Is Consistency a reality w/ nitro RC ?

[Plaidfish]

Yeah I kind of miss the simplicity of my T-maxx...( still have 1 left if anyones interested) I should play with them more often...the one I just traded was a real basher and racer all in one....but now I've got a buggy to try this weekend will be the maiden voyage....and I get to find out all the fun things bout buggy tuning and frustrating inconsistencies......LOL......maybe I should take up quilting, at least if I cried about that I'd have something to wipe the tears away...BOO FREAKIN HOO....yes I'd like an order of french cries with my Whaaah-Burger....I can eat em while bitchin bout the buggy

 

[parris001]

Lykan, dude, you are a riot. You put your finger right on the pulse of the amateur R/C scene. How many times have I seen what you described? Too many! So many newbies to the R/C scene jump right into nitro (electric is for sissys, right) and make huge expensive mistakes. A buddy of mine bought a brand new Savage 25 yesterday. He's never had much dealings with nitro but he had to have this big, bad truck. I begged him to let me help him break the engine in. He took it home, got it started, and hammered the throttle. He brought it to me today and said, "something's wrong." Hey, no poop!?! My worn out HPI .12 has more compression than his one day old .25. Scratches all over the brand new head. All the wheels wobble from crashes. And this is a one day old truck. His son's Christmas present.

 

[FastEddy]

I have to deal with this every Xmas.
In the neighborhood 3-5 kids get Nitro RCs.
I see them out in the street racing each other WOT on Xmas morning.
The next day 90% of them will be ringing my door bell for help.

Every year 1 of the kids will come over with the user guide in his hand while the others are racing and ask questions about how to get it going properly. The not quite so amazing part is that I don't see any of them except the 1 running after the first of the year. We have a group of 5 kids that are into it for the long haul.

I enjoy helping this group as much as I can.
I have a built in customer base to sell glow plugs and 30% fuel too.

 

[lykan]

I'm just lucky I didn't have a lot of meny to dump into the nitro right off the bat I had to look for a deal.

ImBroken sold me a nice used T-Maxx with a piston and sleeve rebuild kit. It was a killer deal and was cheap enough to learn with. I can't imagine how frusterated I would have been with $400-$800 wrapped into the hobby. Those things I mention I have watched every new player do, and do again lol including myself.

Did I forget to mention "spend all day trying to start your blown junk engine only to find out your glow starters dead, and your engine is fine" lol

You know Eddy we have kind of the same set up here. It's really rewarding to see the one kid who really gets it and puts the effort into it they get to enjoy the hobby.

Every X-mas like you said the kids get one because they have seen ours. One or two make the cut and keep them. The rest of the kids end up selling theirs off for parts to the kids who take the time to learn, and have the patience.

One thing I noticed tho.. Kid's with bankrolled parents usually give up after a month, you just can't buy enough parts in this hobby to keep a nitro running without trying to learn. The kids with the broke parents are usually the really respectfull ones who like to learn before they burn..

 

[Plaidfish]

Hey now don't dis the rich guys in the sport...w/o them I wouldn't have gotten so many killer deals on used stuff.....I traded a neighbor an old electric LOSI buggy for most of my mutant maxx sest-up....all because he saw my T-maxx in the field next to his house.....he had to have the baddest T-maxx made.....so he did a little research and bought all the stuff to make this beast w/ a Sirio .27 pro..and 1/8th scale diffsall the goodies...I helped him build it, break it in and he could not get it running...he saw how I could just take an electric (actually a stadium truck) RC and just go play...he started stripping the mutant and selling it piece by piece until he traded me for the LOSI truck...so for approximately 1200 bucks my neighbor has a 10 year old LOSI JRX-T pro....I run that thing around that field next to his house at least 1 a week (it's my tune and tweak area)......just to remind him that it's not the cash you spend but rather the Time you invest........So now he's got a go-cart and he's pissed cause the RCs kill him when we race.....so I may end up with a $5,000 cart that still can't beat the RC cars..LOL I love stupid rich people........I buy my dad and daughter gifts from the flea market and they usually get stuff they need to fix.....but they appreciate it more than buying some pre-made plastic Crapola that ends up in the garbage in a week........power to the people
there I did my rant for the day......

I need to change my button from Post quick reply to Post ranting reply

 

[DarthRacer]

I'm the self proclaimed king of nitro consistency. Ask the guys at this years ECB.
My tips for good running nitro engines in random order. I follow all of these myself.

1) Get rid of the stock fuel line and get the proper lengths of good line by GS, etc.
2) Use a fuel filter and clean it periodically
3) Use a fuel tank without a primer if possible (air leaks)
4) Make sure the engine is sealed properly (RTV) and head bolts tight
5) Clean your one way bearing periodically
6) Ditch the stock air filter and get a good one like the Motorsavers. Keep it clean!
7) Use the right glow plug for your engine / nitro % / ambient temp
8) Use good quality fuel. Keep the container sealed.
9) Don't leave any fuel in the tank at the end of the day. Start the engine to clean out the fuel in the lines
10) Use after run oil - just a few drops down the carb
11) Keep a few well charged glow ignitor batts, or get a 1.5V hobby battery and glow ignitor (best setup IMO)
12) RTFM when it comes to break-in and base needle setups!!
13) Adjust the needles 1/8 of a turn at a time and run for 2 min before re-tuning. If you fubar them go back to break-in settings and start over.
14) Temp guns / monitors - get one!!
15) Blue smoke = Goooood, No smoke = baaaaad

This sounds like a lot, but you need to do it if you want to run Nitros.

 

[Plaidfish]

Good summary Darth...The dark side does have it's good side huh?
I started this thread cause I have been having a rash of problems w/ everything else but the Engine (mostly stupid clutch issues) and it seems everyone is taking exception to tuning their engines....Noticing how I worded the initial thread I guess that is what I implied....Everyone has given great tips here but I think Untchbl & Darth hit the issues on the head, and I definately agree w/ Lykan and his method on how to learn about these things. I've got my 7 year old daughter rebuilding an O.S. .15 for me....I won't get her a car (of her own) until she can at least assemble it.....she's got 2 nights on this thing and I think we'll be starting it up tonite or tommorow...I hope it works so I can get her a RC10GT for Christmas. I'm gonna paint it pink and purple, maybe stick barbie pics inside the body too...I was given a rash of poop by my neighbor for being "SO HARD" on her and making her learn something just to play with a toy.....It's nice to see that in a country like this that has so much to offer most of us just choose to be cattle and take the easiest way out of a situation....that's what I like the most about this hobby...most of the people you meet are pretty tenacious and don't just give up trying to learn something new. The skills you learn in this hobby will be the foundation for careers of the future.....I know, I design Building automation systems and most of my electronics background came from playing w/ RCs in the 80's.......am I ranting again
bye
-E-

 

[DarthRacer]

Oh, you were talking about the VEHICLES? Get a Savage. Seriously. I've had mine over a year and lest see what I broke:
1) The stock rollbar from some high jumps.
2) My diff gears on one occasion because the diff screws backed out - my fault for not checking them more frequently.
The damn thing is awesome.

 

[scottm]

The most uptime I have is with my storm buggy and my rc10gt. The gt has all rpm arms, arm mounts, body mounts, etc. It hits trees and cartwheels for miles, but it is simply unstoppable. I drive it first on a bash day to warm up the reflexes, and last when everything else is broken. Then after a month or two of weekly pounding, I clean it off, change the shock oil and the clutch bearings, thats it...

 

[olds97_lss]

Shouldn't your roll cage make your other trucks unstoppable?


I wish RPM made some stuff for my HPI RS4 NMT...

 

[ImBroken]

Others I have run with that share the same reliability are:
Humboldt Blazer,
Mcvickj
CandyMan
Robmob
Christian
DarthRacer
and more.

I guess I didn't make the list huh..... lol
Lets just say, I was unprepared for the ECB II..... Damn Picco...

 

[parris001]

This has turned out to be a great thread. And I think we've discovered that certain platforms are less needy when it comes to repairs. I love my old RS4, it never breaks. My buddy with the 4trac just can't catch a break. Today we were running and he bumped his right side into another car we were running with (it wasn't a bad lick, just a gentle sideswipe) and took out the front drive belt and one of the pulleys. His car just looks real prone to damage.