RCU Forums - NITRO HAWK

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well i finally got my nitro hawk fine tuned. its running a trx .12 in it. when i got this truck it didnt have a carb on it, so i pulled the carb from my nitro vee 15 and put it on. works like a charm...i am running 10% nitro cool power in it. lets see how many people here actually own the nitro hawk... i will be doin some mods to it when i can... any suggestions besides an engine upgrade are welcome.

The O.S. 10E carb fits the Pro .15 ;). Do you have a 360 stinger pipe?

no i dont have a stinger pipe i have a dynamite tuned pipe tho....[8D]

I used to have one, but it didnt have the trx engine. It had the image 12 in it.

I live 10 minutes from traxxas, and actually saw the truck before it was released, or even announced, to the public. 2 guys from traxxas brought 2 prototype nitro hawks to the track and were running them on an indoor asphalt tri-oval. It was late on a weekday night and me and my brother were the only other ppl at the track. I went over to see the trucks and they kinda covered them up and wouldnt say much about them. I could tell they were not comfortable with me around so i walked away. I was running a ae rc10t, then fairly new, and the first purpose built stadium truck, on the offroad track right beside the tri-oval. After awhile one of the guys came over and asked me what the fastest motor i had was and i told him i had a brand new, still in the package 12t mod motor. This was a really fast motor back in the day. We agreed to compare the trucks on the track with my mod, and i could check out the new trucks. This was before the internet age, and i guess they figured their secret would be safe.

On the track, we were very close in speed, and actually had some really good racing between us. The track was very high traction asphalt and banked like crazy. It was wide open all the way around. Back then, the best batteries available were 1400-1500mah scrc nicads, so my runtime was silly short, but we still had fun. Those trucks really handled well, and were really fast. I was impressed.

After running several packs the guys started packing up their stuff and then brought one of the trucks over to my table and actually sat down, pulled the body off, and told me all about them. They showed me how the brakes worked. It was like an inverted drum setup. The clutchbell had a white plastic band that wrapped around the large part, and a small piece of leather was the shoe. The exhaust was aluminum, in the same configuration that the rubber one that the consumer recieved, exiting out the rear. Same backward clutchbell, same super tough aluminum chassis.

It wasnt till they were leaving that i found out that the truck would be sold to the public within the next 3 months, and i swore to them I would buy the first one to reach my hobbyshop. And thats how i was introduced to the nitro hawk, and i kept my word, and bought the very first one ever delivered to my shop.

I had tried two other nitro trucks before i got mine. The first was a Shumacher, cant remember the name, but it had a Force engine. The next one was a kyosho outlaw rampage, which was ok. But the Nitro Hawk Was the first one i ever had that actually had the racier design that we see today in our top drawer race trucks.

I loved that truck. I ended up putting an aftermarket slide carb on it and an mip 360 stinger pipe on it and it was pretty much just as fast as the trucks i have now. ppl can say that Traxxas products arent for racing, but they certainly were breaking new ground for the race trucks that followed.

do you still have this truck? if so i want pics of it. seeing its the first one they brought out.... thanks

no, i dont have it anymore. i sold it probably 15 years ago. no pics either. i wish i still had it. it looks very much like the later hawks with the exception of the image 12 engine. same bulletproof chassis, pretty much everything. it did have major probs with the pullstart and i changed over to a bumpstarter.
as far as its handling, with a decent setup, i dont think it gave up much, if anything, to the racers i have today (3 adam drake trucks). its hard to say though, with so many years coming between my having it, and now, but it sure seems fast in my memories.

Drake, your story is a good read.[sm=thumbup.gif] Nitro Hawk 4 lyfe! :)

well mine is goin to a new home next week. i have traded mine for a savage....

thanx collector. its always fun recalling my early years in this hobby. i started with a couple of tamiya grasshoppers back around 1985 and within a years time, started racing at my local track with an rc10 buggy and have raced ever since.

like i said, my hawk was not my first gas truck, but it was my first really good one.

Here are some pics of my old Nitro Hawk w/OS12.CVRX

well i decided not to go and trade this truck. unless of course someone has a jato for me.....[8D] but here is my hawk with a tamiya body on it

i got a nitro hawk. it is the only nitro truck i have ever had. it is about 15 years old. took out the .12 and put in a pro .15.
brandon

I'll revive this thread, so I can get some info. I got two of these about two weeks ago and just found out what they were. Here is the thread where I found out.
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_69...tm.htm#6986049
I was wondering where I could get the 360 stinger pipe you were talking about? I see some factory parts are still being made but I have no idea if there is any after market parts still available. Some one needs to come up with a cross reference list for these old trucks.
Well thanks.
Shawn

I have a used 360 pipe and manifold, if you want it. It's not pretty, but it's here. You will also need the 360 shock tower, which I may or may not have. It would be included in a new kit, if you were lucky enough to find one.
Also, you mention parts availablity. A good portion of the parts are still around, some because of newer models using them, others, because of a good supply remaining. Tower is a pretty good indicator of Traxxas parts' status. If it's discon. or doesn't come up at all, it's gone (as far as production). At that point, you start digging eBay and hitting up the local shops.
If you would like a copy of the manual, send me a PM.