Parksy's v4

[gbritnell]

Hi Parksy,
Earlier on I had mentioned that my V-twin engine is a 90 degree configuration and has a wasted spark ignition. Like yours on one cycle the spark occurs on the intake stroke but being as there is no compression it doesn't ignite the fuel mixture. I have never had a problem running it this way. I have a crankcase breather on my engine and the only time I get anything out of it is when I really rev the engine. Other than that the breather stays dry.
The puffs of fuel coming from the carb would seem more like the intake valve isn't sealing like it should.
gbritnell

 

[Parksy]

Hi Parksy,
Earlier on I had mentioned that my V-twin engine is a 90 degree configuration and has a wasted spark ignition. Like yours on one cycle the spark occurs on the intake stroke but being as there is no compression it doesn't ignite the fuel mixture. I have never had a problem running it this way. I have a crankcase breather on my engine and the only time I get anything out of it is when I really rev the engine. Other than that the breather stays dry.
The puffs of fuel coming from the carb would seem more like the intake valve isn't sealing like it should.
gbritnell

You did mention this, I forgot all about it. I apologise.

Was your hall sensor a cam mounted sensor? And how many degrees are seperate from the first cylinder to the second? I seem to remember it having not rotating magnets, but a disc with slots. I imagine this wouldn't be any different to having a disc with magnets. Mine is set to fire, then the cam rotates 225 degrees and fires on the opposite cylinder. Then back to the first cylinder 135 degrees later. (When viewed as a v-twin).
If your setup is the same as this, then I'll remove the heads and work the valves some more.

 

[gbritnell]

Parksy,
My magnet is stationary and I have a timing disc with 2 windows but the configuration would make no difference.
Lets say you're looking at my engine and the #1 cylinder is to the right and #2 is to the left. Crank is rotating clockwise. While #1 is firing (TDC) #2 is 90 degrees from BDC and on it's intake stroke while it's plug fires. Now the crank rotates (relative to #1) 270 degrees and #2 fires while #1 has gone though it's expansion cycle and has started exhausting by 90 degrees from it's BDC while it's plug is firing. Now the crank has to rotate 450 degrees (360 + 90) to get back to #1 TDC. I have never had any issues with the #2 plug igniting the incoming fuel charge.
gbritnell

 

[Parksy]

Thanks Gbritnell.

I think I've had some success this evening. I've found out that one of my coils isn't working, why im not sure. I've only ever operated them using a 6v lantern battery and have never had the HT leads disconnected, so I'm a bit upset by this.
But anyway, I tried running the engine using just two cylinders(and two spark plugs removed on the unused cylinders) and I was able to get the engine running slightly. I swapped the ignition components over to the other two cylinders and was able to replicate this. If only the other ignition coil worked, then it may actually run continuously on all four cylinders.

The coils I'm using are the dual output coils from minimag. If anyone has any experience with these then I'd appreciate this a lot.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Clqwffx-vwE[/ame]

 

[gbritnell]

Hi Parksy,
The coil I'm using is a very old one that Jerry Howell used to sell. It has a dual output and I suspect it's the same or similar to the one Minimag sells. I have been using mine for close to 10 years now and it has never given me any problems.
gbritnell

 

[Parksy]

Thanks gbritnell.

This morning has been an interesting morning and it's fair to say that 100% of my starting problems are electrical. I can say this with absolute confidence now.
I was in the process of making a test stand to house the four spark plugs, so I could physically see them spark and whether I was getting any arcing over the non firing plugs. As I was clearing my work bench to allow for this I noticed some brand new glow plugs hiding under some things and curiosity got the better of me. I couldn't remember what type of thread the glow plugs were, so I tried installing it onto my test stand and sure enough it's the same thread.
I managed to find a glow driver with a tiny bit of charge left, installed the single plug into one of the cylinders and voila...

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59oQjogZKC0[/ame]

 

[petertha]

Voila! Glow to the rescue! At least for de-bugging purposes. Careful to examine the element now & again, it might not be well suited to long term running on your fuel. But you are off to the races now!

 

[Brian Rupnow]

Congratulations---I guess. I have something screwy going on with videos on this forum only, and all I can see is your text and a black rectangle.---brian
EDIT--EDIT--EDIT---
I can see it now. I had to change my browser from Internet Explorer to Chrome, and that has made all the videos visible. Great job. I'm proud of ya.---Brian

 

[Parksy]

Thanks guys. Brian, does that mean you can't view any videos? Have you tried a different browser?

I impatiently waited for the glow charger to charge slightly then gave it a go with all four plugs installed...

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlcLH9MJAjo[/ame]

I suspect that all four plugs aren't running in this video as I gave it another go while I waited for this video to upload and it certainly sounded louder the second time round.

I'm absolutely stoked!!

 

[Brian Rupnow]

I can't view any videos on this forum only. I can see them fine on the other two forums I post on. This forum, I only see a big black rectangle plus the text, even in videos which I post myself. This is something relatively new, in the last two weeks. EDIT--EDIT---I have my system fixed and I can see the videos now. Congratulations on a runner.

 

[Cogsy]

Congrats Parksy. Hope you sort your electrical Gremlins out soon.

 

[Ghosty]

Congrats on a runner
Parksy, check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wasted_spark, may help with the spark problem

Cheers

 

[stragenmitsuko]

I don't know if this is any help , but back in the day's when I was converting
car engines from carburettors to electronic fuel injection , I have used ford edis wasted spark coils
on multiple occasions .
Edis stands for electronic distributorless ignition system .
They are vitually indestructible and very easy to drive .
The coils may not be up to scale for a model engine , but for debugging purposes maybe it's exactly what you need .

Most ford dealers will have a box of them on a shelf gathering dust , and otherwise they'll cost only a couple of $ at the wreckers .

Pat

 

[Parksy]

Thanks guys and thanks for the suggestion Pat. I will sus the spark side of things out. While it's nice that it works with the glow plugs, I can't let it idle for too long otherwise the plugs cool down too much and the engine stalls.

 

[Parksy]

I managed to get the engine going with the spark ignition, but my ignition leads were arcing on the heads and I zapped myself a few too many times before I decided to stick with the glow plugs. They almost feel like cheating, but the engine starts and runs very well on them.
The more I run it the better it runs. I tried checking the revs with a rev counter but it was showing over 9000rpm when I opened the throttle up?? Surely this can't be correct.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAd-PQh1ZmY&feature=share[/ame]

I found my YouTube videos on our smart tv and the aspect ratio was very odd. Do my videos appear normal to everyone?

 

[Brian Rupnow]

It sounds great to me. The video takes up a narrow strip in the center with very large black margins on both sides. does not display like a regular youtube video.---Brian

 

[fuzzymuff]

Excellent project and great videos. Thanks for sharing your build.

 

[Cogsy]

Sounds very nice to me too. Your aspect ratio looks fine to me, but as Brian said you've filmed it with your phone in a vertical orientation so we only see a narrow strip. Your TV is probably stretching it horizontally and causing the distortion. I try to only shoot video with my phone in 'landscape' or horizontal orientation so it fills YouTube viewing window but it's a very common error.

 

[Parksy]

Thanks guys. Cogsy, I didn't realise it was fixed that easily. Next time I'll film holding the phone horizontally.

 

[ZebDog]

Congrats on a fine looking engine. Throttle response is very sharp. “I like”