Tornado S30 glo plug wont thread
 

Had my Tornado for several weeks with no problems. One day I might have tried to screw in the glo plug without it being in the threaded properly. Now none of my glo plugs will thread more than a full turn. So I tried to take the screws out of the cooling head so i could get a better look at things. I got one of them out but the rest are stuck pretty bad and i might have stripped them trying to get them unscrewed. Any ideas on what I should do next?

RE: Tornado S30 glo plug wont thread
 

frankly this aint good.

if those screws are stripped it will be hard to get them out. Its not like other screws where you can drill the head off easy.

Can the motor run with the glow plug only part way in? Im thinking if you can get the motor to warm up...by running or by using a blow dryer or heat gun that it will make those screws easier to come out. If the heads are not fully stripped and you pre heat the head they may still come out.
do you only have 1 hex tool? sometimes its the tool that strips and not the screw head.

If you can get it off, I think you can buy just a new head. Or you may be able to find someone who has a blown motor that has a good cooling head.

RE: Tornado S30 glo plug wont thread
 

Try using one of these. They're typically referred to as "easy outs". They're like reverse drill bits. the bit will cut into the stripped screw and attempt to unscrew it. I bought these as a last resort when I stripped one of my engine mount screws. I honestly didn't think they would work being so small but the screw came right out even with it being loctited. Like Nitrosports said, heat will also help. If you can heat up the stripped screw first this should help it come out. This kit was about $20 at Home Depot.

RE: Tornado S30 glo plug wont thread
 

Thanks for the tips guys. I will try heating the head up first and see if i can get anything to loosen up. If not that drill bit kit sounds like it might work. Ive heard of those things working pretty well before. Do you think I will need a new cooling head after all is said and done?

RE: Tornado S30 glo plug wont thread
 

I had kinda thought of those...but I thought there wouldnt be enough room for the bit inside the head.
But then, he doesnt have to worry about damaging the head..LOL.

Oh, a shot of PB blast (penetrating oil) wouldnt hurt either.

RE: Tornado S30 glo plug wont thread
 

Got it. I will try that too. The bits in the picture look way to big to fit down in the head so Im hoping they sell different sizes. If the PB blast and heat dont work Ill have to look into those.

RE: Tornado S30 glo plug wont thread
 

I had kinda thought of those...but I thought there wouldnt be enough room for the bit inside the head.
But then, he doesnt have to worry about damaging the head..LOL.

Oh, a shot of PB blast (penetrating oil) wouldnt hurt either.
[/quote]
Yeah I figured he would have to butcher the cooling head but at least he could replace it and the under head for about $25 and save his engine.

RE: Tornado S30 glo plug wont thread
 

For anyone else wondering how to fix the problem with the glo plugthreads,I found that here, http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_89...tm.htm#8917994

Im still working on getting the cooling head off.

RE: Tornado S30 glo plug wont thread
 

So Ive tried a number of different things to try and get the cooling head screws out. Ive managed to get two of the four out now. Ive tried PB Blaster and heat and even buying a new hex key. Today I went out and bought mini needle nose pliers to see if I could come in from the side of the cooling head and unscrew them that way. The pliers wouldnt grip the head of the screw as hard as I tried. The hardware guy and I dont think the easy outs would work for the size screw so Ive refrained from buying one of those yet. One idea I did have though was to try and cut the screw in half where the shaft is exposed between the cooling head and the motor. The only problem I could see running into would be cutting too much of the screw off and not being able to unscrew the other half. Im trying to do this in a way that I spend the least amount of money and save the cooling head, a 30 dollar buy. Any further thoughts?</p>

RE: Tornado S30 glo plug wont thread
 

You'd obviously have to cut the cooling head off where you could access the screws but those easy outs I pictured we're pretty small. What I've done before and has worked well was to take a torx head and tap it into the stripped screw. You can usually get the torx edges to bite into the screw and grab it. Again though, I think at this point you'll have to hacksaw or dremel the cooling head off just above the screws so you can get in there.

RE: Tornado S30 glo plug wont thread
 

Well, I think Im gonna pack up all the nitro stuff and try to sell it on Ebay. I should have listened to my father, whos been doing this longer than me, when he said to go electric. It sounds so much easier than nitro and sounds like you can stay up and running longer. So if anyone knows someone who would like a perfectly fine Tornado S30 that needs a little bit of motor work please let me know. Also this may be the wrong place, but I was wondering if anyone could point me in the right direction for a good electric starter car, truck, or buggy. I was thinking the Tornado EPX, but I dont know if i want to stay with redcat since the local hobby shop does not carry the brand.

RE: Tornado S30 glo plug wont thread
 

Sorry to hear you've thrown in the towel. Sounds like you problem has turned into a mess. To most of us nitro guys, half the fun is the tinkering side of the hobby. Your dad is correct though, electric with an extra battery in your back pocket and your all set. For me, electric cannot replace the sweet smell of nitro smoke or the sound coming from the engine.

The other problem is like you mentioned, if your hobby shop doesn't stock Redcat it can become annoying. Luckily 80 percent of the Tornado parts can be found on Ebay for around $5 with free shipping. Most of us just keep ordering parts a little each week until we have a good parts box full of backup parts. As far as getting a new electric, look at the Tornado EPX pro, not the regular EPX model. The pro is brushless and with the addition of a $20 Lipo battery, you'll be running 30 minutes per battery. Of course even the electric has it's own little secret...the batteries. The lower prices ones will not come with Lipo batteries, and then you'll also immediately want to buy a decent charger insead of waiting 8 hours for the wall charger that Redcat supplies. Good luck and keep us posted.

RE: Tornado S30 glo plug wont thread
 

I completely agree with you on that one. The smell of nitro takes me back to the days when I was a kid watching my dad race them. But for a beginner like me with no one around who has the same feelings as me, electric may just be the way to go for now. Nitro dosnt exactly like the cold and being that I live in the good ole pacific northwest, cold isnt something we can get away from too easily. AlsoI can see that Ill end up putinga lot of money intoa nitro,which issomething I dont have much of.On the plus side, there is an indoor track for electrics onlynearby that would be to my benifit if i do go electric. So as much asIll miss the smell and sound of a nitro, I thinkIm just gonna have to switch teams for now.

My father has told me a little about what to look for in electrics and it sounds like brushless with Lipos are the way to go. I really liked the look and design of the tornado, and the pro comes with all that, like you said.

RE: Tornado S30 glo plug wont thread
 

that's cool, maybe someday you'll stray back over to the dark side. Electric has far surpassed nitro since brushless came about. Most of us have some kind of electric backup car. My son has a Caldera 10e which is perfect for him running 2s Lipo. Plenty fast enough for him and fun enough for me to play around with. The EPX pro line is a little quicker, but the Caldera line is a little bigger which I like. The Tornado pro would be awesome for indoor racing. Figure on spending another $100 for a decent lipo charger and two lipos and you'll be all set.