Calling All NITRO Heads

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

jr744

Active Member
Messages
401
Reaction score
937
I've never owned or driven a Nitro RC myself. My son drove one of his friends nitro's (Kyosho MP9 TKI4) this past Saturday and loved it. Now he wants a Nitro RC. My son is thirteen, and has been playing with electric RC's since he was seven, so he has plenty of experience. Please convince me why, or why not to buy a Nitro RC and give me the pros and cons.

Thanks in advance!
 
Nitro is FUN!!!
There is nothing like the sound and smell of a nitro engine ripping around.
However it has complications.

Breaking in a new motor is pretty simple, but once the conditions change you have to properly tune the motor and carb.
Back in the day I had nitros that would start all the time and others that would take forever to fire up. Bump boxes and electric starters made it easier, but I lost count of the blisters I got from failed pull-starts.
There were times that my afternoon would be ruined due to leaving my glow plug igniter at home charging…..

The cost of gallons of nitro fuel vs. batteries is probably a wash, so I wouldn‘t factor that in.

IMO LiPo / brushless is mostly maintenance free.
Keep your vehicle clean, properly charge/discharge/store batteries - Plug and play 99% of the time.

Another consideration is the amount of Karens in your area….
We used to get the cops called on us all the time when there was a group of 3 or 4 of us playing with our nitro trucks.
I go back to the same spots now and you wouldn’t even know I was there with a brushless truck.

Hope this helps!
 
An understanding of engines, and fuel mixtures is a must in the nitro world if you want consistent starts and run time... carb needle settings will be changed on a daily, even hourly basis while running..

only takes a couple lean pulls to cook the piston and liner fit and your off buying a piston and sleeve and most likely a rod..

After run maintenance is a must, properly oiling down the engine after each outing will be necessary for engine life..

Crank bearings should be replaced after every gallon of fuel.. glow plugs will be a major cost if the tuning can not be grasped (especially these days)...

Respectfully I'd disagree that nitro cost and lipo battery costs are relative..

You will burn through far more money in nitro compared to the up front cost of a lipo... We would burn a gallon a day through each engine when I was racing nitro boats... Be prepared for the long haul cost of nitro..

One thing it will teach is how to deal with frustration, because it will ensue for sure.. that and a lot of exercise running to go get the rig after it stalls due to needle settings...

I love nitro undoubtedly, I spent most my life in that realm and had some of the best times, but engine's are something that needs to be truly understood from top to bottom... There are no magic needle settings, every day will be different...
 
I've never owned or driven a Nitro RC myself. My son drove one of his friends nitro's (Kyosho MP9 TKI4) this past Saturday and loved it. Now he wants a Nitro RC. My son is thirteen, and has been playing with electric RC's since he was seven, so he has plenty of experience. Please convince me why, or why not to buy a Nitro RC and give me the pros and cons.

Thanks in advance!
Why buy Nitro:

Because it's not easy plug and play. It's got the nostalgia of old school modelers. If it runs right, YOU did something right in your tune.

Let's be honest, electric will smoke a Nitro on a street or random bashing. On the track they are actually pulling off the same if not better lap times due to lack of power. Too much power could = spin outs and broken parts on a track. Most guys try to catch up using their finger, not driving skills. That doesn't work on a track.

Here's the truth. Back in the day, Nitro was the fastest RC around before brushless. Most RC'ers today do NOT know how to tune. They get frustrated with RTR Nitro engines that IMO ALL SUCK! That usually results in broken RC's, they beat the power out of them on a sh!ty lean or rich tune and things start to break.

The best piece of advice to a noob in Nitro is to go for the gusto! Purchase a 1/8th scale buggy/truggy and install an OS.21 racing engine. (why go that route, because trust me, you don't want anything to do with RTR Nitro RC or its engine, those are the engines that leave bad tastes in the mouths of RC'ers) You will need a pipe, you will need a bump box to start it, you will need P3 turbo plugs, you will need a battery to run the bump box, you will need fuel and ARO, (after run oil) igniter, clutch, flywheel ETC. Lots of PM (preventative maintenance) with a Nitro but all well worth the experience!

You are probably talking close to 2G after servos ETC. to get it up and running with no brain damage. If you decide to go the brain damage route for $4-500 on a RTR Nitro, we can talk about an engine swap later for less brain damage.
 
Old Thread: Hello . There have been no replies in this thread for 90 days.
Content in this thread may no longer be relevant.
Perhaps it would be better to start a new thread instead.
Back
Top