dragus359

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Simple question: Does anyone who has owned a tower terror for a while have good settings they might recommend for the carb's needles? I ask, because I am fairly noobish at tuning engines. You might also want to know that I am running an O.S. #8 glow plug. Today, I was out running and I know I went wrong when my engine temps cleared 350 farenheit. No matter what I seem to do to the needles, the engine almost never fails to idle. At first, this sounds like a good thing until you realize that a persistent idle really doesn't help when trouble shooting. My problem really manifests itself when I go WOT; the engine tends to quit. I can't tell if it's a flameout or if it's just choking. Either way, it doesn't matter. I can't seem to strike the right balance between the hsn and the lsn so that I have a smoothly running engine. Today, I had a combination of choke outs and lean outs. The middle seems to be a very elusive target. As far as the mid range, I have it flush with the body, and I tend not to mess with it.

I would love some advice, tips and anything else, but I will be happy with good settings for the carb as a starting point (the factory settings didn't do much for me - 3.5 on both hsn and lsn right?)

I appreciate the help. Thank you.

Argess

I don't have one, but I'd say your HSN is set too lean. Richen it out until it doesn't quit at WOT. Then richen it 1/8 to 1/4 turn more for safety.

It's actually better to start way too rich with the HSN and then gradually lean it out until it runs right, not quite screaming, and with noticeable blue smoke.

After you've done this, you will probably notice the engine is slow to accelrate. You will need to lean your LSN a bit. It's usually not set all that much leaner than the factory setting, maybe 1 turn in max, but often less. Just tune it so it makes a strong launch after idling for 5 seconds or so.

One of the most common problems with overheating is too rich an LSN and too lean a HSN. When you nail the thottle, the engine runs on built up fuel in the crankcase from the rich LSN setting, but as that gets used up, the lean HSN setting starts to cause overheating, or in worse case, stalling.

By the way, I don't find this general MT forum gets much attention. Next time, you might get more attention posting in the Nitro Engine forum.

Good Luck.

dragus359

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Ah, ok. Thanks for the tip. I'll try that when I get home. The smoke hasnt proven to be much of a reliable indicator for me, because, there is always tons of smoke at high rpms. What's weird is that there is almost no smoke at low to mid rpms.

Argess

It could be flaming out from too rich a HSN, but that temp of 350degrees tells me it's too lean.

Maybe your memory is better than mine, but try to make at least a mental note of every adjustment you make. I tend to loose track, then I get confused, then I have to start all over.

cummins driver

My Feedback: (31)

Having any luck man? I hope the truck has been treating you well. It always ran pretty good for me, although like you say, it is a little different to tune than other engines at times.

Dont know if you ever saw it or not, but here is a video of the truck from when i had it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Latt9To4878

dragus359

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Nice vid.  No luck so far.  The one-way bearing keeps breaking, so that makes tuning that much harder (since I can't start the thing).  Anyway, I'm going to scrap the engine if I can't find a solution soon.  It has good compression, so that's a shame.  I'm thinking that there's an air leak at the carb.  Did you super glue it in place? I tried to take it out and once I finally ripped it out of there, I found out that I managed to separate the carb from some kind of metal sleeve that is still stuck inside the case.  I tried resealing and applying more super glue and even epoxy, but I think that there's still a leak somewhere.  The glow plug might be an issue too.  What kind of glow plug did you run?  I'm using an OS 8, a medium plug.  Did you use a hot plug?  Also, if you remember what your needle settings were, I would love it if you could share that with me.  The truck ran great when I got it from you.  Once I changed the glow plug and needle settings, that's when I started having problems.  I'm used to tuning my evader's .18, and I've never really had issues with that.  Yea, some days it's hard to pin down a good tune, but overall, it runs.  The Terror can idle, but I can't say that it runs.

PS. if you know of a good drop-in alternate engine, let me know.  I'm a little apprehensive about buying the same .25 from tower hobbies.  Thanks

cummins driver

My Feedback: (31)

Wonder why the one way keeps breaking? I never had a problem with it. Is it slipping or actually breaking?

The previous owner of that truck kind of didnt know what he was doing I think. I got it used and had to do some work to it. The carb had that funky yellow looking epoxy on it and it was a bear for me to get out. Once I got it out, I realised that the metal sleeve the carb slides into was loose on the carb. So I drill a hole all the way through the carb body and the metal sleeve, ran a bolt through it, and then cut the head off so it was flush with the metal ring. Then i sealed it with black RTV and put it back in. Did you loosen the pinch bolt before removing the carb? Im surprised you ripped the carb body taking it out because i dont think i had a big problem getting it back in, however I cant remember for sure.

I was running a medium odonnel plug in it when i had it. I believe the O.S. #8 is actually a short plug and that might have lowered the compression enough to cause some small problems. The plug i was running in it was a long plug. Unfortunately, I couldnt tell you the needle settings. I just tuned it from what the previous owner had it at until i was happy with it.

If you buy another engine for the truck, dont buy another tower hobbies engine. Just go ahead and get any decent sport .26 or .28 engine. Or even a .21 would be fine. If I were you, id look for a Mach .26 or something like that. Those engines have good RPM and torque and would make the tower terror fly. But really any reliable big block will be a lot of fun in that truck.

You cant post a video of how the truck is running can you? If so we may be able to help you out a little more. If I were you though, I would try richening the high speed needle 1/2 turn and just see what that gets you. If its gets sluggish then lean it 1/8 turn at a time till it seems right again. If it gets better, richen it 1/8 turn at a time until you see it getting sluggish, then go back 1/8 turn. Just make sure the carb is sealed good or it may never run right.

Good luck and keep us updated!

Eric

dragus359

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Sorry it took me so long to reply.

I dunno, that carb was a whole bag of issues... In fact, I really think that it is solely responsible for my problems. Either way, I cant get that sleeve out, so I got fed up and bought a new engine. I didn't read this post before buying the engine, so I ended up buying the tower engine again. Turns out that the engine and engine mounts are a matched pair. The distance from the clutch bell to the main gear is not adjustable, so getting a different engine would have probably been a bad idea. The new tower engine runs fine anyway. I sealed it and it made it just past beak-in before one of my planetary gears gave out in the rear gearbox :-( Now, the truck is front wheel drive only. I don't want to abuse the drivetrain, so I guess it's out of commission until september - That's when Tower is planning on restocking their planetary gears. If anyone has any spares or knows of any good substitutes, I would be interested in talking with you.

Thanks for the help guys. I guess that I just have to wait now.