ORIGINAL: Vroom1911
Hi guys, I just purchased my first nitro car last night, its a Smartech Winner 1. I payed $80 for it and it didn't come with the engine. He threw in the pipe and the manifold for the original 15cxp engine. My question to you guys is this. Would a 18cxp or possibly even a 27cxp fit/work in this car? I wouldn't mind making a few minor mods to get it to fit but I don't want to start chopping the whole car appart.
Generally speaking, the differences mostly rely on the mounts themselves for engine placement. Aside from motor mounts, the other condition to take into account is whether or not Smartech (or any other manufacturer) made clutches that used gearing you can use with the car's factory transmission spurs. If you're lucky, Smartech used the same pitch gearing for their larger engines (aka 'Big Block'), and built universal clutch housings and shoes. If not, then you'll need to do a lot of hunting, looking for the right combination of mounts and clutch parts to make it all work.
As for 'will it fit', any engine can be shoe-horned into any car. It just depends on what you're willing to do to make it happen.
My suggestion, would be to stick with a 'Small Block' engine, .12-.18 typically. Anything above .18 is probably going to be a 'Big Block', and require new engine mounts and a new/different clutch assembly to work, and quite possibly some chassis modifications to provide clearance for the larger engine. It would seem to make sense, then, that the .18cxp you mentioned probably will bolt right in, so long as it uses the same style crank that the original .15 used.