dreaux

iTrader: (5)

let me give you some advice if you don't mind.

When i first started out, i wanted the best of everything as well. I got the mugen mbx6, m11 radio, hitec 7955's and the O.S. vspec.

The key word is vspec. I did not know how to tune either. I had a picco .26 given to me, and i blew the rod a half a gallon later (not entirely my fault). So i went and got the vspec.

It didn't last 3 gallons and here is why:

1 No break in experience

2 No tuning experience

3 No maintenance experience

4 no driving experience

5 no experience setting up clutch, gear mesh etc.

before it hit 3 gallons i could push the piston all the way through the sleeve. My point is, your first engine will be a learning experience. The good news is, with the speed, the crank will last a very long time. The crank on my vspec was gone with the sleeve, not to mention i never changed the bearings with they got sloppy and ruined my crank even faster.

I know you have you heart set on the speed and i don't blame you. It is a awesome engine. But there is a engine just as good quality and performance wise (maybe better) and the price is over 150$ cheaper, the crank, P/S is 50$ cheaper.

Better case, same coated silicone filled crank, very potent 5 port engine.

The NINJA.

it's 340$ compared to over 500$ The only difference is the speed has a weight in the crank. But the ninja crank is lighter, and some people prefer the ninja over the speed.

You will not get the most out of you first P/S set. And a replacement is 50$ cheaper and you have the same coated crank that could possibly last 20 gallons. The standard 300$ vspec imo is inferior by a good bit to the ninja and speed.

JMO

I by no means am sugesting get engine x or what ever. I am just presenting the facts so you can make the best informed decision. But i know when my mind is set i am going to get what i want.

So in short, ENJOY YOUR SPEED!!!!

dreaux

iTrader: (5)

oh, and the losi re11 is kick ass with either of those engines. And a WHOLE lot cheaper. Plus, i love the black anodized as well

DOMIT

iTrader: (1)

+1 to both. The Ninja will cost less, be every bit as easy to tune, and be just plain STUPID fast. The Losi RE11 is a great match for it, great quality, and a bargain price.

IMHO the Speed is not worth the extra cost compared to the Ninja.

And if you want to save a little more money, the Werks B5 is plenty of engine for a truggy, and my personal experience with Werks vs. OS durability (I had a B7 Pro, and several VSPECS) is that the Werks is pretty close to twice as long-lived.

dreaux

iTrader: (5)

Dommit, i hear this alot. Nova, rb, werks etc, last longer then o.s.

Could you explain some of the reasons for that? If you know. If you are talking about a standard vspec i wholeheartedly agree. But I would think it would be hard to find a crank that last longer then the speed or ninja crank.

The ninja has a very good case, and the carbs are some of the best.

Oh, did i mention that the rod in my old vspec has ZERO play? Yet the P/S and crank are trash.

the front bearings on the O.S. are admittedly not good, but for 20$ or less you can fix that.

So, is it the material they make the P/S from? Or is it just the high performance nature of O.S. POWER

Hey, i have only owned vspec's and ninja's. And the vspec IMO is awesome engine power wise, but it's just crap quality wise. Ninja and the speed are not that way.

So why do people say this???

bajaboy5b

no no i know nitro i have like 20 nitros i just don't know how to tune.

tc5 man

my opinion is the reason why novas and rb etc, last longer is that because of the quality of the engine parts.. and the compression, and pitch stay tight for a long time compared, to others. and its itatian = quality .

dreaux

iTrader: (5)

where is O.S. made? I'ts great plains right? USA??


Oh, and LOL at 20 nitros and don't know how to tune

sorry man, couldn't help myself. How does that happen anyway?

tc5 man

well im not best at tuning ethier i just turn ,the needles little at a time intil i like the top end speed, and torque. i tune by the sound, and smoke and performance not, by a temp gauge.

tc5 man

um yea i think o.s is still made, my great planes. no i think o.s. is made in taiwan just like every other engine, is made at thats ashamed too man.

dreaux

iTrader: (5)

google nitro tuning flow chart. It has helped me tremendously.

Tuning by temp is a major mistake i made.


BUT


make sure you are not to lean or to rich. Temperature is a symptom of a too lean/rich engine..

But don't rely on it.

smoke and sound baby!

bajaboy5b

i love nitro but just don't know how to tune.

tc5 man

all it takes is patience and practiceing , tuneing the engine its really not that hard . as long as theres smoke coming, out of the pipe its fine.

now if you have a leak on the engine well, even a master tuner cant tune a engine with that problem lol.

bajaboy5b

well i know how to tune a baja but not nitro.

DOMIT

iTrader: (1)

Hmmm... my experience with the VSPEC, in a truggy, with a race tune, is that the piston/sleeve are good for about 4 gallons. I'm not even referring to the rod, or the crankpin wear, or the marginal-at-best front bearings, or the well-documented problems with cases cracking.

I could get one rebuild out of one (replace piston/sleeve/rod) IF I put ceramic bearings in it... after that the crankpin is so worn that the rod is as sloppy (with a brand new rod) as a 6+ gallon Werks with the original piston/sleeve/rod/bearings. The Werks only needed a rod and was good for another 3-4 gallons.

And they (OS) charge a premium price for a not-so-premium product.

The Ninja and Speed cranks are better, but I still just don't think you get what you're paying for.

Don't get me wrong, the engines run great... smooth, plenty of power. They just don't last as long as something with that kind of pricetag should. The materials quality just isn't up to the standard of Novarossi/RB/Werks etc.

If the VSPEC was a $200 engine, I'd be ok with that... but it isn't. Power aside, the durability-to-price ratio just isn't there.

I haven't owned a Ninja (a number of my buddies have) but it appears to be far superior to the VSPEC. I still think for the money, there are better choices.

NO engine is going to last forever, and if you can't tune it properly (I get help) it will die sooner- BUT... I have about 2.5 gallons on the little Novarossi BF21 that I have... by that point a VSPEC is pretty loose. The Novarossi still has so much pinch you can just BARELY turn it over by hand in the chassis. It doesn't make the power of a VSPEC, but durability wise it seems much better.

That's on a $150 sport engine, that I've been tuning to the ragged edge just to get a reasonable amount of power out of it- it almost NEVER comes off below 260 degrees, with a bigger cooling head than stock, and it has seen 300 once due to a fuel tank failure.

One thing that little engine has done is convince me of the quality of materials that Novarossi puts into their engines. A VSPEC would be toast if it was pushed that hard.

I'm not a "oh, it has to be Italian to be any good" fanboi either. I just bought one of the Alpha (S852) engines to give that a try. If I get 6 gallons out of it, I'll consider it to be a good deal- half again the life of a VSPEC with about 2/3 the pricetag. Time will tell... but others are getting 8+ gallons out of them, and they are NOT guys who baby their engines either.

Why is this the case? I don't know... maybe the alloys used in the VSPEC just aren't as durable. Maybe the tolerances aren't right. Who knows? All I know is what I've seen firsthand.

And as you have said... and as I've said before... OS carbs are THE best in the business. That's one thing they absolutely got right!

bajaboy5b

so what engine are you telling me to get?