Hey all, first post. I got to break the seal on my new Losi 8ight RTR this weekend and I am hooked! I had some electric R/C's back in the day (RC10, Kyosho OptimaMid, RC10T) but that was probably about 15-20 years ago. This is my first nitro car ever, I just sold all of my slot cars and track as I ran out of space in the house so Nitro R/C is my new hobby.
Anyways, the car is great - no problems yet at all, I've got a lot to learn about the inner workings but that will come in time. But.. yesterday, the cheapo little included spin-start gets stuck wide open because, as I later found out, the metal contact came completely out of the slot by the switch.
From what I can tell, most everyone uses a starter box and I was just wondering how it works, why it's better, which one is best and will fit and can I even use one with this stock engine without modifications?


Finally got her dirty!!!

The advantage to starter boxes comes in the form of more reliability and little bit more engine power.

Engines with pull starts or those little electric starters that plug into the back of the engine have a few extra parts in them to allow for the starters to do their job. There will be a "one way" bearing in those motors, which allows the pullcord or electric starter to spin hte engine up, and once running the "oneway" bearing just freewheels. Sometimes the "oneway" bearing fails, and the pullcord or electric starter then can't turn the engine and it won't start, also the "oneway" casuses a slight bit of drag when the engine is running and robs a tiny bit of the available power. Cleaning and/or replacing the "oneway" bearing is the fix when your pullcord or electric starter can't get the motor to turn.

Engines used with starter boxes don't have the extra parts, they deliver all their power to the car when running, and starter boxes are very reliable and have plenty of power to spin up stubborn or balky engines. You don't see RTR's using starter boxes because of the extra expense and it's another piece of equipment to lug around...

That said, you should be able to use a starter box with your 8ight, as long as the engine's flywheel is low enough in the chassis for the wheel of the starter box to engage it.

Don't worry for now about the very slight power gaiin that non-stater box engines might have... the slight drag of the "oneway" on your engine is such a small thing that I doubt most people could notice it. The real reason most non-pull or electric start engines are as strong as they are is that they're built to a higher state of tune which makes them more powerful and also more finicky than their pull-start cousins. Just what racers want, not so important for beginners who just want their engines to start and run reliably.

Although I would add, if you come across an opportunity to get yourself a halfway decent starter box (even better if you can get a gel-cell battery to go with it), it might be worth looking into. 4 years ago when I got into nitro I used a starter box from the get-go and not having to worry about a slipping one-way bearing and being able to constantly crank the engine over instead of doing the "braap braap braap" 6 or 7 revolutions at a time was one less thing for me to worry about.