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Bobs
05-09-2007, 10:28 PM
Just finished building a Spectra G with 231 Zenoah (TRM). The instructions said to set both carb needles at one and a half turns open and to never go lower than one and three-eighths turns open. Anyway, at one and a half turns the motor will not spool up enough to even lift off. When I checked the spark plug it was wet. What carb settings are more realistic? I have a Bergen with a 260 Zenoah and for starters I set my throttle curve up the same way (10 27 29 30 32 36 100); however, even at half throttle the RPMs are not high enough to lift off. I tried richening up the low speed needle per the instructions but that made it worse. I then leaned it up a little bit and that did raise the head speed but then the real problem surfaced: as the blades spun up faster a rattling sound developed and became very noticeable. Any ideas as to what that rattling noise is? It sounds like it's in the gearing. The build went very well. The only thing I can think of is that the directions mentioned a shim (gasket) that goes between the tail gear case and the tail boom and there was no shim/gasket included in the kit. Also, this has the new closed gear case and it does not appear to use a shim. A friend also has a Spectra G kit yet to be built and he checked his kit and his did not have the shim/gasket either. Anyway, that's all I can think of that could be wrong. The instructions were very straight forward and easy to follow so I can't think of what could be wrong to make that noise. Any ideas greatly appreciated. BTW, went through over a tank of fuel and still have not left the ground. Also, the engine temps (read right next to the spark plug using a laser) never went above 140 degrees. The 260 in my Bergen reads 230 degrees at that same location, next to the spark plug.

j.8
05-10-2007, 11:01 AM
Hi Bobs

What muffler are you using ?

Regarding the rattling sound, is that with or without canopy ?

Bo Denmark

Bobs
05-10-2007, 01:27 PM
Bo, I'm running the Hatori muffler and no canopy. I talked to Al this morning about the motor and he agreed that it is running way too rich. As for the "rattling" sound, I'm still working on it. I removed the tail boom and was not able to hear the noise when slowly spooling it up. I'm going out to try it again with the boom back on to see if anything changed. I'll post the results later.

Bobs
05-10-2007, 05:23 PM
It turns out that with the canopy off the gear noise is really magnified and that's what I was hearing. Now that the motor is running better and revving up more the gear noise is barely noticeable. My low speed needle is set at one and a quarter now and it is still running rich. The highest temp reading I've gotten so far is 180 degrees and that's right where the muffler bolts on. I'm also getting oily residue spitting out the exhaust. I had to raise my throttle curve up to 25 30 35 40 45 50 100 just to get it to hover, and even then, right when it's going to lift off, the RPMs drop off significantly. I think that's because the high speed needle is too rich also. I couldn't experiment anymore today because I had to charge the battery and that will take five hours or more. Anyway, it does fly and even in very windy conditions today it was pretty stable without having to adjust any trims. I was more concerned about the strange noises, so things are looking up.