fmolzer

Also, if the flywheel turns without turning the engine, you are loosening the wrong nut ! The flywheel should be tight, tight on the crankshaft at all times.

lost man

And to answer your other question,if your piston is a tdc after a run turn the fly wheel till the piston is at the bottom

ronin8451

It helps to pre-heat the engine with a heat gun in order to save your connecting rod. Repeated sticking at TDC tends to be hard in the lower bushing in the rod. I pre-heat all of my engines during break-in and they tend to last longer and develop a better seal. I never run mine blubbering fat on the box for more than 2 tanks, even then I use the heat gun intermittently to keep it above 180deg. F. Be sure to use a little blue loctite on the crankshaft nut that holds the flywheel on. Hope this helps!

markp27

Thanks for the replies, guys!

The engine is, unfortunately, really stuck this time - nothing is making it budge! :-( I've even used a heat gun to heat up the engine, to see if this would help free up the piston - didn't work either.

fmolzer: I found that the flywheel would spin on the conical brass ring which goes onto the crankshaft just after the 0.5mm washer. The retaining nut which goes onto the flywheel (shown in step 8.1 of the manual) isn't so easy to tighten as I had to try and use pliers to tighten it - I couldn't get such a good grip on it.
As for the engine, I got it as part of a deal - it a Nova Mega 12 RE, I think.

Once I get the engine back running, I think I should be able to loosen of the spring retaining nut to allow for earlier clutch engagement.

Many thanks again for the advice - I'll certainly be using it!!

Cheers, Mark.

fmolzer

Mark, you need to tighten that flywheel nut properly. I know that it is very difficult without the proper tool (tried it myself several times). Hudy makes a flywheelnut/glowplug wrench, I do not think I could live without that one... Unless you have a better way to tighten the nut, go to a hobby store and ask them to do it for you, or buy the hudy wrench. I think that once you have tightened the flywheel, you will be able to turn the crank over and free up your motor. I am not sure what your level of experience is with nitro motors, but just to be safe, I'd like to warn you to not try free the motor by pushing down on the piston with a tool, or any other similar application of force on the delicate internal parts. Most likely, the only thing you need to do is to tighten up the flywheel nut.

Again, good luck. Let us know if you are able to solve your problem.

PUNISHER

iTrader: (2)

Aaahhhhhh Mark,

Man, it seems that you have had so much trouble with your car. I hope you are not too much flustered with the 705 that it will make you think if you got the right car. If you are new to Nitro this sort of stuff will happen!! All of the guys replying to you cry for help are giving you good advice!

Keep up the good attitude and you will get through this bad luck you are having!!

markp27

Hi Guys,

I'm keeping the faith

All told, I'm really enjoying this. This is my first Nitro and my first self build car, and boy it has been really fun - even with the problems.

I find it's better to have the problems up-front, then I know how to deal with them later

fmolzer: I'm stupid! I have a plug spanner which has the exact hex size for the flywheel bolt Never thought of using it.
I fixed the flywheel solid now - thanks for that!

Still can't turn the flywheel, but I've got blisters on my hands now, so can't turn it so well I'll go to my dealer tomorrow and act dumb so he can show me what to do - hope the engine is recoverable!

Boy I can almost see getting onto the track now.

Thanks guys! Mark.

modellor

Hi Mark,

I have an RB that still does this after 2 years. Its what they call a really good engine. Break in procedure all depends on the material used and the tolerances of the engine. You could have 2 identical engines and one will be fully broke in after several tanks while the other will take maybe a few years to break in properly. The latter will last a lot longer.

Now, the only way we where able to get the engine freed was to attach a set of vice grips to the flywheel. Then gently start hitting the vice grips with something till the flywheel moved.

Hope this helps.

It wont do the engine any damage.

markp27

Hi Modellor,

Do you mean vice grips as in a bench vice?

At least I'm a little reasured that my engine should be ok


Thanks, Mark.

modellor

No, I meant a set of vice grip type pliers.

The bench vice does come in handy though for holding the engine still.

ammdrew

iTrader: (25)

gently hit? how do you do that

but any ways, the engine rotates counter clockwise as you look at the clutch, so take a screw driveer between the flywheel and the chassie and gently rotate the motrer clockwise to free the piston from the sleeve, hammering on the flywheel will injure the bushing on the rod, no oil to cushion, but the mt based motors are incredibly durable and it would be unlikly you would damage it, i just would not do it.. they also make a flywheel wrench which would allow you more leverage to move it, check with ashford hobbies for that... you can put soe lube in the glow plug button, 30 wt motor oil a few drops or after run, sometimes when you do not have fuel in a new engine it tends to lock pretty hard.. the novamegas seem to lock harder than any other.... but seem to live and run fine once warm..

modellor

With a 30 pound sledge hammer.

markp27

Hi Modellor,

Used a 30 pound sledge-hammer as you suggested and now my engine is really flat!

Na took the engine to my dealer, who took it apart to check everything was ok. He said, too, that this was very common with the newer engines. He also said that it was a sign of a really good engine

Just putting everything back together and will run this afternoon.

Thanks to all for the help
Mark

fmolzer

Mark,

I guess this takes us back to your clutch issues....
Let us know how it runs... I think we are all staring to take ownership in your nitro adventures and it would be nice to know if it all works out.

markp27

Hi fmolzer,

Hopefully the clutch problem is now resolved, thanks to your input on the flywheel retaining bolt.

I ran the engine for a couple of minutes today, just to see if everything was ok. I was able to make the car move without so much throttle this time, but as I'm still running in, I've adjusted it so that the take-up will be even sooner.

I'm going to head off down to the track tomorrow and try and finish my run-in process there.

Just need to charge the batteries tonight and then hopefully every thing will run pretty smoothly tomorrow. Treat myself to a very good german beer tonight

I've really enjoyed the whole building and run-in process so far, I'm almost tempted to go for another kit

Let you know how things go tomorrow.

Cheers, Mark.