I have seen the Argus sport engines on Ebay and I may get some in on my next order. They should be a solid engine but not really a race engine. There is an Rtr that comes with a similar Alpha engine, not sure but could be the JQ?
For the $ you can not beat the Argus A5, it is a great priced race engine, they Map at $173.00.

Rex

Ive been thinking about getting one. I hate the backplates on pullstart motors. How do you not get air leaks with one of those?

I mainly run pullstart motors because i dont race at a track. I often have to walk to where i run my car. The boxes are cumbersome and i already usually have a bag of crap with me. When i had my Mgt 8.0 i had my roto start and because the battery in my starter was weak i also had to bring my cordless drill with me. What a pain. I see the box as extra burden even if it would let me get a better sealed motor. I have seen boxes with straps for carrying the car. That might be an option.

I did see an Alpha for sale on ebay, it was a brand new motor, same as the one found in the JQ THE Car. Its pullstart again, but thats what im looking for. It was just over $100 i believe. Is this a decent option? I just need something fairly reliable with decent parts availibility

It's more money yet again, but the Mugen (or Protek or other rebrands..) pizbag is GREAT for carrying stuff around, including a box. Used on ebay maybe..

I ran at clark rc park at there summer shoot out race this last weekend. There was a full field of truggys, 18 in total, that included a lot of the local pros. I had transponder issues the first 2 rounds and got a great run in 3rd round, but as the track grip went away so did the qualifying times. So my great run landed me in 4th in the b main. Right from the start i could tell some thing wasnt quiet right with the motor, it felt sluggish, but, it was still competitive. SO i ran the race out getting 3rd missing 2nd place by half a lap. I latter found that i had a throttle linkage issue and i was only pulling HALF THROTTLE!!! Even at half throttle the argus .23 and tb-1 pipe was just as fast if not faster then the competition!!!

Wow that was alot of truggy for one day. Gonna have to shot up there before the season over with. They are racing on Saturdays correct. Im taking about two weeks off from rc. Got a couple of bicycles group ride planed for next couples of weeks. Did you ever pick up the 0801 pipe yet. Seem to work great also and improved runtime. A little for me.

It was the best truggy turn out they have had yet! And no, still running the tb-1 I'm,guna stick with it, I love having all that low end power. As for fuel mileage I can make 10min with the 7mm reducer so I'm happy with that for now. Thinking about having rex mod it for fuel mileage this winter. See what we can squeeze out of this engine for fuel mileage lol.

Will if he can do like he did with the r8 I got that he moded for fuel and the back plate mode. I have over 10 on that easy in buggy. The r8 is still running rich on both needles. 1 race so far with the r8 and im very happy. Not sure if the back plate mod was needed but I am trying it out. I might have went over kill with the r8 but mainly it is being used for one track only that is very large. It does not have quite the power of a stock r8 but it working out ok. Just have to see what she does when I lean it out for a race tune. Just hopping it dont drop it nuts in a race like My 23 did on me took like 3 pit stop in 2 minutes lol

I never had that happen with my .23 and I'm over 4 gallons into it. Its been very consistent for me. I noticed a power increase after a gallon or so, but no change in tune.

Will maybe it did happen to you. It just did not happen in the race. U could have been on the bench thinking my tunes off and fixed it really quick. My did it almost mid race right around the 1 gallon mark.

Thats possible i guess. Ive never even had so much as a flame out through 4 gallons on this engine. Ive ran it out of fuel before, but never had a flame out. i think thats pretty impressive

I agree all though it did happen to me once I lost a glow plug lol

Fingers crossed, I haven't had that happen yet! I always see people at these tracks struggling to keep there engines running in these longer main events. But the Argus just keeps humming along!

Also, I got a new throttle serve (savox 2251 to,be exact) it has a transit time of .085 seconds! That sure makes that motor feel snappy! Instantaneous acceleration! I highly suggest it, or any super quick servo, makes the motor feel totally different.

What size bearings does the R8 use?