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What Should I Upgrade First On My Marder?
The Most important upgrade for these beasties is an Alloy gear carrier. The stock one is plastic and tends to round itself out in the middle due to the torque from the engine. They're not hard to fit and once done will save you from a spoiled outing.
Another Important upgrade would be a Steel pinion gear. The stock, like the gear carrier, is plastic on a standard marder and is prone to stripping it's teeth under stress, not hard to fit, just 2 grub screws.
To protect the Gears from stones, twigs and small animals a Plastic gear cover is recommended. Will stop all the bits and bobs lodging themselves between the gears and stripping the teeth.
A not so important, but highly recommended upgrade is Front Cable Brakes. Unless you are running around a 5 acre field the stock brake is next to useless if you need to stop in a hurry, the front brakes will improve the stopping power no end and will stop you killing the neighbour's dog down the park.
Finally a cheap and cheerful upgrade is a Air filter sock. These prevent dirt and muck entering the carb through the filter, they can always be found on ebay and are pretty cheap. Also remember to oil your filter foam too!
You can also add a Pull start cover to help keep the dust out.
Petrol - Oil Mix
A petrol - oil mix guide can be found here. Most on this forum use Castrol A747 as its good value for money and widely available in most motorbike shops.
Carb Settings
A detailed Carb setting guide can be found here. if you bought your Car new, then a sheet similar to this should come with it.
I Want More Speed
Now once you've broken in you car, thrown it around a field and had the most fun you'll ever have with an Rc
you'll probably be wanting more speed. An FG Tuned pipe will settle you hunger for speed but a Samb pipe will put a big big big smile on your face.Also for a cheaper option try changing the gearing, i run 19/44 gearing on my marder and find i get the same acceleration as stock gearing but better top end.
Also Upgrade engines can be bought, the largest being a 30.5cc oneil engine. You will find alot of upgrade engines on ebay, 27cc, 28cc and 29cc are all usually floating around ebay and can be had for as little as £145.
Maintenance
So you've had a good hours running around your local park, the car is filthy and you're wondering what you do next. First of all clean the majority of the dirt off, remove grass that has found its way into driveshafts and gears. Turn the car upside down and get all the stones out, it's all common sense really.
Long term maintenance consists of changing the piston ring, not too hard to do if you know what you're doing. Be sure to buy the right ring for the capacity and make of your engine, some are thicker than others and will not seat correctly in the groove on the piston.
Remove the plastic covers, exhaust and plug cap. Next take the carb and airfilter off, it's easier to see what's going on then. Carefully unscrew the 2 head bolts, being careful not to strip the heads. Gently lift off the head and check the barrel for scores or marks, it should be fine if you are using a good oil and decent filter. find the gap in the ring and pull the two sides apart, expanding the ring, then remove it from the piston.
Now it is basically the reverse of the above, but when putting the new ring on, make sure the notch in the ring lines up with the notch in the piston or you will score the barrel.
For the first 15-30 minutes when running the new ring, just take it easy and let it bed in
Well i think that's everything covered for a new owner, I hope this will prove handy for newcomers and will save the weekly newcomer thread, but by all means say hello if you're a proud new owner, and get some piccy's up!!
