spents

your coil will have probably dropped down and be touching/rubbing on the flywheel mate, remove the fan case cover and regap the coil and all should be well again, coil gap should be 0.3 to 0.5mm

not trying to step on anyones toes here or anything, but shocks should always be bled and caps fitted with the piston at top of the stroke, as above, fill the shock, move piston up and down to remove air bubbles, then move piston fully to top of the stroke, fit cap, thats why excess oil spills over cos the pistons rod is now taking up space inside the shock, its not the actual piston that causes the shocks to lock up, but the shock rod when the shocks compressed, just my ten pence worth

hey ho gary lmao,

yes mate, but an engine also needs air to run, if he has the carb on there and puts fuel in the plug hole then it still aint getting air if the butterflys closed too far so it can run, and yes i know a two stroke will run without a carb on for a few seconds as long as theres fuel in the case/cylinder and its getting air cos theres no carb on, but as far as i can tell he aint tried without the carb, i've just been through this myself as stated in my last post, literally last week with a brand new engine, idle to low and it does the exact same thing as op says, pops on and off choke but wont run, i've been into petrol rc for over 30 years by the way, i di have experience , only trying to help the dude, edit, just re read the whole thread, i had it in my head that it did pop, just seen thats not the case, my bad lol, well it sounds more spark orientated then, you did check the coil gap didnt you ? just to make sure the coils not dragging on the flywheel i mean, plus check the spring wire in the plug cap, make sure its actually going onto the plug when you push the cap on, they do move and pull out sometimes,

nah dont replace the plug again yet mate, i would say your issue is the idles set too low, hence the pop but no run, wind the idle screw in 1/4 to 1/2 a turn and try again, if its seems closer to running but wont, then do the same again, dont overdo it though lol, either start it on a stand or remove wheels so it dont try and take off if you do overdo the idle, once it does start and clears any excess fuel then adjust idle down again to where its happy, just been through this myself with a new engine after its been run and you have the idle set it should start every time,

merry christmas everyone, hope you are all safe and well and enjoying yourselves,

best bet is use a cheapo shell or piece of lexan and experiment a tad dan, say two coats of gole then siver etc and see how it comes out

dan, if you do the paint inside a clear lexan shell then i'd either get a gold with a high metalic or pearl content then back it with the brightest metalic/ pearl silver you can find , then back that with black, that should make it pop, if your gonna do the outside of lexan then prep it really well, plastic primer, then a silver base as above, then gold, then clear coat, you might have seen my dragon jammer panels that i did green, that was done on the outside of lexan panels and i used automotive paint, not easy but it will stick if you get the prep right and take yer time with it, heres a pic of the panels matey, i know it aint gold but just to show automotive paint will stick to lexan lol, not sure why, but image from postimage wont work at moment dan,

seems a very odd issue mate, couple of things to try, with the engine off, radio on and check that throttle is opening fully, take air filter off and you will see the brass butterfly in the carb, work throttle with engine off and check butterfly opens fully, then again with engine off, apply full throttle and see if the brake activates when full throttle applied, might be a dodgy throttle/brake linkage, so engine off, radio on and full throtte and try and roll the car forwards to see if the brakes dragging, you could also try and see what happens out at the field by setting off and only going to say one third throttle, dont just go wide open from the grt go, if it picks up better then could be a carb/tuning issue, or as above sticky brake under full throttle etc, i still say the clutch engagement seems very low though, it doesnt say on rcmodelz website which springs fitted to the 30.5 engine, but i'd assume a minimum6k and more likeley 8k, doesnt sound to revving very high at all in the vid, i take it you got it from rcmodelz? if so then contact them either by phone or email, dont know when they are opening at moment during lockdown, but contact em and see if they can help, try and get hold of mark (hoss) sanders if you can, he will have a few ideas, send em a link to the video as well so they can see for there selves whats happening, don't get shirty with em or owt like that, sometimes rc cars aint quite right , most are fine but the odd bad one slips through the net, being nice and logical gets ya much further than demanding an answer there and then, (i'm not saying you would get shirty with em mate, but some people do lol), stick with it and see how they handle it, they are usually a good bunch at rcmodelz, always have been with me anyways, edit; link for rcmodelz support email, [email protected]

i'd be looking at other things than the engine tune going off the vid, it sounds like it has a very low clutch engagement, but being new i think it should have an 8.5k spring on the clutch, maybe a bad spring to start with, have you changed the gearing at all? sounds way over geared , or could be something as simple as the brakes are dragging heavily and stopping revs from rising, or a severe bind somewhere in the drivetrain, it just sounds very flat, just like over gearing or bad clutch spring or binding somewhere to me, could be carb related or overoiled air filter as well though,

i've always just used red rubber grease when doing anything using DOT fluid mond, never had an issue so far and i'm 52 now lol, besides, the amount of grease you use is only in very small amounts on seals/o'rings etc, not sure what brand name the stuff i use is, its just a big tin with red rubber grease on the label,

first option would be to do the bolt mod on the stock bell mate, instead of screwing a bolt in from the outside as your doing (its a common problem the bolts snapping) screw an allen bolt in from the inside so the threads of the bolt are outside the bell, then fit pinion and a nyloc nut and lock washer on the outside, that way if the bolt does snap(they snap a lot less often this way), then you just remove the bell and wind the snapped bolt out with an allen key, so no drilling needed, as for hex bells, vertigo 12mm hex are the best imo, thats if vertigo are still making em, you are limited on pinion sizes though, 16 to 19teeth if i remember right, or go blackbone, there not hex but super strong and the best of the best really, as for spur gear, again i say blackbone, but there are others around, ddm do there own spurs called black magic, but they are very heavy, bare in mind if you go blackbone spur you will also need a spur carrier, unless your bajas rcmax/twin or alx big bore engine, then the pinion/spurs are solid, hope that helps mate, oh, i think rovan and km do a steel spur as well, not sure how strong they are etc, but steel over plastic any day lol,

as dre said above mate, would you keep ahpi one stock if you found one ? you have a few options though, the rovan and km as stated above, my opinion is the km is the better option, but rovan are getting better, yes for the most part everythings interchangeable between hpi/rovan/km, although same as any platform some minor mods may be needed, so you could buy a second hand hpi and so a complete strip and rebuild, that way you make it into a kit then rebuild, buy a new km or rovan and do a complete strip, again make a kit and rebuild, scratch build from parts, and add the mods you want from the get go, and fit engine you want, 26cc/ 29cc/ 32cc etc etc, the last option could be expensive though buying all new parts and then building, but you could build the car you personally want, i-rc chassis and chassis brace , bonehead rc carbon parts or turtle racing or uber or i-rc etc, do a little research and do yerself a price list on parts, then decide if thats the way you wanna go, rcmodelz stock every part km and rovan, plus the area rc and various other upgrade parts, an alloy diff case/gearbox is a must if you bash hard, turtle racing do the gearbox as do km/rovan, whatever you do DO NOT build a full alloy one if your gonna bash it, it will bend and break, keep a few plastic parts in there that will flex a little and take some of the shock out in a big crash, ie; bulkheads, a arms etc, or you could just buy a used hpi or new km/rovan, bash it, break it and repair with upgrade parts as ya go,

ps-47 is the nearest yer gonna get mate, ps-47 is a pink/gold iridescent, jeff gordons racecar is more purple/gold or red/gold. but tamiya only do two iridescent polycarbonate colours, sooo yeh ps-47 is the nearest, maybe if its backed with black that will darken the pink up a tad,

the more power ya put through it whether it be petrol or electric the more yer gonna break mate, my dragon hammer is running an obr twin, so lots of power and lots of servicing of the drive line, but more power equals more fun lol, i've never owned a DB yet, but as above drive pins in the diff are 3.5mm in the DB and 4mm in the 5ive, 0.5mm difference but i break pins regularly, you will also break drive shaft pins and wear out cvd joints, but rebuild kits are available for em, if it was me i'd build the DB and run it and see what happens, all depends on how hard ya push it and how much power you have, repairs are part of the hobby anyways,

as AJ said above mate, different platform and very little is interchangable between the DBXL and the 5ive, diff cases are different along with the hole distancing of the spurs, drive cups are different and drive pins in the DBXL are smaller, basically the whole drive line is different, some parts are interchangable between the fid dragon hammer and the DBXL though, drive pins are the same, diff cases are almost the same (i mean the actual cases and not the carriers ), i'm using an aftermarket DB spur gear on my dragon hammer cos hole spacing is the same etc,, but yeh, stick to type specific parts where ya can, RCmodelz stock a fairly large range of aftermarket DB parts as well, the likes of fid and atop parts are decent when all said and done,

your discs will be fine mate, just give the faces a rub off with some scotch bright to take any glaze off em, clean em etc, pads may be fine, they look to have plenty wear left in em, clean the faces off with wet n dry/ sandpaper to take any glaze off and see what they look like, or replace with new pads, upgrade to RCR discs and pads as and if you want to, RCR brakes are night and day difference to stock setup, if you still have the spring on the brake arm at the brake arm end, back of car i mean, then remove spring and replace with a piece of heavy duty fuel line, still cushions a little but will make the brakes much better a more powerfull servo would help with brakes as well, but do the mods above and brakes will get better, or should do lol, then upgrade as and when you can afford to, or if you burn the servo out over time etc, as far as i'm aware the shock rod sets are fully interchangbeable, ie; you can fit 8mm shock rod/seal set as you listed into the 6mm and so on, not sure about the 10mm shafts though, someone else may know, get yourself a few bottles of shock oil , it will get used up , cant rememeber off hand how much each stock shock holds, and stock hpi shocks use mineral based oil and not silicon based, if i remember right the silicon oils can affect the seals in hpi shocks, someone may put me right if i'm wrong on that though lol, experiment with different weight shock oils as well, handling can be improved using a heavier oil, personal choice but i like 35wt front and rear,

yeh that carrier would replace yours if you used the stock gear plate mate, it would just need major mods (or major ish ) if you used the turtle gear plate thats all, rcmodelz are spot on as far as i'm concerned mate, never had any problems with em, well had the odd problem with a pack of tyres once but they sorted that with no issues, and technically it was a packaging issue anyways and not there mistake if that makes sense lol, and yeh i get what ya mean about two birds with one stone, my post above was just to make you aware that not everything bolts up first time sometimes, as for the brakes, thats your decision mate, everyone has the right to make there baja there own with modifying em, and if front brakes are what you want then go for it, done the front brake thing with hydro brakes myself as will have quite a few on here and it all boils down to personal choice when all said and done, myself i prefer replacing the stock disc and pad setup with RCR ones , night and day difference with braking power as long as you have a half decent throttle/brake servo to gowith it,

if the springs still red and it feels good then run it mate, the link you put dont work mate, but if its the carrier i think it is then no it wont work with the turtle gear plate, this is the one i think you mean, https://www.rcmodelz.co.uk/upgrades/km-buggy-hpi-baja/drivetrain/alloy-clutch-housing.html?___SID=S, it has the gearplate brace built in and so does the turtle plate, so unless you start modding stuff ie; chopping bits off then it wont work, do you want to upgrade to a turtle plate ? if so , then why not (but its much more expensive) upgarde to a full trutle clutch system, that comes with the carrier and bell as a kit, but bear in mind it will come with a turtle bell which has a different pinion drive setup, so you will need a turtle pinion of the right size as well, i think the systems come with a pinion though, but depends size teeth wise the supplied pinion is, and larger the pinion the smaller the spur gear you will need , larger pinion makes gearing taller, so you need to make sure you have an engine with enough power to pull the gearing used, remember, on a baja, the pinion and spur should always add up to 74 teeth in total so the gears mesh right, ie; 17/57 which is stock, for example if you use a 19t pinion the you will need a 55t spur and so on, other issue is making different parts work together that are made by different manufacturers, as above the carrier you listed wont work with the turtle gear plate , research everything you can and ask questions on forums etc to get as much info as possible before you buy mix n match parts, most stuff will work together, but sometimes it just aint gonna happen, most manufacturers have a different idea on tolerance as well, so alloy parts sometimes holes a tad off and can be a real pain to fit, sorry this posts a bit long winded lol, but always double and triple check before you part with your cash, especially if its something on the more expensive side,

easiest way to check the spring is to wipe it off and if its discoloured, ie; going brown, then thats a sign that the springs stretched with heat, if the spring feels loose in any way then its stretched, and if clutch engages at what seems less than the usual revs then its stretched/weakened, easiest thing is to grab a few spare springs and change out as and when you feel it needs one, springs are fairly cheap and yours is the 8k (red) spring, that turtle part is just a one piece gear plate mate, your still gonna need an actual bell carrier to go with it,

clutch looks to have some wear left in it mate, as above though check or replace the spring, they do get weak with heat, and it looks like your carrier has seen heat lol, you can see the melting where the bearing sit in, not sure how you've managed to get it into three pieces though, or did you just cut it off cos it was knackered anyways ? bit of advice, the part above that still has the orange spacer in, keep that piece plastic, you can get alloy ones but they can be a pain to fit, and a little flex is fine at that point, as for the carrier itself defo go alloy, as ninetiesbeard said above, plenty manufacturers make em in varying prces, but if you just want to keep costs down then fit one of these linked below, hpi do there own, or used to, but there around three times the price as this one, i 've run both the hpi version and this cheaper one and both have been fine and lasted well, yes this ones rovan, but they are fine and any alloy one is better than stock plastic , https://www.rcmodelz.co.uk/aluminum-clutch-bell-carrier-black-2162.html

bit more info on the ubers from personal experience, mine were run on an obr twin powered baja, they are belted, ie; zero growth tyres, i have the first version of the super spikes and the grip on dry grass is very good, wet/damp conditions and grip is amazing, much better grip than the hostile mx's, downside was in mine the belts started to fail , but as above mine were the v1's, uber have since brought out the v2, same tread pattern just made em stronger on the belts etc, the v1's did tend to start and tear the treads a tad as well, but mine never lost any tread or tore all the way through, still fully usable and still grip really well, another thing they do is they tend to wear the tread at an angle quite quickly, but again all thats needed is swap left to right and right to left on them so the treads flipped 180 degrees and alls well till they wear the treads at an angle again, mine got the hell hammered out of em with using a twin engine and they do hold up really well, also there is the mini spike version available now, not tried those myself yet though, oh, one more thing, even with failed belts there still usable and just balloon a bit like a normal tyre, zero growth foams are recommended by uber , but i just used lightweight sponge foams and double taped em with gorrila tape, i found the lighter the foam the less likely it was to blow a bead off,

get a set of uber vipers for the rear mate, you will notice a significant increase in grip, yeh they aint cheap, but best tyre for offroad grip there is, link below to uber rc, but plenty places sell em, rcmodelz, silverback, rcmax etc etc, http://www.uberrc.com/product/281/

not sure how the yama buggy is set up mate, but i'd asume its either similar to hpi baja, or a combination of hpi/fg etc, work through the list i posted above and see what ya can find, start with the easier accessable bits then work towards to more complicated that need more dismantling, so, start with the clutch bell/pinion/spur and dogbones then work deeper if you dont find any issues,

you say buggy mate, what sort is it? hpi baja ? if its a an hpi baja then start at the clutch bell, from what you say with the bad metal on metal sound, the original baja clutch bells had the bearing post welded to the bell and that was a weak point, the welds would sometimes break and the bell spun freely without turning the actual pinion, again it could be the pinion isnt seated correctly on the bell shaft as well, sometimes they will back off the bolt and the pinion moves outwards a tad so it wont spin under load, also baja bells have a habit of snapping off the pinion retaining bolt which also leads to the pinion coming loose, next check the dogbones to see if its snapped a pin off one, also check spur and pinion to make sure neither is stripped, then if it aint any of those then start digging deeper into the gearbox and check for stripped/ broken gears and or broken drive pins, if it aint any of those then strip the diff itself and check for stripped gears or broken drive pin inside the diff, could also be the clutch perch thats spinning freely on the crankshaft as well,either loose retaining bolt or just been spinning so long its finally given up the ghost,