So I've had a Picco Red Dot Evo3 in my Serpent for the past 1-1 1/2 months. SOB blew up on my a** today

I've heard all the stories already about these motors .... but DAYMN LOL

Here is some history on the motor

Broke it in ... ran great
Change Connecting Rod before 1st gallon was finished (about 2 full fuel bottles of fuel left in that 1 gallon container)
Installed new Rod ... ran needles Rich ... 1 tank idle .. tuned it
Was using PowestMaster 30% Nitro 16% oil fuel ...
Motor was running strong ALL day today and just blew the blew on me
14th tank since connecting Rod was replaced and it blew today


Oh well ... I'm going to look into Novi, RB or a Maxy's motor next.

Picco is well known for so so quality

Got any pics of the head button underside and top of the piston?

RIP Picco motor!! , haha and i am the witness!

Have seen the same happen to 2 nova engines this weekend, so good luck...
But they where .21, not the same as yours...

I would look into the R&B, seen 1 this weekend reach 108 Kmh in a NT1....

mostly a bit lean on bottom end and a combination of bad luck picco con rod.

I will take some later tonight. I'm probably going to pick up a few motors this time around for back up etc etc...maybe a 1 or 2 Maxy's or Novi motors for race day and a Picco JL TUNED Evo3 for pratice.

Ouch... I have a JL Evo 2 and i can'r get the bottom end right, it just keeps running on. I have stopped using it cause i am afraid of this happening!

as spotted by somebody in another topic, what did you do with the engine?
If I look at this picture, it is not surprising me that the rod let go...

I must say that looks exactly like the pics of my picco from last season when it blew up. same side of the case and all... WOW

look at the colour of that rod its looks to have encountered some high temperatures??

this is just human nature.

when those top F1 team had a engine failure, people would just say it bad luck, but if it the lower team had engine failure, people will just say the team's engine is weak...

hahaha

good lord... how rich was this thing running? All those black deposits are from either running REALLY rich, cheap lubricants, or both. I'm betting both. As we all know, solids and liquids arent compressable like gasses are. So, the parafen (wax lubricant) deposits built up on the crank, top of the piston, cylinder head button, glow plug, etc. Compounded by the excess (unburned) fuel and lubricant in the combustion chamber, reduced the compressable volume. This increased the compression ratio and placed more stress on the conn rod, resulting in catastrophic failure.

BTW black deposits like that are from running too rich or to cool. Running too hot results in white ash or a rainbow discoloration of the metal parts, depending on the alloy used.

Just goes to show the importance of taking your time to get the tune right.

Ok, so we the help of some friends we figured out wtf happened to this Picco motor.

I'm a noob so GO EASY on me

Upon replacing my connecting rod I had mis-placed the shims. Causing the motors compression to rise to only God knows what level.

I had only put 1 shim back in

It was my fault why the motor took a dump. As far as all the grease and what not around the motor when it blew I the gasket for the header had ripped about 9-10 tanks prior and I just never replaced it

I'm stocked on motors for now but I'm switching up to either Novi or Max motors.

good motor choice, just make sure double check your assembly