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2 Stroke engines

stumpy1

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Does anyone have any experience of running a car with a 2 stroke? I read that driving on closed throttle leads to oil starvation. Any top tips on how to avoid this and other issues gratefully received. It's also a bit of a tricky one to start too but I think that is just me being used to getting in other cars and pushing a button.
 
Trabant P601s. 27bhp of oily, smelly goodness.......
 
Depending on the mixture, letting a long overrun can cause a 2T to seize as it is not getting any fuel and therefore no lubrication.
If it is air cooled it is likely to run hot. It will definitely need to have plenty of cooling. Especially when in traffic or,say, following something like a bus.

And from my experience, a hot 2T can 'diesel'. This is where the engine screams away with the ignition off and the throttle closed. Stalling it is the only way to stop it.

I really don't like two strokes.
 
I thought "two stroke" was a term of abuse applied to an inexperienced bridegroom? :)
 
Many moons ago when I was 21 after a very bad MC accident I bought a Reliant 325 Van and after a while, I put a SAAB 3 cylinder 2 stroke engine into this van. I know --- total madness --- but I kept blowing Reliant engines, and my mate had this SAAB engine for which I swapped a VW 1200 . I was actually thinking of fitting the VW engine in the back of the Reliant van but instead it went into the back of Mini Special. Anyway, my point is that SAAB had built a free wheel system into their gearboxes which stopped starving the engine of oil on a long downward hill. I think there must be lots of downward hills in Sweden. Wartburgs also used this system as the Wartburg engine was basically a Saab unit . In my case with the van, having had Ariel 2 strokes in the past I knew it was bad practice to starve a 2 stroke of oil on a long over run, so I just did not do it . As I did not use the Saab gearbox on the van I would have had to blip the throttle if there was ever the case of starving the engine of oil. But you just modify your driving to take this into account. Early 2 strokes were generally very oily and smoky and I can never recall anyone of having oil starvation. Trabants' I would assume fall into this category of having plenty of residual oil slopping about to not need to worry about starving it.
As a postscript to the Reliant saga, because I used the Reliant gearbox, I had to fabricate an extended gearbox shaft to fit into the Saab clutch and this kept ripping out, especially when the front of the van lifted off the ground from giving it too much beans. After that I went and bought a Vauxhall Victor for £30 ( Bench seats !! ) and passed my car test a week later.
 
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Two Strokes in garden machinery are being blamed for the early onset of Tourettes syndrome.

They are designed only to start in winter or in the repair shop where they always end up. Never ever will they start in the summer when your grass, hedge, trees etc require their attention. 6 feet of snow on the ground!! Try it out in your garage.....Vroom.....First pull and away she goes every time.
 
Two Strokes in garden machinery are being blamed for the early onset of Tourettes syndrome.

They are designed only to start in winter or in the repair shop where they always end up. Never ever will they start in the summer when your grass, hedge, trees etc require their attention. 6 feet of snow on the ground!! Try it out in your garage.....Vroom.....First pull and away she goes every time.

How on earth do you cut the lawn with 6 feet of snow on the ground?:eek:

Tony.
 
Why would you? :confused:

Several reasons.......

Why not? - being the first.

But they also interest me as part of motoring history, and world history in general. Mine is a very nice example of the breed and sits nicely in my collection.
 
I used a DKW 3-6 many decades ago, just make sure it has the right exhaust otherwise will hardly move, back pressure on the exhaust is a must.
 
I had the pleasure of being a passenger in a Trabant in busy Budapest traffic. It was great fun, very much back to basics motoring but nothing wrong with that!
 
As toolman said SAAB fitted an overrun freewheel to their two strokes and they weren't alone. The internet suggests that a Trabant P601 has a freewheel fitted to 4th so if you lift off the engine will return to idle

If it is air cooled it is likely to run hot. It will definitely need to have plenty of cooling. Especially when in traffic or,say, following something like a bus.
No clue about Trabants but plenty of experience with aircooled VWs and overheating in heavy traffic isn't an issue, if anything they're overcooled at idle. It takes sustained high loads and/or rpm to get the cylinder heads and oil stupidly hot
 
Except that the VW was four stroke and used forced air cooling.......
 
As toolman said SAAB fitted an overrun freewheel to their two strokes and they weren't alone. The internet suggests that a Trabant P601 has a freewheel fitted to 4th so if you lift off the engine will return to idle

No clue about Trabants but plenty of experience with aircooled VWs and overheating in heavy traffic isn't an issue, if anything they're overcooled at idle. It takes sustained high loads and/or rpm to get the cylinder heads and oil stupidly hot

You might be right because everything quietens down (relatively speaking) in top.
 

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