what all do you have to look for when upgrading a motor in the tornado xp? will any swap in and fit or are there things you have to match up? thanks.

You want a standard crank, rotary carb, side exhaust, pullstart engine. and if you're upgrading the engine, it's a good idea too to upgrade your pipe to help the new engine breathe better.

will any pipe work or does it get better air flow from certain ones?

it all depends on which engine you decide to run. different engines have different power characteristics, and different pipes exploit different power characteristics. An engine is basically just an air pump...and if you find a combination that will let it pump more air at the proper speeds and such, then you'll have a faster car

now that doesn't mean go and drill a huge hole in your carburetor...more air is better, yes, but the engine's basic design has to be able to USE the air that it gets in the most efficient way possible.

Also, when you get to upgrading engines (i'm definitely not trying to scare you into NOT buying a new engine, but this is something you'll have to remember) your parts breakages will increase, because your car will most likely be going faster when it hits something, and also if you go crazy with your engine upgrade, you'll start tearing up drivetrain parts left and right.

http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXGGP7&P=0 this is a good engine, for the price you cant go wrong and its an exact change with the .18 in the tornado and volcano.

Yup, bolt-in swap...but you will need to get another air filter since the inlet on the carb is WAY bigger.

how much more performance gain is this engine that the stock tornado xp engine.
i mean they are the same size.
so if this has more HP why dose it.
just courious

the .18CVR will make you soil yourself...that's really all I can say. I personally don't get how they can price it under $100 and still make money, but they do. RCCA dyno'd it at 1.8 hp...until the OS .18TM and TZ came out, it was the most powerful .18 on the market, outpowering the $200+ mills from Sirio and such

at any rate...as long as you take your time breaking the engine in, you'll be happy with it. Breakin is something you DO NOT want to rush with this thing.

well if it's more powerful than my stock motor i think i'll get it and a good header / tuned pipe and see what my tornado will do.
i'm very new to this, but it's alot of fun and you guys are alot of help.

good luck dude...and have fun

You might wanna get the Lightning's 2 speed too, eventually, just to make use of the torque and make it an intercontinental ballistic buggy

On OS site they state it has 1.35HP. But still it should be more powerful than .18VX taiwan (i suppose it has ~1HP )
http://www.osengines.com/engines/osmg2101.html

jack...OS rates it at 1.35 hp...but in my experiance, you can't compare any two manufacturer's horsepower numbers.

I try to stick to quoting RCCA when stating HP numbers because they use the same method for all engines when they dyno them...the number itself may not be accurate, but at least you know how it scores in comparison with all the other engines they've dyno tested

okay, i agree that test conditions and so one may give a big difference. BTW do you know how much juice .18VX engine has (tornado Xp)

No idea. to my knowledge it's never been dyno'd.