I'm looking to purchase an engine for my new trainer, an Alpha 40.
I'm not familiar with any of the manufacturers or their grades of engines and I'm looking for some suggestions.
Should I be looking at a 40 or a 46, and what brands are reliable?
Should I go right to a better grade of engine?

Thanks
Newbie!

Get a OS .46 LA. It will work fine and not expensive.

Hi Jato,
a ball bearing .46 is your best investment. The Thunder Tiger pro .46 and the Magnum .46 XLS are pretty good values. Of course the venerable OS .46 FX is tried and true performer if a bit overpriced. You'll hear about some others I'm sure.

I thought that the Alpha came with an Evolution engine.

I have been using Tower Hobbies 46's, but from what I am hearing the Thunder Tiger 46 Pro is a better engine, and at $75 is a better deal.

The Alpha is also available as a stand alone plane. I bought it this way to have more flexibility with my choice of engine and radio. I'm now in the process of deciding both.
The suggestions I'm getting are very helpful.

Thanks!

JATO, I don't think anyone has mentioned the Irvine .46 or .53 here, both are excellent and suitable for your next level of flying. Also neither is expensive and both run best on 5% nitro.

You should ask around at your flying club field, and see what the opinions of your soon to be fellow fliers are. This goes for the radio and engine. As for the quality of engines, this is my opinion:
Jett
Os Fx (not LA)
Enya
Irvine
Super Tigre
Thunder Tiger
The prices are comensurate with Quality, buy as much as can you afford. Get at least a .46 so it will be useful in your first sport plane.
Radios are all about the same, buy whatever most of the trainers at your field are using, that way when they help you learn to fly, they are experienced with it, and may have buddy boxes you can use.

You're going to get as many opinions as there are engines out there. Any of the engines recommended will work great on your trainer.

Some good points to help in your decision:
1. A ball-bearing engine will produce more power and last longer than a bushing engine.
2. A .46 size engine is both lighter and more powerful than a .40 size engine.

For your first engine, don't pick an orphan. Pick one of the more mainstream brands, such as OS, Thunder Tiger, or even Magnum (XLS series).

The OS .46FX is a bit more expensive, but it's the most user-friendly engine out there. They fixed the liner peeling problem years ago.

From what I've heard, the Magnum .46XLS is also very user-friendly, much improved over the sometimes cantankerous .46XL. It's rumored that the .46XLS is a clone of the OS .46FX. I'm a big Magnum fan myself, for the power and dollar value, but I've only run the XL series engines to this point.

Thunder Tiger is a good value for the buck. While not as friendly as the OS in the beginning, it's hardly difficult to tune.

Dave Barrow has offered some exellent advice. Check out what people are flying at your local field and pay close attention to
those engines that need constant fiddling with verses those that always seem to start easily and provide reliable operation as you want to be flying and not on the ground fiddling with a cantankerous engine.

It seems from the suggestions here and on this site that the TT Pro 46 would be the best value. I think I've narrowed my choices to the the following:

TT Pro 46
Tower BB46
Magnum XLS 46
ST GS 46

I'm learning as I'm going. I've noticed that some engines have remote needle valves and others do not; the TT & ST do not. Is this a big deal?

To each their own, so they say. I had the best luck with an OS .40 FX. It develops tremendous power and will have your trainer off the ground quickly. It has enough power to bail you out of the unexpected on approach.

I flew one of the out-of-production Easy Fly 40s on that engine without any trouble at all. I would highly recommend it.

I'd stay away from the Tower brand. While my Tower .46 had above average power, it was a pain in the !@@ to get running, keep running, and make stop running. On the flights that didn't end in a dead stick, it would NOT shut off, even if I plugged the carb with my thumb. Some gold RTV around the base of the carb helped some, but it was still a pain, and it seemed like I had to tune it up every few flights. My OS's on the other hand only need tuning when the weather conditions change drastically, which twice a year out here in San Diego.

Buy an OS.46FX, if you live here in the USA.

Forget the bushing engines. They have a niche market, but they also require a fuel with more oil than ball bearing engines and at least some castor oil in the lube mix in order to last a "normal" life time.

You don't want an engine that is limited to burning 5% nitro fuel. Most clubs buy fuel in bulk and most bulk purchased fuel is not 5% nitro fuel. Too much nitro in an engine that is not designed to handle it can cause overheating, unexpected flame-outs and, eventually, excessive wear.

Good luck.

Shemp's advice is good but omits one thing, don't listen to guys who fool with their engine incessantly. I seldom touch a needle once I get an engine running the way I want. You'd be amazed at how good engines are once you set them and forget them. Most of the engines that get a bad rap are made so by fiddlers.

I would go with a bushing engine for my first one, a lot less trouble & just about as much power. OS LA 40 & 46 , Tower 40 are all bushing engines, Enya makes one also,don`t know model #. Your going to want something that will take a licking & keep on ticking. Good luck big max 1935

Hobbsy, I've never seen a glow two-stroke engine that didn't benefit by having the mixture tweaked every flying session and sometimes multiple times during a flying session, depending on the weather and temperature changes that day. This isn't fiddling, it is running the engine properly.

On the other hand, I seldom bad mouth any brand of engine since just about every one I've owned has ran well after break-in. If it didn't I sent it back and had the distributor wave the magic wand over it several times.

Of course, I'm not one of those guys that leans the engine out too much in an effort to get every last rpm, either. I get the impression that you are not one of those guys either.

There are climate conditions that could explain your ability to keep the needles parked in the same spot. I'm hoping that is the situation. That, or you like to run a very rich mixture.

I have seen some of the fellows that you referred to also. Seems as if their engines never run right. I think that is because they don't know a good running engine when they see one.

hobbsy: I`m with you, adjust my needle valves once a year whether they need it or not. If you need to adjust every flight ,best go electric. big max 1935

Artisan, you described what a is tweaker exactly, then claimed to not be a tweaker

I don't know what atmospheric conditions you live in, but an engine should NOT need to be tweaked before every flight. You should definitely check to make sure that things are not out of whack, but you should not have to change the needle settings every time.

big max, I don't know where you get your information from, but bushing engines "a lot less trouble?" How so? How are bushing engines any less troublesome than bearing engines? I would think bearing engines are less troublesome, myself, because they turn easier from the get-go. Bushing engines tend to dribble vast quantities of fuel out the front, while a bearing engine is fairly well sealed against that. A bushing engine is junk when the bushings wears out, while a bearing engine can be rebuilt good as new by simply putting new bearings in.

mkirsch:I have run bushing engines when that was about all you could get. You run a bushing engine with ample oil you won`t wear it out. One thing ,most beginners don`t run the fuel out last flight or use after run oil. I have seen page after page of information on how to replace bearings, how many can actually do it? I have seen a lot of slobbering ball bearing engines also. The only advantage I can see in the newer BB engines is most have a two needle carb. Let beginners start cheap. You can buy a cheap BB engine, but not a quality engine. Besides have you priced OEM bearings for the better brand engines ? I may be old fashioned, but I like to keep things simple. big max 1935

Mathew, reread my post. I didn't say every flight. I said every day, unless there were unusual circumstances, like a storm approaching. THEN, you might have to readjust more than once a day. I am referring to two-strokes, not four-strokes. Four-strokes do not require as much readjusting.

I lived at sea level most of my life where we had lots of weather fronts moving through with constantly changing barometric pressure. Anyone that didn't readjust now and then ran the risk of a lean run.

Of course, you folks in southern California might not have to adjust that often, but I like to know where my engine's mixture is in relation to the weather.

If cheep is what you want then try a Mecoa .46. Mine turns a Master Airscrew (black) 10x6 @ 14,000; not bad for a cheepe. Its a good clone of an OS .46SF. If you trade in an old engine they only cost $49.00 !!! But please tell me what's so bad about bushing engines? The only thing that realy matters is easy starting, dependable runs and it only quits when you want it to. When are my PAW diesels and OS FP diesel conversions going to wear out? The PAW is 50s technology for gosh sakes.

Bushing engines are fine if you run fuel that contains enough lubrication for a bushing engine. Most commercially available fuels do not.

Also, there is the matter of the fuel spray emanating from the front of the crankcase. Other than that, bushing engines are just fine.

Gentlemen:

Let's take a look close to home, in fact in our driveways. In your car you will find a crankshaft without even one roller or ball bearing on it. This is not merely because plain bearings are cheaper, but the last production cars with ball and roller bearing cranks (Porsche/Hirth) had more problems with the cranks than any other part of the engine.

I flew U/C speed years ago, and sad to say, the plain bearing engines could be made a lot faster than ball bearing engines of the same size. K&B and Fox killed McCoy and Dooling. Even Cox, when they ruled in 1/2A, made a "Space Hopper" with a BB crank. The plain bearing version blew it away.

Problem is centrifugal force, this throws the balls against the races, at higher speeds the balls will push through the oil film and run unlubricated against the races, giving high wear. And even at lower speed the balls have to push their way through the oil film, whch takes power, whereas the plain bearing has a constant "Tear" in the oil film, leading to less drag on the crank.

In modern speed engines, the loads are such that, combined with ceramic bearings, the BB advantages outweigh their disadvantages, but that is CERAMIC bearings. Just put a set in a Saito, only cost four times what ordinary bearings cost. And that was close to the price of an OS 46 FP.

What this is leading to, is that a plain bearing 46 is a much better engine for a casual flyer than a BB cranked engine. Properly cared for it will outlast three or four sets of bearings in the other engine, and if not properly cared for will still outlast the BB engine treated the same way.

Key words are "Treated the same way." The plain bearing engine will stand up to much more mistreatment than the BB engine. Do you always run the fuel out after a day's flying? Are you religious about after run oil? If you don't do these things the plain bearing engine will live through it, you'll probably never see any difference in it from the lack. The ball bearing engine will become junk quickly.

First engine? Whatever brand, go for a plain bearing crank.

Plain bearing or ball, Twin engines haul.

Bill.

Hey troops: I see in Tower ad(RCM )new OS 40FX ,104.99. A OS 40LA natural ,54.99. WOW, how much fuel & how much flying will $50.00 get a beginner. As far as spraying out, if its that bad send it back! Besides looked up bearings in LHS Great Planes catalog, bb re 40-50 22.99,bb fr 40-50 16.99 ,most shops don`t discount parts. Crank-case 40LA blue 31.99 ,FP 40,29.99. Looks like the old bushing chug is about $10.00 cheaper for whole crank-case ! If you think you are going to wear out your crank-case , better order one now , because when you wear out the case, 10 or 20 years from now you may not be able to get parts that old!! Putt Putt big max 1935