Gamb!t

Hiya guys,

Hope everyone is good and well, ive recently purchased a RC nitro Car, - not having a clue about them, how they work, whats what or whos who.

first mistake was buying one from ebay, used. - sold as ready to run.... bah! was it hell,however ive had fun/learnt lots trying to tinker with it an fix it. a perk of the hobby eh

having took delivery of the car, i got the chassis, shell, radio gearand a few bits and bobs. but no instruction manual. so didnt kow what the type of car was.... having done some research, ive figured out its a Redcat racing Lightening STR.

i live in the Uk, and browsing through european forums, and having visited a local model shop, not many around my area have heard of the model type. so im wondering where i would be able to pick up spare parts / hop'ups for my car... as i reckon i'll be shredding it failry soon lol.

just a couple of questions if people would be kind enough to help please...

are there any similar type of models RC cars that parts would fit to mine?
are tyre's universal?
are there any websites / suppliers that dispatch things to the UK that people are aware of, as some websites ive tryed dont send stuff over here

does any one have any good starter tips or hints that i would find useful, as previously mentioned... im a totaly new begginer to this sport/hobby.

Many thanks for the time folks.

Gamb.


OOOOOO just lernt that my car is also known as a acme cyclone... if that hepls anyone offer any advice?

Link119

My Feedback: (1)

Start out driving on an open street and draw a mini track with chalk. Start out slowly and drive in the lines of the track. Slowly go faster and faster until you can do the track at the fastest speed you think possible. You dont need to go full speed through corners. Once you have this control your good.

Anomie

You may also wish to post in the [link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/forumid_427/tt.htm]Redcat Racing Support Forum[/link] elsewhere on this site. Lots of good help there from Redcat themselves as well as other members.

Good luck!

378

My Feedback: (4)

Tires are pretty universal, so you shouldn't have any issues there. So are bodies, engines, servos, receivers, wheels, body clips, fuel lines and pipes.

Foxy

Redcat and ACME are both VARs (Value Added Resellers) of HSP (aka Himoto), so try to find out which Himoto your car is and you have another name for your parts searching. Himoto is the OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer).

Foxy

Learn about car setup here... http://users.telenet.be/elvo/

Lots of reading for you.

Gamb!t

Cheers for the info guys. much appreciated - gonna get my bed time reading on lol.

can get the car running 'easy' enough.... but having a few technical problems

1. wheels wanting to spin soon as start up.

what im doing is starting the car on a block of wood to keep wheels off the ground. so carstarts up no problems.

2. once running, even with carb set to tiny gap, wheels still turning - ive recently changed the clutch spring but not the clutch shoes - the ones ive bought seem to be a couple of mm thicker than the shoes that are on. so the 'e lock' part doesnt want to push back over the top of the shoes when i try. is that normal?

3. even with the other two issues, i had the car working, was just giving it a rolling start once taking her off the block of wood, however as of today, when ive gone back to tinker with it, once started,(still on the wood) when i pull the throttle on the controller to give it the engine some rev's the engine just cutts out on me. what am i doing wrong.

ive hadthe engine offonce or twice, and have just screwed it back on... where it came from, is it that simple? or is there a set distance the engine needs to be to the central cog thing....??

is it worth me taking the engine off, carb off, cleaning everything, reassembleing and giving it another go? - i bought the car second hand btw - i

i know im prob just repeating noob errors, so im sorry if im asking the same questions every new beginner does.... but im really lost.... and looking to the pros for a little help / guidence if you would be kind enough to oblige.

many thanks

Gamb

378

My Feedback: (4)

Sounds like a tuning issue to me. Easiest way to fix that is to reset the carb to the default settings and retune from there.


Also, there is indeed a specific gap you're supposed to set between the gears. Too tight and they melt, too loose and they just strip. Just right and they last a while.

Gamb!t

thanks for all the info guys... here's a few pic's of the culprit... any advice feedback welcome....

http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o...d/dd90e074.jpg

http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o...d/be49ad8c.jpg

http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o...d/39d5b65f.jpg

http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o...d/bfff4397.jpg

http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o...and/Rc-car.png

http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o...c-InnerCar.png

ive learnt the factory config' for my engine - so will test them tomorrow.... (ive been told my lsn needs to be flush and my hsn needsbe set2.5 counter clock from full lean) a secondary confirmtion of this would putmy mind at ease a little however... as the engine is firing up at the moment but whels spinning and wont idle... dies before 30 seconds....

i also ordered some grippier wheels. so i can get a little more traction on short grass... so will be attemting to put those on tomorrow.

would people advise to buy a temp laser??

also a final question.... looking at reviews of my potentail car, it says its running 2 speed.... however on one ofthose pictures - there is only one cog, connecting to my engine..... surly can be two speed.... is mine a lesser model... and could i upgrade if i fancied...

sorry for all the questions again!! - your help is very much appreciated.

Kind regards
Gamb

378

My Feedback: (4)

It's in pretty good shape from what I can tell....something just came to me actually. You say you've replaced the clutch shoes, or at least had them off the flywheel, are you sure you have them on the right way? If they're on backwards they'll engage super early. The part of the shoe with the hole should be the first part to reach any given point as the flywheel rotates, and since your engine is a pull-start engine, it will only rotate in one direction.

As for setting the gear mesh, you want the clutch bell as close to the spur gear as you can while only just being able to rock one of them in the other. The movement should be slight, 5 degrees of rotation would be pretty close. If you can't move them at all they're too tight

Heh, that's normal buying a secondhand car. They never come out of the box even remotely tuned properly. These engines are somewhat sensitive to their environment. Just for sake of example, my NTC3 runs wonderfully here, but I bet if I took it over there and fired it up in your yard I'd have to fiddle with the carb a bit before it would behave itself. Then, when I got back home having gotten it dialed in at your place, I'd have to re-tune it yet again to get it dialed back in here.

Grippier tires aren't going to help in short grass. I run my tourer off-road, and I have mine lifted as much as possible. I also have it running Tamiya X-block Rally tires. It's a decent combo, I can handle grass up to about 3/4ths of an inch thick without too much of a beaching issue, and if I keep enough speed up it will glide along on inch tall grass okay.

Dribble some water or spit(No loogey!) on the glow plug. If it sizzles off within three to five seconds you're in a good temp range. If it boils off instantly, you're too hot, if it doesn't boil off at all you're too cold.


IMO a temp gun isn't really a necessity unless you're racing or running electrics that don't have waterproof gear. It's a nice luxury sure, I'd love to have one myself and I'm not going to flat out say don't buy one, but you don't need one to bash around in parking lots, driveways and back yards with a nitro. It's one of those things you can buy when you've got a few pounds just laying idly in your wallet, basically.

I'm no expert on these clones so I can't tell you. Generally, though, only monster trucks and a couple of speed-oriented stadium trucks have a two-speed transmission, yet only a single speed clutch bell/spur. Touring cars most generally have either one forward speed, or they will have two spurs and two CB gears of slightly differing sizes. That big, heavy two speed gearbox monster trucks have would only slow a touring car down, and they tend to be full of weak links. But you never know what kind of odd shenanigans the designers of the cheaper stuff are up to, so don't go assuming anything based on what I have to say on this matter


Most likely though, you've got a single speed on your hands, and there's likely an upgrade floating around.

SyCo_VeNoM

just hope the engine is good
Out of the 3 or 4 "Runs great" Nitro RC's I've bought on ebay only 1 engine so far wasn't completely screwed up so bad that it was cheaper just to make them extremely neat looking paperweights.
I started with a used (BTW worst way to start with nitro), and the engine I had got me so frustrated I almost gave up entirely. Then I bought a new engine, and had no issues with it

Gamb!t

HIYA AGAIN - JUDST HAVING A QUICK FLIT IN WORK ATM. - HOW CAN YOU TELL A BAD ENGINE FROM A GOOD ONE??

THE ENGINE I HAVE DOES SEEM TO HAVEA LOT OF COMPRESSION ON IT. - WHEN TURNING HE FLY, I GET THE 'POP'.

ANY OTHER METHOIDS TO TEST / SEE IF YOUR ENGINES ANY GOOD?

(SRY ABOUT CAPS)

378

My Feedback: (4)

If the engine's in bad shape it won't run at all. You've had yours running for a fair chunk of time so it's a good bet that, internally at least, it's still got some time left in it.

moe7404

even though this site is among the best. there is no substitute for a relay good hobbie shop.

SyCo_VeNoM

Trying to find one with trustworthy employees who won't try and fleece you though is a hard thing
A lot of them now are just going to try and sell you something you might not need if they see you don't know much about the hobby