2 Stroke carburation adjustment

[Guest]

I have been reading this and wonder if anyone would comment on its validity.

Gas Engine Tuning

*** Carbs aren't too difficult to tune up if you know what you're doing. First of all, you need to know how the carb works and how the settings interact with each other. About 95% of all the gas airplanes I've seen at the field are somewhat out of tune. How can I tell this? Simple, at some point the engines "four cycle" in flight. Two Cycle engines are not supposed to "four cycle" PERIOD. This is caused by a rich mixture that is forcing the sparkplug to intermittently miss making it sound like a four stroke. This is not good. HOWEVER the good news is; gasoline two stroke engines are very tolerant of rich settings (most of the time) and will run fine. You'll just consume a little more gasoline than necessary, and create a little more oil mess on your plane. You may eventually foul your spark plug as well. So why do so many people leave their engines tuned like this? Simple answer, the engine will start much easier when it's cold AND there's little or no warm up time needed prior to flying. Those are pretty good reasons! But the fact is... the engine is not running like it's supposed to.

(1) The low end needle on a Walbro carb is ALWAYS the one closest to the engine, the high end needle is the closest one to the intake/choke.

(2) There is no fuel adjustment for idle fuel, only air feed set by the idle stop or servo.

(3) Both low end AND high end needles feed the top end fuel supply.

Let's tune up a Walbro!

Set the low end & high end needles to about 1 to 1 1/2 turns each. Choke the carb or prime it, until the carb is wet. Fire up the engine and let it warm up. Let's set the top end first since it's the easier of the two. Go to full throttle. Adjust the top end needle for peak RPM. Leave it wide open for about a minute to see if it changes any. Should the engine go lean, open the low end needle slightly, if this doesn't work... you will have to adjust the needle valve inside the carb.( I will explain this later) If the top end runs OK, then slowly pull the throttle down until the engine begins to "four cycle" hold the throttle there. Adjust the low end needle until the "four cycling" stops. Now lower the throttle more until it "four cycles" again, and adjust the low end again. Keep doing this until you reach full idle. Now, from full idle begin to throttle up until the engine starts to bog or hesitate. Open up the top end needle just enough to eliminate the bog or hesitation.

When this is done right, you will be able to set the throttle in any position and it won't four cycle, plus you will be able to transition from idle to full power without any hesitation at all. -Xipp, Flyingcirkus.com Member

More complicated than the ususal advice found in most manuals. (well the two I've seen - PAP and Parajet)

[pete_b]

Looks ok in theory

Pete

[Guest]

I have always used Alex Varv's methodology as shown in the link below:

http://www.aerocorsair.com/id150.htm

It is very simple and works just fine for me so I am resistant to change! I tend to go for the usual slightly rich of peak on the high screw but like to be lean on the low screw (as minimal extra enrichening as it takes to get a clean pick up on a snatched open throttle). I also try to avoid changing my settings on low pressure days as otherwise you would be running lean when the pressure increases.

[Jim Sutton]

Here's the best article I've found on this topic by Had Robinson of Southwestairsports:

https://www.southwestairsports.com/ppgtechinfo/top80/hrservicenotes/walbrowg8/midrange_performance/midrange_performance_problems.htm

And this one:

https://www.southwestairsports.com/ppgtechinfo/top80/hrservicenotes/fuelsystemmod/fuel_system_mod.htm