Originally Posted by wired

Correct i did not mess with the low speed needle from the factory settings. I also did not cut off during the four tanks. The motor did load up or got a air bubble on the second tank and cut off. I fired it right back up less then a minute after it cut off. I have never broke a motor in like this. I don't know if this will hurt the engine life. So far so good. And also yes this motor after breakend and 3/4 of a gallon on it still needs the competition heat boot(free plug this is a killer product for new motors or during cold starts) placed on it before cold starting the motor.
For the other way of breakend by out of money. I have seen two of associated east coast drivers do this. THey did this because they had motor problems in heats and went to a new motors before the mains. Yes, it is wide open on a stand with wheels and tire on the buggy. They use a heat gun to get the motor around 200. Then when the motor gets to tempature they started opening the high end screw and opening the throttle at the same time. They ended up opening the high end buy two full turns and the buggy wide open. With all this fuel going into the engine it still is not turning but about half the rpms it capable of. During this process you still have to keep the heat gun on the motor to keep the temps up. This is the fastest way to break a motor in but, it has to be hard on the rod and glowplug trying to move all the fuel through the motor

Originally Posted by hdcruzer

You actually sat there for 2 tanks holding it WOT. Im going to try the heat method described here on R/C tech. The only motor Ive ever had last 6 gallons was doing it that way. I cant see all the time on a box. No heat and know load is harder on a motor than just getting it out and running it.

Originally Posted by outamoney

Yes, but if you turn the HSN out two hole turns, WOT means about 5,000 rpms. During the second tank, you can actually hear (if you listen close) the motor change tone. Afterwards, I let it cool. Start it back up on box, turn HSN back in two turns, and let idol (right when clutch starts engaging) about 8 tanks. After cooling back down I then put on ground and started leaning towards race tune on each tank. Kept engine between 185 and 210 for entire break in.

I used the heat method here on R/C tech on all engines prior except my Alpha and this Argus. I have 7 gallons on the Alpha and never replaced con rod, front bearing, etc. Still as good as the second gallon was.

Not claiming to be a professional on this...I just read the instructions...and so far they have worked. May have read wrong though, it was very broken English. LOL

Originally Posted by hdcruzer

Im rebuilding the Alpha right now. I wasnt as lucky as you. I broke that in the Jimmy Wright preferred method and it blew piston and rod at 5 gallons. Bearings are fine. The funny thing is all the guys I race with do it on the ground and there motors all seem to last way longer then mine.

Originally Posted by outamoney

Sorry to hear that....most I have seen are having no problems getting 7 to 8. I think the most important thing with break in (ground, box, etc) is ensuring your temps stay close to 200. Good Luck with your future motors LOL.

Originally Posted by hdcruzer

Yea thats whats funny. When I broke in in the Alpha it was 4 tanks at a med high idle at 220 to 240 the whole time I broke it in. Then 4 tanks on the ground between 220 and 240 and then to the track for a race tune after 2 tanks. I guess I still havnt got the whole engine thing figured out yet.

Originally Posted by Werks

It takes a while lol. I would caution you though on using the WOT (wide open throttle) method to break in engines as it puts a lot of stress on the rod etc. We used to use this back in the days when I was running on-road if we were in a pinch i.e. your at a big race and blew your motor and have to break one in quickly. The only time that we did this though was if we were at a big race and we blew a motor and were in a pinch lol! If you break in your engines the WOT way best bet just to be safe is to change the rod after a couple of gallons. With off-road engines you may or may not get away without doing this because they are not subjected to the high rpm's like on-road engines but with engines that have a lot of pinch like I hear this line of engine has I would just play it safe and replace it. My personal experience over the years has been that the best results are achieved just breaking the engines in the car under load, on the track starting from a rich state of tune and progressively reducing the amount of lubrication (leaning it our) while progressively increasing the amount of load (going faster). Just my $0.02!

Originally Posted by hdcruzer

Yea temps are pretty cool around here right now. If Im gonna run it on the ground should I still wrap it with some aluminum foil, and run it on the ground. Run it up to 220 shut it down cool and repeat. Do it at 3mins the first tank at 1/4 throttle, and then run 4 mins at half throttle for a tank....

Originally Posted by Werks

You've probably already found that every person has their own way of doing this lol but I'm not a big believer in trying to get the engine up to a certain temp when breaking it in. This is simply for the fact that the way that these engines work is that temps are dictated by both the load that you put on the engine as well as how lean you run them. So to me, logic dictates that if I want an engine to run at say 220 while I'm just putting it around at 4-5 mph then the engine has to be really lean! Like lean enough that if you were driving it at race pace you would probably be seeing 300+ degree temps. Again to me it does not make a lot of sense to break in an engine at a leaner setting than I would probably ever run it at even when fully broken in lol, but that is just my way of looking at things! I'd just wrap the head, set the thing really fat and slowly but surely start leaning it as you start increasing the load each tank but again that is my way of doing it. I'd check with the importer of your line to see what they recommend and follow that system if you can.

Regards,

Ron

Originally Posted by wired

Not to start up the thread highjacking again, but the $400.00 mario rossi tuned ninja has the exact same piston, sleeve, and connecting rod as the first grp motors. It looks like all these motors are copys or they were blue printed by mario rossi. just food for thought.

Originally Posted by Werks

You've probably already found that every person has their own way of doing this lol but I'm not a big believer in trying to get the engine up to a certain temp when breaking it in. This is simply for the fact that the way that these engines work is that temps are dictated by both the load that you put on the engine as well as how lean you run them. So to me, logic dictates that if I want an engine to run at say 220 while I'm just putting it around at 4-5 mph then the engine has to be really lean! Like lean enough that if you were driving it at race pace you would probably be seeing 300+ degree temps. Again to me it does not make a lot of sense to break in an engine at a leaner setting than I would probably ever run it at even when fully broken in lol, but that is just my way of looking at things! I'd just wrap the head, set the thing really fat and slowly but surely start leaning it as you start increasing the load each tank but again that is my way of doing it. I'd check with the importer of your line to see what they recommend and follow that system if you can.

Regards,

Ron

Originally Posted by hdcruzer

Modhobby has a good question. What would your recommended temp be just putting around the first couple of tanks. As for the importer, and from what I have read these are rebadged alphas. Alphas breakin says to do the full throttle thing. I wont be getting this till Jan so I just want to make sure I do it right.

Originally Posted by deadmancourt

as long as its over 200F and not over 280F ....you should be fine