Loopman

My Feedback: (195)

I have a lightly used Saito 180 that was on a Spit. The Spit had an abrupt and hard belly crash that demolished the wing but the fibreglass fuse and engine appeared unscathed. There was very little dirt or debris on the engine and nothing of note in the intake. I did a minor tear down that involved removing the manifold and muffler and the intake carb unit. I also removed the backplate and visually inspected the rod and crank. When I started trying to take it through compression I noticed that it was pretty darned tight but it made no weird noise and the bearings felt okay. I noticed a very distinct clicking noise coming from the intake side of the motor after the compression stroke, and if I rocked it back and forth the click was always present. There is no clicking from the exhaust side at all. When I tried to remove the valve covers, the cover on the exhaust side came off easily but there as a screw on the intake side that would not budge. I had to dremel it off with a cutting wheel! When I got it off everything appeared WNL. Also when I tried to remove the cylinder, the screws holding it were like someone had put red loctite on them. The engine was mounted inverted so it's possible it took a hard hit on the top of the engine. Any suggestions or opinions would be appreciated.

Happy Flying!

Loopman

Rudolph Hart

If your rocker covers ar'nt damaged and the crankshaft does'nt wobble at the prop end i'd check the valve clearances and put the rocker covers back on.The barrel studs do have some factory goo on them and are hard to crack.Apart from that 'welcome to the clicky cam an pushrod follower club' the engine sounds funny when you turn them over and they ain't going don't they?..stop worrying

daveopam

My Feedback: (9)

Sounds normal to me. Most of my Saitos have a little click in them around TDC of the exhaust stroke. I've never tried to narrow it down to the intake or exhaust side. If it's been sitting it could be a little gummed up on the valve stems. The click might be the valve popping closed if it's not the noise I hear normally.


David

Sport_Pilot

The click is the cam shaft lobe popping over from full lift, the click is the sound of the cam gear teeth against its clearance.  Sometimes the friction of the tappet and lobe prevents this especially before breakin.  More noticeable with larger engines as well.