracer

My Feedback: (19)

If I was going for speed on a warbird and I was limited to something in the 50 - 60 cc range, I'd probably use one of the older, side intake conversion engines. A Taurus 52 comes to mind with it's fully supported and dual counter weighted crank. This engine runs very smooth at high RPM and the internals were all straight from a chainsaw where they were comfortable turning 10,000 plus all day long. Piston porting on the intake side excels at high RPM and is easily modified to produce power in the range you want it. While I like my DLE engines very much ( have 8 of them) they wouldn't be my first choice for high RPM, higher power applications as I have to believe the cantilever crank will eventually give problems if pushed to the limits. Even the old reliable Zenoah G-62 could be a great candidate as it loves to toot and there is much more to be had than most people get out of them. APC even makes a special racing prop that is perfect for that engine as it was designed for it.

Chris Nicastro

My Feedback: (3)

Post some pics please!

Chris Nicastro

My Feedback: (3)

The compact and clean installation that the 55RA has makes it my favorite. It's light and fits well in any plane. The rear exhaust means in the right plane you can run a tuned pipe in the fuse or outside.
It's also pretty affordable and readily available with parts support making it a great class racing engine platform.

Truckracer

My Feedback: (19)

I couldn't agree more about mounting and fitting the newer engines and that's part of the reason we like them. But .... don't sell the old side intake, side exhaust engines short when you're trying to go fast. Lots of untapped potential in these engines. There's a reason the basic chain saw engine hasn't changed much in decades and that's because the design works and it is pretty much bulletproof.

closetguy

My Feedback: (13)

Ain't that the truth,out of all the engines I have tried in the last 20 years the Taurus 52 is still running just like it did from day one.With out any work done on it at all,never even had the cylinder off.

Truckracer

My Feedback: (19)

Mine just developed an ignition problem the last time I had it out but otherwise, fantastic engine. It certainly owes me nothing and is one of the few engines I would never sell.

speedracerntrixie

My Feedback: (29)

Ok I have a bit experience doing warbird racing. In fact I am involved with a group of guys who are bringing warbird racing to the Nats for 2016. The complete rules and lots of information regarding airplanes is available on the Sacramento Area Modelers web site. There are also many threads here on RCU in the Scale Racing forum.

Now back to the engine at hand. If you absolutely have to go with a gas engine IMO you will quickly find yourself hitting a wall before you realize the speeds you may be after. The stock TF warbirds with a 30cc gasser is going to max out at maybe 120 mph and you are going to run into airframe failures at that speed. A pretty expensive way to go not so fast. Not to mention that you are pretty much confined to a small group. If you were to build airplanes and power them with engines more in line with the national set of specifications we are bringing to the Nats you would end up with something much faster and able to compete in a much broader arena. Just food for thought, I will leave you with a couple pictures and a video.

http://youtu.be/pzYotxRC0RA

Truckracer

My Feedback: (19)

Pretty neat there Speedracer! As an old pylon racer it is a bit hard to adjust to the sound of 4 strokes going around the pylons. Better than electric though ....