Blackburn Mark

Above is a V5 head... looks like 57mm stud spacing to me... same stud spacing as the Taida B-Block as is used for the 232cc (67mm piston +10.2mm stroker crank) Maybe you are talking about the earlier models? I am assuming (for now) that Eos may be re-enlarging the crankcase cavity to reduce its peak pressure... any info Jock?

Hang on to that... keep you nice and safe. Its tricky to describe our "bump tolerance" to each other in this sport. I personally find I get uncomfortable or the flying becomes physically taxing before things get to what I would describes as dangerous (assuming some skill with active flying) For example, the last time I launched (last week) it was 6/10mph wind (20+ aloft) and sunny... I was 90% sure it would be a bit shit but with 10mph, the takeoff would be easy so I though I would suck it and see.... I was correct, it was a bit shit. 10mins of active flying was enough for me... not particularly dangerous, just shit so I packed up and sulked instead. If I have to fly active for long periods, ill head for home... its just not fun if I cant pick my nose, scratch my arse and watch the world meander by in a relatively chilled fashion. If however, (as happens reasonably often on a long flight) I take a bit of a kicking where I end up as twitchy as a gunslinger with my breaks, if I have a good idea why EG: "I encountered the bottom of an inversion" or "I dropped into rotor", then I will probably manage to continue on with a jam buttie in one hand and a smoke in the other (just as soon as I have put some space between me and offending airmass) I haven't managed to quantify anything useful with this have I Pretty sure it describes what most pilots feel though... no matter what their skill level.

Grip the clutch bell with your hand and use an impact gun. It may take a short spell before the nut begins to undo so persist until it does. If you don't have an impact gun, take it to your local garage with a packet of chocolate hobnobs EDIT: Sorry cas_whitmore ... didn't relies you had already answered this

Holy shit, you were not kidding! Must have been a Monday morning some Charley mounted the pump over that. I get the impression Paul Bailey would string up the guy that let that pass... any engineer would They are practically delivering a lump of aluminum into the throat of the highest precision item on these machines! Anywhere else besides this precise point on the machine and one of the filters would have picked that shit out.

Your climb will remain the same unless you find lift or sink, a tail wind will have you cover much more distance and in a head wind you will cover much less distance. You may find high winds at high altitude where you may have a 60mph ground speed and cover 124 miles in a couple of hours, getting back would be very difficult though Most of us prefer very light winds, (less than 10mph but ideally 0) they are less complex, allow us to fly close to the ground or close to mountains and make getting back to our take-off point easy. You sound like you have a good attitude and will get to grips with what you are up against. Reading weather is (in my opinion) the most complex part of the sport and doing it well can keep you out of some of some tricky situations, free-flight pilots are a good source of learning, especially those who fly the mountains. If you haven't already seen this series of videos, they will give you some insight into what is possible including a couple of mountain crossings (I think there are six videos in all)

I have just realised... you are already inland. Your home turf is going to be a little more demanding than it is for most of us. Reading the weather well is likely to become your top priority if you get into this sport

I cant speak for the SKY 110... those numbers look good if they are accurate. For comparison, I'm burning less than 2.5lph on a lower powered four stroke and you will find some motors burn more than 4lph. Looking at the route on your map, that is some very demanding terrain 14000ft+ Utterly beautiful country but mountains can cause an awful lot of complex wind / weather conditions that are made all the more complex by our slow flight speeds and low sink rates. In winter during a high pressure, you may get the odd window to shoot through with low convection / thermal heating... one hell of an adventure that would be! If you live on the coastal end of your map, you are likely to be in an excellent spot for smooth easy sea air... a good place to tune your skills before you venture inland

Its a good solid dream and one most of us have but one that is seldom realised which is a shame. Despite that I fly a machine that could do that (an old Baileys), Its heavy and I am getting old Getting back into the air the following day is not a given and I may be stuck. You look a good deal younger than me so you my find taking off in nil winds a snap I tend to hear nothing but good things about the top 80... I have never owned one but I would be surprised if you didn't need to carry some extra fuel to get 124 miles in still air (4 to 5 hours flight time at a guess) Gear tends to be quite expensive but bargains can be had if you are patient , carful and know what you are looking for.

I priced a kit up from Taida (10.2 stroker crank // 67mm piston // cylinder// head and J300 decompression cam) it came to just over £500 excluding postage and import tax. The fact that Baileys have avoided going 232cc and EOS/Scout have gone quiet with their Quatro 232 makes me nervous. Reliability and economy are the two great things offered in compensation for carrying the extra weight of a four stroke in my opinion so I am waiting for EOS/Scout to do all the hard work of making it make sense I recently heard a rumour that EOS are now looking at a 280cc cylinder (in-house manufactured) which again makes me think the 232cc might be collapsing the inevitably thin cylinder skirts when pushing them into 25hp+ (the 57mm stud spacing does not allow the room for a healthy sized cylinder skirt) These are of course, speculations on my part but its a lot of work if you get it wrong. I would be more interested in a 180cc/210cc that weighed less and cost nothing to fix... that being said, I would love to have 80kg+ of thrust

That makes sense... I was trying to imagine how one of those pumps would fail and I could only imagine them being perfectly happy for thousands of hours "I was getting excess crankcase pressure and it was causing oil leaks"..... Through the seals or the breather? I'm flying a V2 and I am also experimenting with a GY6 engine I bought in the hopes I can drop the sprag clutch / starter / heavy magneto / battery / etc … I'm getting old and the V2 is HEAVY! I am trying to avoid having to machine a whole new crank case but if I do, I can stand the cylinder upright and may be able to incorporate the larger re-drive pully mount into the cylinder head to save another 1/2kg Iv got the oil ports re-routed and closed all oil passages on the original case (looks like a dogs dinner / the casting are not fun to weld) I may never get there but it keeps me out of trouble when its raining "I have pics of these and will post them if I can work out how to".... You have my vote, I wouldn't mind seeing those.

Winner! Nice one Scott, I was praying it was the pin (easy (ish) fix) "Mine had an oil pump failure"... ouch! Was the pump the standard size in yours? There is a higher capacity one that fits but its a tad too pricey for my tastes

Its pretty bad... I got a 63mm cylinder and piston for £48 (none Taida though) Have you any idea what the failure mode is for the cranks? I have looked all over for info but cant find it so I am assuming the crank pin slips...? I am tempted to weld the pin on the one I'm building.

Did you get my number? I am willing to have a pop at welding and machining that crown (for a packet of chocolate hobnobs) but I am not putting any great weight behind the wisdom of doing such a thing. (it is what I would do had it been my machine though) Assuming its a 65mm piston its looking like it might cost you £80 + import duty for a new one. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SCOOTER-GY6-HIGH-PERFORMANCE-TAIDA-HIGH-PERFORMANCE-HI-COMPRESSION-PISTON-65MM/192885448092?hash=item2ce8de5d9c:g:gxkAAOSwbsBXjsDo Valves for the standard GY6 150cc are dirt cheap but yours might have over-sized valves...?

Fingers crossed. Looks like they have elevated the crank breather and put a filter on it... not sure that will "breath" very well if it becomes saturated.

Less than 30 mins from me then. Ill try to PM you my number but in the sprit of the clan helping each other into the air, if we manage to crack this nut, will you post on here how you got on. Its always a downer when a person vanishes half way through solving their conundrum, especially when I'm in the same shit

If I was doing a job on someone else's gear, I would drill... I don't bother on my own gear, iv not had one continue along the same crack... I do eventually have to run a bead somewhere new though, its become a pretty ugly over the years I guess fragile is the price we pay for lightweight.

Taking it to Baileys would be a good option "if" you are comfortable spending some solid cash. I am at the other end of the scale (cheapskate) and would have a go at tig welding the crown and maybe clocking it to see if it warped the outside diameter (cant see it doing // but who knows). Also tig the head. Then I would be looking to only spend on new valves / valve guides / seals. (are the valve seats damaged?) Take some measurements and search eBay for GY6 Valves // Guides // etc. The problem you have is I am pretty sure you have the 57mm stud spacing and not the infinitely more common 54mm stud spacing (studs that hold the head on) so a new head will be a pain in the ass to buy but if the valve seats are badly damaged, repairing them might be a bigger pain in the ass. I am sure the V5 heads, cylinders, pistons and crank are out of Taiwan (Taida) not particularly cheap! I'm flying a V2 (54mm stud spacing) so all my parts tend to be available from China... cheap! Where in the UK are you?

Ah, tricky... like I said, I personally feel safer on a standard but this is due to how many years I flew one and not due to any objective knowledge I have gained on a reflex. Some reflex wings where not happy being flow actively when in full reflex mode which really turned me off but the kougar 2 does not require any trim settings vs break use discipline... I am assuming most of the newer reflex wings are similar but I hope someone will correct me if I am wrong.

Someone lost their life on a dominator!? I guess that will quiet Dell down a bit on his "everything's none dominator /flat top is a death-trap" spiel.

Great stuff Keep him fed with Jaffa cakes... I spend quite a bit of time chasing cracks on my exhaust

Don't make me feel bad! Besides, I'm not sure what I would do with two skins... it might get ugly If you are absolutely stuck, I "might" be persuaded but I'm not guaranteeing the outer skin wont get welded to the inner skin.

Ah... I would never have thought that looking at that image. Surprised it has cracked where it has with two skins.

Are you saying there are two skins on that exhaust or are you assuming the crack does not penetrate? Shame you are so far away, I'm charitable enough to drill and run a bead through that but I couldn't be arsed messing around with postage... you must know someone with a tig welder? If you clean it up and drill it, I'm sure a local fab shop would run a bead through it for a few quid.

You would want to go to idle when things get lumpy enough that a collapse seems inevitable... Just for some perspective, I only ever remember one time that I did this, I was trying to break through an inversion on a very thermic day and drew the line at having to bury both breaks to stop a frontal... Above the inversion is likely to have been nice and smooth but I gave in, it beat me If you get a collapse and maintain power, you are just asking for an off centre thrust line or oscillating thrust line to confuse the hell out of you just when you need your wits at 100%.

Hahaha! Second that!