lopflyers

My Feedback: (12)

Great 904 pages and still giving numbers. We never stop growing

blw

My Feedback: (3)

Rustoleum paint???? On a perfectly good Saito??? Just don't ruin it in the first place.

For that level of carbon, a crock pot is probably the only thing. It's easy, cheap, safe for aluminum, and very effective. I only use DPD for superficial gunk. However, a dirty Saito muffler is a good looking muffler.

lopflyers

My Feedback: (12)

What!!!! As long as it flies well who care how it looks

SrTelemaster150

Rustoleum BBQ Paint is the same thing as any other 1200* VHT paint @ a lower cost. It looks like bead blasted aluminum & quite frankly looks better than the bright silver that Saitos are painted with in the 1st place. I've used it on motorcycle cases & automobile cylinder heads, headers & intake manifolds. I use the black BBQ paint for cast iron cylinders etc.

I doubt that you have 1/2 of the modified engine building experince that I have which includes building stroker Harley "Big Twins" back when "stroker kits" wern't readily available. As well as SB Chevies & my record setting 2006 stock rotating assembly 5.7 Dodge Daytona that put 426 RWHP & 460 RWTQ to the ground while still getting 26 MPG on the Hi-way.

I can see that you are the type that doubts anything that you haven't tried & stick to all the old conventional wisdom that sometimes isn't all that wise. When you do evertyhing the same as everyone else, you will always be following the pack. I usually have the pack following me.

I for one would rather not heat a poisonous substance like glycol anti-freeze in a crock pot.

A bottle of DPD is less than $3 & will clean a lot of engines as well as dirty pots & such. Weak acid solutions (vinegar is an acid) have been use commercially to clean & brighten aluminum

blw

My Feedback: (3)

Relax, it isn't going to hurt you if you heat the antifreeze on the low setting outside. Cover it to prevent animals from wanting to drinking it. I never went past 8 hours since everything was clean. Depends on your antifreeze and crockpot heating, And amount of crud.

I don't mind new things, but there's no need to frivously etch an engine surface when everyone is telling you about the antifreeze method.

You're right, I don't have any Harley experience. Never rode them, but I did some others that were fast.

NM2K

My Feedback: (14)

The only Harley experience that I have is whooping them through the 1/4 mile (the BIG Harley engine equipped Sportsters) with a souped up Honda CB-360. Don't feel bad. They couldn't believe it either, but it did happen. More than once, to my best friend's chagrin.

I like using Dawn Power Dissolver, because the ethylene glycol is so hard on local wildlife, if exposed. However, on my higher dollar model engines (Enya, OS, Saito, YS), I do like to stick with ethylene glycol (sp?).


Ed Cregger

SrTelemaster150

Sometimes etching a case is worthwhile as it makes a fresh coat of case paint stick better.

My FA150 has stained spots in the original case finish so my intent was to paint it in the 1st place. I'm the type that wants an engine that I have worked on to look perfect right down to the finish on the case. The BBQ paint looks like a freshly bead blasted aluminum finish & stays that way. If one doesn''t uswe paint to seal a bead blasted aluminum casting, it soon becomes stained as it soaks up oil & grime in the porous surface left by the bead blasting.

I used to use Harley Davidson "case paint" until I found the much cheaper & easier to find flat silver Rustoleum BBQ paint.

As far as my experience on engines, I am speaking on engines W/modified strokes that required clearancing for piston skirts, rod journals etc as well as having tapered crank pin holes reloacted off center in (existing) flywheels. I did not do the crank pin relocation my self, but I did have a machine shop (that never did this before) do it my specifications.

That was another time when I was doing things "all wrong". Everyone knew that lighter flywheels were the way to go. After the smoke cleared it took 3 years & 10 more cu in built into the (supposedly) much bettter performing local Shovelheads to best my 86 cu in Panhead W/70# modified flathead 80 flywheels. Of course the bigger intake valve & port bowls I incorporated into the 64 Panhead cylinder heads didn't hurt performance either.

SrTelemaster150

Recycled

spaceworm

There is an ad for the Saito steam engines as well as their 2 stroke engines in the Saito History Thread.

blw

My Feedback: (3)

I remember when the Mach III ruled the world.

You are right about the wildlife. We have a million chipmunks around here, and half as many squirrels.

blw

My Feedback: (3)

I made a mistake on giving out numbers to Treehanger and Tom Englehart. I corrected the numbers in bold in the original post.

treehanger #790

Tom Englehart #791

Sharpeye22

It is puzzling when people get upset about how to do the same thing. There is often more than one way to get to the same results. But to get upset and take offense when someone offers a different way is foolish.

It doesn't matter how much experience a person has. There is always going to be someone else that can do it bette,what ever it is.

I read this forum for the many experiences and ideals I can glean from it.

Sharpeye22

Double post deleted

orthobird

My Feedback: (1)

update, the bearing came in today and i just installed it. it was very easy to do so. heated up crankcase and put bearings in fridge, and then lubed area with air compressor oil, and bearing slid in with minimal pushing. i will post video as soon as i turn motor on.

SrTelemaster150

I'm taking a break while my FA91S case heats up in the oven as we speak. I had a bit of trouble W/the rear bearing. It caught the case a little cockeyed & stuck as I was pushing it in. I had to use a 1/2" drive socket that had an OD that was close to the ID of the rear case opening placeing it backwards on an extensiion to tap the outer race square W/the case. It went right in after that.

I'm giving the case lots of time to heat up & I put the front bearing in the freezer inside of its plastic bag to chill.

I made up a cam holding tool from an allen wrench & a short piece of Sullivan plastic push rod W/some shrink tube on it.

I'm taking PIX of the bearing change & the condition of the inside of the engine after being stored 14 years after running it exclusivly on 15% Cool Power glow fuel W/100% synthetic lube.

The rear bearing was fine, but the front bearing took a hit when the plane went straight in @ WOT.

Cougar429

My Feedback: (3)

I'm also never against trying something new, which is why I'm such an avid reader and, as you can tell from my mods, a card carrying tinkerer.

However, I can only point out what I know from personal experience, and the glycol method works great with NO damage to alloy, ferrous metals or, in most cases, gaskets or rubber seals. In fact, from my shop owning days I can also point out glycol was the ONLY liquid you could use as a temporary brake fluid in an emergency.

If done outside in a covered container there should be no damage to the environment or critters. For reuse, once cooled I simply pour it back into the container through a regular paper coffee filter so none is discarded. Can't guess what gets flushed down the drain with some of the other compounds mentioned here.

jimbrock, did you ever get your 91 fired back up? If a new glow plug did not work and you have good compression check you did not swallow a piece of crud into the fuel inlet, (to clean it out the easiest is to fully remove the HS needle and blow through the fuel line to the carb. Make sure you count the turns in first before removal to be sure once its reinstalled it returns close to the same setting). The only other thing I can think of to check would be the valves to ensure they are opening correctly.

SrTelemaster150

I for 1 am not upset that anyone chooses a different method, but it does upset me when I am critisised for methods that I know from personal experience work.

I have used Rustoleum BQ paint for engines for years. It is cheap, easy to find, & once it is baked on it is fuel proof % very durable.

Here's what the case I just painted looks like W/the baked on flat silver Rustoleum BBQ paint. You can see the brand new 180 backplate is a shinier finish & IMO the BBQ paint looks better.



This is a 12.7:1 CR FA180CHP (High Compression Pumped) that I am building on the .055" shorter deck FA150 case. If you look closely you can see the .020" spacer from C&H Ignitions that is sandwiched between the cylinder base & case deck. It loweres the CR from 15.7:1 to 12.7:1 & gives a bit more head deck/piston crown "quench hieght".

blw

My Feedback: (3)

Just for the sake of members who are weighing their options on cleaning their engines, I'll make sure you get it right. I'm questioning the suggestion that they soak aluminim engines in Dawn Power Dissolver for 4 hours. Using spray paint is a poor consolation for a ruined finish, imo. A 4 hour soak is for safer solutions, such as warm antifreeze.

Let's move on.....

earlwb

4 hours in Dawn Power Dissolver is likely to discolor the aluminum alloys in the engine. I don't think I went more than 30 minutes with the stuff myself, more like 15 to 20 minutes. If I had a particularly thick crud deposit I might redo that part a couple more times and I used a tooth brush on it, something softer than the aluminum. But if the DDD doesn't discolor the aluminum then since aluminum forms a tough oxide coating, sort of like painting itself, it tends to be well protected so using DDD for several hours may not be a big deal.

lopflyers

My Feedback: (12)

What the }%*+, stop the arguing, just don't clean/ paint the engines. They were made to fly not to shine[X(]

blw

My Feedback: (3)

Maybe we should have a contest for the dirtiest Saito then!

flyingagin

My .65 is looking a bit dirty but then I bought it in 91 and havn't done anything to it but fly it

lopflyers

My Feedback: (12)

Finally making sense, flying Saitos

orthobird

My Feedback: (1)

as promised, here is a video of the engine on starting, after replacement of the crankshaft and front bearing. saito fa 125 a

Broken Wings

My Feedback: (20)

When your done painting it with BBQ paint could you soak the freshly painted parts in a tub full of (15% Cool Power is all I use. No castor, 100% synthetic.) so we can see what they look like?