faisalk

I was wondering if my engine can idle with fuel containing 80% methanol and 20% castor oil(no nitromehtane)?

Yogi-Bear

yes but they need to be ported accordingly
ie a Ys designed for 20% nitro will struggle to idle properly

but an irvine will tick like a clock for as long as you want with 0% nitro

faisalk

How much throttle should be open for the engine to idle? can someone please post a picture.

Richard L.

My Feedback: (24)

It depends on the engine. Some require more opening to idle. Others require very little opening. For instance, some Tower Hobbies .46 can idle forever with the throttle fully closed. My YS .63's require about 1/16" (1.6mm) of throttle opening to idle.

Marian

Which engine do you have?

Some engines (for example MVVVS and Irvine) need no methanol.

faisalk

I have an OS .46 fx and TT.46 pro

downunder-RCU

faisalk....I use exactly the same mix as yours in all my engines. It doesn't matter if it's designed to use nitro (my Enya 60X for instance) or zero nitro (Rossi 45) they'll all idle extremely well. Don't be concerned about how far the throttle needs to be opened, just tune it as you would for any fuel and you'll soon find the correct amount it needs to be opened. Use a hot plug though.

JWN

My Feedback: (42)

Uhh, I think you mean they need no NITRO. The methanol is the main fuel component in glo fuel and the catalytic reaction between the methanol and the platinum in the glo plug is what keeps the plug hot without a battery. All glo engines require methanol or some other fuel to promote the catalytic reaction.

John

NM2K

My Feedback: (14)

It would depend upon which engine you have.

Just about all glow engines will idle without nitromethane. How well they idle and transition depends upon which fuel the engine was designed to operate.

The old series of Saito and YS would accomodate FAI (0% nitro) fuel with ease. I am not so sure of the later models that have been sent to America. The compression ratio have been reduced to accomodate the higher nitro fuels consumed in the USA. Does anyone know if these companies offer different configurations for different markets?

downunder-RCU

I'd very much doubt it Artisan. In Australia we use very little or no nitro generally but we're stuck with the same low compression engines that get sold to America. This would be especially true of 4 strokes which are much harder to make with different compressions. With 2 strokes it's a lot easier to bump up the compression a little by taking out shims but usually the increase just isn't anywhere near enough to make it worthwhile.

NM2K

My Feedback: (14)

I suspected as much, Downunder.

To me, nitro is a waste of money. I would rather pay more for an engine that develops more power without nitro, of which I can recoup some of the extra money spent when reselling the engine, than have cheaper engines that burn expensive fuel, of which I can never get any of my money back after the fuel is consumed.

rclooney

but an irvine will tick like a clock for as long as you want with 0% nitro
this is true. my irvine .20 will idle for ages with o%. mayby like a fast clock, but like a clock

downunder-RCU

I have to agree there, unless you're in competitions where you need every bit of power you can get out of the engine. No amount of nitro will get my engines started faster than one flick and the idle is so slow and dependable there's no way the model will move by itself. But I've had up to a 20% increase in HP simply by bumping up the compression considerably. There was a thread on here a while ago about raising the compression on an OS and the guy was delighted with the results.

JWN

My Feedback: (42)

Even then, FAI fuel has been shown to make some very impressive power. Look at the FAI pylon and CL speed events where they are required to run 0% fuel. Or at least, they used to be.

John

Rudeboy

I partly agree...

Most engines run just fine on low or no nitro fuel... although most engines nowadays could do with a little more compression.

However, a little nitro can be helpful in keeping hot engines cool, and in teaching hard idling and starting engines some manners...

JWN

My Feedback: (42)

Oh boy, here comes that argument again. Nitro does not keep the engine cool. It allows the engine to burn more fuel (methanol), because it is an oxidizer, and the more fuel you burn, the hotter the exhaust will be and the more heat that will be transmitted to the engine. This has been hashed out many, many times, and every time it comes up, someone whips out their infrared thermal sensor and proves the high nitro engine runs hotter than a low/no nitro engine.

John

Rudeboy

I didn't know that was an arguement...lol...

I just know that my West Eurotec V1 .50 runs hot on FAI fuel (and I mean really hot!... so hot it quits) because I have to lean it out too much to get it on the pipe, and that on 10% nitro it doesn't run hot

The nitro allows me to run the engine richer, which keeps it cool.

But of course, if I were to lean it out to the max on 10% nitro fuel, I'm sure it would be even hotter than on fuel without nitro...

I don't use nitro in any of my sport engines (except my four strokes), simply because they don't need it... but like I said, some engines benefit from it (like the West).

JWN

My Feedback: (42)

If you were to lengthen the header, the engine would come on the pipe and you wouldn't have to run it so lean.

What we have here may not be an argument, but there have been several discussions in the past that did turn into arguments. Sorry, I should have said this subject instead of argument.

John

NM2K

My Feedback: (14)

I have seen the arguments and I refuse to be a party to one.

I do think it is important to let the manufacturers and importers know that there is a market for engines that do not use large amounts of nitromethane. Not that it will do any good, since many of the large importers also sell fuel through their distributorships. Such is life.

Rudeboy

This is a good thing coming from an american... since you were the ones that made engine manufacturers switch to low compression (-high- nitro) engines... lol.... just kidding...

It is just that experienced modelers know you don't need nitro to run an engine... but there are far more unexperienced modelers out there, and to them, nitro is like a magic word.... because some people tell them it is...

downunder-RCU

FAI Pylon and FAI CL speed will probably always be straight 80/20 fuel (and no synthetic stuff either ) because the intention of this is to remove a variable in getting the max HP from the engines. But as JWN said, their power is impressive with zero nitro. For their size the CL engines are more powerful than the Pylon engines but that's because they use a much more critical pipe which would be useless on a pylon engine. Think 1000+ HP/litre...now that's impressive!!!

Perminator-RCU

I've never used nitro in any of my engines and have never felt the need for it either. FAI fuel it is for me. I get a 5 litre can for about 12 bucks and a can of 10% nitro 18 % synthetic oil costs twice as much so it's much more economic too.

f2racer

I've got both of these and they don't run quite as well with under 10% nitro. 15% is the most you need. No real performance gain with more nitro. Using either FAI or 5% makes them hard to tune idle and transition (low speed needle is very finicky).

European engines (MVV, Rossi, Irvine, etc) do much better with 0-5% nitro...