Hello - let's start off with a breaking in query!

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NitroLooJ

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Hi, I'm new here and also new to nitro RC cars.

I have just bought a HPI RS4 3 Evo BMW M3 GT off a chap off eBay (it is unused - he had it sitting in his office as a piece of decoration on his desk - nutter.)

I have been reading (on this forum) different methods of breaking the engine in.

What would you guys recommend for this brand/model of nitro car? I will be commencing the break-in this weekend.

I have also bought a glow starter which is 2100mAh - I've noticed that people recommend using 1800mAh.... Is my glow starter too powerful or does this not matter as I assume they would both put out 1.2V?

Thanks in advance.
 
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Welcome to RCNT, I will have to see what people reccomend for drop ins so I can get one into my Stage D RS4 3 Evo
 
Thanks for the input guys. Think I will be using the heat cycle breaking in procedure tomorrow, can't wait.
 
Food for thought

I used to be a heat cycle guy until I inquired about the method to the master of motors, supertib of Clockwork Racing Engines. This was in regards to breaking in my shiny new Picco.

Here's what he had to say about the heat cycle method and how he breaks motors in. Granted this is an all Italian racing mill kind of guy....

supertib said:
I am not a believer in all this breakin mumbo jumbo people post on the forums..I idle for about 5 minutes then start driving around....Now I do have them tuned rich and head wrapped to keep heat in, but I am not scared to use some throttle...i just don't let the engine hit high RPM's for at least a few tanks........usually by 1/2 gallon I have a 85% tune and am exploring the engines RPM range...by 1 gallon engines usually start dropping their nuts and are ready to roll.........

10 Gauge said:
10-4 on that, guess I'll take a slightly different approach to my usual break-in method on this one and follow your advice. \:D/ Thx tib.

So I have this right, just keep running it, refuel while it's running and keep running some more? I usually do a heat cycle method 5-7 times, 5 minutes per run, then let it cool to room temp, restart, repeat, etc etc.

supertib said:
absolutely...just keep running it...when you heat cycle, your letting it cool down..which means the engine has to go thru a warmup cycle..which is hard on all the internals as well as your OWB......... i will usually do 1 heat cycle and thats it...and on a pullstart engine I will not shut them down...I just keep them running..........I have found the repeated heat cycle thing to be nothing more then a waste of time and completely unnecessary....it offers no benefits and does nothing but put you and your engine thru uneeded stress.......

here is tank 2 on one of my engines...this engine is still alive and kicking today...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4i3lE3N4n0&feature=channel_video_title

and here is an engine breakin stand..I idled this engine for 5 minutes previous to this video........ this engine lasted over 12 gallons till it blew a rod apart, but even tho the rod blew and destroyed the engine the piston/sleeve still had a great seal.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuP0H3Ot1lM&feature=channel_video_title

I am not a fan of babying new engines.....in the old days the factory tolerances were horrible and the pistons were far to tight so breakin was different...today most engines are toleranced much better and can be broken in much faster

Supertib ---> :first_place:
 
That is some interesting stuff 10 Gauge, thanks.

With this in light I think I am going to follow these steps: -

1. Idle the car for 5 mins.
2. Do one or two cycles of heat cycling.
3. Run the car for a tank at low-mid revs.
4. Run the car for a tank at mid-high revs.
5. Begin tuning the engine to get optimum lean/rich settings on high and low needles.

Does this sound ok?

Also, how do I know that the piston is at Bottom Dead Centre for the cooling stage of the heat cycle?

Thanks.
 
That is some interesting stuff 10 Gauge, thanks.

With this in light I think I am going to follow these steps: -

1. Idle the car for 5 mins.
2. Do one or two cycles of heat cycling.
3. Run the car for a tank at low-mid revs.
4. Run the car for a tank at mid-high revs.
5. Begin tuning the engine to get optimum lean/rich settings on high and low needles.

Does this sound ok?

Also, how do I know that the piston is at Bottom Dead Centre for the cooling stage of the heat cycle?

Thanks.
Sounds as good as anything to me, hehe... Only suggestion I would make is don't shut your engine off between the low-mid and mid-high rev tanks, keep it running.

As far as BDC. Take ur plug out, rotate the flywheel until the piston is at the bottom (you can also take a small, CLEAN, screwdriver and VERY LIGHTLY tap the top of the piston to make sure it's all the way down). Then mark the flywheel at the bottom center with a sharpie, or file an X or a groove in the flywheel. That way you can just spin it so that the mark is at the bottom, and know that your piston is too.
 
Thanks for the advice; flywheel marked up. All set for the break-in tomorrow. Will let you know how it goes.
 
I usually file an X in my flywheel as the sharpie seems to wear off after time (depending on how your engine is setup, in my Ten-T it's right even with the bottom of the chassis plate through a slot and when the truck bottoms out the ground has a tendency to rub the mark off, I found the X to be a much better permanent solution)
 
Breaking in went like a dream yesterday. Running quite smoothly now after around 4 tanks.

Went to have a bash today with it but some how the glow plug filament is gone - it was wet when I took it out.... After running it yesterday I put after run oil in the engine and turned it over then put the glow plug back in. Not sure how this happened but just a minor setback. Just gotta wait for the new ones in the post now!
 
Whenever you suck the element out of a glowplug, make absolutely SURE to pull the head off and inspect for damage, and the glowplug element, a lot of times it will fuse to the top of the piston. You need to make sure you get that out of there. If it gets caught between the piston and the exhaust/intake ports it will do a lot of damage you'll automatically be replacing your piston and sleeve.
 
Looks like the top of the element is still in place on the glow plug....

Do I need to take the engine out and look inside it in case?? I'm worried now....
 
I'm breaking in my engine aswell after I stuffed my other one up by revving to hard, my new method is run the engine on idol for 3 mins then let it cool for 10, do this for 3 tanks, then idol it for 1 tank then do figure 8's and rev 1/4 throttle on the straights for 2 tanks, after that do the same thing but 1\2 throttle on 1 tank, then run straights from 1/2 to full throttle for the last tank. I don't know whether this is an effective break in method so don't use it until I'm certain it works, anyone feel free to point out any mistakes
 
Just remember that idling a brand new engine for long periods of time does more harm than good. With so much mechanical pinch in a new engine it puts a TON of stress on the conrod when idling, especially if the motor doesn't get above 180* so it's VERY important to wrap the head and get those temps up when you're doing your initial conrod break-in idle.
 
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