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Homemade breakin procedure.

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SpitFireV12RR

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Hi, Since Ofna doesn't really explain they're break-in procedure, I'm going to ask if my break in procedure is okay, and please make any variations you think would be good. For the first tank, I'm going to let is idol slightly fast. Second, I'm going to put it on the ground and slowly increase speed to 1/4 throttle and then gently apply the brakes. For the second, I'm going to slowly increase throttle to 1/2 throttle then slightly apply the brakes. For third & forth, i'm going to slightly apply it to 3/4 throttle and then gently apply the brakes. For the 5 & 6, i'm going to slowly apply power to 3/4 throttle and hold that out for 3 seconds and then gently apply the breaks.

Since this is my first nitro, I'm not going to get into the whole heatcycling and all that complicated stuff, and please give suggestions and comment.

P.S. Its an Ofna 1/8 Ultra LX Competition w/ the .26 engine and a 145 cc fuel tank.

Thanks,
Todd
 
Todd,
I am relatively new to the hobby, in fact I just broke in my first buggy, a Hyper 7 with a .21 8 port. Not the easiest I have heard. But I think I have a general understanding of what needs to occur in an engine for proper break in, and it is all about temperature. Running your engine at idle is not going to provide enough heat for the small imperfections in your engine to wear away. They will wear away, but not quckly enough. Also, you want your engine to get up to it's normal running temperature so that the metal can expand, then cool it down so it can contract while the piston is at Bottom Dead Center, or BDC, allowing the compression to stay at the same level as from factory. I am not saying try something as extreme as the WOT method, (Wide Open Throttle), but I believe heat cycling is the only safe, effective way to break in a glow fuel engine, and my SCREAMING .21 is my proof.
Good luck to you, and welcome to the most fun, addictive money pit you have ever seen!!!
 
Any Nitro engine must be broken in fully to have a long life.Breakin(heat cycling)should take from 5-7 tanks.

Me I use 6 full tanks,I start slow,running the car on the ground.After each tank,increase the RPM.The last tank it is full wide open throttle.And also Start with a rich mixture,and with each tank you lean a bit.Beware not too lean if you do not see a trail of blueish smoke,it gets very lean and your engine may suffer.

Before starting for the first time make sure you have read the instructions and recommendations made by people who have the same car/engine as you.
Better be too safe trhan sorry.

And after you finished using your buggy be sure to use some after run oil drops to preserve the engine.

Good luck with your break in.
 
The method you said sounds just like the traxxas break in procedure.... almost exactly.

I think the heat cycle method is the most effective, but you'll get many arguments about that. Just search, there are many. I'd go with what the manual says to do. Every manufacturer has their preferred method.

Traxxas method 5 tank break in (basically what you said)
HPI (savage) two tank break in (20 foot ovals at moderate throttle)
Idle mothod
WOT method
Heat cycle
ect.

Put plenty of that ARO in it. It's cheap. A few drops is almost useless. I "squirt" the aro into mine and hydrolock it, but hey, that's me.
 
lol. I don't even use after run oil. My household ALWAYS has Marvel Mystery Oil so I just use that. Its like $3.00 for a quart as uppose to $4.00 for like 6 onces. I can't wait for break-in, i'm actually going to use AW18s method for break-in but I can't until my aunt brings the AAs over for the radios...Damn thing takes 8!!
 
12 if it uses aa for the Rx too.......
Spitfire, MMO is awsome to use....I've heard some ARO "manufacturers" use straight MMO for the secret Formula.....
second, the heat cycling is pretty important, thermal expansion/contraction is how the metal is tempered (so to speak) if it's never allowed to cool, the metal is soft from running hot more than it needed.....if it's consistantly brought up to temp then cooled it's like a hardening process....this is where alot of the longevity of your sleeve is determined....it's no harder than your breakin you described (don't idle BTW...useless habit carried over from old timers) just stop it in the middle of each of those tanks and let it cool down w/ the piston at BDC.......best practice you can get into is every time you pick your car up check the piston position......NEVER leave it at TDC.....
 
Thanks, I figured out how to tell when its a BDC. So as I understand now, I can keep my process and mix it with AW18s, but instead of idoling through a tank, I should only Idol it for 2-3 minutes and then check the temperature(I saw somewhere that if you drop a drop of water on the head and it takes 3-5 seconds to sizzle and evapourate than thats good temperature), let it cool down for 10 minutes and complete the process till the first tank is dead?
 
Don't bother w/ idling at all...it really does nothing but slam the piston into a cold sleeve.....the water method will get you close but try and get a decent IR temp gun......it will save you loads of guess work....temp is important to the operation of the mill, if you don't know the temp within a 50 deg split chances of ruining your mill get worse for ya......25 bucks for the duratrax one...maybe more than you wanted to spend right now but it could saave you haveing to spend another 150 for a mill later on.....
 

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