The Gold head will have more power overall due to having a full open exhaust port..... however the Blue head will have a little better part throttle trigger feel due to the dropped middle of the MES exhaust port....

From reading, I know that web page info. is not the most accurate or detailed info. That's why i'm taking your word on it... so will the blue head will have a longer power band and better mileage "stock"?

The LTD has a 14mm crank, the Blue head has a 14.5 crank

possible the Blue head has better mileage... but there is also to factor that the LTD has a little lower overall sleeve timing.....i think it would need to be something tested back to back ....

If I were to have Nova build me a engine it would be very close to the Gold head Paloma...it has the DNA to be many things, from a fuel sipping mizer to a all out drag engine..I would put a nicer cooling head on it, some ceramic bearings and maybe a nicer slugged and tuned crank but with the same bore and timing profile....even tho its a 7 port it has lower sleeve timing then Nova usually uses, which gives it really crisp bottom end power....

Neal is correct. 14mm crank and 16.8 stroke. They still have the wrong specs listed for the gold head. I uploaded a pic of the exploded view here http://www.rctech.net/forum/14309619-post8579.html the crank looks a lot like the 15009 from the p5xlt, except it's silicone filled

Thanks guy's, great info here. Had a 7 port that the timing was high...won't say which brand lol....it was a little weak on the bottom and could not get the run time as in their 5 port, it was smooth but ....no snap. So what your saying Neal makes a lot of sense.

Its likely a moot point as your 7 port is likely long gone...but one issue I have seen with the 7 ports is that they had the compression set to low from factory...Some of the high timed Nova's had the same head clearances as a low timed 3 port....when we account for the fact the 7 ports usually have a much larger and much higher timed exhaust port it results in the 7 port operating with far less operational compression as the 3 port which results in a sluggish and weak bottom end and narrower tuning window..So just messing with the head shims can dramatically crisp up the bottom end performance of a high timed 7 port, you can drop most of them by at least 0.2 mm...If you run the right glowplug and keep the tune proper you can run the heads much tighter then you would expect and the performance gains are fantastic..

Cool...still have it, piston and sleeve are in great shape, didn't run it much. I'll play with the shims some...worse I could do is fry the piston. lol Its a Alpha and was known to have a weak bottom but the top end screamed.

I had to replace my front bearing in my Paloma after about 1/2 gallon. It got a stiff spot in it.

I don't know how it compares to the Elite 8 but compared to my Elite 5, it's stronger for sure pushing a 8 1/2 lb OFNA almost as fast as my 7lb, 10oz MBX6R with the Elite 5. BUT, the Elite 5 seems to be faster on top and all through acceleration. Might be the weight difference though, my 6R is stupid fast.

Both cars have the same 9901 pipe but the OFNA Picco w/Paloma has the 41021 header and the 6R w/Elite 5 has the 41020 header.

what size carb insert ?

a 9901/41021 will neuter the engine on its own, if it has a small insert like 7 mm or smaller it will be even choked back more

I think I have the 7.5 in it now.

And now that you mention it, I put the 9mm insert in my Elite 5 and that's when it came alive.

But I originally had a JP4 on my Paloma and broke it in with that and when I got the 9901, I was overwelmed by the difference. It was crazy how much improved it got just from the pipe and you say there's something better the 9901?

I use the C6TG (I think it's called). I can remove a head shim and that will be good for it?

Yeah the 9901/41021 is big time holding the engine back.... 9901 is a 3 chamber muffler pipe primarily designed to reduce noise to cater to some senseless and arbitrary European rules some stupid fools came up with about 10 years ago... the 41021 manifold doesn't help much either.... a swap to a 9853 or 9886 on a 41001 will wake that beast right up...especially if you add a bigger carb insert like a 8 mm

edit....even adding a 41001 to your 9901 will make a big difference...for some reason the 41021/9901 combo has terrible top end and just adding the 41001 will give the engine a huge boost

Hi there,
good information on this thread, thanks. It's really a mess, if you name two totally different engines almost the same.

Neal,
even in your nitroshop the tech specs are wrong for the limited edition:
It seems, everyone just copy&pastes the wrong specs. I yet have to find a shop that lists the correct data for the Paloma Limited.

Andi

I thought when you ran the engine rich it blew out the front bearings..

Yeah but too lean and you can lose the oil seal around the crank

nope...most definitely not.... there is no seal in the bearing and the fuel will not harm the bearing no matter how rich you run the engine. in fact the more lubrication you give the bearing the happier it is.........believe it or not but the fuel itself is what seals these engines....

Now if the engine is crazy rich it can pump fuel out the front bearing which can cause dirt to collect, and if you then run the engine really lean afterwards that dirt may get sucked in....but the engine being pig rich and pissing fuel out the bearing will do no harm to the bearing at all....