RCKID21

is it ok to break in my boats motor out of the water? i have a rig set up to keep water flowing through the head to keep it cool. any help is appreciated[8D]

d-lo

i believe around here, it is generally advised to do it in the water, with a load on it, with the fuel you plan on using. i have done it both ways. i usually get it running on the bench, with a coolant setup, put a light tune on it, get the idle good, and a rich full throttle setting. then, i finish it up on the water, running rich, and coming in a 1/16 of a turn at a time for several tanks.

i always start from a point where it bogs, but runs, from being to rich, and come in from there. no matter what day it is, i always start this way, to insure i'm coming in from the fat side, and not running lean. seen a few motors toasted quickly this way, by leaving the setting where it ran good last time, but too lean for the days weather.

i have four motors recently under my belt done this way, no probs yet, but i'm sure others will chime in with their preferences as well.........

Hydro Junkie

I would recommend doing very little to no bench running. While some have been able to do it successfully, if this is your first nitro boat, I would advise you to take the boat to the lake and start there. You will have a much harder time damaging your engine with an actual load on it than running on a bench unloaded.

dicko

I agree, get it straight onto the water, only difference I would make is to get it up to temp ASAP with a rich setting. running a cold engine will prematurely wear out your piston & liner. remove or restrict (zip tie around the water tube) the water cooling if you need to get the temp up enough. heat cycling is also recomended, get the engine up to temp, run it for a minute or two, then shut it off & let it cool right down again. make sure the piston is at bottom dead center so that it won't get siezed in the liner when it cools down too. I heat cycle four or five times, then start running it normally and leaning it out every tank till it runs on pipe.

everyone has their own method, as long as you don't run lean, that's the main thing. some people idle the first tank through on the bench with a rich setting and get it up to temp for the first heat cycle, I prefer to keep a load on the engine & don't do bench runs.

glennb2006

I run nitro engines on the bench to run them in. For a load I fit an aero prop of appropriate size. Also water cooling.


This allows easy control of the temperature while running in.

As has been said, there are lots of opinions on how to run motors in.

Glenn

RCKID21

how high should i run the temperature while breaking it in?

dicko

I run mine about 200 - 220 deg F

glennb2006

Yep, about the same, I always aim to have the engine hot enough so that after a run you can keep your finger on the ehad for about 2 seconds only, around 80 degrees C. Same temp for break in.

Don't want to run it too cool, especially with higher nitro fuels.

Glenn.