I will ask again.

Does an adaptor have to be made, or are they available, to convert the spark plug hole to a glow plug size hole?


Ed S

[gkm41]

Hi Ed, I orderd mine from Horizon, think it was just over 7 bucks, wasn't worth the time to make one.... It's a Zenoah Gas-Glow plug adapter, part number ZEN 23445. I think it's on the Great hobbies site but they didn't have any in stock when I had checked...... hope that helps.

[Vulcan1]

I am not sure why you would want to convert to a mix with a glow plug unless it is to play with. Whenever I played with alky engines years ago I did not see the advantage. They require a larger carb, burn more and you can not with a glow plug set your timing for optimum power. With a regular glow engine you can adjust timing by changing heat ranges but I don't think it will work with the larger gas engines. On a vehicle the weight is not much of a concern but with us in our models it is.
Getting rid of the flywheel and heavy coil for a weight saving is the main reason for electronic ignition but you also gain a battery. With the newer batteries that can also be reduced by using a smaller battery and charge between flights. Most guy's fly for maybe 15 min. then shoot the breeze for 1/2 an hour and while it is sitting there it can be pluged in.
As somebody that likes to play I would like a good explanation why I would switch from a cdi to more of a headache for setting up.
Just my opinion,
John

gkm41,

Thank you it did help.

Ed S

[jessy]

Here Ed
Just click on the link...http://www.greathobbies.com/producti...od_id=ZEN23445

Jesse

[Thunder Chicken]

burn more and you can not with a glow plug set your timing for optimum power. With a regular glow engine you can adjust timing by changing heat ranges but I don't think it will work with the larger gas engines. On a vehicle the weight is not much of a concern but with us in our models it is.
Getting rid of the flywheel and heavy coil for a weight saving is the main reason for electronic ignition but you also gain a battery. With the newer batteries that can also be reduced by using a smaller battery and charge between flights. Most guy's fly for maybe 15 min. then shoot the breeze for 1/2 an hour and while it is sitting there it can be pluged in.
As somebody that likes to play I would like a good explanation why I would switch from a cdi to more of a headache for setting up.

Actually, the fuel burn is about the same as it is with just Gas. It can be a bit of tinkering around to get working, but the main advantage, it is cheap!!! And for a Spad, or some other large plane that did not cost big $$ to make, it can be a cheap way to get it into the air! ( hopefully it will keep in the air!! but thats part of the fun!)
So, the main reason for me to try, was cheap, cheap, cheap!! But then again, my 8' spad only cost about $30 to build, and even after the few crashes its had (thanks to the engine) it has required 0 repairs!! Just a new prop =)

[jessy]

Thunder Chicken...was the engine on your spad that caused your plane to to down a gas or a gas/glow mix or a ch ignition thing???

I'm sure glad you see it my way too; It is cheap and if it is reliable enough i can put it in my 1/4 scale cub. Who cares if i have to come in dead stick...

that way i can do only one tough and go!!! or rather one touch...

anyways i'll try and keep my results posted when i get to fiddle with a couple of homies i have here.

Jesse

[Wayne V]

Well we had great sucess yesterday as my weedeater 21cc and my friends poulan 42cc ( the one from princess auto ) were both sucessfully run on the glow/gas setup. We mixed 1 part morgan 10/10 glow fuel ( Super T fuel 10% nitro/10% oil )to 2 parts premium gasoline. Flywheel, coil, and spark plug were removed and after breaking all the ceramic off the spark plug we inserted a 3/8" pc of solid aluminum rod, then we tapped the 1/4/32 thread and inserted an OS type F fourstroke plug. We spent quite a while setting up the carb and lots of time flipping the prop ( wish we had a starter big enough ), but finally we got them running, even when the glow ignitor was removed i was surprized that the 1 part glow fuel was enough to keep the plug lit and the engine running. Still have lots of tweaking to do to get them dialed in, i don't have #'s on the 42cc but so far on my weedeater 21cc i got 7200rpm on a 16x8 prop which by my Thrust/HP calculator is 1.4HP and 10.19lbs of thrust, not bad for a free, (given to me) old weedeater, after some more tweaking i'm sure i can better those #'s. Haven't checked the 42cc yet but my 21cc weighs in at 32oz and that's still with the steel muffler, i will be making an aluminum one soon. I will post some pics when i get my camera back.

[Wayne V]

Here are some pics of my weedeater conversion. See the pic of the regular automotive sparkplug and my glow plug adapter, you will see that i cut it in two places and then ground two flats so i could use a 9/16" wrench, once cut the ceramic will almost fall out, you are left with a 3/8" hole at the top but there is a shoulder at 5/16", i drilled this to .36" and pressed in the 3/8" aluminum rod then tapped it to 1/4-32. Still no muffler or velocity stack on this engine yet and i'm getting 7200 rpm on a 17x6 which looks like it will be good for my 9'-10' B2 bomber spad that i'm getting ready to build.

[Wayne V]

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