Orion Motors? Opinions please.
 

Hi, ive been wondering about Orion motors and how reliable they are. I have a couple friends who have/had them and it seems like they like them quite a bit. They have TONS of power from what I see and not any major problems that Ive seen so far.

To get to the point, what are peoples opinions on these motors? Do you guys like them in general? any problems to look out for? Whats the average lifetime for an orion motor(Alpha, CRF REV, or CRF US Spec). I would like to know anything and everything about these orion motors.

-Thanks in advance

the engines are picco and sirio based, which both are good engine manufactures

I would wait and see what horizion do with the engines, I have heard of a possible new line of engines coming out for Losi - since the fall of GRP

thanks! Any other opinions on these motors?

There's a new mike truhe version coming out so it can't be a bad engine. Personally I love os speed engines but the do get a little pricey.

frank where does he ask about o.s engines? NO WHERE! why does everyone have to steer a thread off the original topic....

as far as the orion line up, great engine as said above most are a picco based engine and they have been around a long time, I used to run the orion wasp a couple years back, had great luck with them tuned awsome, I recall having 9 gallons on my last engine before selling it with a buggy, if you take care of them and dont run them to the moon you can expect to get alot of life out of one. as with any engine though if you beat it it will beat you...

Thanks for the info ryan. Did you have to replace anything in that wasp during that 9 gallon lifetime? p/r/s? bearings? Or was it rock solid right out of the box?

I am a werido as I like to replace the rod around the 1-2 gallon mark as break in puts ALOT of stress on the rods alot of people say no need to do it but its one of them things that lets me sleep better at night :). I also replace the bearings around the 5 gallon mark (i keep the rod and bearings for spares)...other then that I recall it being a great engine.

David have been using tha Alpha ABI line for the whole year, and he have been using 2 engine almost the whole year + some .24 with truggy and after 16 gallon we can only say that we love the engines, and the results are talking for itself.

I would say for the price you could get a much better engine. A friend of mine had 2 of these engines (alpha .21 and .24). They had alot of power but where hard to tune. And when they did run alright the run times sucked compared to other engines of similar price. There are better engines out there I would personally look elsewhere.

+ Good Power
+ Reasonable Price
+ Easy break in

Power band was kinda so so i'v felt smoother but also felt jumpier

- Hard to get good tune
- Run times
- Reliablitity (one cracked piston and the other got sloppy bearings after just over a gallon)

If you're going to get an orion, go with the ABI line and pair w/ a 2013 or 2066 pipe. They have rear ceramic bearing, and the carb is better.

So far from running my alpha .21 ABI and helping my bro tune his .24 I know they like to run at about 250-270. With the 2013 I get about 8:30-9 on a buggy tank, and the .24 gets 7:30 on a truggy tank.

Many people say they are hard to tune because the needles like to only be moved an hr at a time. Big movements on the needles makes a big result.

They are really nice engines, you won't be disappointed if you buy one.

The .21 abi is fast, almost too much for buggy from what I have heard, probably would be a perfect truggy motor.

Wow dude, just chill out. He was stating that he likes the O.S. speed tuned engines and nothing more.

I believe for a buggy the engine is perfect, not too much bottom and a real nice top. It's not a smooth as a plus 4, but it's alot more reliable (I know i'm gonna hear it for this :)).

Thanks to everyone for all the responses. Greatly appreciated!

One more question..

Where does an engine 'lets say a v-spec' lye against an orion motor? Which one is better in everyones opinion? Ive been running a v-spec for quite a while and I personally like it quite a bit. It has HUGE top-end and its pretty powerful. I dont know exactly where the v-specs powerband lies with all the other motors as I havent ran any other .21 motor other than the v-spec.

Once again, all opinions and suggestions are greatly taken into consideration.

-Thanks

It has a way smoother feel than the stand. V-Spec (IDK about the speed, never driven one).

The V-Spec has awesome punch out of the hole and the same top end as an orion. When I ran the v-spec in my buggy I went up a tooth in the CB to help tame the bottom a bit.

The only thing I don't like w/ the V-Spec is the Rod. They get sloppy after a few gallons and need to be replaced.

I personally like a smoother motor, it helps me keep under control alot better.