Glow to gas conversion.
 

Has anyone out there heard of a four cycle glow Saito engine bieng converted to gasoline? Is there any information available on the subject? I am looking for a good sized four cycle gasoline engine that does't weight a ton. I guess crankcase lubrication would be the challenge here.

Jim Whitaker AMA# 699498

Glow to gas
 

Jim, you are right about the lower end lube being a problem, you have to run a lot of lube when it is done and also the carb is too big for gasoline. I converted an OPS 30 Maxi to ignition but it has needle bearings on both ends of the rod, plus I put the carb off of a Ryobi 31cc two stroke on it which has a much smaller venturi than the DeLorto it came with. I believe that Terry at CH Electronics has done a few.

Glow to gas conversion.
 

Hi Insane,

I have a Saito 1.50 that I ran on gas woth a C&H ignition, a Rimfire plug and a 16:1 gas:oil mix. The Saito carb worked fine, Just had to turn the needles in quite a bit to lean it out.

For info: I had run the engine on glow fuel with the C&H ignition because I had trouble with it throwing props when I tried to fly it as a glo-plug engine. Tried the gasoline as an experiment. I used 95 octane pump gas and Klotz synthetic oil.

I have a NIB Saito 1.80 that I've been toying with the idea of running on gas too, also with the idea of saving weight.

Cheers,

CR

Hi Dave, Hi Charley
 

Dave, thanks for your information. I will get with Terry at CH and see if he can shed some light on the subject. The carb change looks like a challenge on the saito, but I can see where it would probably be sized about right for a 1.50 or 1.80 Saito on gas.


Charley, Thanks for your information. How did you decide on the 16:1 gas/oil mixture? Where did you find your spark plug? All of the spark plugs I know about are huge compared to a glow plug. I was concerned about the the compression ratio of the glow engines bieng a problem on gas, apparently yours and Dave's have worked fine with out changing the c/r.

Have both of you run your engines long enough to know that they are lubricating components properly? I sure would hate to destroy one of these costly beauties. Do they still make good power? I could imagine that they would lose some power by taking the nitro away.

Thanks again guys for your responses.

Jim Whitaker AMA# 699498 :)

Saito to gas
 

RC, the Rimfire plug that Charley mentioned is a spark plug that is a direct replacement for a glow plug. A carb change is not necessary on the Saito 150 it's just that gas engines don't need nearly the volume fuel as a glow engine.

Glow to gas conversion.
 

Thanks, Dave.

I didn't know anyone made a spark plug to interchange with a glow plug. My local hobby shop should be able to help with that.


Jim Whitaker AMA# 499698

Glow to gas conversion.
 

Insane,

You can get the Rimfire plug from C&H Ignitions. It comes with the ignition system for the Saito. I'm still using the original plug although I bought a spare JIC when I started using gas.

I put several hours on my Saito as a gasser. Plenty of time to wreck it if it was going to happen. I'm flying it now as a glow engine. It has never run better.

I came up with the 16:1 gas:oil mix thru Email conversations with a guy from the south who has converted many 4-cycle glow engines to gas. This guy and a bunch of his pals were using gas in OS and Saito 4-strokes. Do a search of the RC Universe and RC FAQ archives and you'll find him, I think.

If you want a light weight small gasser, How about the FPE 2.4 with C&H ifnition. They reportedly don't come any lighter. There's one for sale in the gas engines forum.

Cheers,

CR

Glow to gas
 

Thanks Charley, I will check it all out. I believe that the FPE is a two-stroke engine and I am hoping to end up with a four cycle gasser.


Jim Whitaker AMA# 699498 :)

Glow to gas conversion.
 

Hello!

A humble question....why would you convert a glowplug fourstroke to gas???

Less power!!! More heat!!More wear!!
?????
Regards!

Jan K
Sweden

Glow to gas conversion.
 

Jan,

I thought Jim's reason was to save weight. But in the light of his last post, I see that he also wants a 4-stroke engine. Maybe he's in love with the sound and the torque, as I am.

Cheers,

CR

Glow to gas conversion.
 

jim:
have you checked the MVVS line?
maybe they have what you're looking for, at least the engines do not look like other "gassers" that evolved froma wees whacker eons ago :)
you can chek them at
www.chiefaircraft.com
Regards,
Patrick

Glow to gas conversion
 

Hi Jan, Hi Patrick

Jan: A humble answer to your humble question. I would like to get away from Glo fuel altogether for a couple of reasons. It is very expensive, it is a finicky fuel and most glow motors act finicky on it, it goes bad surprizingly quickly (which might be some of the finickiness) and it makes a very big mess on the airplanes. One thing I would miss about it is the smell. I love the smell of burning glow fuel. Charley has summed it up for me in his last post. I love four strokes: their sound and their power charicteristics, which is why I am looking to change one (or more) glow engines to gas. To my knowledge, on one makes a gasoline fired four stroke suitable for r/c aircraft. One would have to be converted from existing engines from yard equipment. Doggone are they heavy. I have some gas two strokes and they are fine. I am putting a Ryobi 31 cc in a Sig 4*120 rignt now. I have a Zenoah G-62 for my H9 Cap 232. But my love is four strokes. Say one each in my two Robinhood 80's and my Robinhood 99.

Patrick: I haven't looked at MVVS engines, I will though. If they make four strokes of the sizes I am looking for, I would be very interested.

Thanks to all for your responses.

Jim Whitaker AMA# 699498 :)