Engine Decision

[Motorsports-X]

see this is why i talk to the experts.. i was about to go with the 229 dollar pico engine before you posted that!

 

[frickenjoey]

What ERCM said I will have to back that with experiance. I had my first engines modded by Robin in 2009, got one of the first pipes he made in 2010 and all I will say is bring ANY stock engine no matter the cost or maker and I will stomp it power wise. I will run my modded LRP .28 or Picco against any Novarossi, Go, Ninja, RB, OS or Werks... you name it, in the same class with no fear other than a better driver. Period, end of story.

 

[Motorsports-X]

i hope these active pipes really work cuz i already bought a pipe, but I'm gonna go with his too.

 

[frickenjoey]

Not sure what you mean by active pipes. Is that the brand? I know Active Hobbies was pretty big in Japan for hop-up parts. The pipes ERCM makes are the best pipes I have ran, the JP series by Ofna is the second best I as a general rule in my experiance anyway.

 

[Motorsports-X]

the pipes that adjust to back pressure are called active pipes..at least thats what I've always seen them called

 

[Extreme RC Mods]

The buku pipe would be considered an active pipe as it has moving internals that are supposed to operate with exhaust pressure created by the engine. On a bigger scale you have active exhaust ports found in sled engines to help with the torque curve but these nitro engines are too small for any device to work. Mine are just a tuned pipe designed for land based RC's that need to use the entire rpm band, and that's where the conventional pipe falls short among other reasons.

When buying a picco that is going to be modified, just get the basic engine. I push the timing profiles much further then any "factory modified" engine comes with so spending the extra money on one isn't necessary. You can often find them cheaper if you search around for them.

 

[Motorsports-X]

i thought your pipe worked like the buku. I'm probably confused.

 

[Extreme RC Mods]

My pipes are totally hollow inside, there are no baffles or any other parts on the inside of the cones to restrict the exhaust pulse flow.

 

[frickenjoey]

His pipes do not have any sort of moving baffles inside. He has just managed to find the sweetspot in the powerband. The Buku (active) pipes should work "in therory" but I have never seen anythat really make any sort of real difference. I have never ran one personally but have seen them run and played around with them some on other peoples RCs. Sadly I was not super impressed with them at all. Also ever seen a pipe get all gunky? Yeah all that is going to jam up the movable baffles as well making the pipe yet again semi-useless. Hopefully it gets stuck where you get decent power. If they were that good of a pipe all the big name pro racrs would be using them.

 

[Snook Man]

I’ve used the Buku and the CVEC “active” pipes.
Neither compares to the ERCM pipes for performance and quality.
You also wont find a better looking pipe than the polished ERCM IMO.

 

[frickenjoey]

^^ They do look good for sure, and tough as nails. I have never even dented one yet. Also good chime in. I have messed around with them one other peoples rigs but I never saw any real gains over a normal tuned pipe and as you said are greatly paled beside any of Robin's pipes.

 

[Motorsports-X]

thanks for all the advice.. looks like I'm gonna have a pretty bad ass little car by the time I'm done