• Welcome to RCTalk! 🚀

    Join the #1 RC community where hobbyists connect, share, and get expert advice on RC cars, trucks, boats, drones, and more!

    • ✓ Friendly & passionate RC enthusiasts
    • ✓ RC tips & troubleshooting
    • ✓ Buy, sell & trade RC gear
    • ✓ Share builds & upgrades

Savage 4.6 SS Build with Pics!

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Think chainsaw, going at about 1/2 bore. Just make sure you're as far away from a neighbors house as you can get... Also, try to plan it for while they're away. They can't complain if they're not home.

Also, try not to linger over it as much as possible; the smoke might irritate your eyes/nose.
 
Well, I killed my glowplug starter battery because I didn't get to charge it for very long. Got a single tank through though.

I got it to rev up pretty good about one time. It definitely stalled out a lot. I tried to richen the fuel, but it started getting "clappy" when I tried to rev and it stalled out. Not seeing a lot of smoke except for the one high rev.

There is quite a bit of oil dripping out of the exhaust - is that good or bad? rich/lean?

I'm going to wait a few more hours for the starter to charge and then go at it again.
 
You definately want that oil spitting out during breakin, that's a good sign. It means it's getting plenty of lubrication. Just keep following the instructions, and you should be set to rip.
 
A lot of oil out the pipe is fine for break-in. Try to run the break-in with the factory settings for both needles. Make sure your idle setting on the carb is set properly. Also make sure your throttle trim on the radio is set properly.

The "neutral" point on your radio should put the carb at its minimum idle screw point. When you hit the brakes the carb should not close anymore and the idle should not drop. When you start to move the throttle off the neutral point the carb slide should also start to move off idle. Also make sure that full throttle on the radio coincides with full travel on the carb slide. Adjust your linkage and end points so that full throttle on the carb slide does NOT occur sooner than full throttle on the radio. The point is to get as much throttle travel as possible. This will result in increased driveability.

Check your temps during break-in and try to keep it up in the low 200s. Heating the engine up with a hair dryer will make it much easier to start.
 
DarkEnergy said:
Got a single tank through though.

"I got it to rev up pretty good about one time.".........

"except for the one high rev"
Click to expand...


taking this at face value I'm a little worried about your engine.....i know your new to this so i have to ask, you know you have to break-in these engines right?
 
That is a fair question. In the manual it says to rev it up periodically to clear out oil, but after re-reading it again and again, I think it means after the tank of idle :|. Luckily, after about the 4th tank when I actually did start gunning it, the rpms were far far higher than my original rev. In fact, I don't think I went past 1/4 on the first tank. Almost the entire time was spent trying to get to idle nice and even... with little blips to clear it out.

Well, The rest of the break in went fine. The HSN wasn't anywhere near correct out of the box. I ended up leaning it at least one full rotation before I could even go 50% on the throttle without stalling. How can this be right?

First take was idle with throttle blipping and cool down periods. Second tank was more idling. The engine didn't get hot at all here. Very rich on the low speed needle?

I let it cool down about 10-15 minutes between tanks.

Third and Fourth tank was a combination of low speed driving, camping 30-50% while on the block for a minute or so at a time.

Fifth tank was more driving, but with a few times where I stepped on it. HOLY CRAP! It was deafening.

The engine runs pretty damn good now (I think). The engine barely even got hot enough to hurt my finger. The water test never sizzled water, just quick evaporation towards the end. I don't have the space to really get a feel for the power or tune, but the engine winds up no problem, doesn't stall when I step on it from idle, stays cool, idles without dying, and sounds KICKIN RADDD! There was also quite a bit of smoke once the engine started doing some work, which I think is good for now.

This thing is a TERROR. Nothing like my 1/18 electric haha.

Noise is way too high for the neighborhood. Sorry neighbors :| last time I swear.

I'm done for the night after 5 tanks. I really hope I didn't screw up the engine. The manual says step 4) start up and idle for a tank, step 5) to keep it running slowly go up to 100%, step 6) two tanks low speed, etc, etc.

It really kind of sounds like its telling you how to keep the engine running in step 5. Ehhh... other guides seem to suggest idle or even idle/cooldown cycles. Live and learn.
 
Last edited:
Back to the bell shim issue:
I just got done assembling mine and did need one thin shim in front of the brass bushing. Ofna Part number 10099 is a bag of assorted clutch bell shims of all sizes. It contains 3 shims that will fit the K4. one thick one and 2 thinner ones. Using the 1 thick one was the ticket. I tried a combination of the 3 and it was the best fit. I have close to 0 play and absolutely no binding.

Mat want to give it a try.
http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXNT03&P=7
 
Thanks FastEddy.

A couple updates:

First off, I broke my pull starter. There is so much compression. And I think I might have flooded the engine a few times, which causes it be more difficult I read somewhere... air displaced by fuel?

Compression has lightened up a bit, especially after the engine is warm.

But here's the real story: After six tanks I still coudln't lean the engine out. The engine runs right, but only after it starts to get hot, and it still smokes quite a bit. No, I'm not trying to tune at this point, I'm trying to make the engine run right still.

So I open up my HSN, put it in the light, and I can see DEBRIS. There was a metal shaving that obviously came off the HSN threads because you could see the binding on there after I took it out. SUCKKKK. The debris must have been holding the HSN open and letting way too much fuel in. The needle was really hard to turn and figured it was normal :(.

I squirted out the needle and the rest of the carb with nitro cleaner and put it back together. When I look in the intake hole on the engine, I don't see scratches - all I see is a faint crosshatch shape on the cylinder wall.

Tommorow I see if it runs better :\.
 
I just looked into the exhaust port of mine and am not happy. It looks like there is pitting / rust on the side of the piston. Using a fine dental pick I ran it lightly up and down and can feel and roughness or pits. It must be discolored. I think Ill pop the head off and look a bit deeper into it. I will also take your warning and flush the carb and mill out before I install it. I hope there is nothing wrong with you mill nor mine.

Good news, bad news. You can get a roto start to replace the pull start. They are available on tower. See the link in my thread on the subject. Bad news Is the Heavy duty new unit isn't available yet. Maybe in a week or so. More good news is that its cheaper then the original. only 44.00 for the back plate, gears, roto, and shaft.
 
DarkEnergy said:
First off, I broke my pull starter. There is so much compression. And I think I might have flooded the engine a few times
Click to expand...

Heating the engine with a hair dryer will help with this problem big time. It will be much easier to pull and it should start on the first or second pull every time if the tune is close. You should get a minimum of 3 gallons out of a pull start.

I personally like having a Pull Start in my Savage.
 
Also, for the first few runs, you can slightly loosen the glow plug just a tic to ease that huge compression. Once the engine fires, tighten it back down. After a couple tanks, the piston/sleeve begin to groove better and it will fire up pretty easily.
 
FastEddy, I have that same discoloration and I've had it since before I started the engine. Maybe its normal.

Did you say you could or could not feel pits?

Already replaced with a pull start last night. Just heard about the glowplug trick yesterday at the shop too, but I've had 6 tanks now. Things have loosened up. I was just tugging on it too hard.
 
DarkEnergy said:
FastEddy, I have that same discoloration and I've had it since before I started the engine. Maybe its normal.

Did you say you could or could not feel pits?

Already replaced with a pull start last night. Just heard about the glowplug trick yesterday at the shop too, but I've had 6 tanks now. Things have loosened up. I was just tugging on it too hard.
Click to expand...

I think the discoloration on the back of the piston is normal. Both of my K4.6 engines have had it for a while, and run fine. The K4.6 is manufatured in Japan, and the pistons appear to have a high silicone content that isn't mixed well with the metal. This might be the reason for the blotchiness that they get.

The bottom line is that you should be fine. Just take it easy and don't get frustrated with it. The K4.6 can get a little stubborn when it's new (I broke a pull start as well).
 
I'm having trouble getting the engine to warm up... Once the engine is cool its extremely difficult to get it to wind up. It idles, just doesn't rev up. I'm pretty sure it has something to do with my warm up mixture - am I supposed to be more lean or more rich on warmup?

The way it goes right now, I let the engine idle for like 10 minutes because as soon as I touch the throttle it dies. I wait and wait until its just barely warm and I run it with just a tad of throttle until it warms up some more. Then finally I can start opening up... then after almost a FULL tank, the engine finally clears out. What am I doing wrong? I'm still not sure about the HSN... I think I finally found the sweet spot, but only after like... a few tanks of warming up... arghh..

Is it possible my LSN is set too rich, preventing it from warming up? I mean... I sit here for 10 minutes and I can barely feel the heat on the head.

Also, when it is actually fully warmed up and kicking ass, it will sort of... gurgle on wot and sometimes die.
 
Sounds like your running rich as you suspect. It should idle with a little help at startup and be warm to the touch soon after. If you run it for a few minutes spit should sit on the head for several seconds then start to evaporate.

You may need to invest in a heat gun to help get you in the proper zone so you can then start to fine tune it. Again, yes, it sounds like you are WAY rich.
 
I would try leaning the high speed. Where are you at on it now?

As usual someone beat me to the post. Eddy is giving you good advice, get a temp gun. They cost about $25. What is the next engine going to cost?
 
Last edited:
I've been reading around and I stumbled across someone saying that an engine is impossible to tune with leakage around the bearing.

When I had my off the other day, I tried sucking air through the air intake and I could hear leakage around the bearing on the drive shaft - not too much, but it was there.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but leakage around a bearing would cause a lean condition at wot - which could possibly stall it out at high rpms. I had that weird stalling at the top of the curve - could this be it? Is that part hard to replace? I already cleaned out debris from the HSN damnit! What else is wrong with this engine :(.

I love wrenching on this thing, but damn, give me a chance :P.
 
Before you go chasing ghosts, you have all the classic symptoms of a rich tune. Tuning is a learned art and can be extremely frustrating. To much fuel will cause stalling on both low and high rpm. With the amount of fuel you are going through its almost a given that you need to concentrate on the HSN. Just make 1/8th (10 minutes on a clock: Clockwise) adjustments, run it around for a lap or two to see what it does, bring it in and do it again. You will see a change one way or the other. If at some point it gets to hot to touch your finger on the head then you have gone to far. It sounds like you are being over protective of your mill. Its not going to blow up if you lean it out a little to far while your trying to find the sweet spot. Just keep an eye on it.

Again, Ill suggest that you get a temp gun.

Did you get a fuel filter yet?
 
DE, I agree with Eddy. Remember that you're still early on in the breakin process. The engine is set very very rich at first. It sputters and spews fuel and oil and bogs and hesitates and all that. Don't sweat it. Just stick with the breakin process. Don't worry about the bearing. Most front bearings will have a little gap. That's the only way the crank can go through. Once the engine is running, heat will expand the case, crank and bearing to better the seal. Plus you'll get a little film of castor which will seal it up enough where there won't be any detrimental air leak.

All that being said, I did have a little temperature control issue with my K4.6. It would either bog and run at 200F, or it would scream but peg 295F. I took a couple minutes to seal the carb throat and backplate gasket and that has seemed to help. But you won't really know if you have those issues until you've had a chance to break in the engine.
 

RC Builds

Back
Top