My buddy doesn't have ANY luck once so ever with engines... so I have narrowed it down to 2 companies in his price range. From Dynamite, I am lookin at either the mach 15 or the .12spd... (whats different from .12s and spd?). THAT, or a megatech K12 engine. Which of the two are better and exactly how reliable are the Dynamite engines???

The Dynamite brand is fairly reliable based on the one .12 size engine I owned. It wasn't a powerhouse but started easy and lasted me a fairly good time.

My megatech was much more powerful than any dynamite engine I owned. However, it was harder to tune well and a bit finicky but not impossible to start.

Cars:

It's been almost five years since I've had anything to do with piston engined rc cars, but at that time the Dynamite line was inexpensive, intended mainly for beginners. And being cheap they didn't lose a lot when they destroyed their first engine. Some people bought a Dynamite engine for replacement, but most bought higher quality. Their engines could well be much better now.

The Megatech airplane engines seem to be good, powerful, and long lived. If their car engines are the same I wouldn't be concerned about buying one.

But do remember I have no hands on experience with the current engines.

Bill.

Well the k12 engine seems to be promising... 1.28 horses they claim... my buddy would happily take that... even though i doubt it cranks out that much.