what should i have my carb set when breaking in a new car. i have read many diferent opinions on how rich or lean you should have the carb. this is my secound nitro car but i dont think i broke in my last one properly. any sugestions???

Click on the picture then go to the lower right of the picture and click expand to actual size.

http://www.redcatracing.com/quickstart.pdf

Engine Tuning Guide(works on any engine): http://www.redcatracing.com/tuningyourengine.asp

did you finally get your car? i hope. what kind did you get?

ABC break-in in the car

Set the main needle according to the manufacturer's specifications (e.g., 2 to 3 turns counterclockwise from closed). Open the idle needle several turns so the engine shuts off when abruptly throttled back.
-Start the engine
-Advance the throttle to 1/2. Listen for 4-cycling. Lean the mixture to a rich two cycle operation.
-Run the car in a 100 foot diameter circle or figure 8. Keep the throttle at 1/2 and listen for 4-cycling. Don't let this happen! If it does, immediately lean the main fuel needle a little at a time until the engine produces a clean, steady 2-cycling sound. Run your car in a cicle/ figure 8 for about 1 minute. When the minute is up immediatly check the head temp.
Keep a log of run time, head temp, estimated rpm and your perfomance comments.
The goal is to keep the head temp. at above 200 degrees F. and less than approximately 230 degrees F. If the head temp. is less than 200 degrees F. lean the high speed needle slightly, and try again after the engine has completely cooled. When the engine stops, using the fly wheel turn the piston to BDC.
-Perform the 1 minute run at least three times while you adjust the head temp. by "tweaking" the needle valve as needed.
-Now run the car around for 2 minutes at least twice. Remember: 1/2 throttle and no four cycling. Same game : check head temp., allow it to cool, record data.
-Don't be tempted to open the throttle wide! The mixture settings will probably be all wrong for wide open throttle(WOT)(. There is plenty of time for that later.
-The rest of the 1/2 throttle break-in runs will be 3 minutes long. When they tottle 35 minutes(minimum), you have successfully heat-cycled your engine and break-in is properly complete. If you like you can run it another 10 minutes or so it won't hurt.
-Tune the engine for WOT and idle operation.
To read " Super Engine Tining" by Steve Pond go to ( rcnitro.com/artcles/index.asp )

Heat cycling for stress relief
Stress relief is accomplished by repeatedly heating and cooling the engine-short engine runs followed by complete cooling repeated many times. ABC engine break-in involves such heat cycles, betit is not the same proceedure as is used for non ABC engines.

ABC break-in the inside story
Abc engines require a shorter break-in (heat cycling) than engines of the past- less than 45 min. for most. To attain and maintain maximum power levels, however, requires adherence to an entirely new set of break-in rules.
The primary objective of ABC break-in is to maintain the delicate top of the piston pinch zone while allowing the internal engine components to heat cycle with some minor smoothing and allignment (crankpin, wristpin, rod journals, etc.).

Here is how this is achieved:
FUEL- Use the same fuel for break-in as you will for normal operation. If you break-in your engine with low nitromethane fuel, e.g., 5% and then jump to 20% for actual running, the piston / cylinder fit will be too loose. Five % nitro doesn't generate as high a combustion temp., so the cylinder won't expand as much, and the pinch zone will wear more than if the cylinder had pulled away farther, as it would with the hotter burning, higher nitro fuel.

2- vs. 4-cycling operation
If you run a 2-stroke engine then you have heard of 4-cycling. When a two stroke engine is operated very fuel-rich or at somewhere below 1/2 throttle, it begins to fire on alternate crankshaft revolution. As the mixture is richened at wide open throttle, the ehaust sounds like this as it breaks from 2-cycling to 4-cycling: " RRREEEAAAHHHHHHH."
As the throttle is reduced to about 1/2, the exaust sounds like this, as it breaks from 2-cycling to 4-cycling: "RRRRREEEEETAT-TAT-TAT-TAT."
With both examples comes a simotanios loss of rpm with the change in exuast sound. This is 4-cycling. Learn to avoidit. Because the ABC-type engines were originally designed as WOT racing engines, their pistons and cylinders operated happily. Today, ABC engines are also expected to idle and throttle reliably. Unfortunatly this allows them to cool excessively, especially below 1/2 throttle, where poor cylinder scavenging (clearing) causes them to 4-cycle and wear away the critical pinch zone as the piston sleeve cools and tightens around the piston
Throttling is a necessary phase of running nitro engines in cars, so you can't simply eliminate it from your routine, but do not allow the engine to 4-cycle during break-in. Afterward, when engine components have been stess-relieved and bedded in through heat-cycling, the wearing effect of 4-cycling will be minimized.

Tight ABC piston/cylinder assemblies
Some new Abc-type engines are so tight at TDC that for the first few times the engine is cranked over and run, the possibility exist of damaging the connecting rod, crankpin, and piston. To avoid this, preheat the cylinder and the head with a heat gun or a hair dryer. This preheating expands the piston sleeve, and that minimizes the potential for stress on all the engine components during initial startup.

yes i finaly did get my car. its a tornado bb

glad to hear it. did customs send you a bill? or anything stupid like that?

no not yet. i heard it was b/c he used fedex and they charge huge brokeradge fees. good think i used usps

that should save you alot of headache in the long run. fedex brokers charge an arm and a leg for anything goin into canada. and they almost never get it right when they do the paperwork anyway. glad you got the mess worked out. how about the clutch bell and spur gear did you get gear mesh done?just so you know the "play" as it's called is amount of space that one gear will move freely of the other one. or the gap until the teeth from one gear touches the other gear. just fyi for ya.

i took a look at it and it looks fine. do they usually screw up on the ''play''

Check out youtube and search for Traxxas nitro breaking. I've used the procedure and so far its been running good.

i'm not sure but i did mine to be on the safe side. if there happened to be someone new in the manufacturing plant and is still learning to put the car together theyt might not get exactly right. but it's pretty easy to do. i think you should do it, this way you know it's right, and you won't have to worry about it. it only takes a couple minutes to do it. ok it took me a couple minutes but i'm new to nitro rc's.
and like every one will tell you blue loctite is a must. adjusting the clutch to spur gear may seem a little nerve wracking but it's not that bad. if you follow ehroof's advice you'll get it right, he won't steer you wrong.

Hey, I am a beginner also with a Tornado BB. Below I am posting links to videos that I have found to be best for the break-in and tuning of your rc. Also, I have a thing to input myself. On the break-in manual at RedCat, they say the proper settings are a 1mm opening in the carb, snug clockwise - then counter 3 full truns on the high speed, then on the low spped, snug shut the out until it is even with the silver jacket around it. I belive that RedCat's suggestions should be perfect, definately coming from the manufactorer themselves.

Links to videos:

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Break-in:

[link=http://youtube.com/watch?v=_NQLEAN8jxs&feature=related]Traxxas setup 11 of 21 - Breaking in your Engine (start to getting the rc ready)[/link]

[link=http://youtube.com/watch?v=c0bVhL7ozN8&feature=related]Traxxas setup 12 of 21 - Starting your Engine (first start of your rc engine)[/link]

[link=http://youtube.com/watch?v=jbyLmcGRnlw]Traxxas setup 13 of 21 - Tank 1 (tank 1 of the break-in process)[/link]

[link=http://youtube.com/watch?v=FQ5ewz5ujxs&feature=related]Traxxas setup 14 of 21 - Tank 2 (tank 2 of the break-in process)[/link]

[link=http://youtube.com/watch?v=gKO1S3K5_Ak&feature=related]Traxxas setup 15 of 21 - Tank 3 (tank 3 of the break-in process)[/link]

[link=http://youtube.com/watch?v=0HY7W4NezwQ&feature=related]Traxxas setup 16 of 21 - Tank 4 (tank 4 of the break-in process)[/link]

[link=http://youtube.com/watch?v=5lJtsA0vkeI&feature=related]Traxxas setup 17 of 21 - Tank 5 (tank 5 of the break-in process)[/link]

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Tuning:

[link=http://youtube.com/watch?v=oSmMzpZM_As&feature=related]Nitro RC Tuning 1 (very detailed tuning instructions)[/link]

[link=http://youtube.com/watch?v=BJFsJAxNoRg]Nitro RC Tuning 2 (very detailed tuning instructions - continued)[/link]

[link=http://youtube.com/watch?v=pEGjExP9GkM&feature=related]Traxxas setup 18 of 21 - Tuning your Engine (very good lean details)[/link]

[link=http://youtube.com/watch?v=cPXnCKXO2e8]Engine Tuning 9 of 24 - tuning for temperature (tuning for different elevations and temperatures) [/link]

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Storing:

[link=http://youtube.com/watch?v=KbpaBDdivsQ]Nitro Setup - Storing your Vehicle 10 of 10 (details of how to properly store you nitro rc)[/link]