Hello;
I recently took apart my Toro Nero Team motor to clean it up and perform some preventative maintenance on it. When I was putting it back together, I could not remember the orientation of the head button. Could someone shed some light on what direction the dotted arrow and number 1 should be?. Should they be at the back of the motor above the exhaust manifold, or toward the front above the carb?. I am assuming that these markings on the head button actually have some relavence to the proper installation, so I don't want to put it back in the wrong way. Thanks to anyone who can provide guidance..

How much life is everyone/anyone getting out of their Toro Nero piston/sleeve?. I thnk that I have gotten about 5gal out of mine, and it is showing signs that it may be time to replace it. I run 30% nitro, and use a Competition Heat engine warmer every time before running the motor. Usual race temp is 240/250, and never above that. I also took out a thin head shim to try to restore a little bit of compression and help the motor run a little longer. Now when it gets up to race temp the motor tends to flame out, and I have to run a high idle in order for it not to stall. I think that there may have also been a leak in the front bearing, since there always seemed to be a build-up of dirt around the front bearing behind the flywheel. I thought that I would get more than 5gal out of it by trying to do the right things to prolong its life, but not the case it seems. Is this the normal life span that every one else has experienced with this motor?

BTW, anybody know where I can get a new piston/sleeve for the Toro Nero fairly cheap?. Or should I just buy a new mill?. Thanks to all for any insight.

The arrow goes to the exhaust side and you don't need to junk the toro piston/sleeve. Have it resized. Go to www.rayaracing.com
Ray will make it as good as new.

did the flameouts start right after you changed the head shimming? I'd just try going back to the stock shimming and see how it runs.

However at the 5 gallon mark, getting the sleeve reconditioned by RayARacing is a good think to do, also a front bearing replacement might be in order. If you do those 2 things, you will be back in business, should run like new. $15 for a TKO ceramic front bearing, $20 for sleeve reconditioning. thats a pretty cheap freshening of your motor.

Also check the rod slop. you can measure the inside of the rod and the outside of the crank pin with a set of calipers, rod should be no more that .198" and the crank pin should be no smaller than .192" to be within spec, so no more that .003" wear on either part or .006" total. so if your crank pin is within that .003" range and so is your rod, you can replace the the rod and be within spec as far as tolerance goes.

new R7 rods are about $55, so even if you need a rod, the whole motor can be rebuilt for around $100 and be just as good as new

Anyone know if a 2009 P5XLT comes with an R7 con rod? I almost bought one last night NIB

yes it does

Thank you!!

If you would like to send it in I can make sure your engine is in tip top shape , I have a few toro nero/bonito p/s/r sets I will make a pretty good deal on for ya

Just lmk if you need anything

Fyi : you are probably running your low speed needle extra rich and lean top , that is what seems to blow out front bearings, recommend replacing with a factory 17011 bearing , very very good front bearing

thanks for all the replies guys

Mega;
Thanks for the advice. I have been contemplating sending my P/S t Ray for a re-size. I've never done the re-size before; I usually just chuck motors after they wear out. But I will say that I really like the Toro Nero. It has awesome power and since running the 2084 pipe, I have been getting really good mileage out of it (10min on a tank easily). It maybe worth it to perform minor surgery on it to bring it back to life. . I appreciate the input.

...you are the third person that has advised me that maybe my tuning was a little off, which may have contributed to my problems. I tend to run the bottom end a little rich, in order to cool the motor downa little quicker when it revs down. I usually like to see the motor cool down at least 2degrees every couple of seconds wen it revs down and is idling; maybe that's too rapid of a cool-down. Maybe the motor was a tad too rich?. I also tend to lean the top out a bit more since the bottom is rich. I need to re-think my tune definitely. Have to find a proper balance between the two settings. This motor is defintely worth keeping in the arsenal for sure.

All i have to say is.. my 21-4BTTS is DA BOMB... I was at a track where runtime is so difficult and I was able to go 10:30 no problem.. I LOVE NOVAROSSI... thank you Nova for making the best engine in my opinion!

my set up.. 21-4BTTS, 41021 header, 9901 pipe, and 6mm restrictor.



brrrrrrp

I believe that the bottom needle should be tuned first. That way, your top needle tuning becomes pretty straightforward, along with your idle. It's way more difficult attempting to tune the top needle first.

I tune the bottom first on a raceday, and it seems to work well so far.

Top and bottom have to work in harmony because they are not totally independent. But I guess I do prefer to get my low end dialed in first as long as I know my top end is an hour or so on the rich side. If you start with your low end first with the top too lean, your low end will be a little too rich and your likely to have a 2 stage idle (you will hear the carb clearing out excess fuel and then get back to steady idle). If you start with the top overly rich, then you will likely lean out the bottom too much to get more power on the bottom. This will usually cause a high idle and high operating temps. Of course this all assumes that you warmed up your engine and got everything heat soaked prior to tuning.

In any case, with these engines once you have a good tune, you are never more than a couple hours away from a perfect tune on any given day.