Glowgeek

Very interesting esmithga. An older non-ringed fa80T, very cool. Love the fix, very creative and makes perfect sense. I would love to know what prop/rpm you're getting from it.

Vinnie6

Esmithga, that's brilliant. Must have been VERY satisfying. Now you can get years and years more out of your 80 twin.

esmithga

Hi Glowgeek,

Well with a 13X6 APC I can get just over 9k but it takes a bit of time for it to get there. The 12X6 APC is a bit better but not much. I may get 9.2k but that is pushing it. And the smaller prop just does not give me enough thrust. These are not powerhouses engines by any means.

But they really look cool. Saito engines are one of my favorites. They have engineered some great mini engines over the many years.

I had a 65 inch Hangar 9 Ultra Stick with a Satio 91 on it. My favorite go to plane all setup with crow and all dialed in. It few like it was on rails. Just loved it and had it for over 13 years with a ton of flights then a few weeks ago while flying low and on a 45 degree down leg I lost radio signal. My favorite JR 9503 with the internal Spektrum 2.4 DSM2 went south on me and I lost it. I have tested my 9503 and have isolated the issue down to either the board where the Spektrum module is installed or the module itself. I'll continue debugging it because that is what I have to do. :-)

Hangar 9 does not make the same 65 inch ultra stick model any longer but they are making the 10cc with a 60 inch wing span and the 30 cc with an 81 inch wing span. I purchased the the 10cc and decided to try one of my FA-80Ts on it. Well as noted above it is not a powerhouse.

Both engines were the first series of the FA-80Ts with the single carb and they had never been run since new and new was around 1981.
(I just found a dual carb on ebay that will fit the FA-80T so I could not help myself and I should have it next week.)

One issue I had with both other than the broken rockers was a lot of blow by in the valves in number 1 cylinder. So I decided to do a valve job on both engines. I grew up working in my fathers automotive machine shop. We don't have it anymore but a drill and some emery cloth and the valves cleaned up very nice however they still didn't seat so off to the local autoparts store for some lapping compound. I manually lapped the valves and eventually got a very good seal and great compression.

But with all that said I still do not get anymore power out of it then I did before so now my new Ultra Stick has my recovered FA-91 on it and yesterday I test few it with excellent results and great performance. I normally run an APC 14X6 prop on the FA-91 but I had a 14X8 Zoeller wood prop that I wanted to try and I think it worked well but need some more time on the sticks to be sure.
But the FA-91 can really pull the Ultra Stick. Take offs are almost immediate off the ground and into vertical where the FA-80 took most of the field and then the plane was very sluggish and hard to get any climb rate at all.

So when the dual carb comes I'll do some bench time with it and see if it changes the characteristics any. If it does I may put it back on the Ultra Sick. I made special mounting plates for the FA-80T and separate for the FA-91 that will make it easy to swap the engines. I could swap that at the field in probably 10 minutes on the Ultra Stick.

More fun to come. :-)

Evan

esmithga

Thank you....

I love this hobby. It includes all my favorite things: Flying, engineering, electronics and good old brain power. I wish I had a lot more of the later... :-)

Glowgeek

Perhaps not high revving powerhouses compared to the equivalent singles but they do make good torque. According to the manual it will turn a TF 14x6 @ 8500 peak on 10% nitro. That's fairly impressive for a twin 80. AFAIK, the early 80T did not come with a "High Series" cam for high revs.

You're preaching to the choir around here brother.

It will be interesting to see if the dual carb config helps with top end rpm. It will almost certainly help with idle and transition due to a better balance of air/fuel between each cylinder. A fun project for sure.

Surely so. The 91 makes approx 1.5 hp whereas the 80T makes closer to .85 hp.

govsux1

Hey love Sig!! All my planes were Sig... well until now. Bought used Telemaster Sr... a lot like the Sig Senior!! I bought a Saito 91 for it but I don't have it yet. Setting up the plane now / installing servos etc need to know something.. Can the carb be reversed?? That is to say can you change which side the needle valve is on?? Sure looks possible looking at pics. thx

Glowgeek

Absolutely. That's one of the very nice features of saito singles. Take out the two carb retaining screws, swing the carb off to the side, flip it around.....that easy. No need to remove the intake tube from the cylinder head or the carb from the intake tube.

I fly my Sr Telemaster with a Saito FG21 gasser, a very good match for that plane too.

govsux1

Great thanks

govsux1

Thanks!!!

Glowgeek

You're welcome. Love your user name.

govsux1

Dang that's a big'n bet it's got a damn good climb rate!

the Wasp

My Feedback: (1)

if this helps any one some time? that's why it's posted

Glowgeek

Yes sir, the FG21 spins an APC 16x6 at 8600 richened for flight so it pulls the Sr Tele around pretty good. I use that plane to buddy box with new pilots, flying around at 1/2 throttle mostly.

Important to note, the Saito FG21 gasser makes about 18% less hp than its methanol equivalent, the FA-125. The FG21 spins the 16x6 prop a little faster than an FA-100 but a little slower than an FA-115. The beauty about using Saito gassers is the reduced fuel consumption, 45 minutes of flight time on 8oz of fuel at 1/2 throttle.

1200SportsterRider

That would make these your rockers: https://www.horizonhobby.com/product...f/SAI5041.html

Glowgeek

Fits all Saito engines FA-45S thru FA-125, FA-100T, FA-182TD, FA-170R3, FA-200R3, FA-325R5D, FA-100TI, FA-200TI, FG-11, FG-14C, FG-17, FG-21, FG-33R3, FG-60R3, FG-73R5 Four-Stroke Engines.

And the 80T using esmithga's helicoil mod.

govsux1

Yea I came up with that 20 years ago while I was doing my taxes LOL

Jesse Open

Ouch, I hear you fine. Did a one year solid of 12/7. That was 5:00 PM to 5:30 AM doing heavy machine repair. Had a few weeks of 94-98 hours along the way at GM too.
Any time you need more nitromethane or methanol, just drop me a line, plenty on hand.

Still converting those FG-xx Saito gaspers over to CDI/methanol. Makes a swell conversion.



10DE321D A7AB 4CE7 B1F6 5E554377DA91

erieqc

Thanks Gary for the offer and all the help I really appreciate it. There’s mornings I have to be to work at 2:30 and get done around 7. Just in time to do it again all again and he next day. I never see my wife so happy if we can sleep in until 3.

Jesse Open

Sure leaves little room for flying! No wonder methanol had been so cheap lately!

Vinnie6

My helicoil came and the threads are repaired and the engine is back together. It took some patient persuasion to get the threads in the rocker arm pin to grab the new threaded insert in the cylinder head. But once it grabbed it screwed in nice and stiff. Exactly what I wanted. There is little chance of it loosening itself now. Thanks again Esmithga for this amazing tip. Now I fully expect this engine to be back in service for a very long time.

Glowgeek

Glad it worked out so well for you Vinnie!

1200SportsterRider

Those rocker arm support brackets get special screws, treated with a thread locker.

Glowgeek

Good morning everyone. I see Pedro is back from his Caribbean vacation. Must be nice!

modeltronics

My Feedback: (27)

It was nice
Now it is too hot and windy to go flying. I can't wait for Sept and Oct here in Texas. The best months for flying here.
Pedro

Glowgeek

Yeah, the temps and humidity have been evil here, haven't flown in weeks. Supposed to be nicer here starting tomorrow, high temps forecasted in the mid 80's for a couple of weeks.