Thanks all for the info. I'll try the diff glow plugs, had good luck with OS plugs in the past. I'm actually getting back into nitro after a 20 year break. MANY, MANY, MANY cool new toys available. Actually, I started out with a Mad Beast from nitroRCX 'cause it was cheap. The piston broke only a couple of times after runnning it and the company wouldn't honor their return policy on engines because I called them 10 days after their 1 month warranty ended. So I figured that I'd innitially pay more and cry once with a T-maxx and the quality would carry me through but the truck came with a cracked carb.
The other problem that has always plagued me is tuning. I love nitro but every car that I've ever had 8/10 times didn't run reliably. To tell you the truth I can't remember the last time I was able to spend an afternoon playing and run out of fuel without some part breaking or spending more time tuning my car than driving it. Are my expectations too high? Maybe that's the norm. Maybe you have some tips on tuning. I live in Hawai'i and the humidity is usually 79-90% and temps in the 70's. I think that the other engines, 3.3 included, ran on the higher side of temps. I don't have a thermometer but usually used the "swear test". If I swore after touching the heatsink than it was probably running a little hot. I tried to run richer mixtures b/c I was worried about overheating but it seemed that to get to the point of running at cool enough tempt that the performance would suffer. Guess I'll get a temp guage on monday when I get more glow plugs.
Actually, I've tried to think of ways to cool the nitro engine with installed computer fans and stuff. Why hasn't anybody thought of that already, or putting something on the flywheel to drive a fan? Well, I got a XTM racing 1/6 scale buggy, why they couldn't think of a name is beyond me--somebody in their marketing dept. should be looking for a new job, to see if gas power is more troublefree. We'll see. Thanks again for your advice
What the hell? I just got a t-maxx and am breaking the engine in and have gone through 4 plugs in as many tanks of fuel. That's $30 in plugs already. I know that they tend to burn out on break-in but this is rediculous. I should say that they were all traxxas plugs so it might be a quality issue w/their plugs. Other than that the conditions are warm (low-mid 70's), tropical humidity for the environment but the engine doesn't seem to be running excessively hot. I'm using O'Donnels 20% fuel. I've broken in several other types of engines and never had to replace so many plugs. Any suggestions on other types of plugs that are more durable? 