tomarnold

I have had some great flights over the past few evenings - some high flights up with the clouds, and some low ones doing a bit of hedge-hopping. Great fun. However, if I let the motor idle (for example when I want to lose some height) the idle will start fine at around 2400rpm, which is what Fresh Breeze recommend for their solo 210 motor, but this only lasts a few seconds before it dies down and down and down to a very lumpy 1200 or so. Then when I throttle back up it gives a little hiccup before picking up smoothly. I have cleaned the carb thoroughly and checked the float level (Bing 84 carb) and changed the plug and cap, but can't get to the bottom of the problem. Any thoughts?

Ah, just realised that the page you linked to is for the B8HS-10, not the B8HS. I searched for B8HS and came up with this: http://www.ngk.com/product.aspx?zpid=9251 which says the gap should be 0.6mm. Perhaps FB suggest 0.4mm so it stresses the ignition system less? (Evidently I am no spark plug expert - take my guesses with a pinch of salt!)

Hmm, that is very interesting. I was advised 0.4mm by fresh breeze themselves, so that is what I set the gap at. However, I have been having trouble with idling, so perhaps fresh breeze meant inches not mm (although I just checked their email which does definitely specify 0.4mm). I'm flying this evening so I'll set the plug to 1mm and see how it runs...

Nope, 0.4mm not inches

He he he, oops, 0.4mm

I fly a fresh breeze solo 210 with tuned pipe, and I use a NGK B8HS plug with a 4mm gap. Hope this helps. Is it a fresh breeze machine?

Recently sold my Rad Arrow and now I fly a Fresh Breeze Solo 210. More power and lovely and quiet. Having said that, the Rad was great for my first year of flying.

A little update for anybody who it may help (those with a Bing carb)... I ordered a new slide needle and clip from Fresh Breeze. I fitted it this evening and when I compared it with the old one it was in much much better condition. The old one was very worn. So I fitted the new one in the top notch (as advised by FB), fitted a new spark plug and cap, and hey presto, a motor that ran like a dream. So I battled a takeoff wading through waist-deep grass (the farmer cut the one next door but hasn't done my takeoff field yet) and had a wonderful fly. And the Small size Sky Anakis that I just bought was great fun!

Got a reply from Fresh Breeze today - they said 0.4mm which is quite a bit narrower than I previously thought. Will have to check it when I get home...

How do you know what the gap should be for your plug? I've got a Fresh Breeze Solo 210, but it doesn't have any information in the manual about spark plug gap.

Thanks again for all the advice. A little update from the shed... I swapped the flexible hose back to the original stiffer one, moved the needle up to the second notch, and screwed the idle screw right in, and finally managed a smoothish idle of around 1700rpm. Hooray! Will fly on Thursday evening if the weather forecast is correct, and see how it is in the air. Fingers crossed...

Thanks Alan, I will try that this evening. I think it was in the second position when I bought it, but Fresh Breeze said it should be in the top position. Still, worth a try...

Thanks. How high would you say the level should be? When I take the bowl off the level is around 1/2 to 3/4 full. I replaced the floats so I know they are not the problem.

I am having problems with my Solo 210 motor with Bing 84 carb, and I hope you can help. It idles really rough and floods very easily. When I start it, it runs quite rough and the idle is slow even when I screw the idle screw (the big screw) in. If I turn the mixture screw (the small one) it seems to have no effect on the idle speed. It will rev up to full power and take off alright, but then it runs a bit rough below about 1/3 throttle. When I flew it yesterday I found that at 1/3 throttle it would run ‘lumpy’ - it is hard to hold it at constant revs. Full-power is fine, but anything below about 1/3 is hard to keep constant. Sometimes it will die right down to nearly cut out and then it will rev back up again. If I leave the motor idling on its own it will idle at very low revs (below 900rpm) and then it will stop after about 10 seconds. The engine is then hard to restart (I think it is flooded) If I then take the spark plug out it is covered in oil. But if I take off straight away, the motor will run fairly well and then the spark plug is a light brown colour with no oil. I have checked that there are no air leaks around the hose that joins the engine to the carburettor, and also I have given the carburettor a really thorough clean to ensure there is nothing blocking the idle jet. Any ideas? Please help!

Thanks, but I've already spoken to the guy there and they deal mainly with membrane carbs and don't stock Bing parts.

Well, the title says it all really. Just bought a fresh breeze motor with a Bing 84 carb, and the only service kits I can find online are from the US. Does anybody know of a supplier in the UK?

Oops, my bad wording! I know you need a harness but I wondered if it matters what kind of harness. So thanks Alan, that was a really helpful post. I think I'll try it with my freeflying harness first as I have a lightweight airbag harness (so not bulky) which is really comfortable. Then if that doesn't work well I will look at buying a wingman. Alan, do you have a phone number or email address you could send me via private message or email? It would be great to talk to somebody with direct experience. Thanks again.

Another slightly different but related question... Fresh Breeze in Germany have been really helpful and are selling me secondhand j-bars and jettison straps. They have also offered me a Wingman harness at a good price but I'm not sure if I can afford it and indeed if I even need it. Do I understand correctly that the harness doesn't actually attach to the frame at all but that you wear the motor unit with the shoulder straps and then the harness is suspended from the j-bars? If that's right, does that mean that the harness does not attach to the frame directly? And if so, how does it not twist on your back when powering up?

Nice one, thanks Alan. Will have a proper look after work today...

I am thinking of buying a Fresh Breeze Solo 210 motor, but it doesn't have any harness or suspension system (it was mounted on a trike). Could anybody help me with some advice on what I would need to attach an Apco harness to it? My current motor, a Rad Arrow, doesn't have any j-bars - the risers connect directly to the high hangpoints on the harness and the harness clips directly to the frame. So I have no experience of j-bars. Do you think I could buy a universal harness (like the Supair or the Apco) and then buy a set of j-bars from Fresh Breeze? I'm not quite sure which parts I would need to buy in order to set it up. I spoke to Dan Burton at Fresh Breeze UK and he advised me to buy their harness and quick-jettison setup. Which of course is fair enough and is good advice, but I don't think my budget will stretch to that. So I'd like to know if I can do it with a secondhand harness. Do I even need the j-bars? Or could I attach the harness to the frame like I do with my Rad Arrow and then suspend from the hangpoints on the harness?

Sorry to ask silly questions, but is the spring washer touching the prop plate or the head of the bolt? In other words, which order do the flat washer and spring washer go in? And is the flat washer necessary?

So perhaps not a good idea on the exhaust. Do people use them on the prop bolts? Mine are the type that screw into a threaded hub rather than having locknuts on the ends.

I'm replacing the nuts and bolts on my prop and exhaust, and was wondering if I should use spring washers as an extra bit of anti-vibration. I have read mixed things about them, some people really hate them.

And thanks to enzo200500 for the tips too.

Wow, is that really the same cylinder and piston? If so, I think I might have to get one of those! How do you know it's the same? (and thanks for the tip!)