im looking to get a firestorm within the next week and i was wondering how everybody breaks them in? i was just online reading the manual and it says to run a full tank at idle, and then run 2 tanks at half throttle and thats it. that doesnt seem right to me, how is everyone breakin in their firestorms? thanks.

Now I dont have a firestorm and would normally say follow the instruction. But thats kinda the old school method for breaking in the engine, the heat cycle method is now the prefered method of break in.


Now since your in a cooler place you might have to richen your engine up a little so that your not close to your fine tune right off the bat. Not exactly sure how cold it is up there but I know down here it's only about 50f so it's got to be much cooler up there. So maybe a half turn to a full turn counter clockcwise from factory settings would be good to start off with, since it's so cold right now up there. You want the engine to be rich but not so rich that it's a blubering mess or that it's 4 stroking.


Basically take the engine start it up, run it 2 or 3 mins, just slowly driving it around every once in a while going full throttle for a second or two but no more, Make sure the engine gets up to at least 220f then shut it down put the piston at BDC. Let it cool down 5 or 10 mins then do it again. After the 3rd time of doing this you, you can lean both needles out a little 1/4th of a turn, but then increase your run times to 3 or 4 mins while doing full throttle runs now for about 3 or 4 seconds, you can now drive your vehicle faster then before. Once you get 2 or 3 runs of that done. Then lean it out again 1/8th nd do 4 to 5 min runs. After about 2 of them then fine tune your engine and go have fun. I usually go about 20 to 25 mins worth of run time before fine tuning the engine and starting to really have fun with it.

This is the newer method of breaking in an engine and I have had great sucess with this method. Some of my engine's have had over 10 gallons through them and still have a lot of life left. Another 2 or 3 gallons left to them. Cant complain when you have engine that canm get 12 plus gallons out of them while using this method. But if you do use this method it may void your warranty. Just warning you, but I like this method over watching the engine sit there and idle and slowly watching the engine prematurely kill itself.

ya i def thought it looked like an old school method to break in. is there a heat cycling online tutorial or did you sum it up pretty good? and o the first few runs you can go full throttle for 2-3 sec?

Yeah the first couple of runs you may go full throttle, but since the engine is going to be rich it should get up and go all that fast though. You can do a search for the Heat cycle method using the search button at the top right hand corner. For the topic just punch in HEAT CYCLE METHOD and some other threads should pop up. But I read and re-read what I typed in and I basically sumed it up to the best of my ability. But for the first set of runs it's 1 to 2 seconds for the full throttle runs. Just make sure the engine reaches 220f or a little high and you will be fine. This is where normal operating temps start at.

Now this is a shortened up summery but still there's everyhting you really need ot know in there. But still the search button is there if you want to use it.

cool thanks a lot man. now what about sealing the engine? i heard its good to seal it before you even start breaking it in because it eliminates headahces and problems down the line. i had tons of problems with my trx 3.3 being airtight and i ended up sealing it after about a gallon was through it. should i just seal the g3.0 before i even break it in?

Do it by the book. Put it this way. You put out a product and did all the R&D and know the in's and out's of it. You would know what is the best way to use it right? That's exactly how this is. They made the engine so wouldn't they know how to break it in?

You got to also look at it this way, a lot of these people are noobs. When an engine goes bad they will go back to an engine they know that will fit in without any hassles. People go to what is familiar. So if they tell you to break in an engine and that break in method only allows the engine to get 4 or 5 gallons out of an engine. And 3 out of every 10 people buy another one of the stock engine's thats another $300 or $400 into there pockets. Remember that there also in the business of making money. Gotta remember that part. But I'm sure the number is a little higher then 3 out of every ten, maybe more or less like 1/2 will go back to the stock engine.

I know they are out to make money and you make a valid point. However if that were the case then wouldn't they also reason that it was a bad engine and not want to buy another. In addition to that the engine and manufacturer would get a bad reputation for having poor quality products and no one would purchase one. I know you are being hypothetical, but the stock engine is $115. It could go either way but I think HPI is a reputable company and would not want to do that to their consumers.

no heat cycle method is way better. my freind broke the exact same car i have with the old school method(the one in the book) and i used the heat cycle. i was suprised by my engine has more power then his. like enof to otic the difference. heat cycle method all the way

bte214 I know that they wouldnt make a very over obviously bad engine. But a lot of noobs when buying a new engine will go bavk to whats familiar, and also because a lot of times a noob will know that it's his/her mistake but wont admit it they will still go back and buy a stock engine. I mean look at the traxxas ERP plane, you can by a O.S .18tz for the prize of a replaced 3.3 but yet a lot of people still get the 3.3 Why cause it's what they know and are comfortable with. Now as you said HPI isnt all that bad of a company, but when comparing there engine's to lets say O.S you will have to admit they erent even in the same catergory. Could HPI make engine's like that yeah tthey could, but they dont.

As for the bad reputation look at Picco with there .26 sized engine's. they had so many air leaks with them it's almost impossible to buy one that didnt have an air leak problem. Yet a ton of people still buy them, same thing with the VXL rustlers. The traxxas had more lemons with there VXL's then they have ones that are good, but yet people still buy them. Now as said I'm not degrading HPI at all, as I believe that all major company's do it really. But there engine's are not the best in quality nor are they the most powerful engine's out there on the market.

The Heat Cycle Method is definatly your choice.The most important thing about the Heat Cycle Method is putting the piston at BDC,which BTW isn't in the old school method manuals.
I did the Heat Cycle Method on my G3.0 and I put almost 2 gal. through it and still have peak performance.

how does it feel when you put it at BDC? like when your turning the flywheel what does it feel like? and should i seal the engine before i break it in?

Anyone know the factory settings of the HSN and LSN on the Fire Storm. I have just rebuilt the engine, it only had 2 tanks through it before the screws came out of the backplate. Got case replaced and thought it could still do with the breakin process.

I've read the manual and it says both needls should be flush with the case, tried this and it seems to flood the engine. As the LSN is in a real awkward place I would like to set it and forget it.

At the moment the only way I get the engine to run is to use about a quarter throttle. HSN out three and a half turns, LSN out two turns (going on other engines I have). It will fire and run for about 30 seconds then go off. Also whilst it is running the rpm is quite high owing to the quarter throttle, but if I close the throttle it goes off.

Can't figure this one, an engine that runs for a short time, goes off, then will fire right back up and then run and go off etc.

Could it be that the LSN is still too rich?

Thanks

Fox 23, the best way to do it is to take the head off, then move the piston to BDC, then while the piston is there take a permanent marker tand mark the flywheel at the bottom. That way when your done running for the day you can easily just place the mark on the flywheel to the very bottom and not have to think twice about it. The other way is you can take the glow plug off and look down at do it that way, but it's a little harder to do it that way though.

Those are the best way's the other way is you can do it by feel, take the flywheel and play with it. Do a couple full revolution's. The piston while on the up stroke will cause you do actually have to use some force to get the flywheel to turn over. It will get real hard when the piston is near TDC, then once you get past TDC then piston because of the compression will want to move down by itself to a certain point. Then you will have to move the flywheel again, now the piston should be either at BDC or pretty close at this point. You will have to move it alittle further at that point. It should be easy to move around, and you will have about a(now this is a estimated guess here) about 30 degree's either way till you have to start to worry again.

Basically you want it as close to BDC as possible. The reason being is so the hot exhaust gasses can escape, and also the cylinder is tapered. The largest diameter of the cylinder is being at BDC, and the smallest diameter of the cylinder being at TDC. Now as you know when metal is hot it expand's when metal cool's down it will contract, well if the piston is at TDC the sleeve will not be able to contract as much and this will cause your engine to loose compression much faster then if it was placed at BDC. This is why we place it at BDC.

I hope this helped you more then it confused you. Maybe someone else will be able to better explain it.

dont take the head off, just take a realy clean rod or q-tip and put it where the glowplug is untill it reaches bottom, then mark it

ya dude i follow, thanks a lot.

Never thought about that, good idea