mozzzy_2000

aah well just goes to show how you have to keep an eye on your batteries hey. Personally I'd recommend a hump pack as they are by far the best and most economical power source for your receiver.
In regards to the servo horn, depending on what one you bought a new servo should come with its own servo horn/arm and mounting screws. But if the stock servo arm does not fit on the servo properly just find one that does and swap the linkages over. To re-center the servo just pop off the arm from the servo, centre the trims on the controller and then turn the receiver on. Wait for the servo to reset itself and then turn it off. Put back the servo arm making sure the steering or throttle linkage is straight and you are done.

Grizz its true that you shouldn;t be too preoccupied with temps because as you have found you tune for power and smooth throttle response. But having said that I still do beleive that its beneficial to have one handy because although you dont want to tune to temps its still easy to be running lean and unknowingly running the engine very hot. 240F is not hot at all really. My first engine the infinity .27 would achieve maximum power running at around a constant 280F. Big blocks tend to run hotter than a .21 so for this engine you would say thats normal. The only time I draw the line with temperatures is if your engine gets upto the 300F mark. Ideally you dont wanna run too long at those sort of temps so this is where a temp probe is very handy. Over here you wouldn;t believe the amount of people I know that have cooked engines in the last 6 months or so and a lot of these guys dont use temp probes so I'm kinda thinking it may be more important than we think. Most engines should ideally run within the same temp range through out its life so a temp probe is good where you can tell if your engine is running cooler or hotter than normal and can sometimes be the telltale sign that something is wrong with the engine before it really gets much worse.

In regards to the upgraded hurricane I would personally only upgrade a few parts to alloy not the whole lot. The more alloy you throw onto these things just magnifies any damage done through to the weakest parts of the buggy and therefore can be more problematic than good. A buggy is only as strong its weakest part. I put only a few upgraded alloy parts on mine and it added a considerable amount of extra weight so thats something to consider too. Having said that though, just a few key parts like the lower suspension blocks, shock towers and upper arms would be the best parts to upgrade. My buggy having these parts has survived some pretty monumental punishment since I bought it and for that its been a very impressive performer.

Hey Jas what do you think of the nitrobashers website? I see that you've been getting in there and talking to people about the massive mods fuel. I'd have to say you should try and track this fuel down if you can because its nothing short of phenomenal. I have switched all my engines over to it in the last couple of months and its very impressive fuel indeed. The difference it makes to my engines is extraordinary. They idle better and generally have heaps more power. Its definately worth it if you can get a hold of it.

grizz1

Hey Mozzy - thanks for that input on the temp gauge. I have only recently purchased one as I was having trouble with my buggies tuning (due to that leaky glow plug washer). It seemed to be running really hot, so I wanted to check and make sure it wasn't cooking itself. I was previously using the water drop test, but felt it wasn't really accurate enough in this case. Using the temp gauge I discovered my buggy was getting up around that nasty 300 deg mark on ocassions. Now that I have new plug/washer it sits around 240 - 250 and creeps up to 260 - 270 when the tank is nearly empty and it's leaning out a bit due to reduced fuel pressure. I feel the temp gauge purchase propably saved my motor, as without it I would have kept running my motor blissfully unaware that it was slowly dying at those temps. It has also helped me to understand just how sensitive these motors are to mixture adjustments and outside atmospheric influences, which has improved my overall tuning knowledge greatly. I would certainly agree with you when you say that having a temp gauge may not be such a bad thing, as long as you use it properly and are not tuning to a specific temp all the time regardless of prevailing conditions on the day. As I have found out you tune to exhaust smoke and sound first, then worry about temps later. [8D]

Jas the Ace

G'Day guys

Hey grizz, its great to see that all your lines of thought are on the right track, you seem to have a good understanding of what is right and what is wrong. And if in doubt, you ask. It wont be long and I will be recieving advise from you in here I reckon.
Yeah mozzz, NB is pretty good with everything. I have thrown a few messages around in different spots in there asI get to know the site, and often I get myself lost being a newby to the site. Nitro LST has been good to me advising on things, and I am considering doing some buisness with him in a couple weeks, (thats if he is good to deal with, you can tell me the truth here, lol). Mate that site has all the best technical information on it, and I will be using it as my reference centre for sure. Massive mods has the greatest write ups on issues as well, wouldn't mind sending my engine down to him some time for a bit of a "mod". As with his fuels, there is a mobile number and name for a supplier in QLD, can't recall his name atm, but he does have a racing history, and a mate believes this bloke is in Brisbane, so just up the road from me. I am keen to try this fuel as soon as I get my "A into G". I think I commented in one thread about 5L of the 444 should be free with an engine mod, wouldn't that be cool, it would be like winning lotto. MM also had the topic of engine run in comparisons, put a smile on my face, lol.
Thinking of zaint, did you see the final price on that RB engine on ebay zaint?

ontherocks

Hi - Not sure if I got the right forum:
I live in London, ON, Canada and am racing RedCat. Love it! The only thing is support is limited in Canada as far as I can tell. I emailed RedCatRacing about shipping parts about a week ago and they have not responded.

I know there are stores (including ebay) that will ship from the USA but waiting for the parts as they pass through snail mail and border customs is a drag.

Does anybody know of any dealers/contacts in Canada that support Redcat/Himoto/Hi-Speed? Preferably in Ontario?
It's a long shot but I might as well ask!

Much appreciated!
Marko

mike649

well fired up the buggy today,let idle pretty good,then started getting air bubbles.what causes this?all idid was pushdown on fuel lid.also noticed some fuel in the head, iput a new glowplug in.maybe loose ill have to check.was just a very small stream of fuel.maybe head crack?how tight is to tight for glow plug? man theese buggies sure do pretty nice half throttle burn out,lol.

grizz1

Hi Mike,
Sounds like the problem I had last week (check back a dozen threads or so for details). The copper glow plug washer was flattened out of shape and had a groove worn in it from the bottom edge of the glow plug. I could nip up the glow plug real tight but still got a little fuel bubbling out around the plug. This was causing buggy to run real hot as it was drawing air into top of cylinder and running lean no matter how much I richened the mixture. Simple fix, new glow plug and washer. From what you have described I am guessing you have a similar problem.
If the bubbles are in the fuel line, check all tubing connections, and fit small plastic ties if possible. If bubbles still appear you may have a leak in fuel tank (O ring in tank lid not sealing or spring on tank lid not strong enough). It's also possible for fuel tubing to get pin-holes.
You can check tank for leaks by removing from buggy and testing under water. Block off fuel outlet nipple, put some tubing on pressurizing nipple in lid, submerse tank under water and blow real hard into tubing attached to lid. Any leaks will produce a stream of bubbles for sure. When your done dry tank off completely and flush out inside of tank with some fuel.
Your right about the burnouts !! These things have an awesome power to weight ratio and will break loose on any surface if you feed it the fat. Cheers

zaintlouis

sorry ace i haven't look at it again.

mozzzy_2000

Grizz is on the money. I'd go over and check everything for leaks. Its good practise I believe to completely replace fuel lines every few months because they do get splits, cracks and blockages pretty easily. Also the fuel tank in the hurricane/torpeda & bazook is a direct fit with that from the the kyosho infernos so its easliy replaced as well. Once you loose the seal in the lid I'd just replace the whole tank and not bother trying to fix the seal. I just dont think its worth the repair really.

Hey Jas yeah NitroLST, better known as Scott, is a top bloke. I'd have no problem recommending him to you for business. He's the dude I buy my HB444 fuel from and he also sells LST & Hyper 7 parts on the side as well. Actually he might be able to get you your hopups for the aftershock. Hows that going anyway? I snapped up that free engine mod deal going on NB in second hey! That was way way too good to refuse. Thats a $100 modification done for ust buying the fuel I normally buy! LOL Anyway it will be my first massive mods engine job I have had done. I'm looking forward to it. Many guys on NB have had engines modified by these guys and these engine have to be seen to be appreciated is all I am saying.

The guys name escapes me at the moment but there is a guy on RCU that I think is a Canadian distributer for himoto. I am 99% sure there is at least one Canadian himoto dealer. Where & whom? Sorry I dont anymore info but I'm sure you'll find someone.

rhm-zooom

ontherocks, There is a Himoto dealer in Noyan Quebec, he is called, himoto racing canada on this forum.
I have not bought from him yet but have compare shopped and his prices are good, after money exchange, border & brokerage fee's
they work out about the same.He also Quoted me a great shipping price. e-mail him because his site is not complete yet and he has much more than lised.Website http://www.rft-online.com. Let me know how it goes.

mozzzy_2000

yeah thats the guy I was thinking of!

zaintlouis

Mozzy dudee!! the blackship is back (me) hehe. with reards to temps, i'm reading my engine up to 265DegF and my pipe is about 375!! what's the temp reading on your pipes??

That farting fire (or misfire) on the enine is a sign of a bad plug right? or maybe not a match? ever since i change the vertex engine with a P5 head with extra shim it started running insane! it's so damn hard to stabilize the temperature. if i got an airleak i suppose my engine would have flame out right? but it does not. so what do you think is causing that hight exhaust temp? or maybe the pipe doesn't match?

or maybe my fuel is moisted? how can you tell if your fuel is moisted?

Jas the Ace

moisted?

Jas the Ace

I am thinking of selling up and buying a helicopter....

zaintlouis

Our nitro fuel is capable of absorbing moisture if the containers are expose in open air, presence of moisture in fuel means more oxygene

Helicopter, nice choice! as they say start with electric powered first. then copters using gyros!

There's always memorable crash when you engage in this hobby but it's a great adventure!

mozzzy_2000

yeah why sell up? I've got a few helis to be honest. Very challenging and well worth having a go at. Louis yes fuel can & does go off after a few months and if its ruined by moisture I certainly wouldnt be running my engines with it. This could explain the weird running but then ALL your engines would be doing that. I'd say its more to do with that head you fitted. Its obviously a different shape and perhaps also giving different compression. Perhaps its over compressed which would account for spiking temps out of the ordinary. Other than that it sounds like its running lean from an airl leak somewhere perhaps?

ontherocks

Thanks rhm-zooom and mozzzy_2000.
I will give this guy in Quebec a try - I'll let you know how it goes.

zaintlouis

He meant sell up the Buggy? anything but not your buggy [] you're an asset here ace.

I guess i'll start removing the engine and investigate for an airleak.

HHmmm the oil coming out from the exhaust is enough to be normal. The temperature you've given us mozz doesn't make me worry on the engine, it's running 200 - 265 (WOT most of the time). It's the pipe that builds up the temperature to 375+!!

Mozz, whats your pipe reading temperature?

or may be it wants a racing pipe?

i bought the PE infrared temp gun. i think it's ok. i think i'll try a different pipe first before removing the engine. maybe use a smaller pipe. one that holds less volume of hot air? most likely, it's not gonna make any difference. oh man this sounds ridiculous lol.

mozzzy_2000

hey louis if you are only getting upto 260F with mostly WOT then I'd have to say there probably aint anything wrong. Like I was once myself, it sounds very much like you're becomming preoccupied with temperature hey. I really dont know why you are measuring the temp of the pipe?? Really dont think thats going to tell you much to be honest. Well you know you the first person I know thats been curious enough to take the temp of your pipe! All I know is that my pipe gets hot enough to sizzle skin as I keep finding out the hard way why the exhaust outlet is called a "stinger"!!! LOL yes, OUCH!!!
Like I said use a temp probe as a guide ONLY. Its only that. I really wouldnt be that concerned with those sort of temps and I certianly wouldnt be distracting myself with the temp range of your pipe. You are just going to think you have issues when infact you dont and you certianly dont want to be tearing down your engine unnecessarily hey.
Like I have said before you cant rely on the same tune day in day out. It will and can change in minutes if the weather changes. I have also noticed that with this transitional weather; ie spring or autumn, it can be both good and bad for tuning. Your spike in temp perhaps could be just that its running leaning today due to the prevailing atmospheric conditions rather than be running lean due to an air leak. You mention that you are getting some oil out the pipe? That would actually indicate a richer than leaner setting so I doubt the engine is being starved of lubrication due to a lean setting. You know what, it sounds very much like you dont really have an issue at all.
Oh yeah having said all that, the pipe will however have an influence on the way the engine performs and behaves especially how they are tuned for specific rpms. Whilst most engines are find with different pipes there are many engines that can turn into complete dogs with the wrong pipe. I belive the OS vspec can be a pig without the right pipe and I think this can be said for the STS engine we here some much about these days. If you dont use a STS pipe with these engines, apparantly they will most likely underperform.
But anyway with your situation Louis I make a guess that the addition of a different head to that engine along with whatever pipe you are using, is the main reason why you are experiencing oddities in tuning and temps.

zaintlouis

I think the head is more sufficient in cooling the engine rather than the original smaller head. more cooling fins more cooling power. it's really odd taking temps on the pipes but i wouldn't careless about it if it aint snapping off the nylon tie even the biggest ones! i temp the pipes so i would know how much excess in heat it's producing if i would compare it to to normal pipe temps as yours. (no matter how high) or stingy it is. the engine however doesn't underperform to the stock redcat pipe. it's doing more! if its under performing i don't think it would snap my nylon ties and achieving that incredible speed. so maybe it over performing? lol

i remember i left my one gal fuel inside my shop with airconditioner for several hours. hope it aint enough to produce moisture. i'll see the difference when my new fuel arrives.

anyway mozz, what do you to protect your shell from the heat of your pipes? my shell started to bubble small bits. i think i should use garlock gasket & use double adhesive and stick underneat the shell. what do you think?

Jas the Ace

I personally don't worry about the small heat deformation in my buggy shell. My shell basically moulded itself to suit the shape of the pipe from the engine, and has been like that for a long time now with no problems. If I was concerned I would just stick something on another part of the buggy so that when the shell sits on, it will hold the shell out a bit and keep it off the pipe.
And no guys, I will not sell my buggy to buy a chopper. I thought of it, but what would I do for serious fun when carrying out expensive repairs to a chopper after I crash it trying to get it off the ground. A helicopter will be fun, exciting, expensive, and frustrating. My buggy is fun, exciting, inexpensive, easy to fix, and will probably spend more time in the air than the helicopter. lol.

mozzzy_2000

True about the bigger head but I was actually thinking more about the shape of the button underneath. Since you say the engine seems to have more grunt & performing better or even over performing, I was thinking that perhaps a different shaped head button could alter the compression enough to make a difference. You gotta remember these engines are built to tolerances in the smallest degree so even a slight difference in button shape could affectively alter the engine's compression. Have a look at the size of head shims and they are like .1 & .2mm thick and thats all the difference in over & under compression. Actually that leads me to ask have you got the head properly shimmed and ifso how many are you running? Anyway I suppose none of this matters if you are happy with the way the engine is performing in the first place right? In regards to pipe temps who knows what they are meant to run at? Its something I think thats just clouding your mind to be honest cuz I have never known to be concerned with the temp of a tuned pipe. I suppose though in your situation you it does seem to be running way hotter than it should be as its shouldnt be melting the elbow gaskets.

This is probably the best place for it mate. In a cool temperature controlled enviroment is best. Just keep it out of the sun and make sure the cap is on tight. In any case no matter how well you try, you always find that it sucks in air into your container anyway. From past experience my fuel has lasted about 6 mths before starting to go stale. You'll also notice it when running as it bubble & spurt because of the moisture in it. This where a very hot plug is beneficial as it helps to burn off that moisture.

Well mate I chucked the original himoto shell away hey after it melted severely. Even though they say its made of lexan they do not have nearly the same strength as say a "normal" shell. That is every other shell I have does not melt like the himoto/redcat shells do. No matter what you do if its your stock shell thats melting there's really nothing you can do to stop the heat coming off your manifold or pipe & melting it apart from cutting away. My inferno shells certianly dont melt in the same way. But you can cut away most of the plastic from around the pipe. You know how most shells have that dimple in the rear where the pipe/header is? Well I cut all that off. For me I think its best to get as much air as possible around the engine. I had a shell that even had some sort of heat proof tape on the inside and even that didnt stop from being melted off.

mozzzy_2000

Hey jas helis are not the "crash 'n burn" machines one expects them to be hey. I would suggest perhaps getting a 4ch heli like the Walker No.4 or the venom night ranger II. They are incidently exactly the same made helis. Anyway this one is really robust hey. Supprisingly so that I have wacked mine into fences & verandah pillars etc and so far nothing's busted. I highly recommend it. It is admittingly very hard at first but you'll be hovering before you know it. The thing with helis is that you have to learn to take off & maintain a controlled hover and be able to land it back in the same vicinity again. Until you do this, crashes are supprisingly few if any at all. As soon as you feel it tipping or doing something its not suppose to you just land it back down on the skids again before anything goes wrong. You never get it off the ground more than a few ft if that when learning so in effect its much easier than one might think it is.

Jas the Ace

I read somewhere that nitro helis are more stable, should I still start with a budget safe electric heli? Sorry guys for me drifting off the main subject.

I better get my much loved buggy organised tonite, it is going to a BMX track tomorrow for a well earned flogging.

I still have a problem I can not solve. My engine will stop for no reason, just like turning off the ignition in a real car, it just stops. It will start up again straight away with no hesitation at all. My idle speed is good, I have changed fuel, plugs, cleaned out the carby, fuel lines, fuel tank, have no air leaks anywhere, tried different tune settings etc, just cant work it out. It doesn't bother me at all, its just one of those little things that make me think "why is it so?". Maybe its telling me I need more exercise, lol.

mozzzy_2000

Hey Jas well yeah nitro helis I believe are more stable being bigger and heavier but you're looking at a whole different kettle of fish compared to the micro EP helis. To be honest I havent the guts to operate a nitro heli for the shear fact that they are so dam dangerous looking! LOL so yeah I'm sticking with ep helis whilst learning. I'd love to upgrade to a nitro in the future though having said that.

With your engine quitting all the time, which engine is this? Is this something that has always been the case or something thats just recently started happening. Like you said its not bothering you that much I guess but in essence an engine shouldn;t really flame out on a regular basis. Having said that though its still a commonly occuring charactheristic of a nitro engine anyway and every engine will flame out when you leats expect it to. Happens to the best of them but ideally you should be able to get through a tank without it flaming out. If its happening all the time and you beleive everything is in order its either a tuning issue or could be quite simply a problem with the engine.

Jas the Ace

yeah mozz, it's an intermitent fault, this is with the force .21 I am currently running. I can sometimes go a tank or two with no probs, then other times I could have to restart it 3-4 times per tank. The engine doesnt lean out or rev out, and it doesnt richen or bog down. It is just a very simple flame out. Just like turning a light off. And it can happen at any revs or load. It is very bizare.