rick oxley

after having my mito 35 for 3 months novarossi decided they do not
warrantry replacement rods or the damage they cause to your engine
when they fail.they could of said this with out even looking at my engine.

novarossi if you read this you really need to work on your customer sevice?

JBSpeed

Folks,
I've been reading up on breaking in my fresh un-factory broken Mito35 (ps, thanks santa!) and can see from the forum 2 clear schools of thought, although some time has passed since updates on the Sir Ron Paris bible. So a question to all the Nova guys, what's the preferred method for the engine considering build quality and materials of the Novas (my first one, been Picco/Reds guy, but felt like trying something new for 2017):

1: "Old School - Run rich on box for multiple tanks" - This method keeps plenty of fuel and oil in the engine during break in to flush engine of the little bits that may have been left after build, but the engineer in me considers this not as sweet a break in as the "new school" heat cycle approach as described in the "break in bible" in this forum. I figure an engine with the quality of a novarossi won't have material left in to worry about (checked, cleaned and flushed).

2: "New School - Heat cycle on track" - Appeals to me, takes time, but will end up with a finely honed engine. Your experiences concur?

Any experiences comparing the two on a novarossi?

Final question, running in is in Singapore, it's 35degC (95degF) ambient. Still worth applying heat gun/wife's hairdryer before starting the lump (engine is worth risk of aforementioned wife wrath of stealing hair dryer).

Thanks folks, and all the best for 2017!

nitrodude

iTrader: (8)

That's not the reason the "old school"(actually new school) is used. It's done that way so that there's a lot of lubrication during the process. The piston needs to be seated against the sleeve, and in that process material is removed from both, generating a lot of heat. And by the way, running out rich at FOT on the box is also heart cycling It, you're supposed to let it cool after each tank. Then you running it rich on the track, without letting it shift, you dont want it to run too fast yet, and you lean it out a bit on each tank

dan_vector

iTrader: (27)

The most important thing is to make sure the engine is hot during break in. I've seen many people running in engines that are too rich and cold - this isn't achieving break in at all! I use a 1/10 buggy rear tyre insert to keep the heat in the engine while breaking in.

Just one tank on the box at a slightly higher than normal idle ensuring the engine is reaching at least 75-80 degrees celsius. Then slowly start running the engine in the car. Over the next 8-10 tanks leaning the top needle about 1/8 turn each tank (stop when engine approaches race tune and back it off 1/8 and stay at this setting for the rest of break in). Initially avoid full throttle for the first few tanks and then progressively use more throttle for longer periods. For the final couple of tanks use full throttle for progressively longer periods to full seat the piston in the sleeve at TDC.

Stop and let the engine cool every 2nd tank to heat cycle. You need the engine fairly hot during this process and not excessively rich. Keep the engine at least 80 degrees celsius and towards the end of the process around 100 degrees. Remove the head cover once the engine can sustain at least 80 degrees celsius on its own while running in the airflow.

Final race tune can be achieved at around 12 - 15 tanks depending upon the engine (it'll stop going rich by itself) or around 1.5 hours total time. Remember it is a Novarossi which is generally superior in quality and it does take a long time to properly break in a Novarossi. You may find the engine doesn't actually "drop it's nuts" until the 2 gallon point!

YES! Use the wife's hair dryer to heat the engine before each start.

dan_vector

iTrader: (27)

I would really like to understand the circumstances surrounding this issue. The engine would only be subject to warranty replacement if the components were deemed/proven to be faulty and outside of manufacturing tolerances. Also how can they be sure you fitted the replacement rod correctly with a new wrist pin and clips? There is a piece of paper in the box that states this and I believe is the same policy for all engine manufacturers.

That said, I personally have never had a conrod or bearing fail in any of the Novarossi's I've owned (The Novarossi 359 series engine being the exception however this had a peculiar small size crank pin which failed and was a known problem - NR quickly discontinued that engine!). I have seen Novarossi engines fail when people use poor quality fuel, run them overly lean or employ a poor break in technique (running in at too low temperature) which would be the case with any nitro engine!

Like I say I would be interested to hear the circumstances surrounding your issue as your post wasn't clear and would've been useful to post. I mean I've got a Keep Off 4 in my box as a wet engine that has over 7 gallons on it with the original rod and bearings (same rod P/N as Mito).

Roelof

Breaking in an engine knows 1001 ways and basically they all do the same: A rich setting to use more oil and lower down the performance and then build up the performance/tuning in small steps
The one is carefull and uses 3 liter during this proces and the other thinks he has a better result doing it quick within a liter of fuel.
Heatcicle is a methode but not realy needed with current Novarossi engines, doing it or not will not harm the engine or make the engine different.

There are also a lot of discussions if you should start with one tank idle. Yes you should!
The low RPM will keep down the forces and polish the surface and edges a tiny bit before the real force of high revs is taking over.

JBSpeed

Thanks folks,
As ever a great forum with some seriously knowledgable people. Appreciate the great feedback and will take the advice down the track, along with hairdryer :-)

All the best for 2017!

T_Lee

iTrader: (17)

Seriously? 25 litres? Seen plenty of well tuned engines throw rods at 1/4 of that

rick oxley

yes this and more should be normal my keep off 7 also has around 6 gallons
on it and this is with a bad xray fuel tank where the clunk gets stuck in the
neck (now fixed) my mito 35 was the first time i have had a new rod fail.

T_Lee

iTrader: (17)

Did the replacement rod fail straight away or did you manage to get some time on it?

rick oxley

the crank bush failed on the 5th tank

dan_vector

iTrader: (27)

Yes absolutely. If you are using the right fuel and understand the engine well it will last that long. By the way it wasn't my intention to run it that long on the original rod!! It was an engine that kept being pulled out of my box for practices etc. Novarossi Rods are very well made and I've never had one fail.

fdjizm

I've always broken in my engines driving the car normally and heat cycling every 10 minutes back to cold again. Not sure if it's the best but I have some very long lasting engines with gallons on them. I do keep the mileage off my more expensive RB & Novarossi engines though. May change a rod soon since it's been a while.

dan_vector

iTrader: (27)

I personally don't think that heat cycling is really needed with today's high quality engines. I've never found a difference in final engine performance or longevity in doing so. Nowadays I just run a tank on the box then run the engine in the car for about an hour leaning each tank to 90% race tune. When the engine suddenly richens itself again the engine is run in. On a Novarossi this is unusually 4-5 litres. Then run at race tune. I've found a Novarossi is the strongest at about the 2 gallon mark. It'll run like that for a very long time unlike some other brands of engine like Picco. A Picco will break in very quickly and run strong for 2-3 gallons and then start to drop off and become increasingly unstable.

mick8488

iTrader: (5)

Hi guys,

I'm considering buying a Mito .12 WC. I have a stock Mito and it runs great, but I was wondering if anyone had experience with the WC version? Is it any more powerful and will it make 5 minutes?

Cheers,
Mick