Hello Gents,
I have a proble with my first (and at this rate last) inverted engine. Engine is a .72 Irvine on a Swallow pattern plane.
The problem is that the glow plugs are being burnts while the engine is being started. The tank is a liitle high (1/2 inch) over the barrel, and was flooding it. I installed a fueler between the carb and the tank. When i start flipping the engine after priming with the glow plug attached, it fries the glow plug (I have gone through three of them in a flash.
What I think happens is that the fuel/oil residues are pooling on the glow plug and when I connect the glow driver the resistance with all the oil fries the plug.
What is the "correct"[:'(][:-] procedure to fire up an inverted 2 cycle engine?

I put my first inverted engine and it will be my last. Same thing was happening to me. Sometimes I would take the plug off to check it. Keeping the filament pointed up, hooking up the glow plug adapter and I would suddenly see the fuel was just "boiling".

You need to start cranking down (leaning) your low speed needle value. I eventually got mine running ok, but it still will eventually load up after 2-3 minutes of ground idling.

Try a plug with a idle bar.......or turn the airplane over on its back for starting.

The problem isn't with simply having fuel filling the plug cavity. I'm guessing your power panel regulates current flow so that when a plug is flooded it boosts the current to heat the plug enough to boil off the fuel but doesn't reduce the power quickly enough once it's clear. This overloads the coil and it burns out. I've been using inverted engines for more years than I care to think about but my power supply (with a manual adjustment) only provides whatever current is needed for a dull orange glow. If a plug is flooded I just let it cook for a few seconds to boil off any excess fuel or oil then it's ready to go.

The correct procedure for an inverted engine (or upright if it comes to that) is knowing exactly how much prime it needs and getting that prime spread evenly right through the engine. The hard part when inverted is that the fuel has to travel uphill through the carb to even get to the crankshaft port so usually it's easiest to flip the model over, prime a couple of turns then flick the prop a few times to get it spread around inside. As soon as it sounds slightly "wet" and feels loose then it should be ready to go. Put the model back on its wheels and give a couple of quick flips to make sure you haven't flooded it then hook up the plug power, wait for one or two seconds for the plug to get up to temp then one flick should have it running. Once it's running the idle mix needs to be set much more precisely than you can get away with on an upright engine but the 2-3 minutes that 2MuchThrow mentioned should be more than good enough.

I think thats the key, I've had engines I could ignore the low speed idle mixture screw and run the motor right out of the box with the engine upright. With the engine upside down, you will soon be an expert at the low speed needle value.

As soon as you master getting your engine to run inverted, you will be able to get just about get any motor running in my opinion. So use it as a "learning time"

Most of the people I know give up, and pull an onboard glow...but I think your just "covering" up the problem with that solution.

Ok thanks for the reply's I am going to givfe someo of the ideas a try.... I still don't like the idea of turning the plane upside down and start it and then flip it over.. with the engine on