What's up guys, have a question. The temp this weekend hear in CT is supposed to be around 27 degrees. I've read that running the engine in this cold of weather is not a good thing. Can someone tell me if this is true and why that would be?

the cold air creates an extremely lean conditions, even when adjusted to compensate, the engines we run in nitro cars will not stay consistently tuned and will tend to overheat. Because of the instability of a nitro engine in cold weather, and the lean condition generally experience in the cold, rapid engine wear can occur.

I'm glad someone brought this up.

This last November before the snow came, we had a final hurra where my son and I burned through a gallon of 20 percent between us over the course of two days.

Those two days the outside temp was around 30. I immediatly noticed how lean my engine was running. Everything was effected even the idle speed. The temps, however, were just peachy. I mean insane performace and 220 degree engine temps! That's wonderful... right?

Well, no. I knew it was too lean. I didn't have any smoke comming out at all at WOT and the idle like I said was way off. I retuned it. I was so frustrated because I couldn't get my engine up above 190 degrees. As soon as I leaned it out, the smoke disappeared. I came to the conslusion that a properly tuned engine does not run at 240 degrees regaurdless of the outside temp.

I ended up burning the 1/2 gallon or so of fuel with the engine temps from 185-195 or so. My Hyper .21 8-port Race had maybe 2 gallons before this cold weather treatment. It wasn't abused so it had plenty of pinch left in the sleeve.

When winter came, I tore down my buggy and I checked the pinch again. It was gone. I mean flat out gone. I could turn the flywheel over by hand with the glow plug in and I could run the piston up and down in the sleeve without any resistance. I also remember it getting kind of weird and not tuning very easy towards the end. My engine was showing all the signs of being worn out after only 2 and 1/2 gallons of fuel.

From my perpective, the cold weather was burtal on my engine. Running the engine at 180-190 temps is not healthy.

The only way I would consider running in cold temps again is if I had a Thermal Control head. Theses heads bolt together in layers and the engine temp can therefore be tuned by adding and removing layers.

Anyway, that's just my two cents on the subject. It may be that my engine was an exception, but it should would explain why NO ONE at the hobby shop runs Nitro in the cold.

-RobH

put a sock or something around the engine head to slow down the cooling of the engine.

I would stay away from race blend fuels when its really cold, i use extremely high oil content fuel in the winter and my engines never get lean, infact my engine was blubbery rich at factory settings on 20 degree weather.

yah I'm using a lower nitro content than 20% right now on my engine, and made sure its spitting fuel (also cuz of break in). It's ok to run in cold weather as long as you compensate and richen up the engine for the dense air.

well first off, 2 1/2 gallons is more than the life expectancy of that motor. in my experience, a properly tuned engine will go through a gallon to a gallon and a half before the sleeve/piston are junk. For cold weather running, id recommend buying a spare cylinder head. use a hack saw to cut off some of the cooling fins, about 30% of them. Then, if you have access to a machine shop, or you can use really fine sandpaper on a piece of glass, remove some material from the bottom of the compression dome to lower the compression. shave about 20-30 thousands off. this loss of compression will be compensated for by the denser colder air, and the low temps will be brought back up by the modified cylinder head, thus eliminating any adverse effects of cold weather running.
-Alex Galeczka

Another cold weather running problem is the inability of the header and tuned pipe to hold in heat, which is essential for a properly flowing exhaust system, for the exhaust system to flow and resonate (deflecting exhaust pulses and using them to keep fuel/air in the cylinder) it needs to stay relatively hot and hold its temp. try using a sock or something to insulate the pipe, many companies offer heat blocking coatings for dirtbike and snowmobile pipes such as Replika Maschinen Inc.
-Alex Galeczka

is it ok to run in around 50-70 fahrenheit?

thats okay.

read [link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/magazine/article_display.cfm?article_id=358]this[/link]

i have run my truck in about 25 degrees out said. i live in michigan and i had one promble in the winter and it was that it would not stop becoming lean all the time it took me about half in hour to get it tuned.

Wow!!! Are you serious? 1-1.5 gallons before the p/s are junk? Yea maybe if you don't know how to tune!!!

I have run a .12 on 40% nitro 8% oil content in cold weather around 30-35 f and have run over 3 gallons through the little thing and have not had it wear out. It's dynamite .12 not like it's a high quality motor. If I only got 1 1/2 gallons through a motor I'd have to kick my own butt for not doing something right. The cold weather thing is always been a debate, as far as I'm concerned tune it, run it, and keep a eye on the temp and smoke you should be ok. Thats just my thought.

i was runnin my car last week in cold enough conditions, is it all right to run it in freezing weather like snow when its 0 degrees or will this totally wreck the engine?

i just ran mine over the weekend at 35degrees f. The temps were fine once they warmed up ,plenty of smoke nice & protectively rich..My savage had enough ommph to wheelie without problem either..My fuel is trinity monster brew has a bit higher oil so i figure im ok as long as i keep an eye on things.. Just my 2 cents

anyone know any good winter fuels i run blue thunder 20% but the oil content isnt very good for winter it seems anyway i want my stock engine to last a little longer hopefully throughout the winter- Brad

i run the white lightning and i just add castor oil to it 4oz. per gal. you can add it to any fuel and it will be fine. gotta have the lube!