I am brand new to this hobby and very excited to get going. I have already purchased a trainer and an Aviastar .46 engine. The breaking in instructions that came with the engine are pretty vague for me. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

BG,


Your engine has a tapered-bore ABC piston and sleeve set.

Follow [link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/Tapered%2DBore_Engine_Break%2Din_%2D_Upgraded/m_1850473/tm.htm]this break-in thread[/link] for best results.

Break in your engine using the prop and fuel you'll be flying with. ABC/N engines like a little castor in the fuel, like Morgans Omega. Run it at a only SLIGHTLY rich two cycle setting. ABC/N engines need to get up to operating temperature to properly break in. When it will hold a constant idle for about 30 seconds, accelerate cleanly, and not sag when the nose is raised, it's ready to fly.

Dr.1

If you have never run one of these engines prior, I would suggest that you attend to your local flying field and talk to some of the good folk there. Someone will more than likely offer to help you out and at least show you how to operate a glow engine.

The idea of a break in period is to allow the internal engine parts to wear or seat to each other prior to full duty use, they also need to heat cycle to releive stresses from the machining processes.

There are many threads on how to break in an engine, and many different ideas.....Read Dar's thread, lots of good info there on how to break in an engine.

I have always believed that the people who make the engines have the best advise on how to break one in...and then comes along "lets eliminate the break in process" for the new guys and now some engines are marketed as "no break in required" which is a shock to me, and according to a friends new Evo engine that puked metal back into the fuel tank for 35 minutes, untrue as well.

There are two manufacturers here in North America that are second to basically none and they are Dub Jett of [link=http://www.jettengineering.com/]http://www.jettengineering.com/[/link], and Henry Nelson / Dave Shadel of [link=http://www.pspec.com]www.pspec.com[/link].

Dub and Dave are world champions in pylon racing and know lots about how to break in an engine and on their web sites is how they do it and recommend it for their engines.

The short version is more lube ( I use 25-28% personally ), preferbly castor, run rich but not too much, light loads, use smaller prop, hi RPM's like full throttle, and heat cycle the engine, run for short periods allowing it to cool off......

Do read the above links.....Dub has so much good info on his site and not just about motors either.....

Hope this is helpfull

Richard

Thanks everyone for the engine run in advice. I really appreciate the quick replies.