Today Alvin experienced ANOTHER setback with his helicopter. :(

He's been fighting a sqweek for some time now and decided that it must be a bearing in the engine because he had replaced all the others. :lol:

Well today he and Russell were at the field with nothing better to do and decided that they would change the bearing.

Needless to say... :huh:



Yep...thats the piston ring thats broken in the pic below.



Alvin's excuse was that Russell had distracted him when he was re-installing it. :hysterical:

Alvin immediately called HTUSA to see if they had one in stock. :newstuff:

No such luck... :banghead:

They had to order one...I think Alvin said they told him that it would cost about $20... :o

We told him that he must have misunderstood...that quote must have been for a gross!! Surely not just for one small piston ring huh Alvin?! :dontknow:

Wow....The price we pay for having a little fun!! :lol:

Oh well...Looks like Alvin may be sitting on the sidelines a little longer. :crying:

My luck has sure turned to S**T here lately.
Got the old bearing out and it felt ruff and with pitted outer race so I was feeling good about putting a new one in and felt that it would cure that little noise thing.

I was putting the sleeve down over the piston and did what I had just been warning Russell about how not to do it and went ahead and did it wrong myself.
I saw a piece of the ring jump out and it was another "O SHEET" moment. :angry: :fuming: :hmm: :embarrassed: :badair:

Well, my new piston ring is in transit. :moped:
With any luck it will be in by this weekend and I can pickup where I left off. :woohoo: :blueheli:

Dang Alvin! :dontknow:
Was the bearing bad? :unsure:

Yep, I reckon/hope so.

Well, my new ring was in at HTUSA and I picked it up today. :woohoo:
So, wish me luck and I will have it installed this weekend and get Titan flying.

If that peskie noise is still present, I will wear some ear plugs so I can't hear it and just wait till something big enough to have a serial number falls off so I will know for sure what to replace. :yes:


OBTW - While I was at HTUSA, I saw a big pile of stuff with Russell's name on it. Neat new shinny stuff for helicopters. :hyper:

Russell got some BLING!!!!! :thumbup: :dance: :banana:

Russell, Russell :no: :no: :no: :no: :wacko: :wacko:

:o So is Russell goning to join B.O.S.S ???

What is his Helo name???

Margaritia Balls ???

Bling for a helicopter he won't fly? Looks like he's following in Tony's footsteps instead of Alvin's. :o

:fuming: :banghead: :hammerhead: :pootntoot:

That's funny and SO true, Mike!

:hysterical:

Hey Alvin!
I forgot to mention that I have any measuring devices u could possibly need for checking for stuff out of round, like a complete dial indicator set with all the adapters, Mics and Calipers. If you want to use them let me know and I'll bring them out to ya. :thumbup:
Maybe it'l help you find the problem. From the way you described it it might be something rubbung something else. :dontknow:

Thanks for offer Johnny, but I have a dial indicator already still new in box from about twenty years ago. I am going to dig it out one day and use it. :huh:

Today (friday) I went to field and with the help of Kat, got the new ring installed, engine put back together, all back in chopper, and a tank of fuel through it rich to start break in of new ring.
Looked down at transmitter voltage and was too low to continue today.

The peskie noise was gone, so I reckon it was the engine bearing.
Seems to be running good and will lean it back out to normal over next few tanks of fuel.
:woohoo: :woohoo:

:banana: :spin: :woohoo: :thumbup:

I sure do hate that more folks did not come out today (Saturday).

Was nice flying weather and those present got to sit and watch in amazement as I put another three rich flights on my newly refurbished Raptor Titanium chopper. B) :lol:
Still no bearing noise, keeping finger crossed, knock on wood. :dance:

I even let Katt take it for a spin.
Harold Dillon was begging for me to let him fly it also. :dontknow:
I declined, so Harold said that he would fly Russell's when Russell got it built. :yickes: