to all nitro newbies

this is not like electric in any way so you could be a pro electric drive and not know what a glow starter is, so don't go into thinking that all your talent will cary over, and a lot of the stuff is smiliar and a lot isn't
so what i'm saying is don't go pick up a nitro and just fire it up thinkin' this'll be easy, be prepared do as much reading as you can so you won't feel like an idiot, and than after that you'll need to learn more stuff and ask more questions, these motors need lots of attention and are very finiky sometimes and others they can be a dream. Buy all the nessasary parts for running your nitro heres some stuff that should come be mandatory to have punshiable by law IMO

Temp Gauge
Re-chargeable glow ignightor, or at least 3 spare batteries, i recomend, one of each
at least 2 brand new glow plugs,
fail safe or throttle return spring the fail safe is you best bet though
Air filter, aways run with a filter, a small peice of sand or dirt can destroy you shiny new powerplant,
tuneing screwdiver this is almost as imporant as your glow ignightor,
feul filter, like i said a small bit of dirt of sand can ruin a nitro, or screw you needle settings to next week,
after run oil
4way wrench for plugs

once you have all those things many of which come with your nitro or can be found around the house i'ld get the rest all of them can be purchased for under $50 total,

some things that'll make you life a bit easyier and make your nitro run even better
feul bottle,
air filter oil,
motor spary nitro or electric i've used electric and it works fine so i'm geussing thier the same thing
roto start there is some contraversy over these i like them the make starting much easier if you're not to experenced or its out of tune,
after run oil i put this in the needed list but some fuels claim that its not nessasary, i personally would use it anyways,
high temp sealant, for air leaks that can wreck havoc on your tune

once you have those things you'll be just about ready to go, untill you hit feul

feul i recomend 10% nitro for small blocks that are in rtr's for a higher end small block i'ld run the maunafturs recomneded
big blocks 20% or mfg recomened

glow plugs rule of thumb big block get med to cool plugs small get the hotter stuff
that is a basic rule

hot plugs will provide better idle and low end while colder plugs give you better top end

turbo plugs for turbo engins only and thats all i know

needle settings,

very small turns 1/8 of a turn does a lot, i've found adjust hsn first then lsn then idle and then mid if need be


Your Clutch,

Some basic info, Heavier springs later engagement more wheel spining and stress, lighter spring less wheel spining, and smother power
shoes Al, more grab = more punch,
Plasic/composite, less grab smother
clutch shoe matence is very important, so do it

reciver packs don't be a cheepo and just us the AA holder, you'll get lower prefomace and after about a few sets hey you could've bought a real nice pack for $20 had better servo's and be able to slap it on your zapper when you get home,

servos, i highly recomend something that can has about the torque rating of the vechile so if your nitro wieghs 10 lbs i recomend getting a 160 oz servo, with metal gears,
trottle and break i have found standards to flip my savage but a high torque never hurt no body but a faster one helps a lot

thats all i'll say now i'll probally post a bit on breakin later or tommorow so somthin

btw feel free to add what ever this is a place of learning

the lug

If you are going to race then 20% nitro, with a low % of oil will give you the most out of the engine if it is a small block. With a big block, 30% nitro will be better. You don't need the lowest amout of oil for the car to be fast, if anything a good mid range oil % will be your best bet for week end racing, and some bashing.

ohh thanks for that i forgot all about oil

i'll add a bit more to that though and say that you shouldn't need anything more than 16% though 18% won't hurt but it won't help, also, don't go any lower than 8% as that will hurt for just general bashing 12% good and racing too, unless you really want more out of it ie. the last little bit you can go less but you'll notice a shorted life

the lug

some pretty good info there lugnut

Yes this is some good info, but I am an electric racer, and I know all about the nitro side of the hobby, and I even know how to tune engines (I only run electric right now, but I might get in to nitro is the price per gallon comes back down)

i know most of the nitro every thing but the tuning i will evetually get a nitro when i get some extra money i would like to get a xxx-nt becouse i like my xxx-t so why not have a nitro one

Thats why I never got into nitro, to expensive, to much work. Electrics you charge up and watch em fly!

but nitro is still really fun and for the $ you can get some pretty decent speed and a good truck to go with it.

and i do kinda like the charge um and go of electric but at the track, its really nice just pull in pull the top dump in the nitro and you're good,

addition " Filp over nitros as fast as possible as most don't have a clunk style tank, so you loose a constiant fuel flow causeing it to slowly lean out and thats not good, cuz you'll take time of your mill if you wait too long" end addition

the lug

Do any of the newer nitros have reverse? I could have sworn I saw a kid in the field down the road back one up and then take off forward...but it was a ways off so it might have been my imagination.

There are a few MT's that have it, like the Traxxas trucks, and there is a thing you can get for the HPI truck. I'm not sure about the rest of them, but I know those have it.

i know all savages can be equiped with a reverse module, that you can get from hpi with a doohicky (forgetting exact word) that you can use a 2 channel remote with and you just hold the break for 3 sec. and it goes into forward or reverse, or the other more commom method is to use a 3 channel remote to engage reverse,
i know the savage can come stock with this (if you can get if from hpi europe or japan)
the warhead/ evo , not rtx 27
older t-maxx and revo not the super new one of each
and a few others i belive a new kyosho, i'm pretty sure the lst and lst2, possible aftershock and mega buggy from losi, and the MGT's from AE i know the 1/8 not 100% on the mini,

those are all the ones i can think of but by rule of thumb if it has a 3 channel than it has revese or it can be equiped with it,

the lug

(i think i know a tad too much)

Wow, that's something I'll have to check out. I avoided nitro because I didn't feel like chasing the thing around every time I needed to back up...it just breaks up the action too much.

you get used to it, and i bet its a lot nicer with a 3 channel set up, cuz with the 2 is a bit annoying if you're holding the break and such, but the 3 you just hit a switch,

the lug

The brake to reverse thing does sound a bit cumbersome. A good three channel setup is cool to have. And dont forget that it's bad to shift while moving as notros don't have a clutch to disengage the engine. Although they do have a clutch that is powered by rotational force and hase no disengagement mechanism.

Schwenzo

but nose wheeiles are soo much fun (only attempt if you have steel gears throughout plastic spurs okay)

the lug

A plastic tranny will not stand it, but if you d as lug said, ur probably o.k., and a plastic spur will hod up but not for long...

Schwenzo

over time something in the all metal tranns will break

well accually, the plastic spur meshed right and with a good slipper has held up thru some nasty stuff, but i got another plastic spur and a steel in the pit box, (that needs to get bigger...) and the nice thing about plastic $4 tops for a new one

and yes metal will break essecially if you steel disk breaks chatch on the vents of your CB and lock them moving at 35 mph... my steel spur took out 2 cb's 1 you could use and it's self,

the lug

Whats a cb?

Schwenzo

I want to say clutch dell???

lol

(he wanted clutch bell

Oh I see, thats pretty bad if the brakes catch on the vents, must be an instant front flip.

Schwenzo

suprisingly no, the engine cut and it just stopped, and that ended my day o fun,

and yes CB is clutch bell OW is one way bearing, LSN and HSN and low and high speed needles, those are all the nitro specific abrivations i can think of,

thanks for the idea,

this effect is somewhat noticeable in 1/10 scale 2wd not sure about 4wd or anything smaller, but your wheels act as a gyro controling the pitch (angle) of the vehicle in flight the faster they go the pull the nose up more, the slower they pull it down, thats how you can get the perfect backside or save a bad take off, just tap the breaks and your nose will come right down, give it gas and it'll pop up,

note: any amounts of extreme imput on either end WILL enduce a front or backflip as cool as this is it may not be desirble in some cases.... so rember go easy on it in the air, with some vehicle like the savage you need to maintain some gas on it to keep it level or else the nose will drop, it all depends on the vehicle,

Note: the bigger and heavier the tires the more you'll feel the effects, so your sweet big joes may look cool and drive good, but they'll be hard in the air, rember that when buying tires

the lug

WOT-wide open throttle
TDC-top dead center
BDC-bottom dead center

Thats all I can think of off a the top of my head.

This is helpful too:
http://www.rcpro.com/rc-dictionary.html

Schwenzo

i forgot about those, any more, no but i'll throw out some more random stuff

most 1/8 hex's 17mm, standard on tm'axx / savage 14 but savage is moveing to 17,

big block .21+ (3.43 cc)
small block .20- (3.3cc)

cluches: 2 shoe's often have one large spring that wraps around both shoes, 3 shoe often have indivule springs, for each shoe but some do have the wrap around 4 shoe, indiviule springs

IMO (in my opinion) the ind. springs are better, cuz you get less wear and smother engagement

the lug

Th savage has reverse well at least the xl does