160s and Tower - Webra as an alternative.

[brianyemail-nsrca at yahoo.com]

On your point C, I would note that my 1.60 MC mix valve o-ring was sticking when cold. I remedied this by taking the mix valve out and lapping the o-ring land with fine abbrasive until it operated smoothly. Funny it would be free without fuel lubing it, add fuel and it got sticky, wondered if they had the wrong o-ring compound but its still free a year later. 
 
Anyway, not what I wanted to be messing with on a new engine.
 
I have added the SS bearing, normally this time of year a carbon steel bearing would have been crusted up for me already. But so far the stainless is smooth.

Grow Pattern <pattern4u at comcast.net> wrote:
Guys, It's not all roses in webra-land. I have personally seen several big problems with the Webras. 
 
a) The Webra has a bearing problem that will hopefully be fixed with the new Boca stainless steel version. They rust and wear quickly. It is a very narrow bearing and just might not be big enough for the props that we run. Note, I said the props that we run, because we do load our engines up quite a bit to keep the rpm's and hence the noise, down.
 
b) They have a heat dissipation problem. Without going long... It is not unusual to lose some power and subsequently find that the piston ring is as soft as chicken wire. Pumps that are quotes, a bad batch, unquote, are being misdiagnosed. they actually have been overheated.
 
c) The mixture carb does two nasty things. First of all, it gets hot and the O-ring on the mixture barrel sticks. This causes mixture control-lag that is behind the throttle opening. Shows up as gurgling if the delay is rich or heat if the delay is lean. You need a strong rod from the servo to the mixture arm. Secondly, the settings are very "fine" so that the soft mount 1/16" - 1/8" back and forth movement between idle and full throttle can, and does, cause adverse throttle behavior. [This is why I have not used them on OS 1.60's, even when offered a free one!]
 
     These are my personal opinions based on personal observations and running of these motors. Some folks are "married" to their purchases and will go to any lengths to make them work and then will extol the virtues of that product. There are also quite a few, shall we call them "semi-sponsored" webra operators, most of whom are unusually silent? of course, with any product, there are a whole bunch of folks who are running these motors just fine. I'll wager that those who are running them successfully have kept them on the rich side and are keeping them well ducted with cool air.
 
That's my 2 cents for the week....
 
Eric.
 
P.S. if you asked me which Webra works the best I would say the Blackhead 145 , steel-liner, with an OS 1.40 pipe. 
 
 
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