Hey,
The engine on my nitro hammer screams as soon as i start it. Even when the carb is closed and on the idle position, then engine revs really high. All bolts are tight, anyone know what may be causing this too happen?

The carb could be too lean causing this. It can be that the throttle trim is a little too high or the idle speed screw is too far in. Three possibilities, could be one or all three.

i have the idle set as low as possible. Even when i put my finger over the carb, it still keeps running for a few seconds. could i have some kind of a leak, where the carb is sucking air from somwhere else making it idle extremely high.

Could be. A leaky carb or the barrel of the carb isn't in there properly. I've seen the last one happen. The idle set screw was not in the groove. I've seen some weird things in my time with things messing up carb settings. I had a nitro truck that was sucking air in through the front bearing messing up the needle.

what is the best brand of fuel to use?

Everybody has their favorite fuel so use a good brand. Look for 20-30% Nitro and 20% or as close as you can get to it in oil content. I push my boats a little harder than most for this size motor and have run 45-50% Nitro but I don't advise this for everybody. You start blowing a lot of plugs and the needle gets more fickle with high Nitro plus it cuts the life of the motor down.

i've heard that upgradeing the pipe will make the boat go faster and have better performance. what kind of pipe would be good for my nitro hammer? if you can please give me a link. thanks

The pipe isn't really bad on the NH, it's just that the header is too long. It's really hard to get around this problem with the radio box in the way. The only alternative would be cutting up the canopy and going over the top of the radio box. You can imagine how bad this would look.[sm=rolleyes.gif] The only pipe that I would upgrade to that would fit wouls be the Mac's pipe, a 2.5 plane item that a lot of the .12-.18 guys are running.
Here's a link to Mac's, http://www.macspro.com/tunedpipes.asp . Your LHS can get it or Tower Hobbies should have it. It runs around $27-28.00 .

thanks for answering my questions ron! heres another

I have some traxxas 20% nitro fuel, and it says on the can that it is made for .15 engines (theres a .15 on my hammer) and on the back it says "do not use in boat and airplane engines". so i called up my LHS and they said that it was ok for me to use. what do you think? i just want to double check. thanks.

Some Hobby Shop employees aren't the sharpest tools in the shed in you know what I mean. They may know trains and telescopes but a lot don't have a lot of knowledge of R/C boats. The oil content is the big thing, you want to have 20% total oil content or close to it. This can be a mixture of Castor and/or Synthetic oils. Trust Traxxas here on this one.

whats the worst that could happen if i did use the fuel?

Premature wear.

I need a link to a replacement glow plug so when mine dies i can buy a new one. thanks.

p.s. - i have a nitro hammer if that makes any diffrence.

I don't know what Hobby Shops you have up there but they should have some in stock. McCoy, K&B, O.S. and many others have plugs that you can use.

Rg501: I've tried using traxxas fuel in my hammer and it didnt work. It would run for about 30 seconds and then just die. It took me 20 minutes after that to start it again. I would recommend not using the traxxas fuel.

Ron: I've had the NH for about a year now and looking for another boat. Could you recommend a good second boat, with a little bit more speed? I dont race, just run for fun off my full scale.

There isn't much that I can think of off hand for an intermediate boat. Usually the next step is to build one yourself. A .21 powered nitro boat would be the next step, either an inboard mono hull or a 3.5 tunnel hull but the motors are getting hard to find at the moment. The only one that I can think of might be the new ProBoat Shockwave 36 but that wouldn't be a whole lot faster than what you have now, maybe 5-10 MPH quicker. If your pockets are a little deeper, a Gas powered boat would be a great move up in the boating world. Warehouse Hobbies sells some nice RTF boats, from around $700.00 and up.

i was running my NH today and it was running great. but after awhile, i would give it some throttle and it would start to go and then stall. i checked my glow plug and that is fine. i cant think of anything that would make it do that. do you have any ideas?

It might be just a little too lean yet.

ok thanks ron. i think that was the problem. i richened it up abit and it ran very nicely. i have more questions!

how do you not break in a engine? and how do you know when your glow starter needs chargin? AND is it ok for me to run 10% nitro and 20% oil fuel? One more: today i was running my hammer and i would start it up and let it run at idle for a less then a minute and i noticed that smoke or exost (sp?) was coming out the hole that the water usually comes out of when you run it. does this mean im killing my engine or is that supposed to happen? im guessing that exost is just exiting the engine through there and the exost pipe.

Lots of ways how to not break in an engine. The big 2 with boats is too run it too lean and without any water cooling. The steam that you saw is telling you to get it into the water ASAP. The 10% nitro is fine. The lower nitro will let the engine last longer and makes the needle easier to set especially on hot, humid days.
We call them tuned pipes, not exhaust pipes, it sounds cooler and racier.[8D]

thanks alot ron!

right now i have my boat running not too lean and not too rich. so i guess i have it broken in. it is running really nice. i wish there were some rc boating clubs around were i live. but oh well, i guess my pond will have to do.

i got another question:

should this glow plug fit in my nitro hammer?

http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXCB26&P=0

hey ron, do you have AIM or MSN? cause i might need to talk to you about some boat stuff.

Yes, the plug will work.
I don't know of any clubs really close to you but if you travel to Saginaw there is a club there. The Ford Model Boat Club has one race a year at Camp Dearborn in Milford and another that was recently run in Sumpter Township, SW of Detroit Metro Airport. The Oakland Wolverine MBC was racing at Thelma Spenser Park in Rochester Hills. Some of the races have been moved to the Thames MBC site in Canada this year.
All are great races to watch or race in. Unfortunately none of them have any classes yet for anything under .21 powered boats.

my boat has some of the paint cracked on the bottom and i want to know if i could just sand it down and refinish it so its not cracked.