Where do people get there motors to have them made into Rc motors. Look around the housing plan for old weed wacker in the trash. Or is there a source of getting these new. Ken

I have picked up a couple from Home Depot, they will accept anything back used or not. I just check the garden dept. for returned weed eaters, I have a Ryobi 31cc and two 25cc Homelites. I paid $60 for the Ryobi and $50 for the Homies(Canadian). Only trouble with that is; you get quite a collection of parts to get rid of! Anyone need some shafts or gas tanks? Clutches anyone? hehehe--------BladeRunner.

a couple of guys in our neighborhood where getting ryobi 31's out of the Northern Hydralics cataloge for $59 ea (new)

I have accumulated a few of these. Some I bought new but on sale. One I found sticking up out of the trash can. One I bought a new short block to get the size I wanted etc.

Something not mentioned this time is that the source for these for some time was Harbor Frieght Co. They had one they called factory refurbashed or something like that. They appeared to be returns. I never saw one that had any time on it at all.

The problem with this is that several of the companies have quit making them. The only ones left is Weed Eater and Ryobi. The Weed Eaters are too small but the Ryobi is sometimes a viable candidate.

There is an article about the Ryobi's in the FAQ web site. Keep an eye out for it. You might find it with Google or Dogpile. The Ryobi would be a pretty good candidate for you if you like to do a little machining.

By far the most popular one was the Homelite 25. There are also Homelite 30's if you can find one.

Looking at lawnmower shops was a waste of time for me. Those mostly and ingested a rod needle or some terminal cylinder problem. That is bad news. A better source was garage sales. That's where you find the ones with the recoil torn up or the Flex cable broken etc. That's the kind of motor you want. you better be good at evaluating what you are getting. It could be a pig in a poke sack.

Some people are converting chain saws too. You must watch that the carb and exhaust have the right orientation. You don't want the carb or exhaust on the front of the engine. The chain saw engines tend to be a little more powerful than the weed whacker types.

The least powerful are generally the leaf blowers. Also one with less than 25 cc or 1.5 ci is generally not powerful enough compared with what it weighs. One exception to this is the Zenoah 23.

Good luck,
Jim

Uhhh, true with respect to your average Wal-Mart Weedeater brand hand held unit. NOT True for any of the commercial grade backpack style jobs. One of the best conversions I've seen is a Shidawa 41cc leafblower engine. Turns a 20x8 with a G45 all day, and is a real smooth and quiet engine.

The guy that taught me to fly has been pushing it around in this plane for about 5 years:

http://www.columbiarc.com/MembersA/image3.html

And some of the commercial leafblowers and weedwhackers actually use the Zenoah engines.

Basically, you really need to check any certain one out to see if it's got the power to weight and can physically be converted to fit a plane.

Tom Perry in florida converts homelites. A fellow club member had a couple of 25cc engs done. They came with electronic igns and the shaft was set up for props. These engs run great and can swing a decent prop. (16-8 prop at 78 to 8000rpm) All the machine work was done and they came with a motor mount. You can buy one already converted or send yours to him to do. He is great to deal with and can help a lot if you run into problems. His e-mail is
[email protected]
Hope this helps

HarborFreight sells the factory reconditioned Ryobi 31cc typically for $67, but I've been buying them at $49.95 with an ad from one of their catalogs. They go on sale every once in a while. Same goes for the Homelite 25cc - $49.95 - but I'm not too crazy about that engine. It is a bit gutless compared the the Ryobi 31cc, which is itself no big powerhouse. I'm trying a few trick in hopes of boosting power on the Ryobi - better ring, advanced ignition, raised compression, etc.

BTW, if I'd kept all the catalogs mailed to me from HarborFreight, I could probably stay warm in Alaska thru a whole winter.

Also, try to hawk the rest of the weedwacker to your local lawn mower repair shop. The Ryobi Trimmer Plus detachable lower sections seem the most welcome - another reason I prefer the Ryobi.

Currently, I'm torn between two very good candidate for conversion - Ryobi's 26cc 4cycle and 22.5cc 2cycle from their professional-grade weedies. Troy-Bilt sells a line identical to these Ryobis - including a 25cc version of the 22.5cc 2cycle. If anybody has done a conversion on any of these, I'd be very interested to know. Thanks.

Well, since you asked. Pro Zinger 18x6 6400-6600rpm. Weighs over 5lbs and I guess that I could get another half pound off if I wanted to do a lot of work. It sounds cool, sips gas, and is a great conversation piece. Guess it would work fine in a high wing floater type plane.

That's the trick to using these engines, something with a high lift wing-like a Cub. If anyone is looking for a high performace engine you won't find it here, these engines are heavy for the power they put out, they are reliable and cheap to operate,that 's where their strength lies. I'm planning to put my 31cc Ryobi(converted myself) in a 1/4 scale Sig Cub, I think it will be fine for that.---------BladeRunner.

Have two Ryobi 31cc conversions.

Robinhood 80(15.5 lbs.)Zinger 16X6-10,7200 RPM.

Big Bingo (84'',18.5 lbs.)Zinger 18X6-10,6800 RPM.

Both run well on 50 to 1 Amsoil mix.

The Ryobi engines are good, plentyful & cheap, but one the best
converted engines I have seen is the Shindawa. They are exteremly powerful and very tough.

That Shindawa I refferred to above has been down to a few giant scale events there in Chatanooga. In fact it has been to most every giant scale event around these parts. May have been one of the conversions you've seen.

Hey JimD,
I know its been here. I seen it here and at your field when we come to your fly-in. Is your fly-in still on for the first of May? If so I know that some of us will be there. In case your are wondering I am the CD for the Chatt. fly-in. We didn't have it last year because we was not sure if we was going to have a field. Hope to be able to have it this year. I used to have the Goodwrench plane that I brought up there.

Yep, we are set-up to have our fly-in on the 4th and 5th of May. I'll have all the details posted on the site in a week or two.

BTW: That plane (Roscoe's) is down currently. After 5+ years of hard flying, the covering started coming off in chunks at our fall fly-in. He's got it mostly stripped and picked up some c21 fabric at our swap meet today to re-cover it.

Hope you guys get your field issues settled and can have a fly-in this year. I was there in 2000, and had a good time. I'm sure several of us will be back if you get a fly-in set up.

Look forward to seeing you guys in May.

This company makes a very nice Homelite conversion for $195.00 plus $9.50 S&H. 2.4 horsepower, ready to run. They also sell conversion parts and an illustrated color conversion manual for do-it-yourselfers.

Hey glowplugboy do you have a link to that site?? Ken

Check this out, follow the links for weed whacker conversions. There is an article with pictures on how to convert a Ryobi

http://rcfaq.com/

http://www.scaleaero.com/whackerconversions.htm

hope these help.

Mike

Is there anyone else that tried the homelite 33cc, turns 18x10 master air at 7500 to 7800 makes a great rc motor?

Is the 4cycle engine in picture a 26cc Ryobi? Seems like it should have more torque than a 26cc 2 stroke. Any figures on that? I wonder how the rod bearings hold ip on this type of engine. Is it helpful to run a little 2 stroke oil in it. Or is it better to run it on strait gas. Oil is in crankcase -Right?? Has one benn converted to glow. Would be lighter, and may put out more power. Thanks Captin John

That is the original Ryobi 4 stroke, I've heard that there have been two different versions come out since I got mine. The newer ones have a composite oil sump, different oiling system, and are supposed to be somewhat lighter than the original. No oil is needed in the gas as it is carried in the crankcase just like your car. The rod has bearings and should last forever. You can see what the newer version looks like at the jagengines website. The newer versions of the motor look a lot less bulky than the first one. I'm sure that you could convert one to glow, but I haven't heard of anyone doing it.

I stopped by a landscape and equipment dealer who was also a repair center for various small engine companies. I bought two homelite 40cc two strokes brand new for 50.00. They were sent to this dealer by homelite to convert from a heavy duty commercial trimmer to an ice auger. They decided that the power band was set to high and went with a larger long stroke engine instead. I had a friend cinvert them to RC and gave him one for his trouble. Its a bit heavy at almost 5 lbs but its strong and smooth. It has the full crank so it should last.Repair centers are a good place to stop. Just ask them to set aside the nonrepairables. Many times that simply means a carb overhaul! Time is money.

Hi: That is a good idea about picking up good engines for rework. The only thing most dealears in this area don,t want to take time to even talk about sellng any engines as soon as you tell them it will be converted for RC use. What are the magic words you use, when you go to deal at these repair centers????? Thanks John

Thanks for the reply. I m still learning how to navigae this forum Thanks Captin john

I guess the people in my area are very ffriendly folks. I pays to be friendly and get right to the point, being respectful of thier time. Im a musical instrument repairman and I get annoyed at people who tell me thier life story as if I have all day to spend. Im also very helpful to people if they are to the point and respectful often giving away scrap horns for art projects etc.
One other tip : visit them at a time when they are not at thier busiest, even asking them when that might be and or setting up an appointment. If you make friends with this person, they could be a valuable sorce. It doesnt hurt to buy what you can from them too! good luck.

Harbor Freight has them on sale right now for 49.95, just bought two ..