Hi Dave

I have a new 91AC (it has the woodrif key on the crankshaft) and I am having flameout problems with it. It has had less than one gallon of Wildcat 20/20 through it. I have it mounted sideways and I have a 14x10 APC prop on it. I'm getting around 8900rpm on the high end and 2000-2100 on the low end. The regulator is flush with the body.

So here's my problem. Whenever I go inverted or point the nose up, the engine flames out. It doesn't seem to speed up as if it were lean, it just dies. I checked the clunk in my tank and I am sure that's not the problem. I'm at a loss as to what the problem might be. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Chris

Can you duplicate the problem on the ground?

I tried with no luck to duplicate the problem on the ground. So I reset the regulator, LS, and HS adjustments and put a new glow plug in it. When I flew it yesterday, I didn't have the problem with flameout, but anytime the engine was in an inverted attitude during a manuever, the engine would bog down. There was a noticable loss of power and I could definitely hear the RPM drop. That happened on the ground as well as while airborne.

Any ideas?

Reset both the valves to .003"
You may need to lean both the regulator and idle, but do the regulator first.

Let me know.

Things are getting weird.

I checked the valve clearance and it was dead-on. I took it out yesterday and tried it. I swapped props to a Master Airscrew 15x8 and I can't get more than about 8200rpm. The engine keeps running however, but it seems to be lacking in power. So, I put back on the APC 14x10 and could get the top end close to 8800rpm. As soon as I picked up the plane and changed it's orientation, the engine quit. No surging, just died.

A couple of other notes. The engine was very hot after running, too hot to touch. After a run, I could hear an air leak coming from somewhere. And lastly, there seems to be a ton of oil on the engine and in the enginc compartment. I have the exhaust deflected so that this oil can't be from the muffler.

Any ideas?

Sounds like something is loose. Time to pull the engine a check all the bolts. It has to be sucking air someplace.

I took the engine out and checked all the bolts. Everything was tight, so I decided to change the gaskets. That seems to have solved the problem. The midrange is still a bit off and needs a bit of fine-tuning, but it's running stronger and I haven't had a dead-stick since I changed out the gaskets.

Thanks for all your help.

Glad you found the problem. Keep us posted on your progress.

Good Flying!