Sorry for the late reply supertib, I haven't checked this thread in awhile. I can assure you that I have an idea as to what I was doing. The truck I installed the STS 30 engine in had just previously ran an OS 30VG.


I usually try to avoid long winded posts, but since it seems supertib thinks that I am lying I will go into the story of what happened.

I am positive that it had an air leak due to an erratic idle due to the fact that as soon I started the engine let it idle to heat cycle it, the temps were jumping from 180-260. This is at IDLE and within a few minutes!!! The rpms kept picking up though the throttle was still closed to neutral. So I backed out the needles half a turn, restarted the engine and even backing out the needles more again, the engine still wanted to overheat. Took the low speed needle apart, one of the o-rings was slit. The high speed needle looked ok, but I wasn't confident of the carb. Had another carb, a Vertex 26 one, which has the same throat diameter and threw it on the STS and it ran alright.

The same OS 30 I had in the car before temped 235-245 consistently on the same temp gun that I used to temp the STS, so I would not say it is a temp gun error, and the OS 30 ran well after I took the STS motor out and put the OS back in, which tells me the fuel tank is good, and the fuel lines are as well.


Supertib, I have seen your portwork on engines and you do a good job, but you can't say that just because I got a bad carb, I don't know what I am doing. My buddies have gone to Taiwan and met Dino, who represents the STS company. If you don't believe me that it's Dino who most US distrubutors deal with, you can check it out with Ryan from Racernine. I think the STS products are good, but at the price you pay, there will be some slip ups. And the slip up I have seen with STS is in the assembly of the carb.

Pipe: STS
Plug: OS A3
SHIMS: Stock
Fuel: 20% Byrons
Tempgun: Duratrax with emissivity adjusted to 75, as per instructions to compensate for RC Car heatsinks.


Please note that I had said it was likely a warranty issue. I never bashed the engine... Just stated the fact of what happened to me. Will this one bad carb make me hate STS Engines? No, but that means the other STS I have, a Dadders modded one, I will disassemble the carb on that one as well. But usually Dadders (Walt) takes apart the engines and checks everything, so I am not really worried about that one.

I've owned Nova 528XRs, OS, Piccos, and now a Radical/OPS 628. As of right now, the best budget engines I have found are still SH based mills. The quality is about the best bargain you can get for your money. For example, I picked up an LRP Z28 Spec 3 (The SH 8 port) truggy for only 155 with 2 day shipping. Plus the engine runs good with the SH pipe that was included with my kit. Theres no need for me to shell out another $45 on top of the $120 for the engine just for another pipe to run on my truck. The cost of the STS pipe would negate the cost saving of the engine price. Though to be fair, the STS pipe is not absolutely necessary to run, but if you want the most out of the engine everyone is saying you have to have it.


The same OS 30 I had in the truck before temped 235-250 consistently on the same temp gun that I used to temp the STS, and it ran fine which tells me the fuel tank is good, and the fuel lines are as well.