Tips for running in cold weather?

[rcnut143]

I want to run my truck out on the icy road a bit but I'm not sure how to approach the tuning part of it. Do I go richer or leaner? I know cold air has more O2 so my guess would be richer to get more fuel in the mix. Whats the best way to go about wrapping the head? Sock or foil or ??? Should it be a tight wrap with layers or just a loose single layer?


PS. I guess I should clarify cold for ya guys. Below 30* F.

 

[olds97_lss]

When it's below 20F, I don't run. Too problematic to tune and plastics get too brittle for my taste.

I have found that my small blocks are much more stable below freezing than my big blocks. Must have something to do with the overall surface area of the crank case and engine mount whicking heat away causes big blocks to fluctuate more.

20-40F, I wrap the head with rubber completely and ziptie it on. Keeps air from going through the fins, doesn't retain water like cloth/paper and doesn't cause radio glitching like tin-foil might do.

Then I make sure to warm my engine up to at least 70F before firing it up, then gently run it with a moderatly rich tune to see what it needs. Usually a bit of leaning is needed to get them to run right and to get the temps up a bit.

I ran my jato with a 2.5R in it a couple weeks ago at 25F and it ran fairly consistent that way at 200F. Of course, until it got doused with snow, then it would drop down to 140F or lower quickly.

 

[rcnut143]

Below 20 is too cold for me to stand out there anyways. I don't think I have any scrap rubber laying around. Do you think a thin piece of cardboard would do the trick? Like the kind that is on the back of a notebook?

 

[olds97_lss]

You would probably be better off going with a piece of a lexan body or something.

I used a piece of a bicycle innertube. I went and bought one just so I could cut it up for stuff. Pretty cheap supply of decent rubber.

This was my jato setup:

The head is shorter than stock... that's a whole other story unrelated to winter temps.

 

[Mickstix]

Kind of off topic (sorry) but has anyone tried covering thier head in nylon (panty hose) to keep out sand and dirt, etc.? Not sure if it'd cause the engine to run hotter or overheat? I've used it on paint bottles as a filter/screen, which is what gave me the idea, cause around here there's so much sand and dirt the inside of the head (around the plug) gets very dirty and it's hard to clean unless ya remove it.. Thanks for any info!

 

[Scrogg]

Wintertime it would be OK. An air compressor is a big help for this problem. When I don't have access to a compressor I use Q-tips and Simplegreen.

 

[Mickstix]

Yea, I also use a compressor for the same thing.. Makes a mess though.. I finally picked up a temp gun the last time I was at the LHS, so maybe I'll give it a try while the weather is cool, and see how much of a temp difference it makes.. Thanks as usual for the info!

 

[drdoom405]

Ok now I'm dying to know how the Jato got its head lopped off...

 

[olds97_lss]

Ok now I'm dying to know how the Jato got its head lopped off...

Hacksaw.
https://www.rcnitrotalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=75027&highlight=jato

 

[ch3no2junkie]

cause around here there's so much sand and dirt the inside of the head (around the plug) gets very dirty and it's hard to clean unless ya remove it.. Thanks for any info!

I hold my truck up and douse the head out with some wd 40, it works pretty good for me

 

[Mickstix]

Thanks for the tip!! I'll give anything a try once!

Olds, that was a hell of a story on the cut head/broken crank cases!! Did ya finally figure out how to stop cracking the cases, or did ya have to park the Jato??

 

[olds97_lss]

Not sure. If you made it to the end of that thread, I said I had put a layer of jb-weld under the crankcase to act as support and haven't busted one since. Although, I haven't run it much since then either... I'm sure I'll find out next season.

 

[Scrogg]

Have olds mill you a better mount with more clearance and make a low profile cooling head. The man has skills.

 

[olds97_lss]

Have olds mill you a better mount with more clearance and make a low profile cooling head. The man has skills.

Umm... what?!?!?!? Not sure that being capable of wielding a hack saw means a person has "skills"... lol!

 

[Scrogg]

Sorry! I meant to say RAcer 1966!!oops.

 

[drdoom405]

Just wanted to add I took my 3.3 out today. It was about 24 degrees out, and of course the traxxas mill wanted to run at about 280....

Gotta love em.....

You do have to give the 3.3 credit..at least this one. I've been basicly abusing the crap out of it the last few weeks and it just keeps going and going....