Hi guys,

I've got a Team Orion CRL engine which I believe is Picco based? It's fully run in as it's been used for a season.

I used it for a race recently and I had no bottom end power at all, which I identified as a clutch gap issue.

Now I've set the correct gap, the clutch is engaging at idle after being revved, then it's disengaging after about 10 seconds.. Which makes me think the bottom end is too rich and the idle is set too high?

The exhaust is blowing a good looking white smoke but it does sound like it's idling too high after being revved, it does then drop off afterwards to nice idle after about 11 seconds.

Should I lean out the bottom end till I can get it to idle continuously and consistently and then back down the idle to a stable state? this seems to be the information I'm reading on the net. I'm new to this so don't wanna cook an engine.

How open is your carb when at idle? SHould be no more then 1mm, and probably closer to .5mm. You just want the slightest crack for air to get into the motor. Sounds like you are on the right track with your bottom needle, but your probably only acouple of "hours" off. Most of the time you only want the motor to idle for 30-45 seconds before bogging down on fuel.

You sure you have your clutch set right? It should _NOT_ be engaging at idle at all. You want it to engage above a normal idle.

Also, you wont do any damage to your motor making small adjustments, 1-2 "hours" at a time max. Watch for smoke, and keep an eye on temp. If its going up at idle then you are to lean on the bottom.

And dont tune your car until you have warmed up the engine completely. Picco, and other motors with a plastic carb, tend to take 2-3 minutes to warm up. If you tune before the motor is completely warm you will most likely lean your motor out to far.

Shawn.