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Schumacher Fusion.21

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Diver6127

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Just got my fusion.21 last friday for my birthday, from my wife and just finished breaking it in.

So far, this car has gobs of power in it. The .21 thundertiger R has a smooth powerband. I love the E start system (cordless drill w/ball end allen key). Makes it a dream to start. The steering is a push/pull type rack and the throttle servo is directly in-line with the slide carb. No real meassing with the carb angle. The disc brake system stops it on a dime with very little fade. The gas tank can be replaced with the tank of an NTC3. Kinda small for this gas guzzler. All chassis screws are torx, so very little chance to strip. The radio box is covered but ballooning the electronics is still good measure against murphy's law.The things I don't like are as follows ...

The tires came with no foams inside. The shift points for the 3-speed are set from the factory. TRS included with the package hooks onto the servo arm. (I will be putting one that hooks around the carb soon). In order to take the engine out, you not only have to pull the mount screws BUT also have to take off the graphite tray since there is no room for the 3-speed to clear the tray.

Other than that, this is a great ARR package. The engine is not too finickie with plugs. It'll take anything but a turbo plug. Just use the proper plug according to the days weather. I have been using an OS#8 for now and still good power. OS A3 is fine too, but not really too good on humid days like today.

So far 6 tanks ran in and I will start to tune tomorrow. Overall, great product. Just hard to get parts. Luckily one of the local LHS has a lion's share of necessary parts (suspension, steering and belts/pulley's)
 
can't wait I'm gettin mine in a couple of weeks... hows the speed? do you plan on putting on the 80mph pinion on any time soon?!!

I'm expecting a full vid soon!! :-)
 
Diver, A3 is a hot ass plug for a .21
Your still breaking it in. Go with a medium plug if you can.
PS. Those HPI Blue dots SUCK! I'm gonna shove them in your nose when I see you.
Love Rob
 
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RatzoRC said:
Diver, A3 is a hot ass plug for a .21
Your still breaking it in. Go with a medium plug if you can.
PS. Those HPI Blue dots SUCK! I'm gonna shove them in your nose when I see you.
Love Rob
Click to expand...

Yeah, I did 2 tanks with the A3 and didn't like it so I switched back to good old OS#8. As far as the blue dots ... I didn't know. Those were what I had in my toolbox during the dash and bash. Glad to hear the bad review from someone else. Better you than me. I would've been pissed if it was me using them only to find out how bad they are. Come to the park one day, a six pack should make ya feel better. We have a canopy now so you don't turn red like a lobster again.

BTW, I'm all done breaking in. Now I'm just tuning for performance. They say that the thundertiger engines are prone to air leaks in the heat sink but that has yet to be seen. Frank, the guy you joked about going into the woods with, has been running his thundertiger for almost 2 years with no probs and he runs pretty hard. If it goes south, that just means a new engine for me! RB will most probably be my route. Just don't tell the wife.

Reptile said:
can't wait I'm gettin mine in a couple of weeks... hows the speed? do you plan on putting on the 80mph pinion on any time soon?!!

I'm expecting a full vid soon!! :-)
Click to expand...

Reptile, the power is PHENOMINAL! Unfortunately there will be few places where you can actually get enough room for 3rd gear. I will most probably be trying it out at Floyd Bennit Field. It's an old airport that has been converted into a federal park with areas for r/c planes and cars. There's a lot of runways there so I will be running it while my brother drives. Gotta get a thrid person to do the video.

I don't know if I'll do the gearing for the 80+MPH. I like the torque it has now but if I get bitten by a bug, I'll try it out.
 
Gotta get some video up of that puppy in action.... you might have to slow down the tape though... it will only be a blur... LOL
 
I am really thinking about getting a Fusion....hmmmm I'm torned between it and the TC3 factory team kit. What do you think????
 
GaInGrEEn said:
I am really thinking about getting a Fusion....hmmmm I'm torned between it and the TC3 factory team kit. What do you think????
Click to expand...

I have the NitroTC3 also, older kit version. I love both cars. To make me choose between the two is impossible. I got the Fusion .21 as a "fun car" since there is no way that it is legal to race in any way shape or form. It's my bashing car. My NTC3, I will use that one to race. I've had probs with it in the past but still love it. Recently acquired an RB X12 turbo 5 port for one and anRB V12 3 port for another.

The Fusion is an ARR kit. No electronics, unpainted body, unglued wheels. I like the kit, over all but as stated in my first post about it, there are a few setbacks.

The NTC3 is a wonderful kit. Now that the revised version is out, makes it even better.

Since you're asking me what I think, get both ... like me! Remember, parts for the FUSION .21 are very very scarce. I'm just lucky to have an LHS that has parts. Most others do their orders online or phone to the distributer in Florida. You can have your parts in any fashion you want via UPS. I got my car via blue label (2nd day air).

The NTC3 is everywhere. Parts availability is the key factor. Second is experience with nitro's.

The fusion is too much car for a beginner. It's incredibly fast and responsive. In the hands of a novice, it can be a missle. At least with an NTC3, the car can grow with you.

Get the NTC3 first. Then get the fusion.
 
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You notice the Schumacher site is down? hmmm They out of business? shrug! No I want a speed demon. I probably will get both tho.
 
GaInGrEEn said:
You notice the Schumacher site is down? hmmm They out of business? shrug! No I want a speed demon. I probably will get both tho.
Click to expand...

They're not out of business. I called them up for some info on the fusion and also asked what happened to the site. Their site is down and will be up asap. Here is their business number if you want to order through one of their customer service reps. You'll also get the car a lot faster instead of waiting for the order to be processed ... (813)889-9691

I love both also. I just finished doing the fine tuning and she seems to just want to be leaned out till the temps hit about 247-252 F. with the body on. After that, performance loss is very noticable. I avg 224-232 F. That's a good sweet spot for this engine. Nice grunt and no bogging. Anything more than that is not too much of a performance gain.
 
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How did you manage to break in the engine with temps that cold? I've read that if you run the engine too cold (ie sub 200F) you can destroy the engine pretty quick because the parts don't bond as well.
 
Yeah that seems like pretty low temps to me. My ws7ii just doesn't run right till around 210. I run it in the 230s.
 
mcvickj said:
How did you manage to break in the engine with temps that cold? I've read that if you run the engine too cold (ie sub 200F) you can destroy the engine pretty quick because the parts don't bond as well.
Click to expand...

Sorry, I hit the 1 instead of the 2. You are correct mc. Bad aim as far as keys go. :hammer:
 
So are you running the stock rubber tires? Or are you planning on getting some foams? I couldn't imagine running without foams.

How's the low end torque?
 
The low end torque is great, get's even better midrange when the second speed kicks in. I haven't used the rubber slicks that came with them since they have no inner foams and I'm too lazy to CA everything. I just mounted a set of HPI slicks on some old NTC3 wheels I had laying around. It holds pretty good but a fellow club member has a fusion with foams. They're point and shoot. A whole lot better than rubbers. You just have to get the 2 degree offset for the rears with some of the premounted foams or just put in a spacer in the hubs.

As far as video, I just have to remember to bring the damn camera. I always remember that I left it on the counter as I am pulling into the parkinglot of the track ... DOH!
 

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