What is everyone's opinion of these engines? I've never actually come in contact with one, or heard much about them. They certainly look nice, but what's the dirt?

Evolution engines are performing nicely at the field I've been to.

Enjoy,

Jim

I think if you do a search, you'll find that most people are very happy with their evolutions. They're made in the same factory in China as the Magnum engines. The carb, for example, is identical for the 2-stroke Magnum and the evolution.

I have an Evolution .455 trainer system on my H9 Arrow. I must be one of the few whom got a lemmon, because from the start the engine would rattle, produce a lot of sooth etc. After about 5-6 gallons of fuel I sent it back to Horizon for repair. They completely rebuilt the engine under warrenty. I broke it in according to DarZeelon's instructions and ever since the engine has been a real performer. Oh, the muffler IMO is a POS. I changed it out and now I'm using the Tower muffler. Much better.

-tycho

I have an evolution .46NT and i could not be happier with it. the price is right, the perfomance is there and i like the way it looks. it takes my four star 40 vertical until it is almost out of sight. i love this engine and would recomend it to you for sure!!

I have the .45 training engine and the .46NT. Both are super engines. The .45 is the best of the two. I'm not sure why you say the mufflers are a POS.

Met a guy at the field thursday and he has 3, the first two he said were great, the third one he can't get to hold a tune... says he loves the first two though...

It might be related to the lemon I originally got that probably vibrated excessively, however, I went through 3 Evo mufflers that all vibrated loose and separated in flight. I even used a threaded bolt all the way through with two nuts on each end to get it to stay together. I never had this problem with the Tower muffler and also the RPMs went up considerably when I switched. There are other threads mentioning a similar problem with the muffler. POS might be excessive, but I'm much more happy with the Tower muffler....

tychoc,

I didn't know about the muffler problems. Interesting. I have had both come loose in flight one time each, but I tightened both down well and didn't have the problem again. I did have to use hi-temp thread locking Permatex on the long bolt that holds the muffler halves together. That is a problem if you don't tightenen them down enough. After talking with W8YE, I'll be getting the Tower mufflers on my next order for both Evos.

The thing that I like about both of mine is the wide, forgiving tuning range for the hi and low speed needle valves. I can be out of tune and the engines still fly well until I tweak them a little. The .45 training engine is the most forgiving and almost never needs tuning.

blwblw: Now that my Evo has been rebuilt, I'm like you, really happy with it. It performs as well as any other sport .46 out there. And, switching to the Tower muffler really opened up the engine. I think you will like this combo too.

Thanks for the tip about the hi-temp thread locking Permatex. I didn't use this, rather I tried regular thread-lock. If this problem reoccurs I will try it out.

-tycho

I agree , I love my traner .455 evo but the muffler is indeed a pos. I have tried everything to keep this thing from coming apart in flight. I'm ready to try the Tower muffler. Which tower muffler do I need to order?

The hi temp works well and hasn't loosened yet.

I had a TT Pro .46 and OS .46 FX on a plane before putting the Evo .46 NT on it. The Evo had a lot more power from the beginning over those other two. It was very noticeable. I'll be very interested in seeing how it does with the Tower muffler. I can't say enough good things about the .45 trainer engine. I can idle it for a minute or longer, and shove it wide open without a stumble or sputter. It screams right away. I think it is the best engine of that size range at the club. It has died only twice, and that was when it had trash in the needle valve. It has never quit on me besides those two times. I don't know why my two are so good and you had problems with yours.

Are your props balanced? The Evo 3 bladed props are so out of balance that one vibrated 3 of the 4 engine mount bolts out of the plane before I noticed what was going on.

Have you reset your limits on the high speed and low speed needle valves? My low speed needed to be set to a more lean range.

The long bolt in the tower muffler will come loose too if you run the engine hard and get the muffler hot. In extreme cases, the long bolt will pull the threads out of the front piece. I had to run a threaded rod all the way through with double nuts on each end. The double nuts are to eliminate the extreme expansion problems involved with the aluminum muffler itself.

Enjoy,

Jim

This is the muffler you need: [link=http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXJB16&P=ML]Tower Muffler[/link]

blwblw: Yes, the first thing I started doing after I noticed the muffler coming apart was to get prop balancer. All my props were balanced, and still the Evo muffler would come apart in flight....
Hasn't happend yet with the tower muffler. If it does, then I'll try the Permatex.

-tycho

W8YE- now you tell me about the double nut thing!!! Would the high temp Permatex work? Will the stock Evo mounting bolts work, or do I need to buy them too?

Tychoc- thanks for the link. I'll be getting one.

does anyone know how the .36 engine is coase im thinking of getting it but it should be good fro the beginnig, i cant just order a tower mufflerafter a month.

Check out the January RCM. Clarence Lee gives high marks to the .36. He says it outperforms the .40 with all prop sizes tested.

Greetings,
I had an Evolution when they first came out....Ran great for twenty or so flights. I put the engine in another plane and it wouldnt run at all. I finally pulled the back cover off to clean it out ( It sat for about two months ) and saw that it was missing about five bearings from the race! I sent it back to Horizon, and they sent me a new one!
These engines are not as strong as an O.S. but offer a great value for the price, and are available in the most popular sizes for most planes!
Blair

I missed the Jan RCM. Does he mean the .40 Evo Training System engine?

My .46 NT is stronger than the .46 FXs at my field, or so it appears from watching it perform. I never broke it in on a stand and it showed a lot more power on my first takeoff. We were all surprised at how well it ran. I will say that a guy has a .46 FX that he bought with a trainer and it looks to have more power than others I've seen.

Well, I dont know about all cases, but the Evo .46 I have on my LT-40 is more powerful than the .46FX I have. I"m running an 11x7 prop, and it will do everything I ask of it within the limits of the aircraft. These are great little engines.

I reviewed the Evo .455 TPS 18 months ago, I had trouble getting it to run well, but an email to Evo gave me a promt and accurate reply.

One small adjustment to the carb and the engine ran flawlessly. In fact, I use it often for doing reviews where I need a .46 size 2-stroke.

Here's the review:

http://www.rcuniverse.com/magazine/a...article_id=153

I've got a problem with my Evolution .46NT.
It's installed in a Great Planes Piper J-3 cub Arf.
I orginally attached a Slimline pitts muffler to it, and it worked well, but then started losing rpms.
Because I thought it would look better, I put on a Bison Pitts muffler.
This has restored my rpms, and it sounds better, but when the nose is up, it goes lean and dies; when the nose is low, it goes slobbering rich and dies. 1/2 to 2/3 throttle is fine however.
Seems to me its a fuel delivery problem.
I have a check valve installed on the line going to the carb, and its worked fine before. O-rings on carb, low and hi speed needles are good.
I've flow tested, and pressure tested the entire tank and fuel lines.
Any suggestions?