gerrmarr

I am building a Tamiya TRF801Xt and am looking for an engine to install. I am checking ebay and Tower, Are the cheaper engines I see on ebay (from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, etc) any good? I am thinking about a lower cost .28 pull start. The lower prices are about $100 to $150. Is the .28 engine size the way to go? I am thinking the bigger the better. There are also some local (USA) deals from guys who are parting out the engines from RTRs. I assume the drawback from Chinese engines is lack of replacement parts. Any ideas our experience will be helpful. I am a nitro noob and I probably will not use the truggy too much.. I do not plan on racing.
Thanks!

Anthoop

The Losi 454 is a good engine for the money and is available with pullstart.
Bigger is not always better, if you were racing you should probably be looking for a bumpstart .21....but you are not so a pullstart .28 is ideal.

gerrmarr

Thanks Anthoop! I will definitely check it out!

tadpole1991

Werks engines seem to have good reviews,thats what ill be puttin in mine

silvermansteve

My Feedback: (2)

I got a dynamite platinum .25 truggy motor for about $100 on ebay a while ago don't know maybe worth a look.

Barracuz

Actually Chinese engines have lots of spare parts just under diffrent brands.

Since you're not making a racer just go for any old cheap .28. If your not happy with it performance wise. Either port it or get a high end one. If you constantly search hobby websites you'll sometimes see a novarossi, picco, or a lrp go for 150 bucks or less. But that's if your lucky.

gerrmarr

I ended up buying a OFNA Force .28 NITRO ENGINE from a LX2 Buggy 28. I'm almost ready to install the engine.

I have a question about the Clutch bell (adjustment).

The directions say to "use shims for clearance adjustment." The pics show a shim (washer) on either side of the clutch bell bearings - but there isn't any direction as to what the clearance should be. I have it assembled and there is about 1-2 mm of freeplay (back-and-fourth) movement for the Clutch bell. Is this too much?

One more question about wheel alignment. Any idea on front/rear caster/camber - toe-in / toe-out? I'm not racing so I'm just looking for a general purpose adjustment.

Again, thanks for any/all the support.

Anthoop

Personally I would say 2mm clearance is too much and 1mm is the maximum...I set mine with "a snick" of play...around 0.5mm. Not to say I have tried 2mm or that it will cause problems...just what I have always done.
For wheel alignment..I would set out with +1 front toe and -2 rear...-1 camber front and rear, then try it. There is a fairly light guide giving tips here- http://www.maxbashing.com/content.ph...Monster-Trucks

gerrmarr

Thanks for the alignment/setup link! Good info. Is the tool to measure/set the measurement/degrees expensive? Where would be a good place to get one?

As far as the Clutch bell adjustment, I added another shim (now there are two) behind the bearing that is closest to the engine - BF19 in the kit build manual. I possibly could add more shims in front (only one right now - BF22) of the forward bearing to try to limit the forward movement of the Clutch bell, but the movement is about 1mm, so I think I will try it and see if it works ok..

Engine mounts: I had to file one of the BF1 engine mounts at the rear. I think maybe the pull start mechanism interfered slightly. I also turned the BC15 engine mount plates around so the angled edges are facing each other. Again, this seemed the thing to do because the rear of the engine wasn't setting flush on the mount plates, possibly due to the interference from the pull start mechanism. I need to get some more lock-tite - I used all the kit supplied by adjusting the engine mounts - installing and removing the engine. Does anyone have a preference to type or brand of thread lock to use? A Tamiya guy on the RC Tech forum used longer screws and lock nuts to keep the engine mounted tight. Does anybody have an opinion about this?


Again, thanks for any/all info!

Anthoop

Set up tools- There are many...from cheap to wth. If you want to keep things really cheap then a bit of measuring with some string, a ruler and protractor will do the same job.
Thread lock- I do not use it on my own cars...but I have a bottle of this (http://www.modelsport.co.uk/zap-tech...products/14329 ) that I used for someone else....seems to do the job. If that is not available in your country then search for the blue variety. Also worth mentioning that you only need the smallest dab of thread lock...I apply it to screws with a pin...too much and it can be a pain getting them undone when you need to.
As you mention there are alternative measures to stop things getting loose...lock nuts...split washers...serrated washers..etc.