Bob Moore

Thanks Cas but unfortunately no choke on this carb, that would be ideal. I thought about removing the air filter and putting my hand over the intake, but I want to be able to start it in flight Not easy to fit another butterfly either. Injecting fuel is the easiest was to get it going.

Advice wanted please! Getting desperate for ideas to sort this Solo 210 I acquired a couple of months back, which had been unused for 20 years, sat in someones garage. (You may have seen my original posts asking for parts advice etc. It arrived minus the coil.) Been paragliding 15+ years and looking to get into power flying. I couldn't source the original coil anymore but 2nd coil I fitted a Stihl chainsaw coil that went in ok with a bit of fiddling and I had a spark. This is a magneto coil, ie no points, no battery necessary. I cleaned the fuel tank, did some rewiring, new fuel pipes, fuel filter, serviced the carb with new parts (done in twice now) . Woo hoo it started. I've had the 4 bladed prop off, rubbed it down , re-varnished, balanced it too! Super, it starts and runs well when started cold, and runs beautifully , picks up well, revs well. BUT, stop it and leave it for 10 mins and it won't start on the button. It's electric start. You can crank it forever but fuel is not getting into the pot. Drop a bit of petrol into the spark plug hole it will fire run again OK. I have tested crankcase pressure, good. When you are cranking it the crankcase pressure driven fuel pump that is part of the carb is pumping fuel. Carb is clean, jets are clean, I've dismantled it several times now and blown it with my airline. And anyhow, when running it runs beautifully. Pop off pressure I thought, this is the bit that opens the fuel metering diaphram and allows fuel in. Yesterday I replaced the fuel metering spring. £3. This can have an effect on running if it's weak. It started OK this morning revved up OK. Ran it 10 mins and stopped it . Went back ten mins later and cranked it with the electric start, wouldn't start. Dropped a bit of fuel down the decompressor vacuum tube which goes straight into the carb inlet manifold. (Incidentally I have had the decompressor off too and checked it!) Started no trouble. (Sorry this becoming an essay but I have been working on this reluctance to start when hot prob for weeks now.) I checked Pop off pressure with my home made device seems to be 12 lbs per square inch which should be OK and this runs beautifully anyway? The video is it running after my latest change, ie metering spring. I intend to train on this machine when I 'm happy with it, but I would like a motor that will restart when I'm in the air so that I can shut down and restart. A new carb is £81 Warbro WB32. Some people have successfully used WB 37. I am reluctant to shell out £81 and find the problem still exists and in any case, I find it hard to believe there is anything fundamentally wrong with the carb. It's a lump of metal with a few holes drilled in it and some diaphrams. It's cost me £160 to get this running OK (I got it for free.) £81 if it worked would still be a cheap motor. SO, please has anyone else got any other ideas as I think I've covered all bases. (And please don't say buy a new £3000 - £4000 xyz motor!) I am considering making a secondary priming device that I can operate while in the air which will inject a little fuel into the inlet manifold via the decompressor tube. That would be a fiddle but should work. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afx1ZrdxvHY&index=1&list=PLLdle7NDE_1ZJPsIze-5j_ATXkyc_j2uj

Briliant. Look forward to seeing some video!

Thanks Tom! I didn't want to fly it till I was 100% sure it was OK. I'm now 99% and as long as my first test location has suitable close bomb outs I'll be happy. I'd still rather a machine with a clutch, having spent a couple of hours last week with a mate (many many years a pg pilot) making his first few flights. I reckon I'll be ok on the right day where I can reverse launch and keep the wing up. And I haven't got a spare £2 or £3k to spend on another machine anyway! I don't much like the design of the hand throttle and might modify it. The kill switch is not easy to reach when holding the throttle with a gloved hand, especially my chunky heated gloves, and advice I've had is always be ready to kill the motor if you are needing to abort a take off. One good thing about tinkering is you really get to know your motor. I've read that a CHT is a useful bit of kit. I guess I could use a mate's laser thermometer gadget to see how hot it runs, though in the air I imagine cooling will be better than in my static tests as there would be better air flow around the motor. Have you sorted your garage find now?

Right. I made a compression tester for the crankcase and tested yesterday. Positive pressure 10lbs a square inch held the pressure well. Pressure testing involves taking off carb and exhaust and blanking off the ports and when I reassembled I used some blue Hylomar on the gaskets for a really good leak free seal. Pressure tested the carb for blow off point which appeared to be OK, about 10 -12 lbs per square inch, so I reassembled that. Started it this morning and it ran. That was a good thing! And ran well. Tickover a bit faster now so dropped it down a bit , bit of carb tuning again, high end, and it runs well. Stopped and restarted it ok after a couple of minutes. I left it off for 20 mins as this was the problem I'd had, it had not wanted to restart after a longer period, even after priming. This mornings test - quick prime and it started and ran well. Maybe I have solved the problem just by making sure carb and exhaust were properly seated? Who knows. Time will tell! Thanks for all the input guys.

Exactly! Fuel, compression, spark.

Hi Kiwi K , haven't actually done a compression test yet. Hope to rig something today. As far as electrics go hard to imagine it could breakdown as it's so simple. Just a magneto coil, HT lead and plug. No points etc. Mix issue and fouling the plug I could imagine though. Anyhow, I'll try and do a crankcase test today. It has been suggested to me that a motor that has sat around for 25 years might well have poor seals anyway. We will; see. Fault finding is a process of elimination!

Thanks for that Kiwi K. I figured last night that rigging a pump and gauge to the vacuum pipe might work, good to see that's what the tester used. I've got a foot pump with a gauge too. I've been reading up on methods and obviously testing is easier if the whole unit has been removed and stripped down but I don't want to go that far yet. I'll have a go at rigging something tomorrow but with the motor as is. A hot/warm test would be the best really but any sign of a leak would be useful of course. Lots of other useful examples of tests linked on that YouTube video too. Thanks.

No doesn't drain back. I fitted new pipes and filter plus new priming bulb so non return valve is good. And I prime it carefully till fuel runs out of the carb, then give it a go. I read somewhere about testing crankcase seals by pressurising the crankcase, anybody know how to do this please? It's one of the things I haven't been able to check. I'm wondering if the seals soften when really hot and start allow pressure leakage? Or I'm thinking a problem with the automatic decompressor just staying open or leaking and not enough compression in the cylinder. If I could unscrew it I'd fit a manual one like Tom. At least you have the choice of not opening it if you decide.

Good news, not giving up yet and I also have a couple of mates not too far away with fields. Haven't flown it yet though. As I say first off it runs really well, it's just the restart that bugs me! Sometime soon I will get off the ground with it! I could do so now really I just want it to be right!

Slightly off Tom's topic but in some ways relevant. You may recall I acquired a Solo 210 a few weeks back. It had been in someones garage for 20 years and was minus coil. Long story cut short but I found a Stihl chainsaw coil that just about fitted , serviced the carb with kit and after some re wiring and other stuff, pipe work, fuel filter etc. It starts and runs beautifully when cold. Pick up from tickover to full revs is smooth and it sounds great. Stop it and restart it a couple of mins later (it's electric start) and it starts without problem. BUT .... leave it 15 mins and you can spin it over forever and not get a cough. Prime it carefully to avoid flooding, nothing, prime it a bit more, nothing. Put a bit of fuel into the pot via the plug hole. Maybe, it fires, maybe not. If it fires it runs beautifully again. I have tuned and retuned the carb numerous times. Run it for an hour, no problems. Plug is a nice colour. But I want to know why it won't start after say 15 or 20 mins. I checked the mag air gap again yesterday as sometimes the spark looks very weak after it won't start. (Fouled plug?) Bear in mind I had to botch the casing to fit this magneto. reduced the gap a bit more. (A thin business card gap.) Ran it again today and it ran beautifully when first started, but 15 mins later, awful to start again. There's plenty of compression and it's believed that this motor was barely used when it was bought 20 years ago. I'm going to refit the carb again tomorrow and put a bit of gasket goo on gaskets to make double sure no air is finding it's way in though I'm pretty sure that can't be the case. I'm wondering ... 1. Could it be something to do with the decompressor (hence posting this here) I'd like to remove it and blank the hole, but my first careful attempt at unscrewing it didn't want to budge it. I assume it just screws into the head? Removing it would eliminate that as a source of trouble. Is there any way to test it? 2. Horrible thought. It has been suggested to me that it might be the crankshaft seals. OK when cold and when running, but left for 20 mins and they go soft? Doesn't make sense to me as it runs so nicely when first started. I've seen it suggested on a forum that to test the seals one should pour 2 stroke mix straight into the engine and see if it leaks. There must be an easier way. 3. But also, quite often after standing for a while the plug spark looks weak or non-existent (which would explain why it's reluctant to even cough with a drop of fuel in the pot.) Could it be it doesn't like my mix? 50 - 1, or doesn't like the 2T I'm using. That seems more logical as when cold it's OK, but after running and standing the residue of oil on the plug stops it firing? I've read up on pop off pressures for the carb and measured the gap between the body and canitlever, looks fine and there are no symptoms of poor running which would indicate starvation or too much fuel anyway. Sorry this has turned into an essay but I just wanted to show I have explored LOADS of solutions! Any suggestions welcome please. Everytime I retune the carb and fiddle with this I think I've cracked the problem and then the next day it's starts great. Run 15 - 20 mins. Rev it up, leave it sitting at tickover etc. lovely. Then I wait a while and I'm back to square one. Has anyone ever replace the crankcase seals in one of these motors? And can you still find them anyway? I couldn't get hold of the original mag coil after weeks of searching. A complete strip down would give a job for the summer. I got the motor for free but have spent £150 so far! Thought about a new carb, £60? But I don't believe that it's where the problem lies. cheers Bob (Interesting to see you're still having fun with the one you acquired Tom (

Ps I trust you have a new plug and good clean fuel? Of course you have, you're an aviator!

Sounds like the slow running screw jet? Mine was quite critical. Try it screwed out a bit more maybe, then once running screw in and lean it till it picks up a little then back off a very little. If the high is too far out it also doesn't like it! I followed some online recommended settings for mine and they were way too far open. Though dying immediately sounds a bit like fuel starvation? And yes Kiwi mate, I know you have the answers!

Hi Tom, I followed your ppl adventures on Facebook (jealous? Moi?) And adventures in Sweden too! And just saw the pics of the paramotor on Facebook. It does look very similar to mine except I have a 37 inch dia 4 bladed prop. I assume yours is bigger as it's two bladed? Mine is Fly Products (so it says on the cage anyway!) Tank is different too. Re the carb, mine is a Warbro 32 but I see the question has been answered. Re the prop Kiwi K. The construction is such that it is two sections of two laminated wooden blades that are clamped as a X when bolted into position. I made a crude balancer yesterday and it worked quite well checking the balance of each half. One was pretty much perfect, one was slightly heavy on one blade but barely a fraction of a gram at the tip would be all it needed to balance it Pretty much ok. Of course what I can't really tell is how much they may have warped or twisted in a damp garage. I think the cage vibration might be caused by my fitting a top flexible engine mount that is just too firm. I'm going to order the right one from FreshBreeze. Haven't changed the needle as yet but did fit a different and smaller inline fuel filter as the first one I fitted held a lot of air. I've put two or three litres of fuel through the motor now and it's running really well.

Thanks for the responses guys. I have already fitted a new carb service kit, pump membrane etc. when I did the refit as it hadn't been used for 20 years. But didn't replace the needle though did remove it and take a look and blow it through. I deliberately didn't mess with the carb too much beyond replacing the pump membrane and perishable items as it had been a runner before and was waiting to see how it behaved. Might be an idea now to replace the needle too and the fulcrum with the one in the kit as well. Today though I ran the motor for 15 mins and it restarted ok. I think the trick was blip the throttle before hitting the kill switch so there was some fuel in the pot for the next start. No air leaks either as I have already replaced all the pipe work and fuel filter. Thanks for the comment about the filter. I looked at loads online and went for that as it was similar to the one I took off. I plan to put a fail safe around it to prevent it falling off and hitting the prop. Thanks for the Mirror comments! Hadn't sailed a dinghy for 30 years, after 70,000 miles of yacht sailing! Great fun and cheap to keep and a good alternative hobby for those none flying days, of which there are many! Latest thing I'm trying to do is stop some of the vibration of the cage. I bought a new set of engine mounts, same stud size but 80 kgs shear strength. Only replaced the top one which was busted, but think it may be too firm compared to the Fresh Breeze one. hence not absorbing the engine vibration. I'm going to order the FreshBreeze one. But also attempted to test the prop balance. This is a four bladed wooden prop and had been in a damp garage for 20 years. Seems a little out of balance and it may be warped, I don't know how well it was stored? Going well so far though!

Tuned the carb and it's running nicely and revs pic up smoothly. Doesn't want to start again easily unless I prime again which is a pain as I 'm not sure In could restart in flight. I've read that this can be to do with the pop off pressure in the carb but I'm reluctant to start messing with that. It involves bending the small fulcrum that opens the needle valve. Anybody have ideas why warm starting might be reluctant? Here's video of it running (well secured!) Stupid YouTube is showing the wrong image but it plays as Solko motor running? reposted it 3 times? You can skip my description of work I've done. Video of it running starts at 1m 20s so

OK, finally got it running with this chainsaw coil. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/262550101972?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT Bit of a fiddle to fit it in the housing. One screw was in the right place but I had to drill a hole in the casing for the other screw. And as I have discovered the air gap is indeed very critical. I got it running a couple of days back but then reinstalled the coil in such a way to make it more secure and then I had no spark. The lock nut for one screw is on the curve at the back of the casing as you tightened it changed the air gap. Not very secure really, so I put a little aluminium plate inside and outside to stop it moving. Fitted it and refitted it and with an air gap of less than 10 though got a spark and got it firing. It's still reluctant to start without priming with a little fuel straight into the spark plug hole but hopefully some carb tuning will sort that. When running the tickover is good and it picks up OK but I'm being very gentle with it as it's thought that it may not have been run in yet despite the age of it. It appears the advive is 25 to 1 fuel mix for the first 10 hours and then 50 to 1. The wire from the coil is the kill wire as I had to try it to stop the engine. I'm just waiting now for an ht lead splicer as I need to extend the plug cap. The lead on the chainsaw coil is short by a few inches. And I need to figure the wiring on the throttle for the kill switch. But it's looking hopeful as a runner. Thanks for the help and advice. One question/ Air filter. The one fitted was broken and a mate with a workshop said he thought it was too small to handle the engine airflow anyway. It was one of these. https://www.amazon.co.uk/RC-0790-Universal-Chrome-Filter/dp/B00062YO4A I don't know whether to just fit the same or fit a bigger one? What have other people got on a 210 cc motor?

OK, finally got it running with this chainsaw coil. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/262550101972?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT Bit of a fiddle to fit it in the housing. One screw was in the right place but I had to drill a hole in the casing for the other screw. And as I have discovered the air gap is indeed very critical. I got it running a couple of days back but then reinstalled the coil in such a way to make it more secure and then I had no spark. The lock nut for one screw is on the curve at the back of the casing as you tightened it changed the air gap. Not very secure really, so I put a little aluminium plate inside and outside to stop it moving. Fitted it and refitted it and with an air gap of less than 10 though got a spark and got it firing. It's still reluctant to start without priming with a little fuel straight into the spark plug hole but hopefully some carb tuning will sort that. When running the tickover is good and it picks up OK but I'm being very gentle with it as it's thought that it may not have been run in yet despite the age of it. It appears the advive is 25 to 1 fuel mix for the first 10 hours and then 50 to 1. The wire from the coil is the kill wire as I had to try it to stop the engine. I'm just waiting now for an ht lead splicer as I need to extend the plug cap. The lead on the chainsaw coil is short by a few inches. And I need to figure the wiring on the throttle for the kill switch. But it's looking hopeful as a runner. Thanks for the help and advice. One question/ Air filter. The one fitted was broken and a mate with a workshop said he thought it was too small to handle the engine airflow anyway. It was one of these. https://www.amazon.co.uk/RC-0790-Universal-Chrome-Filter/dp/B00062YO4A I don't know whether to just fit the same or fit a bigger one? What have other people got on a 210 cc motor?

Still not sparking. I think I may have the wrong coil. The Stihl chainsaw coil says it does not need points so maybe that will do the job?

Though thinking about it, the coil must have one connection to ground. The HT lead carries one pole and the ground is the engine casing.

The coil connections on mine go into captive threads in a plastic casing so are isolated from ground anyway, apart from the fact that I actually grounded to earth from the metal body. Maybe that's where I've gone wrong? I'll try it without grounding the body!

What amazes me is this price difference for what appears to be the same module? £113.75 here https://www.lsengineers.co.uk/ignition-module-stihl-part-no-1122-400-1314.html £12.99 here http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ignition-Coil-Module-Fits-STIHL-066-046-MS460-MS650-MS660-new-1122-400-1314-/262550101972 $11.60 here https://www.amazon.com/Ignition-Module-Stihl-044MAG-Chainsaw/dp/B00SM8M3J8/ref=pd_sbs_86_7?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B00SM8M3J8&pd_rd_r=Z2XSTE32VC0DC4KHQ4M6&pd_rd_w=xOt1s&pd_rd_wg=oJdvI&psc=1&refRID=Z2XSTE32VC0DC4KHQ4M6 How can that be?

Thnaks Cas. Yes, I have seen that grounding that tab kills the motor (if you are lucky enough to have one that runs!) I think I might take a chance and try the one you linked Cas. Did you see that listed as possible replacement for the Solo 210 coil? I am encouraged by the fact the manual says it doesn't need points? Might do the job?

Interestingly the ignition on the Sthil chainsaw just has ... The electronic (breakerless) ignition system basically consists of an ignition module (1) and flywheel (2). .... and it doesn't appear to have points ... Ignition timing is fixed and cannot be adjusted during repair or servicing work Since there is no mechanical wear in these systems, ignition timing cannot get out of adjustment as a result of wear. .... It might be worth another gamble, thanks.

Problem is the coil was removed before I acquired this so I have no idea what it looked like or if there were other small parts in the casing. Nothing is shown on the Freshbreeze link above though.