Wasp .28 Help, Please

[Monkey Wrench]

Howdy! I have an Orion Wasp .28 Turbo in my Savage. In addition to the numerous tuning troubles I've been having with this mill (which I'm overcoming), this thing, in the last two days, has eaten three OWB's using a rotostart. I have sealed the carb and back plate and when I have the needles set at factory (4-4.5 out on the HSN and 6-6.5 out on the LSN) the thing hydrolocks in the blink of an eye.

The last I had it running today, I had the LSN at about 4.25 turns out and the HSN at 3.75 turns out and it seemed to be running OK, except I still got the gurgle as if it was still too rich.

Either I'm too frustrated to think clearly or I'm brain farting again, but anyone have any ideas as to why it would be hydrolocking so easily? I am putting the p/s back on for the interim, until I can figure out why it hydrolocks, but any advice or ideas will be greatly appreciated.

Oh, just so you know, when using the Rotostart, I've been using the HPI S-25 OWB's since I cannot find a rotostart back plate specific to the Wasp. I'm thinking the mill may simply be too tight for the OWB to handle. The stock OWB that came with it looks meatier than the HPI ones.

Again, thanks in advance for the assistance!

 

[AC48]

I've had two of these engines before, and it ate its share of OWBs. I once pulled the pullstarter string right through the plastic wheel haha. These engines are VERY tight. In order to break mine in I had to mount in a buggy, take off the rear end completely and find a socket the size of the Orion one-way and use a corded drill to get the damn thing to turn over.

Once I got my second one I had a Ofna chrome-top starter box which was able to turn it over.

Factory settings are very rich and you may be just getting too much fuel in there quickly. Does it hydrolock when you try to start at 4.25 turns out?

It is a very hard to tune engine, but you will love it when you hit the sweet spot, it packs a punch.

 

[sweetdiesel]

I think I had to get a half gallon through my WASP before the engine started to loosen up and the OWB woes went away. One starting method you can try, assuming your needle settings are correct, is instead of priming it with the rotostart until the fuel hits the carb, is prime it half way through the fuel line by blowing air into the fuel pressure line. Remove glow plug, heat up the head with a hair dryer for at least 5 minutes, then add a drop of fuel into the engine through the head, add glow plug and ignitor and it should fire up on the first couple turns. If it's not firing up on the first few turns check your LSN needle settings. Also the aluminum WASP carb is very temperature sensitive, if the ambient temperature changes more than a few degrees, you can be sure to be tweaking that LSN all day.

There is no rotostart backplate specific to the WASP, you either use the HPI/OFNA backplates with the HPI OWB, or use the stock pullstart and Orion OWB. While you are still getting the engine broken in, you might want to switch back to the stock pullstart, so you can "feel" when it is hydrolocked. The most important thing is to heat that head up everytime you start it to ease the stress off the OWB.

 

[vbgagnon]

MW just give up and send it to me. I'll take care of it.

I would loosten your plug when trying to start it until it loosens up a bit.