(I will use no names here)

so I called Wallbro today but I didn't get to talk to who I really wanted to, I wanted to talk to an Engineer about burning Methanol threw their carbs, and I ended up talking to some other BigWig in the Engineering Department, well we ended up talking about the whole aspect of their carbs being used in our models engines,,, so to narrow it down to what is important to us Gasoline Burners,, "as I was told",, is,,

to start, Walbro Engineering does not make carburetors specifically for~ or recommend specific carburetors to Model Engine Manufactures,,

"He said", what these Model Engine Manufacture do is they read specs & pick & buy carburetors from Walbro's Aftermarket Division and they test these carbs, they decide on a cab that performs well but not the best,,

what that comes down to,, is,, most likely there is another carb that will make our engines perform better in some way or another,, rather that's better low-end, better mid-range response or more top RPM,,

so if you need better mid-range response or to get your engine over a 200 or 300 RPM hump it maybe worth it to you to call Walbro's Aftermarket Division and order the next larger carb, or a different carb that flows the same amount of air but flows more fuel,,



he also told me they make no carburetor in the size we use specifically for Methanol, here again the Manufactures pick a carb that flows more fuel, test it and go from there..

and, there are many Chain Saw Manufactures that will make a chain saw engine but have 2 different HP ratings for this engine, both HP ratings use the same carb, they change the HP by simply limiting how far the carb opens..


"Discloser Note",, as I said, all this is what I was told by this guy at Walbro, if some Model Engine Manufacture replies here and says something different I have no control over that..

Jim

Wallbro designs and makes carbs for gas engines. They don't care how their used. Lawn mowers, chain saws, weed eaters. Standard stuff.

I'm sure model airplanes are not on the list of what they design for. Much less Methanol.

aaa yeeaa, that's what I just said..

So what's you beef? I don't get it.

no beef,, there may be a better suited carb for your engine (s)

Jim

Sure...like there may be a better tuned pipe out there. It depends on what you want to do. I'm not a gasser guru but Walbro carbs seem pretty straight forward. And If you want to try to run Methanol through one...let us know how it goes. Their a pretty cheap replacement part.

If you figure out a better carb, maybe you can give DA, 3W, and ZDZ some hints on how to do it. LOL Too funny! A gas Carb will not work with alcohol. Why in the world would it. You can burn alcohol but you better more than double the fuel tank.

A model engine manufacturer has the ability to send an engine to Walbro to have a carb either developed for the specific engine or to be fit with a carb that will perform the best for specific engine performance parameters provided by the engine manufacturer. The process is quite expensive so few, if any, manufacturers take advantage of the service. Doing so would have saved at least one manufacturer's business. Another manufacturer would have engines that perform substantially better than they currently do. The fact remains that few engines are sold for model use compared to other "industrial" uses so guess who gets the attention? We are but a small drop in a very big pond.

The use of methanol on gas two strokes has always been modifications done by those that wanted to use methanol. Lot's of experimentation, lot's of work, and more than the usual number of dollars spent. Only an extremely small number of people compared to the rest of the engine users gravitate to methanol use, so there's no profit in designing a slew of carbs for different engines.

It is a hobby, and the best performance will always be obtained by those willing and able to experiment through trial and error. That fact is well noted on a frequent basis and can be verified by reading posts from the few people that do the experimenting. It's not just the prop type and size, or the pipe and header. Jetting, flow, and porting play as large or larger. You can't blame those that do the experimenting from posting all that they do. They get nothing in return for their efforts and they get arguements about how what they did won't work, or will perform poorly, or is too much work for the average person. Unfortunately those providing the arguements fail to note that those mods have already been working.

The point? Jump in there and get the hands dirty and you have a fair chance of a great reward. Plan on spending some bucks in the process. What's on the shelf isn't all there is to work with.

karters use walbro carbs all the time the redrill them for more fuel flow some claim more power and better throttle response then they get using a float carb

There's probably over 500 to choose from---->http://wem.walbro.com/walbro/family2.asp
Most problems of a bad running engine occour between the carb and the intake ports or how the air enters the carb, not because of the carb.

fancman

""A gas Carb will not work with alcohol""

that's funny, MVVS, Tartan and other ARE selling methanol burning engines that have Waldro's on them, they use Walbro's because they have pumps in them !!

""Why in the world would it""

very simply put, more power !!


here are photos of my Methanol burning 22cc Super Tartan with a Walbro carb and my Methanol burning Super Tartan 44cc twin with a Dellorto gasoline carb,, later Tartan engines all came with Walbro carbs (that I know of),,,


altavillan,, I was not talking about poorly or badly running engines,, what it come's down to is just because a given brand sells a carb on their engine doesn't mean that that carb is the best performing carb for that engine..


for those of you that don't just understand why I called Walbro in the first place it was because I would like to by a Walbro to replace the Dellorto, and I wanted to know more about burning Methanol threw their carbs,,

Jim

I agree with Wasp, that is funny.

Back in the Seventies, I was into dirt track racing. In some locations, racers would use alcohol instead of gasoline, by (1) pressurizing the tank to feed fuel fast enough, (2) using 3 Strombergs, to distribute the fuel better through the intake, and (3) drilling out the jets, to provide the higher flow rate necessary. A side benefit was the reduced cooling requirements - you could use a smaller radiator, and put baffles in front of it to keep the fins from getting plugged or bent.

The Eighties saw the introduction of butyl rubber carburetor floats (that would absorb water, I understand, and became too heavy to float in gasoline or gasohol) and (in the case of Chrysler) some accelerator pump materials that would shrink (making the engine stumble on acceleration, like when turning left in front of traffic...). And one of those commercial engine manufacturers (Kohler?) started using a float that was like a ping-pong ball, it would swell up & stick in the float bowl when used with gasohol.

Memories of those experiences from the Eighties may be having an influence on some of the comments here, but I don't recall as WalBro was ever on the list.

Best wishes,
Dave Olson

You just described why so many "older" vehicles were destroyed by fires in the engine compartments every time they changed the gas additives in California about 12-15 years ago. They failed to consider the effects of some of the additives on fuel system components, causing leaks.

As you noted, you can obtain more power with methanol but only if using a lot more fuel per cycle at higher compression ratios. A side benefit is that the type of fuel and the increased flows assist in cooling. Experimentation with jetting is everything if someone wants to run alky fuels. The people doing all the scale racing are the ones that have been doing just about all of the work in this area. Since it's generally the unlimited class of racers where anything goes engine wise to help win they keep thinks pretty close to the chest.