What were you guys doing at 5:30am Eastern? I was wrenching on my R/C. 
My wife heads to work at 5:30 and that leaves me about 2 and 1/2 hours to do my daily tinkering.
Today’s focus was getting my new Hyper .21 8-port Racing engine installed in my buggy. I did a lot of new things I've never tried. I've never had to take a flywheel off, for example. I used a pair of vice-grips and a rag to protect the flywheel. This works great, but if you play with flywheels a lot, buy a flywheel wrench.
Also the clutch on the big block engines is a little bit different. There is no clutch spring that goes around the shoes. Each shoe has it's own spring. When the first shoe came off in my hand, I thought I broke it. LOL
I also had to wrestle with the tuned pipe. On the big block engines, they use this funky spring to hold the exhaust on. The spring is beefy and a pain to stretch around the engine. I found the following to work well:
1. Take the head off.
2. Put the spring on the muffler.
(Don’t hook the muffler up yet.)
3. Stretch the connected spring over the exposed piston compartment and around the engine.
4. Grab the manifold and pull the pipe over the exhaust port.
5. Adjust the spring down so it’s even with the center of the pipe.
5. Make sure you have a good seal and that you haven’t killed the rubber gasket.
Also, if the end of your pipe is a little small, you might have to use the gasket that came with the smaller pipe and not the one that came with the engine. I don't know how long I fought to get the pipe on until I swapped gaskets.
Also, the old .21BB just had a Allen screw and some washers holding on the clutch bell. The new Hyper .21's shaft was a tiny bit longer than the old .21BB. After I stacked the washers on and screwed in the Allen screw, I had a gap. I was really lucky that the shaft had a groove cut for a locking spring ring. I was even luckier that I had an extra locking ring from my small block that fit it.
The engine and pipe are now in my Hot Bodies Lightning Pro 1/8 buggy. I just need to hook up the gas lines and swivel the ball joint on the carb around to hook up the linkages.
Finally, I'd like to make my point. To those that are new to this hobby and getting frustrated fixing R/C problems, don't give up.
Refusing to have the LHS fix my problems and doing it myself brought me tons of aggravation and dissatisfaction. Now that I've learned a thing or two, I'm finally starting to enjoy it. I feel very proud to see my son bashing his Duratrax with the engine I rebuilt, for example.
If your R/C breaks, whip out your tools and go for it. Fixing them is almost as fun as driving them.
-rob
My wife heads to work at 5:30 and that leaves me about 2 and 1/2 hours to do my daily tinkering.Today’s focus was getting my new Hyper .21 8-port Racing engine installed in my buggy. I did a lot of new things I've never tried. I've never had to take a flywheel off, for example. I used a pair of vice-grips and a rag to protect the flywheel. This works great, but if you play with flywheels a lot, buy a flywheel wrench.
Also the clutch on the big block engines is a little bit different. There is no clutch spring that goes around the shoes. Each shoe has it's own spring. When the first shoe came off in my hand, I thought I broke it. LOL
I also had to wrestle with the tuned pipe. On the big block engines, they use this funky spring to hold the exhaust on. The spring is beefy and a pain to stretch around the engine. I found the following to work well:
1. Take the head off.
2. Put the spring on the muffler.
(Don’t hook the muffler up yet.)
3. Stretch the connected spring over the exposed piston compartment and around the engine.
4. Grab the manifold and pull the pipe over the exhaust port.
5. Adjust the spring down so it’s even with the center of the pipe.
5. Make sure you have a good seal and that you haven’t killed the rubber gasket.
Also, if the end of your pipe is a little small, you might have to use the gasket that came with the smaller pipe and not the one that came with the engine. I don't know how long I fought to get the pipe on until I swapped gaskets.
Also, the old .21BB just had a Allen screw and some washers holding on the clutch bell. The new Hyper .21's shaft was a tiny bit longer than the old .21BB. After I stacked the washers on and screwed in the Allen screw, I had a gap. I was really lucky that the shaft had a groove cut for a locking spring ring. I was even luckier that I had an extra locking ring from my small block that fit it.
The engine and pipe are now in my Hot Bodies Lightning Pro 1/8 buggy. I just need to hook up the gas lines and swivel the ball joint on the carb around to hook up the linkages.
Finally, I'd like to make my point. To those that are new to this hobby and getting frustrated fixing R/C problems, don't give up.
Refusing to have the LHS fix my problems and doing it myself brought me tons of aggravation and dissatisfaction. Now that I've learned a thing or two, I'm finally starting to enjoy it. I feel very proud to see my son bashing his Duratrax with the engine I rebuilt, for example.
If your R/C breaks, whip out your tools and go for it. Fixing them is almost as fun as driving them.
-rob
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