whats the best temp gauge for the prise?

This one is great.

I spit on my finger and touch the cylinder head. Listen for the sizzle.

come on ppl cant we be serious.

LOL-------To be serious, Check out that "Operating Temp" thread here. frankly you'll get more out of buying a gallon of fuel than the usefulness of a temp gauge.

Give the guy a break!

I have two temp gauges. One is a very expensive Raytek laser temp gauge I bought a few years ago to use in my work but also was brilliant when using for model engines. You can stand 25 feet away from a cylinder head and shoot the laser beam at it and get your temp. $300

The other is the small blue Duratrax thing you see in hobby shops and online. It must be held next to what you are temping (a couple inches anyway) and it does not have a laser beam. But it is accurate, very useful, and around $20 bucks.

If you are talking about an on-board temp gauge like the nitro car guys use, the MIP or Venom units are the common versions and the Venom is better because it has a programmable thermo shutdown feature.

Hi!
Temp gauge!! No one uses it! We set our engines by ear!

Habor Frieght $9 bucks good enough because fingers are too important to spit on and then burn !!!!!

tonywayne

Most airplane engines are tuned by RPM not temp as RC Car engines are. Static temperatures on the ground or on a test stand are not valid in the air. Typically if the engine is not enclosed in a cowling its temperature is going to decrease once in the air unless set over lean. Thus the reason behind setting the engine about 500-600 RPM richer than peak to comensate for the leaning taking place at altitiude and thus maintain performance.

Even in most all documentation that comes with airplane engines you do not see max temperatures listed, but you do see RPM figures.

David
AMA336517