grizz1

The land is owned by a company called "Custom Fleet", that's their head office at at the top of the driveway leading up to the track. They are a big corporate / bussiness vehicle lease company. They got that piece of land when they bought the building from the previous owners and have no immediate plans to use it. The owner of the LHS "RC Bandit" struck a deal with them to allow the track to be built for his customers and pretty much anyone who wants to use it. Works for him, as his shop is just down the road and he gets everyone dropping in for fuel and to replace parts they have broken during the days fun (Clever man. He's got plenty of my money !!).
The shop organises racing every few weeks and the novice section is huge as he is selling 4 or more of the XUT Truggies a week. My mate from work, Aaron, who took those last pics (also the guy you saw jumping his Savage over his garage) is working in the shop part time now.
Past my bedtime now (yawn - yawn). Catch up with you all again soon [8D]

mozzzy_2000

Hey grizz you just answered my next questions. Man thats a sweet arrangement they've got going there. My fav LSH here in Perth has a huge unused lot out the back I keep on dropping suggestions to the owner he should acquire it and build a track. Suffice to say if they had the nouse to do it I would almost guarantee it would become the 'mecca' of our local nitro scene. perhaps they dont want that to happen? If it was my business thats exactly what I would be doing in any case. later..

zaintlouis

matt i think the best way to keep a good engine compression is.. preheating it with a hairdryer before starting it on a starter box. Do not turn the wheel 360 deg when it's cold. I think in this method, for as long as the connecting rod and bearings are intact the piston and sleeve would last 50% or more than normal wear.

mozzzy_2000

Ya reckon? Nah Louis I doubt 50% hey. It certianly would help but for me its a bit of a stretch to suggest you would increase engine life by 50%. If it did then it would be something that is widely regarded as a necessity. It certianly something I have never been told to do past the breakin period. I believe the only time you really need to heat the engine is perhaps for the first 2-4L and thats because when new the piston/sleeve is an impossibly tight fit but to heat an engine every single time I think is impractical. I certianly have never seen any racers at the tracks heat their engines before they start their engines. For one how does one heat the engine up down at the park or out in the middle of nowhere? Interesting idea though and it definately wouldn;t hurt thats for sure, but if you have the means for power in the field or down the local track then yeah go for it!

zaintlouis

ye mozzy guess your right, i was just thinking that the rate of wear is unnoticeably greater when starting an engine because the sleeve is tighter when cold and then you forceably push the piston up n down. wear and resistance takes place. just my 2 cents.

I think i just have to keep breakin in my cobra. i'm going three gallons alreadyand still i have to remove the plugs or the wheel will get stuck up again, but once it starts it's very easy to start already by starter box. but tomorow it will be a different story sign.. i guess i'll put thikcker oils than after run oils.

anyway how are you buggies drive cups? haven't you replace them already? any signs of wear? i need to compare what happens to buggies if one is always kept oiled and the other isn't. Mine so fai is stll good. i see no signs of grinded portions.

Jas the Ace

When people have a top quality engine from new, the 'pinch' is really tight and as you say during break in you have to loosen the plug. Now I understand that this will drop the compression a bit to be able to get it started, but once it starts do you retighten the plug straight away, or do you let it run for a bit before you tighten it?

grizz1

Jas, I always do my plug up straight away. I imagine the engine vibration would lossen it further and then you run the risk of stripping the threads with the forces involved in combustion. I just ease mine loose a quater - half turn and this does the trick. All my engines are well broken in now so I am starting on starter box without loosening plug nowdays.
Louie - Just some ideas on your heating theory. My truggy engine has still got discernaable pinch left after 9 litres, but the B03 engine in my buggy lost it's pinch after a couple of litres. Same break in and same sort of running conditions. The only difference is that I had the pull start on my truggy motor for a long time and used the hot air gun to heat it up everytime I started it at home so it would start easier. That motor is an awesome performer with great compression and pinch for the work it's done. The B03 motor was put on the starter box from new, and I only used the heat gun on it a couple of times during the first run in period. You might be onto something there, but like Mozz says, I can't take my heat gun everywhere with me. Maybe a battery powered hair dryer or something ??
By the way, the Vertex .21 motor in the Bazooka also had the heat gun used on it for a considerable period, but I can't really compare that motor as it was my "learning" motor which was tuned rich, lean, super lean, you name it, while I was learning about this awesome hobby. For all it's mistreatment and being thrashed at temps of 320 F plus, it's still running strong. Starts everytime and goes like hell (not sure for how much longer !!), but by all rights it should have expired months ago. Maybe that heating before starting during it's early days is now keeping it alive.

grizz1

Been busy finishing off my winter project the last few days (seeing as spring is here - yeah right !!). Never the less the Storm CL-1 is ready for the track (tomorrow weather gods permitting). Been going over buggy getting everything as it should be. Painted a new body for the track (first effort - not too bad I guess, but learnt a few tricks for a better job next time).
Mods include pull start removal and new back plate, some carbon clutch shoes and new 1.1mm springs, new Proline Bow Tie rubber and todays impulse purchase - a Dynamite Platinum Hi Tourqe low end pipe and GS long "U" header. These pipes are just new here and come with a really good reputation. Fitted with a very soild stinger to avoid collision damage and breakages. Ran buggy this avo with new pipe and she's sweet. 3 chamber pipe so a little quiter too, which will put me in good stead with the neighbours
Our track is pretty tight so it suits lots of low end grunt. I have low tourqe pipes and headers on all 3 of my babies now. Having said they are low end pipes, they still scream at the top, but I guess if fitted with a high end pipe they would scream even more!!!! - scary.
Couple of pics of buggy below and one of the Dynamite pipe. Hope you can see some detail.

zaintlouis

Griz, thx a lot. i knew there's something behind that heat theory. it could help but it's unnoticeable so who would ever do such thing? Atleast we realize it now. A portable heater is very easy. you can make it the same principle as the automobile cigarette lighter. Springs are very easy to heat up with the use of batteries just attach wire to each end or short it. or maybe attached coil springs around the engine fins? The problem is who will design & produce it for r/c purposes?

Jas i don't loosen the plug. i take it off. griz is right you could destroy your thread if you would just loosen the plugs and rotate the wheel by starter box.

What i do to a new engine - before break in, i do pre break in :-). heat engine with a hair dryer then i take off the plugs, put motor oil in it. after putting in oil, i cover the hole with a foam so the oil will be restricted from going out. the foam will also absorb the oil and return it back to the cylinder. do this repeatedly until the starterbox can turn the wheel with the plugs in place.

zaintlouis

Wow nice pipes! i love it!

rclynx

Nice looking Buggy there grizz[:-]

Jas the Ace

Pre heating engines (hair dryer) would only be of benifit to the colder climates but, the engine would have to be heated very evenly and all the way through, otherwise you will end up with uneven temps throughout the engine, basically hotspots and uneven wear, and it would have to be heated all the way through which would be time consuming. This theory works exactly like cooking a roast in the oven. Put a cold chicken in the oven for 5 minutes, take it out and eat the stuffing, I bet it is still as cold as what it was when you first put it in the oven!! There might be hot spots and cold spots, you may even get very sick from it! The engine works the same way!! I am not in any way saying this practice is wrong. In cold climates it would be recommended, but maybe instead of a hairdryer, why not put the engine in the oven for half an hour and get that heat right through it, a loving wife should understand!!LOL...

Grizz I love the paint job! It is simple and will stand out in the crowd! Some people try and make their shell too fancy, and in most cases they try to hard and over-do it! Man I like it, in fact why dont you send that over to me with the rest of the stuff I have been requesting off you lately? (rain, track, photogragher, and now a buggy) Just kidding. But I might be considering selling up soon to persue my passion of boating, don't panic, I don't think I could part with my buggy, the xtm and losi might be up soon....see how I go!!

This message has taken me a long time to write tonite, sorry team, just busy with life, I will see if this will send off without the timeout thing.

I don't know if I will play this weekend....I saw some clouds in the distance.....we might get a drop of ummmmm, what is it again.......starts with R........

grizz1

Cheers guys Jas - those clouds you see in the distance, well, there hanging over my place still. It's p-ssing down here AGAIN. No play with the toys today. I will have to sit in the workshop and look at them and make motor noises - ha, now that's sad [&o]
Yeah, I'm quite pleased with the body Jas. Simple is sometimes the best, especially with limited painting and masking skills. One bright colour (I love flouro yellow !!) and some transfers to finish things off. It is going to get crashed, bashed and run over anyway, so I didn't feel like getting to carried away.
Boating eh ?? Now theres a pastime that even more expensive than nitro's - well almost . I gather your a keen fisherman from some of your previous posts, so a boat makes a lot of sense. Hey, that shipping container is going to have to be a big one to fit everything in mate. You best come and live in NZ then you can have rain, the track, rain, share my buggy, more rain plus you can learn to talk like the locals - eh cuzzy. Oh and I forgot - more rain

zaintlouis

Sorry Jas on the contrary, i'll stick to believing that preheating will prolong engine life. if you aim the hot air at the plug, i believe heat will be transfered evenly from the cylinder head down to the crankcase. nothing personal just my personal preference.
Yes Griz simplicity is beauty same thing i have in mind. i have same one color paint job with my first too!

Jas the Ace

Yeah it's cool louis, I am not saying there are any rights or wrongs, just as long as the heat is even and deep so as not to cause any internal temp irregularities the pre heat method could be benificial in cooler climates to mine I guess.
I like the paint job on your buggy to louis, maybe we should keep the 'simple' look quiet, if word gets out that it is much nicer then everyone will have the same look and colours hey. I haven't been game to try and paint one up yet cos it would take me fifty years to work out what colour to use, lol.
Mozz, you are quiet of late!! Are you preparing a plane for the Redbull Air Challenge?
Well grizz, you blew some grey clouds over my way but you didn't include any water with them!! Try a bit harder next time eh!! lol. We have our fingers crossed for the next few days, lets see if the heavens will be nice to me.
Anyone got any video action to share?

grizz1

No video action sorry Jas. My mate Azz took some good video of some electric drifting the other night, but to be honest I just can't get into electric's. I think it's the total lack of noise and the sweet smell of nitro and castor oil - it just ain't right [&:] Motor racing is MOTOR racing, or am I being a bit harsh ??

Great minds think alike on the painting eh boys. Nice one Louie

Did anybody get out and burn some fuel over the weekend ????

Jas the Ace

The only fuel I burnt today was in my real car when I went to the shops, there's to much moisture around today to burn anything else, even feral kids can't lite bushfires at the moment, lol. Thanks for posting clouds with rain in it guys!! It has only been light rain but consistant all day with more to come. If next weekend is fine we will have a dustless track to bash on, now that is something I have not experienced for a long time!!
I am with you on the electrics grizz, they just don't do it for me either. I am a petrol head that hates the sound of a dentist drill and it sounds even worse when it is driving a car!! Sure those little electrics can get up and boogie, but they just dont have the horsepower and the smell that follows, lol.
Let me guess, it's raining at my place so the rest of you must have fine weather?
Cheers guys

zaintlouis

Speaking of videos i just got one. but i 'll still see if it's a good one. i employed someone to help me rebuild our new home he's also a freind and he's got no experience yet taking videos. i just gave him few instructions hehe. My cobra is blasting my bazooka off like a rocket. it got great bottom and top end. i hope i can still get some good shots! it was going sundown when we took video around 5 pm so we only got an hour less to make the vid. if i don't have enough good shots i'm gonna make more video tomorrow. Griz, Jas... i'll be back! catch you guys later.

Wonder where did mozzy go this time. hope to hear from him soon.

It will take three more weeks before i can get my hands on the speed gun whew.. sigh.. i'm gonna take the cobra out the bazooka and replace it with the mamba soon.

alda

Hi Everyone,
Does the Hurricanne XP have any glaring problems, and is it worth the money?

ehroof

no problems and its worth every dime, i love mine, havent broken a thing yet!!!!

grizz1

Hi alda. The Hurricane is a great buggy for the money. Lots of happy owners on this forum.
I have bashed and crashed mine for 8 months and have only broken one lower front suspension arm, and that was due to hitting a small tree at full speed !!! They are a very strong unit.

grizz1

Ha - the kiss of death on the Bazooka. After my last post I went bashing today and tore the right front universal joint to bits. Just let go at the joint, no other damage so it is not a biggie. I was treating it rather harshly at the time on very rough ground with old worn out tyres and it was all over the place, so I probably deserved the carnage [>:]
CL-1 buggy is flying. I am experimenting with pipes at present (new Dynamite 007HT vs older OFNA 063) and I have to say I think the older OFNA pipe performs better on that motor. Both those pipes are better than the original factory pipe, but the OFNA really kicks butt (plus it sounds better too). I am bidding on another 063 pipe at auction which I would like to try on my truggy. Fingers crossed [8D]

Jas the Ace

Man it's been quiet lately, are we all rained out?
Great to read your comments on those pipes grizz and happy bidding with the other 063.
Speaking of bidding, (dont panic I haven't gone crazy again) my mates Mrs rang me and said she put a bid on a Bazooka on ebay, this is for my mates birthday surprise in a month or so. I watched the end of the auction last night and it sold for $333au, I am anxious to find out if they were the successful bidder or not, cos at that price one can not go wrong, and we would have another Bazooka fan in our community.
I am busy boat searching at the moment, out of all boats advertised we have shortened the list down to two to inspect this weekend, then there are the sales yards inbetween those two which will get us stopping every 1o mins, a lot of head scratching will be done this weekend for me I think.

grizz1

Good luck with the boat hunting Jas. It's sort of exciting but frustrating at the same time eh ? Best part is when it's all done and you are sitting back with a rum in hand looking at your new boat all decked out just as you want it and ready to go.
Good price on the Bazooka, hope it was your mate that won the auction. I picked up that other OFNA 063 pipe at auction, so now I can experiment to my hearts content.
Hopefully get a few hours at the track this weekend, as the weather gods are finally smiling upon us here. It's nice to feel the sun's warmth again. I was getting fed up with getting wet and freezing my butt off every day I can tell you.
The Bazooka might be out of action for a while after it's little mishap while the buggy funds go towards building up some spares for summer racing and upgrading a few parts on CL-1 and truggy to make them grizz proof until my driving skills improve I am sure it will be back on the road again in a month or so.

zaintlouis

Griz, Wow!! the impact must be massive to tore a front universal joint to bits. i guess you will need to hit a hard object to be able to get that extent of damage. How did the front hub carrier, upper arm survive it?

The video i made is currently uploading to rcuvideos. i'll let u guys know if it is fully uploaded. It was a horrible vid, due to editing i made it a little acceptable hehe. As usual just a simple bash vid i just wish i could make the jumps! After so many editing & encoding stuffs i finally finished this one. from a 3.5 gig video trimmed down to 100 mb of video file.

Jas, how lovely it would be to have a boat and go fishing with your daughter! or hunt a whale perhaps lol! just kidding. i have a Fishing Rod 12 years on me now and all those years all i got is 6 inch fish hahaha fish are not so abundant here as it is in Auz. i will need to go into deep seas before i could get big ones!