Any useful lessons and tips for a newbie?

[D3MON]

I don't use after run oil ,never have ,an may never will!
I use to run my stuff on a weekly basis ,so that's why I never use it ,some of my stuff has set
for a year or two ,they still fire up an run!

i used to never, never really had any issues with not, even for the 10year dormant ones, but since i been back into nitros doing my best to remember, might not actually become a problem, but just as an extra preventative area i suppose.

 

[cbaker65]

i used to never, never really had any issues with not, even for the 10year dormant ones, but since i been back into nitros doing my best to remember, might not actually become a problem, but just as an extra preventative area i suppose.

I think ,given that we are seasoned RC nitro gear heads we pretty much know what to do when we don't!
With me ,I live in a much more dryer climate ,my engine really aren't exposed to moister ,an a lot of my
stuff that sits ,is in a display case in my house ,an then when I do decide to fire one up ,I check the engine ,
so far ,what I seen ,is a little sticky residue!

 

[MrMoody]

Lol? I got fed up buying exuberant prices after run, I just use a baby syringe suck up some left over casterol magnatec 5w-30
It’s a bit of a Bugger to Start, but I take the glow plug out give a Spin over on the starter box with a rag over the top . Get the excess out . If it’s good enough my Car it’s good enough for the model engine .

The way I see it, if it works, it works! in my own opinion for the price, a little goes a long way! But everyone has their own way of doing things?

 

[cbaker65]

The way I see it, if it works, it works! in my own opinion for the price, a little goes a long way! But everyone has their own way of doing things?

Lol....Don't get me wrong ,I am not urging folks not to use after run oils ,there is nothing wrong with using it ,I am just
saying that ,if they plan on using or running their ride with then a certain time period ,they don't have to use it that
often ,an they most certainly don't have to freak out when they forgot to!

It doesn't have to be a special oil ,I use WD ,Marvel as well as light machine oil ,I have a endless supply ,my neighbor
works at are local Napa!....

 

[Arrmajunk]

To be fair, I think if the excess fuel is burned out, ie: Keep trying to Stsrt it until it no longer fires at all, and the car is stored inside the house I don’t really see the need ;it either however after paying out over £200 for some of my engines and running 3 buggy’s and two truggys and about 3 engines sitting in pot, a squirt of engine oil seemed better than nothing , I wish I never had to sell any of my stuff but I become ill and took over a year out of work. I needed money after my Ssp ran out ?.
Nitros seem to attract negative attention these days so I’m running BL electrics instead .

 

[SAVAGETITAN]

Buy kits not RTR's, this will help when something breaks you will know how much you have to disassemble. Stainless steel screws or Titanium both are less prone to stripping out. Always run a oiled airfilter, make it last longer use a easy to make yourself prefilter, 0.25$ old lady kneehigh's available at all drugstores. Always shutoff a nitro by plugging the exhaust, not by pinching the fuel line which creates a lean condition bad for the bearings. The more the nitro content means less lubricating oil in all preblended nitro (glow type) fuels. Modern nitro motors can run 15-25% easy any motor. Race motors are hard to tune, usually the more number of ports the harder to tune it. Buy quality name brand major components. Gearmesh very critical. Use hardened clutchbells. Ventilated ones are good too, better if both hardened and ventilated. Use quality sealed bearings, rubber sealed keeps out dirt better than metal shields do. Newer Lipo RX battery packs will give longer run times over Nimh or Nicad both are old tech. Make sure receiver (RX) and servo's can take the voltage. Know the jargon, understand the acronyms used in the hobby. Strong fast servos with metal gears are best. Don't replace all of the plastic with aluminum, plastic can sometimes take a hit and bend.
Aluminum can take a hit and stay bent, not being elastic. Buy a popular model. Buy spare parts. Buy those little pill baggies, mark them accordingly, put spares into compartmented plastic trays with lids like for fishing tackle. Use after run oil, even a lightweight oil like sewing machine oil is better than none at all, spin motor, put oil down through glowplug hole and down carb throat. Get spare glowplug, airfilters, and glowplug ignitors, body pins, axle hexes and hex pins. Reinforce areas in body where body posts go thru. Nitros get very dirty, they virtually secrete oil, dirt and grass sticks to the oil, your motor overheats and seizes. Free up a motor that has seized quickly by removing glowplug put oil down it leave glowplug out of it use starterbox or mechanical means of breaking motor free. Do not use pullstart or electricstarter with a wand on a seized motor, unless you want to break something or get hurt. Nitros idle fairly fast and rap up to 30,000-40,000 rpm on the high end. That starter wand can become a dangerous flying object, after it has messed up the backend of a rotostart, on a seized motor. Pullstarts are a joke. If you just have to have one get a motor that has a pullstart/spinstart (rotostart) combo. Don't pull pullstart cord out more than 10 inches or so, you'll pull it completely out, why they are not good. Use a starter box if your model has a exposed flywheel. If you can before you get too into it see about some non curing sealant and seal around inside edge of motor backing plate, remove it from motor to do this, and around outer edge of carb not inner edge. This should help with vacuum leaks and motor oils secretion. Do not do this with the heatsink (cylinderhead) to crankcase cylinder body. Where these attach this is usually a very critical area tolerances are very precise and shouldn't be altered. Use simple green when motor is dead cold to help clean it of buildup dirt oil and debris, use rubbing alcohol in a spray bottle to remove residue again only when stone cold. Get a few rc specialty tools: clutch spring install tool, shock shaft pliers, ball end pliers, a quality set of ball end Allen wrenches, a quality set of hex nut drivers, long reach flat screw driver for throttle carb adjustment, needle nose pliers, miniature locking pliers, and a miniature adjustable crescent wrench. Buy extra: set screws(grub screws), e clips (e rings), circlips, a generic spare screw set of different sizes and types, o rings for any and all parts that have o rings. What you don't ever use is worth something as a new part to someone else in the future. Expect it to be expensive, it has been since the 1970's. Have fun.

 

[D3MON]

Buy kits not RTR's, this will help when something breaks you will know how much you have to disassemble. Stainless steel screws or Titanium both are less prone to stripping out. Always run a oiled airfilter, make it last longer use a easy to make yourself prefilter, 0.25$ old lady kneehigh's available at all drugstores. Always shutoff a nitro by plugging the exhaust, not by pinching the fuel line which creates a lean condition bad for the bearings. The more the nitro content means less lubricating oil in all preblended nitro (glow type) fuels. Modern nitro motors can run 15-25% easy any motor. Race motors are hard to tune, usually the more number of ports the harder to tune it. Buy quality name brand major components. Gearmesh very critical. Use hardened clutchbells. Ventilated ones are good too, better if both hardened and ventilated. Use quality sealed bearings, rubber sealed keeps out dirt better than metal shields do. Newer Lipo RX battery packs will give longer run times over Nimh or Nicad both are old tech. Make sure receiver (RX) and servo's can take the voltage. Know the jargon, understand the acronyms used in the hobby. Strong fast servos with metal gears are best. Don't replace all of the plastic with aluminum, plastic can sometimes take a hit and bend.
Aluminum can take a hit and stay bent, not being elastic. Buy a popular model. Buy spare parts. Buy those little pill baggies, mark them accordingly, put spares into compartmented plastic trays with lids like for fishing tackle. Use after run oil, even a lightweight oil like sewing machine oil is better than none at all, spin motor, put oil down through glowplug hole and down carb throat. Get spare glowplug, airfilters, and glowplug ignitors, body pins, axle hexes and hex pins. Reinforce areas in body where body posts go thru. Nitros get very dirty, they virtually secrete oil, dirt and grass sticks to the oil, your motor overheats and seizes. Free up a motor that has seized quickly by removing glowplug put oil down it leave glowplug out of it use starterbox or mechanical means of breaking motor free. Do not use pullstart or electricstarter with a wand on a seized motor, unless you want to break something or get hurt. Nitros idle fairly fast and rap up to 30,000-40,000 rpm on the high end. That starter wand can become a dangerous flying object, after it has messed up the backend of a rotostart, on a seized motor. Pullstarts are a joke. If you just have to have one get a motor that has a pullstart/spinstart (rotostart) combo. Don't pull pullstart cord out more than 10 inches or so, you'll pull it completely out, why they are not good. Use a starter box if your model has a exposed flywheel. If you can before you get too into it see about some non curing sealant and seal around inside edge of motor backing plate, remove it from motor to do this, and around outer edge of carb not inner edge. This should help with vacuum leaks and motor oils secretion. Do not do this with the heatsink (cylinderhead) to crankcase cylinder body. Where these attach this is usually a very critical area tolerances are very precise and shouldn't be altered. Use simple green when motor is dead cold to help clean it of buildup dirt oil and debris, use rubbing alcohol in a spray bottle to remove residue again only when stone cold. Get a few rc specialty tools: clutch spring install tool, shock shaft pliers, ball end pliers, a quality set of ball end Allen wrenches, a quality set of hex nut drivers, long reach flat screw driver for throttle carb adjustment, needle nose pliers, miniature locking pliers, and a miniature adjustable crescent wrench. Buy extra: set screws(grub screws), e clips (e rings), circlips, a generic spare screw set of different sizes and types, o rings for any and all parts that have o rings. What you don't ever use is worth something as a new part to someone else in the future. Expect it to be expensive, it has been since the 1970's. Have fun.

Good info here, few items I dont agree with regarding the pull start though but starting for the most part is preference. I like pull start as it is easier to feel what the engine is doing before it even fires, does not require accessories (ie starter box, or a roto) to be carried around with you in case of a stall across the field. Bump is best for racing or where you intend to get peak performance. (Less drag) roto for ease of starting, if it is in the realm of tune, or is not already having other issues, it only takes a few pulls anyways. And they are simple. I've had roto start gears strip and roto start batteries die at impeccable times causing the rc day to end prematurely.
Also with combo pull/roto starts, some companies didnt do the best with components and failures are common.
My $0.02 anyways