Thank You motorman, ill have the engine sent out tommarrow. Its a very odd failure, the piston skirt cracked off just enough to leave the exhaust port compeltely open at both TDC and BDC... Thanks again for the quick response.

I knew Dennis would provide this type of great service as he has for me a couple times in the past

Wow! I'm sold
 

I know where my next (legal) motor is coming from...

I have to say, I don't think I have ever heard of anyone standing behind their products like that before!

Way to go, Dennis.

BTW, I sent you an email regarding things here in OZ. Don't suppose you've had a chance to read it?

Cheers,

Mike.

I have recieved the engine and analyzed it. At first I thought the rod and piston had been installed backwards as it was backwards as recieved.(however it does not appear to have been run that way. That will definatly break the piston, I do not know if it had been apart and reassembled as the issue would have started immediatly upon starting the engine if that had been the case) The oil hole on the bottom of the rod goes to the crank. But after I stacked it up and looked at it the failure occured because the crank was not fully seated in the engine. The rod and crank pin are totally toast and worn at a severe angle. The angle indicates the rod and piston were in the correct direction. It is always important to install the flywheel and nut loosly and give the flywheel a good rap (on the backside to knock the crank fully forward)with the back of a plastic screw driver handle to insure it is fully seated in the rear bearing. After doing that remove the flywheel and while pulling out on the crank push the collet fully down before installing the flywheel the final time.(because the collet is tapered sonmtimes it will grab the crank before fully pulling it in leaving the crank unseated) Please make this a habit on your engines every time you remove the flywheel or crank.

The crank not being seated could have occured at the factory or during shipping or during end use it is impossible to tell. However it caused the rod to be forced into a significant angle severly wearing the crank pin and top and bottom of the rod. It caused the piston skirt to fracture because it was in a significant angled bind. (in this engine were not talking a little unseated were talking .030 which is alot)

Never the less It will be back on its way to the customer tomorrow. fresh crank, rod, piston, sleeve and rear bearing. NC

Correction to above.
the engine in its entirety will be replaced

There you have it on we go.

Dennis,

What's up man. I see your busy as always. when you get a chance check your email. Please...

Talk to you soon,

Mark

The piston/rod being isntalled backwards as you said was after the failure, i had it apart and re-assembled it quickly (and obviously carelessly) so i could ship it out to you. I appreciate the haste in which you solved this problem, and i am glad that there is a person/company in this industry that values its customers and reputation as much as you certainly do. Thank You

William Christian

You have email in regards to the above.

Dennis you have PM.

Merry Christmas Dennis!! And have a Happy New Year!! Keep up the great work!! Bob

weather
 

dennis are you catching any of that bad weather?

Thanks BB
Merry christmas to everyone from RD Logics and Me. May santee bring everyone lots of RC Toyzz.

Yes I believe that Hudy and Integy arbors will fit the RD logics tire truers.

Swen got your PM. Getting out of the novarossi business period The crank you mention will drop right in and work. I'm no longer doing any work on the old small novarossi cranks. They break within a few runs. They started using real cheap metal.

It was ugly here for a few days theres 6 to 12 on the ground depending on where you live in the michigan area. Ohio and below us is who got pummeled though 18 to 24 in some places.

Well this is an old C12 crank from when they first came out, any chance I can send it to you and have it tuned up like the sg crank I have? How much difference does the work on the crank make?

Hope you had a Merry Christmas.

Jon

weather
 

hey dennis 'sound like its time to pull out the r/c snowmobile :nod:

Its called an airplane to south florida in 30 days
:)

Dennis- Will having the unmodded crank in there effect the balance of the motor? Also will it change the performance alot? Thanks for all you help in the past and in advance for everything you do.

Jon

Hi Dennis what's up with the Richie/RD Signature series engines? Its been hush hush. Did you get the cases and finish the project and they are all gone?? or are you still waiting on the supplier? Bob

Bob
the signature was to be based on the long rod engine, as we still have legal issues surrounding that issue it is on indefinate hold and I am focusing on the R3. The R3 continues to impress me.

The Richey Racing Dynomometer will be up and running in the next 2 weeks and we will be using it alot to push the R3 to the next level. There are some folks holding out for a signature engine and I can tell you that realistically the R3 is really good and if it was me I wouldn't hold out (as It may never happen) as we have seen stock ones qualify and finish very high at some significant races in the last few months. To bring it right to the Novarossi level adding .2 mm more exhaust height is all that is required. we will be making a running change to 4.7 or 4.8 exhaust port height in the next few months. However I believe the dyno will tell us a whole lot.

R3 Break-in period
 

Well, I just started my new R3 engine today and I ran 4 - 5 tanks of fuel while closely monitoring engine temperatures. Engine temp never exceeded 210 (actually took quite some time to even get to 190 degrees on the first tank) and I was careful in keeping RPMs at a reasonable level during the last two tanks. After the fourth tank, engine temperature decreased considerably and I had to lean the engine slightly to get the temperature back up to the 185-200 degree range. During the 5th tank, the engine was breathing a little better (with minor carb adj.) and maintaning 200 degrees. I am still keeping my leadfinger out of the way but it is real tempting now. The engine is starting much easier now. I plan on racing it next weekend so I want to run a few more tanks a 1/2 - 3/4 throttle runs. So far so good.....

Dennis - Do you think I can do some quick temperature cycling on the bench to help speed up the break-in time? Example, 3 minutes run at 200 degress, then shut engine off for 3 - 5 minutes for example, then repeat process.

I think I'll go with the Rex RER12S-3 With TopGun 777 Piston/sleeve combo in it. Since the signature is a wash out. I've been told they are a missle on steroids!! I've been using Topguns piston/sleeve combos in engines all last season and I've been very impressed!!! They seem to make the best power and last the longest of any piston/sleeve combo I've ever used. Good look with you venture Dennis!! Bob

First race using R3 in 2005
 

Well, got my first run in 2005 using my new DRR R3 engine just after the break-in process was completed. The parking lot track was small and I kept the engine in the low 200's b/c it is still new. The results were very good. The R3 was strong off the line with good low to mid-range power. For the top-end band, it was pulling in most of the guys who ran "modified" engines. I can't wait to see how it does on the larger tracks in the area.

I finally have an engine that gives me a chance !

Sounds sweet. I gotta buy one for myself. Forget the Sirio Evo2 then. :)

R3 High & Low Setting
 

Hi,

I just got my R3 today. According to the instructions that came in the box, it says to run one tank through at idle and the next serveral tanks (up to 1 litre = 13 tanks; @75cc/ tank) on the track while giving 50%to 80% throttle bursts. All this while keeping it under 220F.

Thats okay but other than midrange, there was no suggested starting point for the low and high end adjustments.

Can I get a suggested starting point as a base adjustment. Also, is my interepretation of the breakin instruction correct? Please advise.

One last thing, at the start of this thread you show a prototype motor with an alum. carb. The motor I received had a composite carb which is okay because STS motors usually come with composite carb. Was this done as a cost cutting measure? Did you originally specified an alum. carb for any performance advantages? If I were to swap the alum. carb from a Novarossi or MT12 would I get any advantages or would I mess up the motors performance? Please advise.

Thanks.:)

Re: R3 High & Low Setting
 

YR4 -

My R3 was received with the high and low set pretty rich which makes sense. After the first tank on the starter box, I started to lean out the high-end so that the tempertures would get to the proper break-in range of 200 - 210.

As far as starting points go, I can only tell you that the factory settings were adequate to start the car and run the first tank on the starter box. Ambient temps /humidity being a couple of many variables I did have to turn in the high-end adjustment 1/2 to 3/4 turn so that the engine temperature would get to 190 - 200 degrees after the first tank. Now that I have 13 15 tanks through the engine, my high-end adjustment is 2 turns out CCW from bottom. I am using a 7 turbo plug with 30% Nitro fuel. As far as the low-end adjustment, it is maybe 1/8 to 1/4 more CW than when I received it. I guess I should have documented the factory settings for future use. Maybe Motorman can tell us the default carb settings soon.

One thing I noticed was the high-end carb adjustment needle is "tough" to turn. I guess those O-rings will soon wear just a bit so it will soon be easier to turn. Let me know how you like the engine!

Re: R3 High & Low Setting
 

On the contrary, a composite carb has an advantage over an aluminum one, it doesn't allow the fuel to evaporate and minimizes flame outs during hard racing. Sirios', Collari's, Picco's, Mega's and RB Rody tuned engines come with composite carbs also. It is an advantage now a days.

AFM

Motorman you have PM:D

Hey Dennis,
Long time no see, looks like the car business is really taking off for you.. ya still doing any boating?? How's Blain doing??

Jeff Keeton

BBntc3: best wishes

JAG: were getting good feedback on the motor. weve had a few teething pains and a couple warranty claims but generally all is good. Hope you like it.

YR4DUDE: The picture on the proto is of the long rod engine, even if it eventually comes it will have a composite alumunium steel plastic carb. we have had no issues.

JAG: we set them plenty rich for safty reasons. we figure if your buying a competition motor you should have no issues tuning it in. For people who are not that type I would recommend an OS :)

RB: I will get to all the PM's tomorrow.

JKEETON:
Long time no talk. where you at and what you doing. I been in this car thing a while now and its busy.

SWEN: Its not that I dont want to do that crank but I'm no longer working Novarossi anything for obvious reasons. Its also a time thing. Being the Team Manager for RD Logics keeps me buried. Contact Uriah Murnan (aka Grinder) I am sure he can set you up with a crank rework for that engine that will be very close to what I would do.

Sorry Its been so long guys. I have been checking in from time to time. However it seems a little dead at the moment.

Now where have I been since christmas. well I was out of town a couple weeks and I have been in the shop finishing this. I've been dragging my feet two years on this deal. I guess Brian at RCX gave me the motivation to finish it after seeing theirs. Ironically I had my design done a couple years ago and it was astonishingly close to theirs but after seeing theirs I made a few changes as he had come up with a simpler setup using more premade stuff than I had intended to use.

Time to get down to business
Richey Racing Dyno

2 I will be classifying all our pipes and doing new engine development on the R3 and other engines to bring them to the next level.

Excellent! ...Orz...

dyno
 

cool!

Only major issue is HOLY SMOKES DAMN ITS LOUD. ( HUH?? WHAT DID YOU SAY ?? ROD BUSHING CAME OUT THE PIPE !!) And I've only spooled a 12 so far. A 21 oughta just drive me right out of the shop. The Neighbors are gonna love me LOL :)

When I test engine in our factory. The Neighbors are friendly. They give me free eggs. You will use to get that.

dyno
 

send the wife and kids to the mall and fire it up rite on the table and crank the sterero up full and rock and roll!!lol

Thanks for the reply Dennis, I completely understand your position. I did find someone to do the crank for me.

The question I have for you is when will the R3's be available with threaded cranks?

Jon

Motorman, you got PM. :)

Hello Dennis,
I have just received a couple of your motors and I am wondering how they will go in a Stadium Truck. I have worked out a way to put an SG crank motor into a MST . The biggest issue is fuel economy rather than power, we have to make 10 minutes. We are going to try it out next week and I will let you know how it goes.

Regards Brad.

Motorman:

I am hoping you have just been really busy an not had time to get to my PM. I am looking forward to getting a response from you soon.

Thanks,

RR