click or turn for tunning Nitro Star

[agricus]

I am new to Nitro RC. I have 4 electric Tamiya RC cars dateing back to 1989.

Anyway, I was reading the manual on tunning the engine. In some instance it said to turn it while in other it said click. It's hard to feel the click on my Nitro Star .15FE


I went to the local hobbie shop and got a number 2 1/2 turn after break-in.

I was wondering what other people use for their engine or is there a tunning guide for Idiots?



Your help will be much appreciated

[2000-redrider]

Most people use temperature to tune their engines. They usually run it as lean as possible while keeping it in a optimal/safe temp range. The problem is that optimal/safe temp ranges vary, depending on the engine. There are even some disagreements regarding the range for a given engine. In the case of the .15FE, I've heard that 240 - 260 F was optimal. Running hotter may give you more power but at the risk of burning out the motor sooner. Running cooler, may prolong the engine life, but may not give good performance.

[agricus]

Thank you for the info. I guess i need to find a temp gauage for the engine then.

[Asmenoth]

The 2 1/2 turns refer to how many turns you turn the high end adjustment screw. They mean 2 1/2 out, in other words take a screw driver and screw the adjustment screw all the way down, but don't tighten it...only turn turn it 'til it stops. Now unscew it 2 1/2 turns.

As far as turning and clicking...I've never had that particular motor before, but on the ones I do have...none of them "click". The manual may be refering to the fact that when you tune the motor, after letting it warm up, you richen the mix (unscrew) or lean the mix (screw) by turning the high end needle adjustment screw 1/8 of a degree at a time. Imagine the screw like a clock, 12 1 2 3 4 etc....if the slit in the screw is at 12 o'clock and you want to lean out the mixture (make it run faster and hotter) turn it 1/8 of a degree to 1 o'clock, or as the instructions may be refering to...1 click.

For someplce to go for learning this stuff... try www.rccaraction.com . They have a forums section that can be very helpful. They also have a store in which to buy some of their books on tips and tricks and tuning and other things that may be helpful.

[Asmenoth]

Oh yeah, and one more thing. You should get a temp gauge...very useful. And they are getting cheaper too, a couple of the new models of handhelds are around $35, instead of $75-$100 for the bigger handhelds.

[agricus]

thanx for the input, i order a 30 dollar temp gun.

I do have one other question.

When the tank is almost empty. The engine will suddenly start reving up and the car starts accelerating with any control input for the Radio control. And then die. This will only happen when the tank is almost empty.


Is this normal?

[2000-redrider]

Yes this is normal. Just before you run out off gas, the amount of fuel that gets to the motor starts to decrease, effectively "leaning" out the mixture. That's why you get the sudden increase in rpm.