A note on SSW engines - Thanks Len

Just wanted to say a bit about SSW engines.

As some of you may remember last year, I built a Bill Simon's Shoestring. I posted pics here and the plane really was a good flier. It was powered by an SSW OS35FP. But I had nothing but trouble with this engine from the first flight. The tank, fuel line, props, fuel were changed to no effect. Additional cooling was cut into the nose; basically I did everything I could think of and a few things I invented for the occasion, but no matter I did, the engine continued as it had from the beginning. 1 awesome run and 3 that horrible, mind numbing runs. It would run away, go dead rich, speed up, slow down and turn into an absolute rocket, you name it. The engine would seem to be running OK, then quit unexpectedly in some very bizarre situations. No waring at all. This is what finally killed the thing. It quit in the clover during some pretty strong and turbulent winds. The Shoestring didn't survive. That engine is now enjoying life as an 80mph combat motor, last I heard. I gave it away on the spot.

I restated this to say that I will now admit that I had some pretty bad thoughts about Len's engine work during this time. Before I had any real runs on the OS engine, I had sent a Magnum 53 off to Len to work on. Pat Johnston had one and I had been impressed on how it ran. Lighter than an ST60 will all the power. And while Len certainly had it a long time, I did get it back. But it just went in the drawer and I forgot about it for awhile. This summer I built a new Classic plane and planned to use the Magnum 53, but I have to say I was pretty nervous about it. My experience with SSW engines didn't make me feel too great about using the Magnum 53. I trusted that the OS engine was just a fluke. I had heard such great reports from so many others about how happy they were with the SSW engines that I went ahead and set the new plane up for it and just hoped for the best. I figured that at worst, I could just pitch thing if it was a dog and put in something else.

Last weekend the new plane finally got it's maiden flights. It's a USA-1 and I have to say it is a killer flier. But more, the engine is absolutely fantastic. I broke it in as per Len's instructions and set the needle on the first flight. I've now got 11 flights on the plane and haven't touched the needle since that first one. It just thuds along in a fast 4 stroke in level flight, peaks just a touch at the top of the maneuvers and a bit overhead has run very strong and dead steady from the very first flight. This is one of the best 4-2-4 engines I have ever owned and I can hearily recommend it to anyone that is looking for a real thumper.

BTW, the combination of the USA-1 and Magnum 53 is, when I get the plane all trimmed out (and it's close now) going to be a deadly combination. The plane is really terrific and that engine is a godsend.

So, thanks Len. I take back every evil thought I had about SSW engines after my experience with the OS35FP. The Magnum 53 (now ASP 53, I think) is a killer. I'd recommend it to anyone.

Len has done three OS 40 FPs, and one FP 25 for me. Haven't run one of the 40s yet, but the others are all great runners, easy starters, powerful. I am a real fan of the entire FP line because of this.

Currell,

Oh, I know. Heck, it's why I got the OS35 from Len in the first place. I heard rave reviews. And at this point I'm convinced that it was either just a "bad" engine right from OS or it was possessed by demons.

>Currell,
>
>Oh, I know. Heck, it's why I got the OS35 from Len in the
>first place. I heard rave reviews. And at this point I'm
>convinced that it was either just a "bad" engine right from
>OS or it was possessed by demons.

I wish I would have known about this because it seems there was a bad set up somewhere. Sometimes the most innocent thing gets in the way. We had one that we had to open up the cooling outlet on the cowling. Another user of this forum put on on a plane that had a large firewall right behind the engine. Again, cooling problems developed. I suggested putting a wedge behind the engine and that did the trick. Another flyer had one at the Nats that had "junk" in the needle. Matt and I saw that and looked at each other and both knew what it was right then. We cleaned out the needle. Fixed it.

Anyway, I will stand behind anything I do. And glad you like the Magnum. Now, as soon as I get these ARFs billed out, I have some more to get done.

Randy,
I'm glad you are happy with your SSW Magnum .53. I was happy with mine till the Bad Magnum Bearings went out. Any way I have a Magnum .53 (ASP .53)& a Thunder Tiger .36 on order. I hate to keep bugging Len but I am getting a bit anxious for these engines.I believe the Magnum .53 will go in a Gypsy the TT.36 will go in my Spacehound (under Construction).

Waiting in Seattle Len

SNIP>>>>It quit in the clover during some pretty strong and turbulent winds.

AAAHHHH I was there, I saw the whole thing. Light Breeze about 8 going through the trees at Delta Park, Just normal flying here.

OOOOHHHHHH i'm going to get it

Scott,

You really have to stay away from the drugs, man. It was blowing about 20mph (according to Pat's little anemometer) with gusts to 25. And yes, through the trees. Been fine if the #$@%^ engine hadn't quit...again.

John,

Well, I'm prepared for the bering thing. Talked to a guy at a bering place in Tacoma that tells me he can fix me up if there's a problem. Right now it's great.

Len,

Man, we tried everything. I had 3 different NVA's in it. The engine hung out in the wind. I can't imagine how you could get more cooling. I even cut "nostrils" into the thing to get more air in and really opened up the exhaust holes. 1 to 3 cooling (inlet to exhaust). Nothing seemed to work.

Sigh...I probably would have sent it back to you at the end of the season...if it had lived that long. No big deal. The Magnum 53 is great.

Since the Magnum 53 XLA / ASP 53 is high on my list as a replacement for one of my OS .46 LA's , i tried to find out if the can be directly replaced and put into one of my existing planes.
I found: On SSW home page:
"Magnum 53 XLA and ASP 53:
The case width and mounting pattern is the same as the 46 GPA"
"46 GPA:The bolt pattern on these engines allows a drop in fit replacement for the FP engine in many installations."

If the FP referenced is an OS (.46 ?) FP , does that one again fit the mounting of the .46 LA?
OS .46 LA 40.5 mm / 17.5 mm
1.594488189" / 0.688976378"

>Since the Magnum 53 XLA / ASP 53 is high on my list as a
>replacement for one of my OS .46 LA's , i tried to find out
>if the can be directly replaced and put into one of my
>existing planes.
>I found: On SSW home page:
>"Magnum 53 XLA and ASP 53:
>The case width and mounting pattern is the same as the 46
>GPA"
>"46 GPA:The bolt pattern on these engines allows a drop in
>fit replacement for the FP engine in many installations."
>
>If the FP referenced is an OS (.46 ?) FP , does that one
>again fit the mounting of the .46 LA?
>OS .46 LA 40.5 mm / 17.5 mm
> 1.594488189" / 0.688976378"
>
>Norvald Olsvold

Mixing metaphors here. The 46 GPA is a plain bearing Magnum, now out of production. Same with the 53. I bought the remaining stock out of England so still have engines, but not enough time. The mounting holes are slightly different from the FP, but the holes are made for 6-32 bolts which gives enough room to fit in the FP mount. The shaft is longer, however, but we bolted a 53 into Matt's 35 size ship and all we could say was wow! Despite what some people will say about only needing so much power, you can really tell the difference, even when lap speeds remain the same. Power can become addictive. But back to your question, it wouldn't be a direct replacement for a 46 LA, but you could probably bolt it into place with the noted shaft length difference.

Magnum replaced their 53 with a "new" 52. I haven't had time to check it completely, but the insides look the same. Basically it has gone to the silly square case that so many engine are now going to with the accomplanying ounce increase in weight. Same bolt pattern as previous, however.

>Basically it has gone to the silly square case that so many
>engine are now going to with the accomplanying ounce
>increase in weight. Same bolt pattern as previous, however.

That's interesting, Len. I have the first series Magnum 36XL round case, and a new 36XL square case. Mounting holes are different and the OLD engine is bigger and heavier. Both are BB. (??)
Bill <><

Bill,

The Magnum I've got is lighter than an ST60. Don't remember the weight, but under 10oz without muffler.

Incidentally, I was shocked (well, a little surprised anyway) when the balance came out so close to the plans on the USA-1 with little effort to make it so. Pretty much right on with the Magnum 53. Hmmm...

Sounds like it is in the range of the late model ST 51. I did need to add a touch of tail weight before it left for St. Thomas.
Bill <><

Mine will probably end up with just a touch of nose weight. It is just a little tailheavy, though I'm going to need to fly it more to decide.

Who got the .35FP? I'll tighten the backplate screws and use it for stunt.

rad all the preceding threads and it reminded me of problems I was having earlier this year. Seems a jug of fuel went bad on me. I know because in Denver I changed fuel and everything came back to normal. Also have discovered on some uniflow tanks the vent is too short. That was proven on the Promary Force before Tulsa. Later, DOC

Forget it Howard. It's very happy as an 80mph combat motor now.

Nuts. The recipient must have already tightened the backplate screws.

I have several blocked boost port OS 35FP and I can tell you they are quite an engine. I have won a lot of trophies with one on my Legacy 40. You can't go wrong with one of Len's 35FP's. Very strong runners, 1 flip starts, predictable engine run times, very friendly engine runs. I highly recommend them.

I too secretly blamed Len for weird runs I was getting on an FP35 rework he sold me. I never bothered him with it, but I did finally get to the bottom of it.

Turns out the crankcase had a hairline crack running underneath and parallel of the inboard motor mount. It was almost impossible to see. I didn't notice it until one day took off the back plate looking for maybe a bad gasket, and the case "sprung" inward a hair and I could not get the back plate back on. It was either a factory defect or probably my doing in bolting down the engine unevenly at some point. Who knows. But it sure wasn't the quality of the rework at fault.

Sorry for all the evil thoughts and colorful metaphors traveling through the ether at ya Len!

>I too secretly blamed Len for weird runs I was getting on an
>FP35 rework he sold me. I never bothered him with it, but I
>did finally get to the bottom of it.
>
>Turns out the crankcase had a hairline crack running
>underneath and parallel of the inboard motor mount. It was
>almost impossible to see. I didn't notice it until one day
>took off the back plate looking for maybe a bad gasket, and
>the case "sprung" inward a hair and I could not get the back
>plate back on. It was either a factory defect or probably my
>doing in bolting down the engine unevenly at some point. Who
>knows. But it sure wasn't the quality of the rework at
>fault.
>
>Sorry for all the evil thoughts and colorful metaphors
>traveling through the ether at ya Len!
>
>Eric Viglione

If it can be kept in line, it may be able to be welded at a local shop. If not, send it back to me and I will put a new case on it including the blocking of the boost port and setting of the deck height for the cost of the case only.

Hey Len, no sweat. I already had moved the guts into a FP40 case I had laying around with the appropriate mods, and it runs fine now. I didn't see this as your fault, and just dealt with it.
I truly appreciated hearing the offer though. Thanks!
Eric V.

LAST EDITED ON Oct-06-04 AT 11:26 AM (CDT)
 
Eric,

I suspect mine was something along those lines. Some difficult to detect defect. Seemed to run fine screaming it's guts out.

A good way to test for leaks is to have the motor in your hand, squirt some wd-40 in the intake and turn it over while you plug the venturi. Found a pinhole in a fox 35 this very same way. It was an old new in the box 35 that got sent back to fox. They sent it back with a new case and the old innards. Good way to check for leaks around venturis, backplates, etc. It will never run properly if you have a small leak somewhere.

LAST EDITED ON Oct-06-04 AT 03:37 PM (CDT)
 
Duck,

I did it a different but similar way with the OS. I took the back plate off, put in a pretty substantial amount of Marvel Oil, put the back plate back on. I then plugged the exhaust port used a compressor to pressurize the engine through the venturi.

So, same idea. The case was tight with no leaks I could fine. If I had to guess, I'd say that in some way the engine was overheating. That's how it acted anyway. One good run, 3 bad ones. Problem was, it wasn't at all predictable. It wasn't like the first run of the day was good or it ran well in cold weather but not in hot. Or more oil helped. The best run might be the third one right after landing and refueling. I tried 4 or 5 different fuels in it. Everything from 20% all synthetic to 29% Fox Fuel. and 3 or 4 in between. Wildcat, Sig, Powermaster. Abotu everything I could fine. No deal.

Sigh... like I said, it was possessed.

Edit: almost forgot. Bob and I flew on Monday night. Absolutely gorgeous. 68 degrees or so, light breeze (4-5 mph) and a panoramic view of the Olympic mountains. No turbulence to speak of. anyway, the last flight of the day, my Magnum 53 had a sort of rough run. When I landed, the spinner was scraping a bit. Hmm, didn't scape before. So I packed it up.

Turned out that the head was rubbing on the cowl and it broke an internal mount and pushed the cowl forward just a touch.

So, everything is fixed and it's running great again. Cool engine.

I wish you would have said something about the other engine earlier. When I rework an engine, I measure everything in the engine and record it. I don't just grind ports or whatever. I make sure everything leaves here within tolerance. That is what puzzles me about that engine. One person had a problem once. I had him send it back to me. It had an air filter on it. I took the air filter off and it worked fine. We ran a number of fuels and we ran some that you tried. But if there was something behind the engine keeping it from cooling properly--that would do it.

Len,

Sorry I didn't call you at the time. As I said, had I not gotten so frustrated with it and given it to a combat flier friend, I probably would have sent it to you at the end of the season to look at.

I'm pretty sure it was the engine. I pulled the engine out and ran it on a test stand several times during this process. It always ran the same on the test stand too. I'd run it for 5 minutes and it held a setting and seemed fine. Start it back up (after cooling) and it would start fine, run OK for a bit, then either run away, go dead rich or flame out. Weirdest thing.

sounds like vibration in the nose of the plane. I've found, to my dismay, it doesn't take much. You may not even see any fuel foaming, but too much vibration in the nose can screw up the engine run.

Phil,

Could be. It's the only thing I could think of. If I were to build another (not liley with the way the Magnum runs), I would probably construct the nose differently.