Clocked FX is sweet. The devil is in the details. VERY nice engine.

Neal don't sell these to anyone! They are too good!

IMO a stock FX is perfectly fine, and to me it's powerful enough already that there's no real difference from a clocked Picco Boost 5TR I have, and the FX seems to pull even harder off the line. If I had to guess, I might say the Picco revs a bit higher though. From direct experience Not to knock anything about modified engines, but a high performing stock engine where one of the internal bypass ports isn't blocked is preferable to me, especially when running on dirtier tracks.

The reason is if your tune is a bit rich (and in general) its way more prone to leaking right out of the front of the crankcase... which will do more harm than good in attracting a whole shit ton of dirt in the process. Also from experience. Don't get me wrong, the modified engines improve on stock to differing degrees so I'm not knocking it at all, but when you have an already high end engine your money is well spent on the excellent service and break in service etc.

Stock vs stock the FX is much higher timed and much more powerful then the Picco....... But the Picco tunes easier and idles better and is much smoother...

Stock I found the FX lacked on the top end....had crazy bottom end but was nothing special on top end.....

when judging modified engines you really need to judge the same engine before and after mods...the Picco Boost is one of the smoothest engines there is, and the Hudy FX is one of the most dynamic..... Put that stock FX next to a Clocked Bonito and that FX is going to look very tame...heck even putting the stock FX against my Clocked FX the stock FX is going to look very tame...

Also the last thing you want is the bypass open when running in dirty conditions as your front bearing will fill with dirt that will eventually run thru your engine and cause damage...A Blocked bypass may create a leak with a rich tune but dirt will never get into the bearing...... To date I have had a few hundred engines with blocked ports pass thru my shop and not a single one has dirt in the bearing, by contrast about 75% of non blocked engines have the bearings full of dirt....Blocking the bypass protects the bearings there is no question on that...... Having a little leaking out the front does absolutely no harm ....having the front dry worries me more then having the front wet.......

So here is some pictures from my shop...

Here is a engine with a unblocked bypass (Stock engine too )...this engine was bone dry at the front bearing, everything looked normal from the outside......






And here is the flush of a engine with a blocked bypass........ this engine was caked with dirt at the front, almost filling the gap between the flywheel and the crankcase....It looked terrible and to anyone who didn't know better it would seem like the bearing was no good..






So in summary the first engine was bone dry at the nose.....looked great....... the second engine was a total mess and looked terrible....... But as they say you can't judge a book by its cover, whats inside is what matters...Leaking fuel out the bearing does not suck in dirt, having the bearing dry and drawing vacuum does suck in dirt.....

And I have these same pictures a hundreds of times over, I flush the front bearing of every single engine that passes thru my shop, as its one of the things I do when I service them............ Almost all engines with a open bypass have dirt in the front bearing and not a single one with a Blocked bypass has ever had dirt inside........

In all aspects of life...

LOL !!!!!!

lol! nice...

Neil, I can't refute what you're saying and have some images to back it up as far as getting dirt in the bearing on those engines. But what I can say is attracting more dirt in the area than normal shouldn't be looked at as a good thing.

Why don't engine manufacturers ever block this port, or design engines without it? Does it only serve a purpose for making money off of dry front ends killing bearings?

FYI forgot to mention my case must've been special thrn as I certainly had dirt caked in the front bearing as well as all over the front of it, in all the grooves and between the flywheel and engine case. Not much inside the bearing mind you, but there was dirt in the bearing that was grinding. So I I have the one in hundreds I guess? This was after 2 runs at the track. I'm sure some of the issue comes down to differences in bearing seals too. I'm sure the dual sealed Novarossi front bearings are a bit better right?

I believe you told me in a PM you had blasted between the flywheel and case with brake cleaner to blow the dirt off the bearing... By doing this you probably flushed dirt into the bearing as brake cleaner will carry dirt into the tightest of places, myself I just leave the dirt till I have the flywheel off and then I just use a solvent soaked rag to wipe the front bearing ( I will also wet the rag with brake cleaner too ) ..

As for the bypass... I can't explain why the factories do what they do..I have not talked in detail to any of them about this topic...So my guess is as good as yours...

Front bearing issues have been a curse of nitro engines for many years...all you have to do is read these forums and you will finds many hundreds of people having front bearing issues with all brands of engines...Often times blaming the company for using bad quality front bearings....But really the issue has very little to do with the quality of bearings but rather the inability to keep dirt out of the bearings..and any bearing of any quality will be gritty when it gets dirty..... Pretty much almost every gritty bearing anyone has ever had is from dirt..... Based on my observations I believe that the dirt gets into the bearing because there is a pressure differential between atmosphere and the crankcase, with the atmosphere being at the higher pressure..which results in unfiltered air moving thru the bearing from the atmosphere into the crankcase...And down at chassis level inside the body of a car the dust can be very heavy, so the air passing thru can be very contaminated....

Anyways I believe that by blocking the bypass we create a stronger internal seal on the crankcase... First because we eliminate an open vacuum port, reducing the vacuum present behind the bearing, and secondly by substantially increasing the fluid capacity inside the sealing area of the crankcase...These engines rely on the fuel itself to seal the crankcase...I have heard others refer to it as a hydraulic seal ... The crankshaft spins inside a shallow sump of fluid which creates a film layer between the crankcase and crankshaft ...this film layer is is what seals the crankcase not the front bearing... Other then rolling the bearings next biggest function is keeping the crankshaft centered...As if the crank starts spinning off center it will not longer be able to make as strong of a fluid seal... as the tolerance between the case and the crank will become unequal, larger on one side then the other.... Anyways the the more fluid there is, the stronger the seal can be made...This is especially critical to those who are after big fuel mileage and tend to run their engines slightly on the leaner side...As I have observed that the leaner you run your engines, the more dirt they tend to suck in the bearing....As I believe a leaner tune depletes the amount of fluid available inside the crankcase to make a seal...... By blocking the bypass we increase the amount of crankcase fluid which gives us more fluid to work with even at a leaner tune...... I have several years of data that I base my observations from cycling thru several hundred engines, modified and stock, bypass port blocked and unblocked......

+100

Happy racing everyone!

I hate to say it but if blocking the bypass had such a great positive effect I'm sure a top of the line Novarossi or any other engine at the highest price point would take this into consideration.

And no I did not tell you I cleaned it with brake fluid at all. I very carefully pulled the dirt away before taking the flywheel off and removed the dirt with a damp cloth. Not in the least... as you recall I took apart the engine completely and scrutinized every last detail of it to be sure there was no dirt ingested outside of the bit causing the grittiness in the front bearing. In your words it was in pristine shape

So yeah. My older Picco has no such issue with caking itself with dirt and no bearing issues -- certainly no blocked bypass port. But that makes sense that with the modded engine it is more sensitive to "perfect" tune to make use of the extra fuel that loads up in the bottom of the crank case, correct?

what can i say bro I know what I know....... so we can agree to disagree till the time comes we meet at a track and we can compare notes....

And as I said, a engine will generally only leak if the tune is rich , and the richer the tune, the more fuel that will leak..And the amount of buildup will be directly related to how excessively rich the tune is... Once properly tuned there should be no leaking at all while the engine is running...


I found the richer the tune, the less the engines will suck dirt thru the front and the leaner the tune the more dirt that will get ingested thru the front..........i believe the strength of the crankcase seal is directly tied to the amount available fluid inside the crankcase.....richer is more, leaner is less

the Blocked bypass may cause slightly more leaking when the engine is new and rich, but it will end up having a big benefit when the engine is fully raced tuned and running at peak........So please give it some time my friend , you have been back at nitro for only a couple months now...So I wouldn't throw me under the bus quite yet as your probably going to come to appreciate what I am telling you now sometime down the road when you have more time under your belt and know what you are looking for when you work on these engines........

Also the engine manufacturers recommend we run like 16% pure castor oil in our fuel........with a heavy oil load in the fuel like that the bypass and crankcase seal is probably very well balanced....But with modern race fuels we do not have anywhere near that amount of castor oil, most have less then 10% overall oil content and very little of it is castor, but rather much thinner synthetic oils.......So I do not believe these modern race fuels seal the crankcase nearly as effectively as the old school high oil content pure castor fuels would.....So I will happily put up with the nuisance of a leak when the tune rich to know I have the extra protection when the tune is peaked.......

Not trying to throw you under the bus! Just outspoken and going through the paces with all the parts I always say it as it is, and perhaps you're right as time goes on it will improve.

Just calling it as I see it at this point in time. Perhaps yeah, new engine, still rich vs a leaner tune creating less outward pressure towards the front bearing etc. and makes sense with the higher oil content as well what you're saying about creating a thicker viscosity/better seal.

New engine running rich is going to leak, and its not going to make full power.........But once the tune is dialed it will no longer leak ...As I say, I think your jumping to conclusions very fast without taking enough time to really see the entire picture... How much have you run these engines ?

The answer to the ? "Why dont high end engine manufacturers block the bypass port?" Is simple...the $$$ is made in the comeback, not in the initial investment...if these little engines were made perfect and never had wear issues or leaking, profit would be very limited due to the fact that a person would only buy 1 maybe 2 engines every few years as apposed to buying an engine and continuing to rebuild and maintain that engine to keep it at tip top performance. If i were to add up the money i spend on each engine maintaining it thru out its life, it would probly add up too the price of 2 new motors. That adds up, with the intial price of the motor itself, to almost $900. How much do you think it actually costs to make a con rod? Its ALOT less than what we pay ill tell you that...

Plus if they made a "perfect" motor, then we woulnt have modders improving on the crudest form of the internal combustion engine! I may not run a mod motor, but without REPUTABLE engine gurus, we would still be paying $300+ for 6 min of run time...

Real talk