Hello all!

I've been into this hobby for a while and just made the transition to nitro last night. I bought an HPI RS4 3 (the very old model)which is in desperate need of an overhaul/rebuild. My main concern right now is the engine. It has the 0.15 engine on the chassis with the tuned pipe and all of the required linkages to operate its little powerplant, but it's very dirty. I would even go as far to guess that it has never been rebuilt.

Being new to nitro engines, I wanted to ask before I made any steps in either the right or wrong direction. Is it okay to soak the engine in warm water and mild soap and to brush the engine off with a soft brush? After doing so, I do know that after run oil is a must to keep the innards of the engine from corroding. If that would not be the greatest idea, is there any other ways to accomplish cleaning this little engine? I don't want to spend the money to get a new one just yet because that may not be necessary for a few months at least.

I will create a "progess" thread in the appropriate forum to show where the car is now and its progress to where it needs to be (in my eyes anyway). Right now, the car is a mess.

Thank you all for your help!

do not use soap and water. take the engine out. take the engine apart if there is a lot of fuel residue you cam clean it with wd-40 then soak it in denatured alchol and use a old tooth brush to scrub it when it is clean use after run oil and put it back together.

I'm pretty bad about keeping my cars clean, but I do occasionally give them a partial cleaning. I will spray my engine while still mounted on the car with brake parts or carbuerator (did I spell thatright?)cleaner, then use a toothbrush to loosen everything up, then spray again to rinse. Works great for me.

Given that you just bought this thing, it is probably a good idea to completely remove the engine and do at least apartial tear-down.By that I mean remove carbuerator, pullstart/backplate and then spray out with cleaner. Lubricate it and put it back together.

the bast way to clean an engine is to use nitro fuel. The fuel will clean and clear up all the gunk and leave a light coating oil oil reside to nothing rusts.

i use an a degreaser called LA's totally awsome once it is disassembled. use old tooth brush to scrub everything.
rinse with hot water, shake excess water and finish drying with a hair drier till totally dry.
coat inner and front bearings with after run or 3'n'1 oil.
coat crank with after run.
use after run like an assembly lube.
i've done this to all my engines and haven't found anything that works better and i've tried all of the above.

I haven't heard of LA's awesome, is that something like simple green?

no ,simple green from what i've noticed whenn i tried it leaves a residue and is hard to rinse off.
i haven't seen LA's awsome on the east coast much yet, but i'm in cali right now.
so far i've used it to clean off cooked on engine oil and grease and seems to work extremely vs other stuff i've tried.
i buy it from the dollar store here and a buddy of mine says he found it in chicago but seems to be dollar store exclusive.

hmm, I'll have to keep an eye out for it.We have some dollar stores here so maybe they have it. If it cleans off cooked on oil then I want it.

thx

thin scotch brite pads for between head fins, i usually soak the gunked up stuff for about 20 minutes