HPI Firestorm

[BurningRain]

Hello everyone,

I'm from Cambridgeshire and on a whim started looking to get in to nitro RC after being out of the electric RC scene for a while.

My interest started a few weeks ago when a Nitro buggy showed up on a Facebook buy/sell site for what looked like not a lot of money, it was advertised as a HPI Rush running but with no radio gear.

After buying it I soon realised that it wasn't a Rush but an early Firestorm with an Acme engine and needed quite a lot of work and money spending on it. After buying some Nitro and a new glow starter, you could get it started but it wouldn't idle and the idle screw was bent, after deciding that fixing this plus new tyres plus new front wheel bearing would start adding up I decided to pass this car on and look for something which would give me a better introduction.

I started trawling eBay and came across a Firestorm 10T on auction advertised with a stuck pull start, I checked around for prices of these but the only thing I saw was an Amazon advert for £300 pound, with not a lot of time I punted some money at it and won it for £205. After winning it I found that you can actually buy them cheaper brand new from model shops but you live and learn :?

Anyway I wanted somewhere to share my experiences and maybe do a bit of reading an get some assistance and ended up here.

I've since taken delivery of the car and it was clear the seller knew it wasn't the pull start that was stuck as they'd taken it off of the car along with the heat sink, both were loosely replaced with the incorrect screws.

I've taken the pull start off and it moves freely when off, it doesn't appear to be flooded since the heat sink and glow plug etc had been taken off, you can't crank it manually by hand it's stuck solid, you can move the piston down slightly and then crank it back up to where it's stuck.

I'm not sure what's wrong with it so I'll go find the appropriate section of the forum to ask for further advice but i'm guessing it's going to need stripping right down maybe?

This has put a bit of a damper getting in to the hobby since it's been a few weeks now and I haven't actually driven a car yet but onwards and upwards as they say, I'm sure it will be even more satisfying to see this car moving now than if I'd bought a new one from the start.

Apologies for the length of the first post and if you've made it to the end good work

 

[Rooky78]

Welcome to RCNT! I'm sure you'll find all the info you need and some more.

What you've described makes me want to think someone didn't understand "pinch" and got frustrated. When you rotate the engine by had, you should get resistance nervous the top of the piston stroke.
We have a few other members here from your neck of the woods, I believe, but my UK geography leaves much to be desired. Lol.

 

[BurningRain]

Thanks for the welcome.

The piston gets stuck pretty much near the bottom so it doesn't get anywhere near to the top of the cylinder at the moment.

I'm a complete novice when it comes to engines but I'm pretty handy taking things apart and putting them back together so I'm willing to go as far as it takes.

Is there any way to tell if an engine is completely knackered?

 

[Rooky78]

I haven't a clue why it would stick at the bottom. That being said, I would think that if the block is good, you could rebuild it. New piston, sleeve, rod and bearings. Sometimes it is more cost effective to get a new engine though. I don't have any personal experience with that model, so hopefully someone else will chime in soon.

 

[cbaker65]

Hello everyone,

I'm from Cambridgeshire and on a whim started looking to get in to nitro RC after being out of the electric RC scene for a while.

My interest started a few weeks ago when a Nitro buggy showed up on a Facebook buy/sell site for what looked like not a lot of money, it was advertised as a HPI Rush running but with no radio gear.

After buying it I soon realised that it wasn't a Rush but an early Firestorm with an Acme engine and needed quite a lot of work and money spending on it. After buying some Nitro and a new glow starter, you could get it started but it wouldn't idle and the idle screw was bent, after deciding that fixing this plus new tyres plus new front wheel bearing would start adding up I decided to pass this car on and look for something which would give me a better introduction.

I started trawling eBay and came across a Firestorm 10T on auction advertised with a stuck pull start, I checked around for prices of these but the only thing I saw was an Amazon advert for £300 pound, with not a lot of time I punted some money at it and won it for £205. After winning it I found that you can actually buy them cheaper brand new from model shops but you live and learn :?

Anyway I wanted somewhere to share my experiences and maybe do a bit of reading an get some assistance and ended up here.

I've since taken delivery of the car and it was clear the seller knew it wasn't the pull start that was stuck as they'd taken it off of the car along with the heat sink, both were loosely replaced with the incorrect screws.

I've taken the pull start off and it moves freely when off, it doesn't appear to be flooded since the heat sink and glow plug etc had been taken off, you can't crank it manually by hand it's stuck solid, you can move the piston down slightly and then crank it back up to where it's stuck.

I'm not sure what's wrong with it so I'll go find the appropriate section of the forum to ask for further advice but i'm guessing it's going to need stripping right down maybe?

This has put a bit of a damper getting in to the hobby since it's been a few weeks now and I haven't actually driven a car yet but onwards and upwards as they say, I'm sure it will be even more satisfying to see this car moving now than if I'd bought a new one from the start.

Apologies for the length of the first post and if you've made it to the end good work

Welcome to the RCNT site!

These nitro engines rely on a tight sleeve/piston fit ,an sometimes they do get stuck.
If theres nothing wrong or jamming inside ,then it just may still need to be broken-in,
which may require to be pre-heating the cylinder head,,,

 

[BurningRain]

I'd imagine they would be pretty tight, I'm ok with basic car mechanics but Nitro cars are a little different, I did read something about heating it up manually, unfortunately I doubt I have the correct tool to do this.

I'm just in conversation with the seller currently so I'm not going to touch the car to much until we're done but do you have any advice on how you might tell if it needs pre-heating? I will be using my own initiative to have a search around soon but my introduction has lead in a bit

Thanks for the comments and welcome.

 

[Rooky78]

Most folks just use a hair dryer or heat gun for pre-heating.

 

[BurningRain]

Here's a couple of photos

It does look in pretty great condition other than the engine not running so hopefully soon it'll be a sound car.

 

[watertrucker]

Welcome to RCNT and the Nitro Addiction! Congrats on that nice truck. Nitro is a lot of fun when you get the hang of it

 

[BurningRain]

Thanks!

Looks like I've found the problem, "stuck pull cord" equates to piston not attached to the connecting rod!

Not sure how to get the sleeve out yet to get the bits out but I'm looking it up, mostly they look like they just pull straight up but most people put something in the exhaust outlet and crank the piston up but I don't think that will work here..?

 

[cbaker65]

It looks like the rod maybe broke , If your lucky ,there maybe a chance that it didn't damage the pist/sleeve.
That a nice truck .an is still worth buying a new economical engine for!

 

[BurningRain]

Thanks, the rod came out from the view in the photo, it is broken. I don't know how to get the sleeve and piston out yet though.

 

[Rooky78]

I don't know the exchange rates, but Tower Hobbies shows a complete new engine for that for $95 USD. So hopefully it shouldn't hurt the wallet too much.

 

[cbaker65]

You have to take the head off to get the pist/sleeve out!
It is possible that there is no damage to them ,an only the rod needs
to be replaced.
You don't know until you get those out for inspection!

 

[wacmartin]

Is to late not make a not as described claim? Maybe you can try to get the seller to work with you on splitting a new engine or the cost fix it.
Other then that it looks like it's in fantastic shape.

 

[BurningRain]

I'm looking at a complete unit as a replacement but I also think this is a good opportunity to get some knowledge about how they go together and maybe then have a spare if I can get it going.

I'm also in contact with the seller about it not being as described to see if we can come to an agreement, I'm sure he must have known it was more broken than he was letting on.

 

[cbaker65]

Yes ,because that happened as it was running.
That usually happens if the car gets away from you at full WOT ,
or trying to force start it on a flooded engine an putting it into a
hydraulic lock.
The engine looks very clean ,so it happened when the truck
was still new!

 

[ninnon]

Welcome to RCNT

 

[BurningRain]

Thanks! Minor update, the seller has agreed a partial refund so whilst that progresses I've ordered another engine.

If I enjoy using it as much as I expect I will then I'll see if I ca repair this one too.

I'll let you guys know if and when I've got it up and running, I guess I'm going to need to follow the HPI break in procedure of running a few tanks of fuel through.

 

[olds97_lss]

Welcome to the forum! Sorry to see you got a couple duds off the line. Hope your new engine works out well for you. Take your time breaking it in. Most engines don't tune well until you get 6-8 tanks through it, even then, take it easy with WOT (wide open throttle) runs until you get half a gallon through it (couple liters) or so as the pinch will still be pretty tight. Don't want to risk snapping a conrod in your new engine!

My first RC was 15+ years ago and was a losi xxx-nt. Same kind of rig as yours (2wd stadium truck). I didn't know squat and I didn't read anything. I just put gas in it and drove it like I stole it. It was December... Oddly enough, that engine lasted me over a year and a lot of tanks of fuel. Never put out great power, but guessing that was more due to my lack of knowledge and the fact I didn't really break it in combined with the ambient temps were below freezing at the time.