Welcome to Club SAITO !

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Interesting engine! I have only own one early OS (it had serial number 5 on it) one old stock NIB .46 Enya, and the rest are Saitos. The OS I sold to get back into R/C back in 2004. The Enya I still have. The Conley is very attractive to me and I considered an inline cylinder RCV once but never bought one.
Last edited by FlyerInOKC; 09-26-2020 at 06:01 AM.

Neat concept on the Hi-Max. 
Wow, internet searching shows nothing on those engines save one article on sceptreflight, must have been short lived.

Wow, internet searching shows nothing on those engines save one article on sceptreflight, must have been short lived.
Last edited by Glowgeek; 09-26-2020 at 06:35 AM.

My Feedback: (102)
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Location: Colonial Beach, VA
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Yes, those came from Hobby-Lobby along with my MERCOs, they were very smooth running, they had one bugaboo, once in a great while one would have a valve snap off. The valves were stainless steel. I flew the120 on a slab tail H9 Ultra-Stock. The slab needed the nose weight, I could only run the Saito 150 if I used a Harry Higley Ultra Hub.I believe an outfit in England called Premier was the distributor for the Hi MAx's, the Merco's and the Sport 500 choppers.
Last edited by Hobbsy; 09-26-2020 at 09:43 AM.


Yes, those came from Hobby-Lobby along with my MERCOs, they were very smooth running, they had one bugaboo, once in a great while one would have a valve snap off. The valves were stainless steel. I flew the120 on a slab tail H9 Ultra-Stock. The slab needed the nose weight, I could only run the Saito 150 if I used a Harry Higley Ultra Hub.I believe an outfit in England called Premier was the distributor for the Hi MAx's, the Irvine's and the Sport 500 choppers.
Quite often, especially stainless steel, the valve stem and head are two piece. They are actual friction welded.
Nice looking engine.

My Feedback: (27)

When I was a kid I had a old VW bug that had Friction welded valves. The valve head will come off and do a lot of damage in the engine. That was quite a learning experience for me fixing it.

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Thanks Lonnie, I got a chance to run the Saito 115, here is the skinny
Saito 115 plain Jane with new bearings and gaskets, the following after 15 minute run in
Fuel=====Wildcat 10% full synthetic
Prop====Master Airscrew 15 x 8 S-1
Plug====Glow Devil 4 c for Saito and Enya
Exhaust=Stock
Max rpm two clicks rich of peak==8,890
Idle 2,120

At 6,000 rpm

MA 15 x 8 S-1
Saito 115 plain Jane with new bearings and gaskets, the following after 15 minute run in
Fuel=====Wildcat 10% full synthetic
Prop====Master Airscrew 15 x 8 S-1
Plug====Glow Devil 4 c for Saito and Enya
Exhaust=Stock
Max rpm two clicks rich of peak==8,890
Idle 2,120

At 6,000 rpm

MA 15 x 8 S-1

For comparison, my 115 after overhaul and partial re-break in.
Fuel: 15% Synth/2.5% Castor, 15% Nitro
Props: APC Sport
Glow Plug: OS-F
Valve clearances: . 0015"-.002"
Temp: 78°f
Humidity: 58%
RPM is peak sustained for 30 seconds minimum
Horsepower is calculated.
FA115
16x8 (7830) 1.812 HP
17x6 (8170) 1.968 HP
15x8 (8680) 1.907 HP
16x6 (8700) 1.864 HP
14x8 (9800) 2.083 HP
15X6 (9850) 2.090 HP
Fuel: 15% Synth/2.5% Castor, 15% Nitro
Props: APC Sport
Glow Plug: OS-F
Valve clearances: . 0015"-.002"
Temp: 78°f
Humidity: 58%
RPM is peak sustained for 30 seconds minimum
Horsepower is calculated.
FA115
16x8 (7830) 1.812 HP
17x6 (8170) 1.968 HP
15x8 (8680) 1.907 HP
16x6 (8700) 1.864 HP
14x8 (9800) 2.083 HP
15X6 (9850) 2.090 HP

Ever seen a 10.0 Ampere / Hour Panasonic "M" cell NiCd ? Just the ticket for lighting up all those plugs on your radial engines. I will post a pic tomorrow. Have a few new ones here, can send you one . Just about 3/4 the size of a 12 ounce beer can, they pack a good wallop without the inrush overshoot that sometimes happens with pulsed drivers.
Crunch, your wing went out on Wednesday. There are a couple of machining magazines slipped under and taped to the side flap.
Crunch, your wing went out on Wednesday. There are a couple of machining magazines slipped under and taped to the side flap.
Where did you find them?

My Feedback: (102)
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Location: Colonial Beach, VA
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For comparison, my 115 after overhaul and partial re-break in.
Fuel: 15% Synth/2.5% Castor, 15% Nitro
Props: APC Sport
Glow Plug: OS-F
Valve clearances: . 0015"-.002"
Temp: 78°f
Humidity: 58%
RPM is peak sustained for 30 seconds minimum
Horsepower is calculated.
FA115
16x8 (7830) 1.812 HP
17x6 (8170) 1.968 HP
15x8 (8680) 1.907 HP
16x6 (8700) 1.864 HP
14x8 (9800) 2.083 HP
15X6 (9850) 2.090 HP
Fuel: 15% Synth/2.5% Castor, 15% Nitro
Props: APC Sport
Glow Plug: OS-F
Valve clearances: . 0015"-.002"
Temp: 78°f
Humidity: 58%
RPM is peak sustained for 30 seconds minimum
Horsepower is calculated.
FA115
16x8 (7830) 1.812 HP
17x6 (8170) 1.968 HP
15x8 (8680) 1.907 HP
16x6 (8700) 1.864 HP
14x8 (9800) 2.083 HP
15X6 (9850) 2.090 HP
Thanks, I take it mine is OK.



We did a lot of air cooled VW engines. As a result, we saw a lot of what you saw and had a bucket full of VW pistons with imbedded valve parts. When we sold the shop, I saved one for prosperity.

Last edited by Jesse Open; 09-26-2020 at 06:27 PM.

Modeltronics i see you have 8000 grade emery/sandpaper in the background, what were you polishing?? the pic you posted of the valve sticking up out of that piston was painful to look at.
Gary i was following one of the faster harley riders on a group ride and every town we hit at slow speed he would pull the clutch and bounce the engine off the rev limiter then dump the clutch while holding the front brake and smoke the rear tyre all the way through town. What i did'nt know was that he had a brand new $15000 factory harley 150ci performance engine fitted and should have been running it in, eventually it made some popping sounds and died. When you mentioned friction welded stainless valves i understood how when they eventually took the side mounted intake cover off i could see the valve head with part of the stem lying in the bottom of the airbox. My question is, how did it get there with the valve head looking slightly oval/pear shaped? hoping you can shed some light on that.
Dave good figures for the fa115 on 10%.
Gary i was following one of the faster harley riders on a group ride and every town we hit at slow speed he would pull the clutch and bounce the engine off the rev limiter then dump the clutch while holding the front brake and smoke the rear tyre all the way through town. What i did'nt know was that he had a brand new $15000 factory harley 150ci performance engine fitted and should have been running it in, eventually it made some popping sounds and died. When you mentioned friction welded stainless valves i understood how when they eventually took the side mounted intake cover off i could see the valve head with part of the stem lying in the bottom of the airbox. My question is, how did it get there with the valve head looking slightly oval/pear shaped? hoping you can shed some light on that.
Dave good figures for the fa115 on 10%.

My Feedback: (102)
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Thanks Pete, it has soft compression, the valves are not leaking so I ordered a ring from McGregors. I had not set the LS needle so it guzzled the first 7 oz. of the tank. I also ordered a couple of Xoar 15 x 7 props, since the 115 is a tweener engine it should have a tweener prop.
Lets drop the broken valve thing unless it's on an rc engine, Thanks
Lets drop the broken valve thing unless it's on an rc engine, Thanks


Geeez, sore toes again.?
Pete, that was me with the Micromesh 8000, but it had nothing to do with Saitos so I will PM the answers.
Pete, that was me with the Micromesh 8000, but it had nothing to do with Saitos so I will PM the answers.
Last edited by Jesse Open; 09-27-2020 at 03:06 AM.

Thanks Pete, it has soft compression, the valves are not leaking so I ordered a ring from McGregors. I had not set the LS needle so it guzzled the first 7 oz. of the tank. I also ordered a couple of Xoar 15 x 7 props, since the 115 is a tweener engine it should have a tweener prop.
Lets drop the broken valve thing unless it's on an rc engine, Thanks
Lets drop the broken valve thing unless it's on an rc engine, Thanks

My Feedback: (102)
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I bought both of those HiMax for price of one a couple of years after they were no longer available. I bought them as a novelty and that wore off eventually. The same as with the Abitar and Conley. The one in that bunch I wish I had kept was the RCV 58-CD, it was smooth and very reliable.

I've found that soft compression has little to do with peak numbers in my testing. Up at those higher piston speeds there is little time for leakage so the cylinder pressure is very near to that of a new ring. Well broken in new rings are great for a smooth dependable idle.
In general, if the ring from a used engine has 1/2 or more of the edge grinding marks (depth) remaining I'll reuse it. High magnification helps with seeing that, nothing measured. It sometimes takes quite a lot of run time to bring used rings up to a full seal. Often however just one tank of fuel, if I pay strict attention to ring gap orientation during disassembly.
I've also found there's no need to worry when a reused ring varies between hard and soft compression tank by tank or day by day. They all end up sealing consistently at some point later on. Fly fly fly.
In general, if the ring from a used engine has 1/2 or more of the edge grinding marks (depth) remaining I'll reuse it. High magnification helps with seeing that, nothing measured. It sometimes takes quite a lot of run time to bring used rings up to a full seal. Often however just one tank of fuel, if I pay strict attention to ring gap orientation during disassembly.
I've also found there's no need to worry when a reused ring varies between hard and soft compression tank by tank or day by day. They all end up sealing consistently at some point later on. Fly fly fly.
Last edited by Glowgeek; 09-28-2020 at 02:55 AM.

My Feedback: (102)
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I've found that soft compression has little to do with peak numbers in my testing. Up at those higher piston speeds there is little time for leakage so the cylinder pressure is very near to that of a new ring. Well broken in new rings are great for a smooth dependable idle.
In general, if the ring from a used engine has 1/2 or more of the edge grinding marks (depth) remaining I'll reuse it. High magnification helps with seeing that, nothing measured. It sometimes takes quite a lot of run time to bring used rings up to a full seal. Often however just one tank of fuel, if I pay strick attention to ring gap orientation during disassembly.
I've also found there's no need to worry when a reused ring varies between hard and soft compression tank by tank or day by day. They all end up sealing consistently at some point later on. Fly fly fly.
In general, if the ring from a used engine has 1/2 or more of the edge grinding marks (depth) remaining I'll reuse it. High magnification helps with seeing that, nothing measured. It sometimes takes quite a lot of run time to bring used rings up to a full seal. Often however just one tank of fuel, if I pay strick attention to ring gap orientation during disassembly.
I've also found there's no need to worry when a reused ring varies between hard and soft compression tank by tank or day by day. They all end up sealing consistently at some point later on. Fly fly fly.
So true. I received the new vents to make some more rear facing vents, as you can see on the label, one size fits all but the 30 and FA 40-a. The hole is rather small but I guess it will work as Saito sees fit. It took 11 days, they shipped the same day I ordered but the journey was longer than usual.

