Tuning Tutorial?

[Cleaner]

I used the search engine and looked in the TIPS section, but could not find a tutorial for tuning. I have the car running good and it shifts fine, but when i read posts that say "my cars is fast with alot of smoke commin out" i think.. well there is some smoke comming out but what is alot? how do i know that it is tuned correctly? and temps and such..but i dont have a temp gun so what options do i have? it seems like the more i learn the more questions i have thanks in advance.

Cleaner

 

[itsme]

well first off what car do you have and what mill do you have on it if you dont have a temp gun you could always use the spit test get the car up to temp and spit on your finger and drop that on the head of your mill if it evaporates immediatly your running to hot if it takes a few to evaporate you should be alright,from idle through the mid range you should see a good trail of smoke when it gets to the top end you should see a little smoke, but i do really suggest getting a temp gun just so you know what your at kinda sets your mind at ease. Good Luck hope that little bit of info helps.

 

[Cleaner]

i am going to get a temp gun, but i might be a few months away. what is the cheapest one i could get? are the guns or a temp gauge attached to the car less expensive? and HPI RS4-3 ss 12R-ss THS Tuned Pipe. i dont think this engine has a low speed needle..i could be wrong but any info you guys have would be great. or even a link to a goos tutorial.

Cleaner

 

[itsme]

i am going to get a temp gun, but i might be a few months away. what is the cheapest one i could get? are the guns or a temp gauge attached to the car less expensive? and HPI RS4-3 ss 12R-ss THS Tuned Pipe. i dont think this engine has a low speed needle..i could be wrong but any info you guys have would be great. or even a link to a goos tutorial.

Cleaner

i found my temp gun at the local radio shack for less than 20.00

 

[MyJeep]

I am using Duratrax's (a.k.a Duratrash). But hey, that is the only temp gun my LHS carry. It works just fine.

 

[itsme]

Thats a decent temp gun ryhton has one of those and it seems to work fine for him,when i dont have it lol..

 

[Pinblaster]

Is this on a 1/10 scale or 1/8 scale car? What size motor do you have? What is the oil content in your fuel?

There is a big difference between the volume of smoke between the scale and engine sizes. Its like compairing a cigarette to a cigar. The bigger the motor the more smoke you have. 1/10 scale motors should puff out a noticable amount of smoke when you rev the motor but they doesn't pour it out like the bigger cars do.

Your best bet would be to invest $25-30 on a temp guage and take your readings at the base of the cooling head (bottem fin) or straight on top of the glow plug. and keep the temps between 230 and 270 deg. $30 is cheap when you compair it to the cost of replacing or rebuilding a motor that has cooked. Not to mention the number of glow plugs it can save you in the long run.

Here are a couple of links other ppl have posted on here that I have found to be very valuable:
http://www.rc10gthobby.com/~mystracing/Nitroind.htm
http://www.rcnitro.com/rn/articles/ht_tunengine_01.asp
http://www.rcnitro.com/rn/articles/super_tune.asp

 

[XXX-NT Dee]

Hey Pinblaster..Thanks...Nice..I been having trouble tuning my XXX-NT I'll definitely save those sites . Tanks Againg !!

 

[Diver6127]

Also remember that tuning settings may be different from day to day, even from morning to afternoon! Elevation, ambient temp, humidity and barometric pressure will affect your settings. It's not really that big of a deal unless your racing. At the very least, once our car is warmed up give it a few passes after the engine is warm and check the temps as well as performance in the entire power band from idle to top end.

 

[4u2nv]

Go down 3 threads from this one named "Tuning help needed". Theres Alot of good info on there to get ya goin. Good luck

 

[Pinblaster]

You're Welcome XXX-NT Dee
Remember once you have your LSN set, you shouldn't have to adjust it more than 1/8 turn in either direction to keep it idling smoothly. All you will need to adjust is the HSN to account for temp, humidity changes, and usually no more than 1/8-1/4 turn for the HSN. :hammer:

 

[greenwing7]

get a temp gun one thing that you may want to look at is the video section, this was the first place that I EVER saw a nitro vehicle run and i gave me a decient idea of how much smoke to look for