Welcome to Club SAITO !

Psssst trev don't be a fool old boy take richards offer of the armadillo hat man they come with american fleas and they speak spanish,how could you knock that offer back probably make a shady flying hat at the field and enhance the sound of your saito on a low pass.The victa was way better with a 115 in it plus when i was learning to fly they gave you low powered stuff like the 90 horse because they knew you where nowhere near as talented as you thought you were,then they added a 210 pound instructor in the right seat,he never stopped smiling...

Well guy's if you holding your brith on the Stinson............
Well.............. l caved in and installed a RCG 26 gasser
and the only reson why is our local hobby shop is closing and so l wen't to buy some fuel and he has sold out.
Now i'm at the mercy of our Hobby Town.
For witch they charge you two to three times for anything and the last time l was in there all they had was 30% fuel for almost $40.00 (THEY PUSH RC CARS and PARK FLYERS)
So l guess i'm going to have to save my money and buy a case of fuel from Tower Hobbes.
BUT! l like VP fuel. Where my guy was salling 15% VP for $19.95 and 10% for 18.95, Cool Power was $27.95 for 10%. So the .91 is on hold. l have one gallan of fuel and have some racer types that l like flying. l'm going to see my sister in Ft, Worth (about 370 mil's one way) in November and don't think l can hold out till then. (l have lots of gas airplane's) Where just getting into our flying season. All the guys that have lots of fuel there hoarding it and l understand for where all retired and on a fixed income. BUT! As soon as l get a supply of fuel, the 91 is going back in there.
l just like to thank all you guys for the input and will post when it's back on.







Last edited by slamn sammy; 08-26-2015 at 05:25 AM.

Psssst trev don't be a fool old boy take richards offer of the armadillo hat man they come with american fleas and they speak spanish,how could you knock that offer back probably make a shady flying hat at the field and enhance the sound of your saito on a low pass.....

Sincerely, Richard

If it were to be road kill hats, Raccoon is abundant here, with a splattering of skunk and squirrel mixed in. Hey Sammy, I know what you mean, Hobby Town caters to wimpy ground pounders who dont have the cahones to put something expensive in the air. There is a Hobby Town in Rockford however that does stock a good supply of airplane stuff, including Wildcat. 15% for $18 a bottle, bought two last time out, and have nearly gone through one already.

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We had a Hobby Town not far from me a few years back. He was forced to close after being broken into 3 times in less than a year. In each and every break in all they took was the R/C car stuff! The LHS I trade at has told me multiple times he wouldn't stock car stuff because their was too many thieves in the cars. He finds most the Airplane guys can be left to watch the till while goes down the way for change. I know I have minded the store a few times myself.
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We had a Hobby Town not far from me a few years back. He was forced to close after being broken into 3 times in less than a year. In each and every break in all they took was the R/C car stuff! The LHS I trade at has told me multiple times he wouldn't stock car stuff because their was too many thieves in the cars. He finds most the Airplane guys can be left to watch the till while goes down the way for change. I know I have minded the store a few times myself.
Last edited by SrTelemaster150; 08-26-2015 at 03:08 PM.

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You are probably right. Another store here had two guys come in grab a couple of high priced quads and just in a waiting vehicle before the owner could get around the counter!

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Old art, I don't allow that chinese watered down rubbish in my shed it has to be good VP fuel. BTB on my sojourn to FNQ I was talking to ne of the "old guys" and he put forward the thought that poor quality nitro was the cause of increased incidents of rusted bearings in our engines. A self defeating circle, poor quality product leading to increased percentages of nitro use which is in fact increasing the water content in the engine which leads to increased corrosion and so it goes. I am going to do an experiment (freezing it) with some nitro of questionable origin to see how much water content is present verses the stuff I use, which is sourced from the local drag racing fraternity.

Well guy's if you holding your brith on the Stinson............
Well.............. l caved in and installed a RCG 26 gasser
and the only reson why is our local hobby shop is closing and so l wen't to buy some fuel and he has sold out.
Now i'm at the mercy of our Hobby Town.
For witch they charge you two to three times for anything and the last time l was in there all they had was 30% fuel for almost $40.00 (THEY PUSH RC CARS and PARK FLYERS)
So l guess i'm going to have to save my money and buy a case of fuel from Tower Hobbes.
BUT! l like VP fuel. Where my guy was salling 15% VP for $19.95 and 10% for 18.95, Cool Power was $27.95 for 10%. So the .91 is on hold. l have one gallan of fuel and have some racer types that l like flying. l'm going to see my sister in Ft, Worth (about 370 mil's one way) in November and don't think l can hold out till then. (l have lots of gas airplane's) Where just getting into our flying season. All the guys that have lots of fuel there hoarding it and l understand for where all retired and on a fixed income. BUT! As soon as l get a supply of fuel, the 91 is going back in there.
l just like to thank all you guys for the input and will post when it's back on.








Richard be nice to my stomach muscles that took five minutes to read your post to the end,that's the best joke ever


VP is Chinese, or at least a foreign import. The only American maker Agnus will not sell nitro the drag racers because they do not believe many of the racers store and transport their product safely enough.

Flying airplanes takes more brains. Enough brains to know if you steal you will eventually get caught. Especially in the open were every security camera and cell phone can take your picture and post it on the web.

Likely there is one of those #@$%@#*&%)(@#$% drones lurking just above the perps getaway car catching it all on video. That's the good news, and, the BAD news.

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Brain fade, I meant angus nitro not VP. Angus is the good stuff and VP is usually watered down (literally) or so I have found. I have used the freezing option with suss fuel both in Malaysia and back here in Queensland, a good way to "retrieve" contaminated fuel. On Armadillos don't really think so on the hat. With regards to the book, I have found that it is in fair to good condition all pages present, undamaged but there are some previous owners notes on some pages.

Sincerely, Richard

Trev stop teasing..or richard may be tempted to send you a digital copy of something you'll wish you had never seen
say something as innocent as hobbsy riding that lime green fat tractor with motorcycle tyres on it.He'll be buck naked with a guitar strapped to his back,you can't miss him.
Don't worry about fuel safety boys,when your busy flying then in the refueling stops it's the only spare time you find to light up.cubans are good

Don't worry about fuel safety boys,when your busy flying then in the refueling stops it's the only spare time you find to light up.cubans are good

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Re the book, I'll give you lot until the end of next week before I decide. I have been looking at "old books" as a way in participating in the other halfs market stall. Any way I have found a number of English modeling books from the 1930's which are very interesting. I also have acquired a 1920 pilots training / hand book (English) and the bit I like the most is the preamble which says and I quote " Now that you have completed your 1st as an aircraft fitter you are now eligible to be considered for pilots training" Gladdens the heart of an old a/c engineer it does.

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OK guys, I need a little guidance. I purchased what was supposed to be a new in the box Saito 150S. Except for one jug bolt it LOOKED new. So I installed it and went to run it. It started just fine except for the kicking back and throwing everything off the front. So I played with it a bit and got it to keep the prop and stuff on. Then I noticed a lot of oil around the plug so I got out the plug wrench and checked. I am not sure it was loose. The next thing I noticed is one of the rocker arm cover screws disappeared, so I got one from a wrecked engine and tightened all of them. So far it is all on me for being stupid and not checking this first, and that included the entire carb and intake manifold starting to drift...hmm.. am I missing a bolt?
Here is the observation and question. I am propped at 18x6 because it is going on a open cockpit Waco and I don't need blazing speed. I cannot get a consistent run. It seems to run fairly well around 5700 RPM but according to the 'book' should be over 9K. Every once in a while as I bring it up from just below mid throttle to full it hits 68 or 6900 for a moment. Am I missing something or do you think I need to open the valve covers and adjust the valves? I cannot remember ever fighting a new engine like this before so now I suspect something is amiss and I am too dumb to recognize it.
Constructive comments are invited and welcome others are not.
Here is the observation and question. I am propped at 18x6 because it is going on a open cockpit Waco and I don't need blazing speed. I cannot get a consistent run. It seems to run fairly well around 5700 RPM but according to the 'book' should be over 9K. Every once in a while as I bring it up from just below mid throttle to full it hits 68 or 6900 for a moment. Am I missing something or do you think I need to open the valve covers and adjust the valves? I cannot remember ever fighting a new engine like this before so now I suspect something is amiss and I am too dumb to recognize it.
Constructive comments are invited and welcome others are not.

That's a fair question jim.I agree with your prop choice.Have you bought an engine from somebody who never intended to run it? ie someone who likes tinkering with mechanical things but not interested in firing the engine up to see what happens,or stand near it? pull the carby apart and have a look specially at o rings,if you can get around 9000 or under on the ground you won't be too lean,hobbsy has seen heaps of props disappear over the back fence doing that and it takes a brave bloke to lean over the main needle when you think that may happen,or has happened.
Trev do you feel like copying the 'red book' and sharing here?
ps could keep you out of 'the little black book'
Trev do you feel like copying the 'red book' and sharing here?
ps could keep you out of 'the little black book'


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That's a fair question jim.I agree with your prop choice.Have you bought an engine from somebody who never intended to run it? ie someone who likes tinkering with mechanical things but not interested in firing the engine up to see what happens,or stand near it? pull the carby apart and have a look specially at o rings,if you can get around 9000 or under on the ground you won't be too lean,hobbsy has seen heaps of props disappear over the back fence doing that and it takes a brave bloke to lean over the main needle when you think that may happen,or has happened.
Trev do you feel like copying the 'red book' and sharing here?
ps could keep you out of 'the little black book'
Trev do you feel like copying the 'red book' and sharing here?
ps could keep you out of 'the little black book'

Ok, I will do that as soon as I get off jury duty. Might just take the carb of the wrecked 150 GK and put it on this one and see what happens. It was turning 10K when I switched the rudder direction and stupidly managed to do that to the ailerons also.

As for standing over or in front of ANY RUNNING ENGINE, I just don't do that. I reach from behind the engine to the needles. I also have learned (the hard way of course) not to trust your helpers who are holding the airplane. Had one pull the plane back into my hand as I was tweaking the needle. The back side of the turning prop does not cut as bad since it is retreating, but it will still beat you up!

I have come to the final conclusion that SIG(or any Castor based fuel) and Saito engines do not get along well. The 100 in the Cub has been running flawlessy on Wildcat, but ran out of it today and used a mix of wildcat and SIG, the wildcat is leftover from emptying the tanks at the end of the flying days, so its thinned down a bit, half as much castor as before. The OS engines run OK on it though, so will use the SIG fuel in those and Wildcat in the Saitos only.
Speaking of Props doing bad things, a member of my club had an incident the other day. He started up his plane and it came off the stand and spun around, slicing his arm open. He has undergone 2 surgeries so far, and at least one more to close his arm up. Hopefully they wont need to do any skin graphs, but he is going to lose some mobility of is fingers. The prop sliced his top tendons that raise the fingers. Lesson there is make damned sure the wings cant go over the tops of the uprights. Apparently the leading edges were at the top of the uprights and when he throttled up while standing behind the plane the left wing lifted up and over causing the plane to spin around on the right wing, right into him. He was flown out on a flight for life chopper. It was a damned good thing he wasn't out there alone too. Thats the one thing that scares me a bit since most times I get to fly is on the weekends, and rarely is anyone at the field as they are all retired old guys who fly during the week. I am always careful around that prop, and so was our member, and he was in a safe place when it happened, just not when the plane was bigger than the stand.
Speaking of Props doing bad things, a member of my club had an incident the other day. He started up his plane and it came off the stand and spun around, slicing his arm open. He has undergone 2 surgeries so far, and at least one more to close his arm up. Hopefully they wont need to do any skin graphs, but he is going to lose some mobility of is fingers. The prop sliced his top tendons that raise the fingers. Lesson there is make damned sure the wings cant go over the tops of the uprights. Apparently the leading edges were at the top of the uprights and when he throttled up while standing behind the plane the left wing lifted up and over causing the plane to spin around on the right wing, right into him. He was flown out on a flight for life chopper. It was a damned good thing he wasn't out there alone too. Thats the one thing that scares me a bit since most times I get to fly is on the weekends, and rarely is anyone at the field as they are all retired old guys who fly during the week. I am always careful around that prop, and so was our member, and he was in a safe place when it happened, just not when the plane was bigger than the stand.
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American corporate mentality. Doing their best to destroy Saito. This was copied & pasted from RCG. Hopefully someone from Horizon is lurking & might respond.
Yes, I recently converted an FA-100 to CDI/glow fuel.
It yielded some rather unusual result unlike the norm W/single cylinder Saitos.
We started out by running the engine on 15% Omega W/GI to break it in & get a baseline.
The 1st anomaly that I encountered was the fact that there was little need to adjust the HSN leaner as is the norm. This usual significant leaning out of the HSN no doubt contributes to the normal increase in fuel economy. W/this particular engine the HSN did not require leaning out. What was astounding was the 500 RPM boost in RPM W/the prop being utilized. Before we were done, the engine was turning 700 RPM more than the GI baseline. Some of that I'm sure was due to the engine further breaking in.
Now, the bad news. After a few cycles of shutting the engine down & flip starting it, the prop drive flange shifted, throwing the ignition timing out. Upon investigation we discovered that the collet was aluminum, not the usual brass or steel as in other medium block & big block Saitos respectively.
The replacement collet/drive flange for the FA-100 is an FA-65-91S part & shows a brass collet, not aluminum. I have checked W/Horizon, but, as usual, all they have to go on is the picture on their site. God forbid that someone get up off their ***** & go lay hands on product to verify the picture.
It yielded some rather unusual result unlike the norm W/single cylinder Saitos.
We started out by running the engine on 15% Omega W/GI to break it in & get a baseline.
The 1st anomaly that I encountered was the fact that there was little need to adjust the HSN leaner as is the norm. This usual significant leaning out of the HSN no doubt contributes to the normal increase in fuel economy. W/this particular engine the HSN did not require leaning out. What was astounding was the 500 RPM boost in RPM W/the prop being utilized. Before we were done, the engine was turning 700 RPM more than the GI baseline. Some of that I'm sure was due to the engine further breaking in.
Now, the bad news. After a few cycles of shutting the engine down & flip starting it, the prop drive flange shifted, throwing the ignition timing out. Upon investigation we discovered that the collet was aluminum, not the usual brass or steel as in other medium block & big block Saitos respectively.
The replacement collet/drive flange for the FA-100 is an FA-65-91S part & shows a brass collet, not aluminum. I have checked W/Horizon, but, as usual, all they have to go on is the picture on their site. God forbid that someone get up off their ***** & go lay hands on product to verify the picture.
I experienced this when I tried to convert my 115. I tried multiple times to set the timing, but the drive flange would shift when installing the propeller. I didn't know enough about the larger engines to investigate the collet material as the reason for the slippage. I did eventually send it to Adrian. He got it timed correctly, video'd it running and sent it back. When I bolted up the prop, I found it was timed at 0*. Clearly deinstalling and installing the propeller could knock the timing off. I eventually gave up on the ignition because I simply could not get it to stay timed correctly.
I have "chatted" with Horizon & as suggested I also sent an e-mail to "product support" asking if the replacement part, which shows a brass collet, is indeed brass. As usual with corporate America, nobody is willing to leave their computer screen to actually put their hand/eyes on product to verify.
Horizon is slowly destroying Saito by dismal product support & their refusal to carry the complete product line. They are only interested in "high volume" product.
I sent an e-mail to "product support" on Wednesday 8/27/15 before noon & haven't heard from them yet.
Horizon is slowly destroying Saito by dismal product support & their refusal to carry the complete product line. They are only interested in "high volume" product.
I sent an e-mail to "product support" on Wednesday 8/27/15 before noon & haven't heard from them yet.

It's too bad SIG can't(or won't) pick up the Saito line again. They have Excellent Customer Service and know what they sell.
Irony though, They used to sell Saito engines, but their fuel and Saito engines(from my experience) don't get along. LOL
Irony though, They used to sell Saito engines, but their fuel and Saito engines(from my experience) don't get along. LOL