nitro powered car...help !!!!

[84honda200s]

ok my brother got a cheap nitro powered rc car off e-gay and finally got it today. they shipped it with all the adjustments closed (i have no idea why) and it wont fire up because we have no idea what to set it at or even what screw does what. there is a big screw on the top of the motor and a tiny one on the side of it. what screw does what and what should i set em at ? it is kestrel 4x4 or thats what the box says. i would get pics but the danm lens in the camera wont come out and let me take a pic.


any help at all would be great.

[RedRider_AK]

All right. One screw is the mixture screw. This is the big one that is a flathead (99% of the time). This is set differently depending on the engine and tuning, etc, turn it out 2 full turns. Hell, make it 3 full turns. I have personally never heard of a Kestrel, probably some sweet Chinese junk. The "smaller" screw I personally have no idea, but I am probably forgetting something. Maybe the idle setting, but usually it's the trim settings that affect idle speed...

>.>

Was there a manual at all? No?

[84honda200s]

no manual (gay i know) at all. ok so after digging online we figured out the top (big screw) is the top speed screw and the screw on the side (tiny screw) is the low idle. but thats as much as i could come up with.



and yes its a import from across seas.

[RedRider_AK]

Then they're both mixture screws, but one affects bottom half and other affects top end. They should both be set rich for the break in period. "Normal" is when you can see a little blue smoke when you rev the engine, so set it to "Mosquito Fogger" mode. :lol:

[84honda200s]

how long does it take to break in ?

[RedRider_AK]

What I've heard is run it through 2 tanks "jetted" rich, but take it easy. There's no need to run it balls out right off the bat, no rings to seal up, etc. Just putt around.

[86waterpumper]

I have been fooling with some nitro cars myself lately. I know on hpi cars, like the firestorm I've got, the needle setting that comes from the factory or the "break in" setting is to turn the screws till they are pretty much flush with the housing. Make sure you have a GOOD glow driver, like the sub c rechargeable type, and a good quality glow plug, the one that came in my truck woudln't even fire, get a mccoy or o.s. plug etc. I would run more than 2 tanks through it for break in, before you start leaning out the needles, you will read 100 different amounts, some people say to run a whole gallon through it even, I'd run at least 4 to 5 tanks through it varying the throttle and not getting over half, run it 2 to 3 minutes and then let it cool off and run it again for the first couple tanks, a infrared temp gun is nice to have, you don't want the temps up too high during break in once it is tuned it ought to run around 250 degrees so you want to stay a bit under that during break in, maybe 220 or under and most of all, don't forget to set the piston at bottom dead center between runs, this lets the cylinder contract back down to size, if the piston is in the way it can't, and over time you will lose pinch(compression) The oldschool method of breaking the nitros in was to crank the thing and let it sit on something and idle a tank or two away, this is outdated thinking, it's better to run them some on the ground, do figure 8's and vary the gas, just don't floor it for the first few tanks what you want is to get the heat up just above the 200 range, and then let it cool back off this is called the heat cycling break in method

[hancadam]

86 Water pumper is correct. The low speed needs to be flush with the housing and I would go 3 turns out on the High speed. I have had about 10 nitro's and they all seem to be 2.5 to 3 turns for factory settings on the high speed.

[86waterpumper]

Another thing to watch for once you get it tuned enough to crank and run is the smoke, it should pour out a blueish white smoke, especially on full throttle, if it's not smoking at all richen it up, if it's spitting liquid out the pipe lean it up a bit. Just like with 2 stroke dirtbikes or 3 wheelers, err on the rich side, it's better to lose a tiny bit of performance these nitro motors won't tolerate much lean running at all.

[84honda200s]

thanks for the tips man !! you rock !!! we got it fired up. I BOW BEFORE YOU AS YOU ARE A NITRO GOD . lmao for real man thanks a ton.

[86waterpumper]

LOL no prob, glad to hear you got it going! Funny thing I was running my hpi firestorm a few days ago, and ran a few tanks through it, I have only run a quart through it so it was basically the end of the break in process pretty much. Anyway I noticed it sounded louder and had balls out power and was pulling wheelies like mad, I stuck my finger over the exhaust to kill it and it kept right on running and the temps were higher I went on and ran the tank out since it didn't have any left, long story short one of the exhaust header bolts have fallen completely out so I have put it up till a new bolt comes in....bummer that sucker was running like a scalded dog :D Anyway from now on I'm going to make sure to locktighta nd check all the bolts every couple runs

[SCEADU]

If you are going to get into nitro cars then do your self a favor and buy a infared temp gun. Nitro engines are air cooled and the air fuel settings are extremely important to engine life. I fly helicopters and have a few cars so I invested in a gun and it has saved my engines on many occasions. Get you settings rich and run it for a couple of hi speed passes then bring it in and temp the head. if it is less than 200 then lean it out a 1/4. Make a few more hi speed passed and do it again till you get around 210 and that should be a good balance between performance and engine life.

Here is a link to my Heli gallery

http://www.runryder.com/helicopter/gallery/3246/

[86waterpumper]

Those copters are cool! I bet they are hard to learn how to fly. do you have several planes also? I would have a plane if I had the room to store and run it.. I have a odonnel infrared gun, but no matter what I do I can't get mine to run underneath 250 unless it sits and idles. running at various throttle settings especially in grass and leaves etc it runs in the 260's. The needles are still very rich at stock settings nearly, I have leaned them off just enough to where it won't spit liquid gas out of the pipe but haven't given over a 1/16 on the low speed and 1/8 on the high speed needle even after a quart of fuel. I used 18 percent oil trinity break in fuel and I'm hoping this may be part of the problem, going to try some 12 percent oil 25 percent nitro an dmaybe that will cool things off, but in the end I think some engines just tend to run hotter than others do

[SCEADU]

You can try an Aftermarket head. What kind of engine is it? You can also run a different Glow plug. Just like gas engines the glow plug can run the engine at different temps. The helis are not as hard as to fly as you would think. With today's tech you can learn to fly on a sim saving you thousands of dollars. Real flight costs around $200 but @ at least $100 a crash this is well worth it. I am actually getting out of flying so I can get into the ATV's with my son.