HarveyC

Ian, I have Dominator side pipe fitted to my 'XB. In order to install it I had to turn the fuel tank around ( had to do the same to fit a CPI pipe to my previous 'MT), as it does seem that the tanks are different on the Maverick and Redcat versions ... at least they were a year or so ago. To reverse the tank, you have to remove the rear axle as the rear dog bone goes through a tunnel in the tank. Not a major problem but it does add an hour or so to the job of fitting the pipe. Having said that, the pipe is good, goes well and is not too loud. Harvey

Andy, I think you need to be a bit careful about what you read here. I had a late version of the original MT and now, with my Baja 5Bss and my XL Octane have an XB (got the 'XB before the Octane). I had problems with getting the original MT started, which In the end I fixed by replacing the carburettor, I also had a throttle servo fail after a few hours of running, but other than that it was pretty solid. My XB has been no trouble at all although I don't run any of my models much. I have an engineering background, and from this perspective, having examined both close up (in fact when I finished with it, I dismantled the MT competely). They appear to be well engineered and robustly made. But I guess it depends how you use them, and what you want from them. I personally don't thrash my models to within an inch of their lives so probably don't get the problems that others may have. Hope this helps Harvey

I don't know if any one else has noticed, but HPI have released an adaptor (part number 111295) to enable a standard Baja 5b silencer to be fitted to the Octane, it costs just over

Tank Vent Blocked?? Harvey

You will need a new wheel nut spanner ... the Blackout nuts are 23mm across the flats, whereas the Baja ones are 24mm. Harvey

Baja nuts fit. Harvey

OK ... its the standard one ... they won't take much current ... I wonder if the switch shorted ... possibly caused by crud getting in and displacing the contacts?? ... they are not very well made. H

What sort of connector is it Nick?? It must be an excess current drain somewhere and I would definitely give the wiring a good look over ... you do NOT want to short out a LiPo!! H

Many (many!) years ago, before I retired, I worked in the research laboratories of one if the major oil companies, and I can tell you that there are three basic types of brake fluid in use. These are the original ones based upon glycol ethers, and the later ones based either on mineral oil or silicon. Each type requires a different type of seal, and using the wrong type of fluid with the wrong type of seal will ruin the seal. Therefore as recommended above, it is best to use the fluid stipulated by the manufacturer!! Harvey

I had a similar experience as Nitroholic with my Maverick MT, only in my case the throttle servo failed at idle. Unfortunately when I got to the model, I stupidly 'twiddled' the servo to see if it was jammed, whereapon, 'cause the engine was still running, it took off like the preverbial .. Thank goodness for the kill switch,. press of the the button... engine stopped immediately... potentially nasty situation averted... Harvey

A box full of nice clean bits, with all of the tools, the oils/greases, nicely organised in indicvidual packs with a good manual .... Ummmm H

Ian, I built one of these about two years ago and still have it. Its very nice kit to build, with no problems that I can recall, I had great fun doing it and would thoroughly recommend it as a project. There used to be a series of videos on the 'net discribing the whole process, and I found these helpfull but not necessary, particulalry in the area of building the axles. If you can't find them on the 'net, I think I should have them somewhere (but it might take me a little while to find them in amongst my >5 tB of data storage!). Harvey

The leak was between that cap and the shock body, not around the shaft (which has the normal twin O ring arrangement) and there is no O ring or other formal seal in this area, they just rely upon the tighness of the screw tread to keep the oil in and it does not work. H

I don't know if anyone else has had this problem, but when I assembled the shocks on my recently acquired kit, they leaked badly arround the shock caps. I've fixed the problem by unscrewing the caps, wrapping several turns of doubled up ptfe plumbers tape around the threads and then screwing them back in. Harvey

It doesn't mention the gap in my XB manual Ian (same engine), but I imagine that it will be the same as the Baja 5bss which is 0.6-0.7mm. Regards Harvey

Next week looks good to me (I'm also very busy this week), I text you a bit nearer then. Just in case you are not aware of it, a hot air gun is useful to shrink creases were the stickers fit over bulges. H

Excellent job Nick!! ...did you use the soapy water trick with the stickers?? Must be in touch about another running session. H

Well done Ian!! So pleased for you. Your making me envious! Need to find some time to run mine again soon. Harvey

Unfortunately we didn't get out Friday as planned, and I've not had any time since (surprising how the time goes when your retired(!)), but hopefully (if Nick's free with his camera) we should do something soon and get some more video. Harvey

WD40 is a dewatering fluid, NOT a lubricant and it can cause swelling of certain types of O rings. I would certainly NOT use it as an after run oil. After run oil is not the same lubricant as used in nitro fuel, it contains corrosion inhibitors to help prevent rusting of internal parts and is relatively thin to permit it to permeate the internal engine parts. Air filter oil is different again, it is sticky so that dust particles stick to it rather than working their way through the air filter foam. Harvey

Well done Ian ... should have listed those my self H

Sorry to hear about your problems goldiegg. I recently came across some instructions on an American forum which I think were from an HPI representative, for diagnosing ignition problems and I've attached a copy here, hopefully this may help. Regarding the tank, if you are only going to leave it a short time, then there is no need to empty the tank. But I keep all my models in doors, and for this reason I always empty the tanks on my petrol models (I have an Octane, Maverick XB and Baja 5Bss). You can get a little hand cranked fuel pump from most models shops that will do the job nicely. Just make sure you get the version that is suitable for petrol. Harvey Savage Octane Ignition Testing.txt

Friday afternoon it is!! (Same Time??) H

Mine should be OK now Nick (original radio, no kill switch) I've not tried it in the garden (bit too noisy with the neighbour's windows open) but I'm ready to go when you feel like another try ... can't do the week end though as I'm at Crofton on both Saturday and Sunday. H

If you look at my previous posts you will see that I have been doing quite a bit of work on my Octane after its last very promising run, namely:- Fitted higher capacity batteries Changed to radio to an Absima 3 channel rx with an Absima CR4T tx Fitted a kill switch Yesterday evening Nick and I went out again to do some more tests, hopefully a bit more tuning and to get some more video. Unfortunately, as soon as I started it (it started easily as before) I ran into problems of radio interference. Both servos were twitching quite violently and there was no point in continuing. From my previous post, you will see that I did have some concern about antenna length. On the system as supplied, the top of active bit of the antenna (the short bit at the top) is some 6 inches above the top of the cylinder head, due to the very long antenna wire on the HPI rx. With my Absima installation, due to the short length of the rx antenna, the top of the active bit was about 4 inched BELOW the top of the cylinder head. Yesterday I felt that this was the cause of the problem, so last night, when I got home I removed the Absima system and went back to the original HPI one. This morning, I realised that before changing the radios back, there was another potential cause of the interference which I should have investigated first, namely the kill switch. Whilst I was at the track, I should have unplugged the kill switch from the rx in case the interference was being inject that way, but I did not think of it at the time! On the Octane, its a bit of a pain to change the radios over, because in order to thread the antenna wire up the antenna tube, you have to remove the complete top of the radio box (the bit below the clipped on cover) which also acts as the mount for throttle/brake servo. This involves undoing 7 screws, removing the throttle servo horn and dismantling the servo linkage and then putting it all back together again afterwards. So at the moment I'm not going to swap the radios back again to see if the kill switch was the cause of the interference. I want to get this thing demonstrating the potential which it showed on my previous successful outing. So the next runs will be with the original HPI radio and will be all about finalising the carb. setup. List night was not a good session for either of us, not only did I have the interference problems just described, but Nick couldn't get his Losi the start! Fortunately, the place we use for testing is quite close to where we live so there was not a lot of 'Big Car' fuel used... Harvey