It's not quite finished yet, but it's far enough along to make it HMEM official. Thanks to everyone (Jeff, Gordon, Gary, etc) for your advice along the way, your guidance and advice helped make this a very enjoyable project. I built this with my 82 year old dad and my brother. I'm a computer programmer in real life, so learning the machinist skills from Dad. He was a machinist for 39 years, and he still comes out to our home shop every day like it's his 9-5 job. Still lots of fine tuning and finish work to do, but thought you might enjoy a video:
Snow Tandem
- Thread starter burn0170
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Burn0170
You guys did a great job. That's a good runner. I would keep the operating speed on the slower side. What fuel mix are you using?
Jeff
You guys did a great job. That's a good runner. I would keep the operating speed on the slower side. What fuel mix are you using?
Jeff
Thanks Jeff, your help was invaluable in making it a success. I'm able to get it to run pretty consistent in the 500's, I'm hoping after some break in time that I can get it around 400. My two main concerns at this point are that it runs hot and uses a lot of fuel. I dont have a radiator setup, just a quart or so of coolant being pumped from a tank, but it sure heats that up quickly. For fuel we are using Coleman red fuel with two-cycle oil, roughly 80:1. If you have recommendations on other fuel, that would be appreciated. It does slobber a little bit and I had to clean the plugs already too, they were wet with oil.
Jim
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Hi Jim,
"Hot" is a relative term. Hot to your hand is 120F. Just "Warm" to an engine is much closer to 180F. I run my Snow at about 160F return water temp. It runs smoothest at 160F+. Model engines do create a lot of moisture in their exhaust so it doesn't take long to develop cylinder rust in a cold running (short periods) engine. Get the engine up to temp when running and spin it a few seconds after stopping to purge moisture, especially if you used 12L14 cylinders. My engine runs 25-30 minutes on a coolant tank 5.25"L x 2.5"W x 4.25"H and reaches about 160-165F.
I have been running non-ethanol gasoline with a synthetic 50:1 2 cycle oil mix. Trying to get the lowest oil mix got me in trouble so be careful. At slow speeds as combustion improves the fuel mix burns more completely with some smoke. Look for a 2 stroke oil with "smokeless" on the label. It won't be smokeless in the Snow, but seems to reduce carbon build up. Slobbering will deposit carbon, but also flushes much of it out. Better combustion using 2 cycle oil will smoke a little and deposit light fluffy carbon much of which will blow out with an air gun and tube nozzle to reach inside the combustion chamber.
Have fun.
Jeff
"Hot" is a relative term. Hot to your hand is 120F. Just "Warm" to an engine is much closer to 180F. I run my Snow at about 160F return water temp. It runs smoothest at 160F+. Model engines do create a lot of moisture in their exhaust so it doesn't take long to develop cylinder rust in a cold running (short periods) engine. Get the engine up to temp when running and spin it a few seconds after stopping to purge moisture, especially if you used 12L14 cylinders. My engine runs 25-30 minutes on a coolant tank 5.25"L x 2.5"W x 4.25"H and reaches about 160-165F.
I have been running non-ethanol gasoline with a synthetic 50:1 2 cycle oil mix. Trying to get the lowest oil mix got me in trouble so be careful. At slow speeds as combustion improves the fuel mix burns more completely with some smoke. Look for a 2 stroke oil with "smokeless" on the label. It won't be smokeless in the Snow, but seems to reduce carbon build up. Slobbering will deposit carbon, but also flushes much of it out. Better combustion using 2 cycle oil will smoke a little and deposit light fluffy carbon much of which will blow out with an air gun and tube nozzle to reach inside the combustion chamber.
Have fun.
Jeff
Jim,
You have an excellent runner there. Defiantly keep those rpm's low. Mine run's around 350-400. You have an engine to be proud of.
Jeff is right about moisture. I had a lot of trouble with my cylinders rusting when I first got my Snow running.
Gary
You have an excellent runner there. Defiantly keep those rpm's low. Mine run's around 350-400. You have an engine to be proud of.
Jeff is right about moisture. I had a lot of trouble with my cylinders rusting when I first got my Snow running.
Gary
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Snows are notorious for being hard to get to run. Yours is excellent.
