rbort
Elite Veteran
Location: Franklin, MA - U.S.A.
| BecauseWhen you run lean on the oil the minute you have a hot run or the engine leans out just a bit and overheats, there isn't enough oil in there to protect your engine.
That being said, helicopters run alot harder and hotter than airplanes do. But even with airplanes, if you spend alot of time "hovering", you can also overheat the engine and damage it if there is little oil in there. That's why some of the airplane folks build ducts to blow on the cylinders.
In any case its been tried here before by other people, experts like Billme, and he's gone as lean at 80:1 if I remember right but has backed off at least to 64:1 at a minimum because while he can do it he feels that there is very little margin for error (is what I think and bill correct me if I'm wrong) or maybe he saw some signs of light damage to the motors.
Personally I run 36:1 to 40:1 and don't go any less than this. When I add oil to my gas, I err on the "more" side of 40:1 which sort of puts me around the 36:1 range. I feel that the less oil in there, the less of a range of operating temps you have in which the engine can survive. If you run it at 100:1 you're on the razor's edge, and you'd better be in better than ideal running conditions at all times to have a fighting chance.
Anyway, if you're curious and want to find out, run it at 100:1 for a while and see how it pans out. Maybe it would be good to run two, one at 100:1, the other at 40:1, and see over time what happens to the engine with wear and marks on the piston, as a gallon or a couple of flights may not show long term effects.
-=>Raja.
1005 Xcell Gas, BHH G26 3D Plus, Jewel Generator
Spectra-g, BHH G26 3D Plus, Jewel Generator |
