I have a RAM 750 with relatively low hours. The previous owner added the JetJoe starter to it to ease starting operations, but it's still a huge PITA to get it started every time.

Would it be worth it, in your opinions, to send it to Carlos @ RTI and have it converted to full auto start? I think it would be a lot cheaper than buying a new engine. Don't get me wrong, it runs great.....when you can get it started!

Thanks in advance!
Mark

Mark,

Just wondering, what makes it a "PITA" to start?
I was thinking about doing this to my 750 Air Start which starts fantastic. Would like to get off the bottle though.

Thanks
Warren G. Hunter

Let me answer for Mark, the start portion has been solved, we get a solid start every time we do it but some times while on idel it just quits, basically that is our only problem at the moment, any thoughts? Oh and the ecu burns the glow plug every time it turns it on ( I know, the voltage is to high ) but what coused it to change? we didn't mess with that and I see no way the how to adjust it, so we just disconected the cable to the glow plug and connect a extention from a Grate planes mini panel that I intalled on one of those emergency battery car jumpers to get a positive and hot glow every time.

Mark:

What ECU are you using? I had a similar problem with the burning plugs, CC lost alignment and was touching plug element, after realignment, problem went away. I converted mine to full autostart with a FADEC ECU, hall sensor RPM pickup. I assume you have a spinner compressor nut

Hi Guys, I just did a full conversion on my ram750 air start, it also had low time on it, about 40 start cycles and it also ran great. I sent it to RTI and upgraded to the latest (early this year) Bob Price ECU, GSU,starter assembly, valves, battery etc, and had Carlos machine it and install a better set of bearings. It cost $1600! The primary and only reason I did this was the turbine was given to me, so I'm only into it for for the upgrade. I believe a normal conversion(no bearings) is aroud $1000. It runs and starts fantastic.

Angus

A complete reliable autostart conversion of a healthy 750 can be done for as little as $400.00 using original parts for the starter front cover and starter motor plus an aftermarket ECU, which would be more flexible than a RAM or Modellbau unit. If an aftermarket starter assembly like the jetjoe unit is used (if you have an aluminum front cover, some units had a fiberglass front cover), you can save an additional $150.00 The original pump can be used, only additional items would be the solenoid valves and the required festo fittings for the install

Well, here we have the Jet joe starter installed and running without any problems, it also has the originally air start ECU I think that what we need are a FEDEC,RPM sensor, selenoids valves.
Any thoughts to where we can get these parts so we can do the convertion ourselfs ( it is always fun to do it yurself ).

Carlos, You can get the Hall sensor from Gaspar-BUT-the compresor nut must have a magnet in it-if it does not you will need one with a magnet in it and that will trigger a rebalance. You could also run it with Gaspars ECU with the generic KJ66 parameters, you would also need a thermocouple from Gaspar, but that is cheap. Scott

The issue about the compressor nut magnet is correct, you can get it from ModellbauUSA.com for around $12

I'd just use a manual start FADEC (you'll need the magnet, as stated above), the starter you have and a 2 volt battery manually attached to the plug. KISS principal and very reliable.

I have a 750 that I'd like to convert. Who is performing the work for +/-$400.00? Or where can I get the parts?

-tia

Well, I sent out a few e-mails to companies asking how much to do the conversion and they came back around the $1200 range. Now, being a former RC Jet online hobby shop owner, I have a pretty good idea what it should really cost. Needless to say, we are going to purchase the necessary items to do the upgrade ourselves. I/ we (Carlos & I) know a few guys in the engine industry, so hopefully we can use their knowledge to help us complete this task SAFELY. I have full confidence that we can do all the upgrades ourselves, with the exception of the compressor nut/ wheel rebalance.

I've learned a lot in my 40 years on this earth, and a few include not messing around with electricity, natural gas line installs, and common sense tells me that micro turbines spinning at 120,000 RPM (not properly balanced) is something best left to the pros! Hopefully one of our friends will be willing to help us out with this part, REALLY cheap

Anyway, as we start to do the conversion we'll keep you posted...

Mark:

You make it sound as a very difficult taks, actually, it is so easy you wouldn't believe, as far as I know there is no need at all to rebalance the assembly, my 750 has the compressor either keyed or pressure fitted to the shaft so the parts never moved from their "in balance" positions, I just unscrew the original nut and put on the new one, by the way the compressor nut is reverse threaded, so it will loosen in the clockwise direction. Two weeks ago I did this to a friends 750 that had not been run in about six years, we put the new parts in and had it running on autostart in less than 45 minutes....

If you need to know the steps to take on this conversion let me know and I will post them.

Ruiz-

Please do explain it here. Also where did you get your parts from???

Thanks in advance!

Mark:

A few questions first to make sure which specific model we are dealing with, please answer all:

1)Is your 750 an "F" version?(mixed oil and fuel, instead of separate oil tank)

2)Your current compressor spinner nut, is it conical or flat?

3)If conical, does it have a cross through hole on the tip or does it have an hexagonal base?

4)Do you plan to keep the current front cover and Jetjoe starter?

I already told Carlos on a PM where he can get the ECU, it includes Remote Display, all cabling, glow plug harness, RPM sensor and a Thermocouple, I would rather use the thermocouple you already have as the one included is rather short for a 750, I believe RAM uses ungrounded thermocouples, that's the type you need, you just have to check to confirm before using it. You need to also get the two solenoid valves for gas and fuel.

Once you provide the answers to the questions above I will tell you step by step what you need to do

I contacted modelbau usa about converting a 750 that I had to autostart. They told me that it would probably cost in the $500 range..