1200SportsterRider

Uh Oh, the Universal sign of ill will.

Jesse Open

Often given after someone has offered an arm and a leg.

1200SportsterRider

Saito 125 with CHI
Temp===35 F and raining
Fuel====Wildcat 10% with 18% full syn.
Prop====Master Airscrew 15 x 7 three blade
Plug====CHI
Ignition set at 33 btdc
Exhaust===stock 13mm cast.
Max rpm at full throttle==8,550
Idle perfect at 3,000 rpm. The 125 ran eerily smooth at all rpm. It smokes a little at about 5,500.

Wrong pictures, how do you remove them.


About 6,000 rpm

One correct picture

the Wasp

My Feedback: (1)

Dave, to remove the pic, edit and highlight the whole pic then hit the back key.

Jim

1200SportsterRider

Thankyou James.

the Wasp

My Feedback: (1)

mounted and ready to go.

well I received my Spanish Arbor tonight and I cleaned both the chuck & arbor with denatured alcohol. mounted it and the chuck is ready for drilling. I will use it tonight. just got to make sure it's centered to the head chuck.
I talked to my 12th grade machine shop teacher the other day about mounting it. he told me there is a new method of mounting arbors that is less stressful to the chuck. you simply clean the chuck and arbor, let dry. install the arbor in the chuck and twist the arbor in the chuck till it turns smooth yet is tight. then just grab hold of the chuck and snap the arbor's tang down hard on some hard wood or something hard.
any-hoo. my Spanish arbor <LOL looks pretty good.

EDIT. I named the chuck Bill. it's a good name!

the Wasp

My Feedback: (1)

Dave. you are very well welcomed !!

Jim

Jesse Open

Looks great Jim. Fine job.

1200SportsterRider

Yesterday I couldn't get the 125-A below 3,000 rpm. last night I remembered that it came without a barrel spring, so I added one. I removed the carb and it would only close to within about 1/32". I removed the barrel spring and now it closes all the way. I even turned the barrel spring around and no go. There is almost no side motion, so I'm leaving it as is.

Glowgeek

On the way to my abode. An FA115 should over power it sufficiently........maybe gas converted, maybe not. I won't decide until it's weighed and CG'd.



And I still have all my appendages! ........well, at least I'm not missing any more than before I bought it.

Jesse Open

Yep, The springs don't fit well in those carbs that came without. Been there, tried it too. Same result

They simply don't need the spring.


Lonnie, Way to go! You snagged a rare gem there.

James, Lonnie is still intact (mostly )


Very happy with every FA-125 I have owned. As well as every FG-20 that I have restored to methanol fuel. Doing a brand new FG-21 now.

Home brew 16 mm staight pipe, Saito FA-125.

Going on a fresh built Dragon Lady

Slider23

Hey guys,
I have a SAITO FA125 in my H9 Christen Eagle, swinging a 15x8 master screw prop. I'm running 15% nitro and 17% Klotz mix. The engine has had about 6 flights since run in and has been performing exceptionally well. Yesterday I had 3 really good flights not overly pushing the engine which produces a light smoke trail. On my fourth flight about 3-4 mins in I was on the downwind leg of a circuit when the engine started to make a horrible screeching noise, I backed it off to idle and immediately landed and shut the engine down.
A visual inspection has given no clues as to what has happened, the cowl is not touching the back of the spinner, there doesn't appear to be any oil or fuel leaks that I can see. I let the engine cool down and then fired it up but the noise was still there and seems to be coming from the front of the motor.... Has this occurred to anyone else? I'm at a loss guys so any advice is greatly appreciated.

the Wasp

My Feedback: (1)

I believe Glowgeak had "something" like this happen to his Saito just some 3 weeks ago. it was the Prop Drive Hub rubbing on the case as I remember, I would bet $5 that is your problem LOL
Jim

the Wasp

My Feedback: (1)

OH you did not say that did you. you know that Pete is just peaking around the corner. LOL

Jim

the Wasp

My Feedback: (1)

Lonnie. good going. they are very well made planes.
engines. food for thought. I had that OS 61fx in my ShoeString. the Saito 100 less muffle weighs the same as that FX less muffler (550 grams). the 115 weighs only 36 grams more than the 100
do you have a twin that will fit in it.

Jim

Slider23

Cheers mate. Can’t find that post but assuming if it is the issue then I have over tightened the prop…..correct?

Slider23

assuming if this is my issue it could be an over tightened prop?

Glowgeek

I'm the one that had the screeching noise. It's very likely that your prop was under tightened and is slipping on the prop drive. If not, then your prop drive could be slipping on the crankshaft as mine was. Made a horrible screeching noise.

To fix mine I removed the prop drive with a puller, cleaned the parts with brake cleaner, reassembled everything and used a disposable plastic prop while tightening the bejesus out of it. Problem solved.

1200SportsterRider

I ordered a couple of these Xoar PJM props in 15 x 8 size for the next 125-a run, it should go north of 9,000 rpm.
The Shoe String looks cool and I love that pipe.

Jesse Open

Those Xoar props are a work of art!

Glowgeek

No twins in any of my planes, by choice. I'm sure your Shoe zipped along fairly well with that 61fx slobber slinger.

I've seen a few GP Shoestring 60 ARFs at flyins but only saw one fly. Was talking to the pilot about his, tried to buy it from him actually. His had a 91fx with a mousse can muffler, said he'd never sell it. He invited me to chat with him while he flew it. I was very impressed with how it handled aerobatics and it was fast as *!$#@. I casually asked how well it knife edged and he said, "Watch this". He pulled it out of an outside loop to level inverted flight, snap rolled it 1-1/4 into a perfect knife edge and blasted down the runway at what I guess was 100+ mph and dumb thumbed it into the runway. I was speechless, he was crushed.

Anyway, that was 4 or 5 yrs ago. Ever since seeing how that thing flew it's been on my list of must have planes. Took a while to find one NIB and reasonably priced. It'll go into my pile of "after retirement" kits and ARFs, at least until I crash a couple of my current flyers.

the Wasp

My Feedback: (1)

yes that plane is great. and it lands so nicely. you can land it fast or slow. well slow for that plane.
power from the Saito 115 would be nice. but I would think you would have to run a 12 inch prop, I think a 13'er would be too big for that plane. I guess you could put a 12", 4 blade'er on it to rob some power.

Jim

YellowBlueBird

Have finally gotten around to taking the valve covers off of my saito 125a that has been backfireing. It appears that the exhaust valve is still closing as the intake valve opens. How many degrees of rotation should there be between one closing and the other opening?

Glowgeek

That is normal, it's called valve overlap.

To visually check that the cam timing is correct roll the engine over to TDC of the exhaust stroke. In this crank position both valves should be open equal amounts, therefore the rocker arms should appear to be level with one another, as viewed from the front of the engine.

YellowBlueBird

Thanks
I will check that this afternnon.