andermic

I recently purchased an HPI Firestorm 10t. I went through the 'old school' break in method, set forth by the manual. A neighbor that is fairly into RC cars helped me get it tuned after it was broken in. It ran alright out of the box, but needed a few changes.

After a day of playing, a bolt came loose and the pipe fell off. I got replacement parts, cleaned up the car, put it back together and got it running again, but now it has a weird issue.

I can't get the car to idle. If I apply the brakes, it turns off, which means the idle is too low, however if I bring the idle up, the car won't stand still, even if I apply the brake. So I loosened the clutch a bit, but then it won't accelerate. These are all very small adjustments I'm making, and I'm starting to wonder if I have something else really messed up. Is this something someone has seen before?

Quad Racer 34

iTrader: (4)

sounds like you have broken clutch springs or something wrong with your clutch. I would tear it down and have a look at it.

andermic

I was starting to think that. Just needed someone else to verify that thought before I ripped it apart. I wasn't planning on looking at the clutch just after breaking it in. I'll take it apart tonight and report back.

Thanks

andermic

So last night I didn't have time to take the whole clutch assembly apart. I ended up just taking the slipper clutch apart and checking that out, along with resetting everything back to factory. It all looks fine. I'm going to try to take the clutch apart tonight, but I was wondering if anyone know of any good tutorials, step by steps so to say for a clutch, maybe even something specific to the firestorm 10t? I found some on youtube, and I'm sure it's probably fairly generic and applies to most nitro cars, but if there is something specific, that would be nice.

Also, what type of things should I be looking for when I take this apart?

scoopdaloop

iTrader: (10)

From what you are stating, if you are hitting the brakes and the engine dies it seems as though your idle stop screw is not set properly. The idle stop screw allows the user to set the minimum carb opening even when full brake is applied. In your case you need to open your stop screw, turn it right. When you have your idle set turn your idle stop screw in until you see it slightly push your idle gap open, then slightly loosen the screw till your idle is back to where you want it. Now with the idle stop screw set, when you hit full brake your idle gap should stay at the opening you want.

Is your idle gap between .5mm-1mm? Thats normally a good starting range.. make sure when your idle stop screw is set you also set your throttle epa settings.

I'm pretty sure thats your problem.. make sure your seeing a good amount of smoke at the different rpm intervals.

MotoGod

iTrader: (118)

Yeah if it dies when you apply the brakes...your idle screw is not set properly. My guess is that your low speed needle is too lean...causing the engine to rev up high when it's supposed to be idling. Some guys adjust the idle with the LSN...which is not a good practice at all ;-)

So set your idle properly....then richen your LSN to the correct tune and you might be OK. Tuning is fun isn't it?

troy8481

iTrader: (2)

i have the same car and though they are right about the carb settings im willing to bet you have a broke or weak clutch spring. your best bet would be to get another flywheel with a 3 shoe setup. makes a world of difference. i had a few laying around and got one to work but i dont know what brand it is though. so i cant really tell you what works.

andermic

Finally got around to taking it apart last night. Turns out the spring was broken. Simple fix. Ran it around for hours last night and it was running sweet. Just barely lofts the front wheels the whole time it is accelerating. Sounds great. Ended up ripping through about 5 tanks of fuel last night, and it stays below 250 degrees (f).

Thanks for the input. It's nice to finally be able to use my truck.

hpirccar

I HAVE THE SAME PROBLEM, I CHANGED MY SPRING EVEN THOUGH THE ORIGINAL WAS FINE, IT STILL WONT IDLE AND STALLS WHEN ITS ON THE GROUND! ANY ONE KNOW WHATS WRONG? thanks, the engine is the nitro star 3.0 hpi