New to1/5 Scale..Slawhammer's Project

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....Froze Engine....

Yup good little GSP unit for the money.....
Ok ya know it is not just my time to run my firehammer..The more I up grade the worse it gets...I should part it out and sell out....and just go fishing....what's it cost for worm's
$1.50...have fun at less expence......................
Well today was a nice 65*degree sunny day...lets take the firehammer out and finish breaking ii the engine....I guess you could say I did that all right...I was about 3 to 5 minutes in to it...Bam came to a screeching halt...Locked up.....Would not even pull over to start.....Were done let's go home.....grumbling all the way....First the marine head..Now this...............Dam ..better off to gone fishing..............
Well I take things apart to get to the engine...remove exhaust..roll cage..carb...
pull the pull starter off...engine still will not roll over...off with the coil...off with the fan cover....Engine still mounted to chassie...I cut the lip off the frame a while back to get to the fan cover..with out taking the engine off the chassie......
ok ..loosen up the 4 bolts to the cooling fins...Take it off with the spark plug dome&
copper gasket......frozen piston..still won't move....I had to stand on the chassie and give the cylinder a good jerk..It came loose...NASTY...both c-clip's came loose that hold the piston wrist pin in place...Piston is no good...cylinder is no good....
So now here I set with out a engine....Got to place a order to DDM in the morning..
for new piston & ring..new 4 bolt cylinder...Ther goes 150 bucks.....
I mean 2 top ends in a month ruined....You can bet I will have 2 piston's & cylinders on hand................................
I am not mad ..just a little disapointed at the moment.....................
I will get the stuff ordered up in the morning and it will be shipped ya the same day..
I will have the parts by WED next week......ready to run next week end......
Enclosed pictures of the cylinder and the piston.........wish it was a simple tuning problem....No I could not have that...I get a major problem.......
every thing always happen's on a week end.....Slawhammer:(
 
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Damn does that look familiar! Sorry to hear about that Slaw. When mine did that, I just bought a complete motor, cheaper in the long run.

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I'm sure you put the gaps of the circlips facing up or down, but so did I and mine did the same damn thing. Maybe you could find some snap rings small enough to work?

On the other hand, if you could find a welder that could put a booger on the wrist pin it wouldn't come out!?!

Or maybe a press fit wrist pin, like what's in a small block Chevy? Maybe take a wristpin from a 46cc and drill the piston and rod journal out to accept it? Make the pin and the ID of the hole in the piston the same size and press it? I can hold a .0005" on my boring mill at work, but I only have a 20mm boring bar. :(

Maybe you could heat treat the pin? I know heat treating makes everything grow about .001"-.002" Maybe?

Just trying to shoot out ideas to you.

Good luck Roger!
 
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Wow that is a lot of screading on the piston. I have had mine out a couple of times for short runs and all is well on mine. I hope when you get the engine back together it stays that way for a while.
 
Trip..Yeah old school on press fit wrist pin....been there on 1/1 engines....
It will be cheaper to get another cylinder.....vs a new engine....slawhammer
 
MadHampster..Hey my friend long time....Well as you can see little bad carrinage going on.
I will rebuild it up again.....get a new cylinder.....
Now as to the wrist pin clips.....I checked and ther is nothing small enough for these
in Rc Stuff..so your stuck with the wire clips that come in the piston kits....
when installing just be careful not to twist or bend the clip..it may go in ok even if ya do
...But will come loose after about 1 gallon of fuel ran in the engine....
I did a research on these wire clips...if you twist or bend it slightly on installation
even if they go in ok.....they will fly out some time...make sur the opening in the clip is facing up or down.....if the opening is or the side it can catch a port opening and come loose....ya seen the damage......Hell even brand new engine's the clips can come loose
cuz some one had to build the engine.....We just hope we all get a good engine when we buy a new one......All replies welcome..Slawhammer
 
Hey teamchrome..thanks for the post on the clips....Yeah I remember that from O'Neil Brothers....I also read that some place else....I even think in eddie's video on the dark soul kit there is also mention of the clips...............
I have them in correct....but who know's maybe the groove was not right in the piston
maybe I twisted and did not know it.....Any way good lesson for all to read....
I got a order together and will be getting sent out in the morning...............
I should still be running this week end.....Thanks for the reply....Slawhammer...
 
I am getting ready for the rebuild on the engine....I have parts on order..was told
they were shipped today...So that means Friday for sure at my door step.....
Weather permits..I will be out Sat...breaking in the engine.....Hope it stays together...
Lookin at a new engine..G270RC....that will be in my thoughts.......
last 2 days 65 & 70degrees out..bummer firehammer sitting.....Yeah I have nitro...
but I have not ran that in over a year...may never be ran again by me...I am gas now
all the way...........Have to save my pennies..hope the firehammer stays together so
I can get Redcat 5T....that way when one is down I can play with the other......
I have had a good time up grading and making the firehammer better.....Slawhammer
 
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Is your last name Murphy or is he your uncle?
dam man that sucks...

I have 2 myself and one is down. problem is ordering goodies for 2 gets costly. I just made a few big invesments and can't even afford a $50 order cuz I have a 3rd car waiting for me to buy I ordered that arrived sooner than I expected lol. my redcat rally was picked up yesterday so saving my pennies. going to leave that one pretty much stock.... well until I finish the fg's anyway.

haven't been fishing since I lived in the mountains. it's just not the same in the city
 
Hey Pipe...No !!! But I know the law all to well....Yeah I thought about more than 1 gasser......The more I think about it the more it would cost in the long run for more than 1.....Hell Pipe I am 64 years old..I don't think I need any more toyz....The one I have cost me plenty......Besides I have it almost all converted to FG any way....
Just a stroke of bad luck is all......I will have my firehammer up and running this week end
....Good to hear from ya...thanks for the reply....Slawhammer
 
The Lastest Up Date...I got the firehammer engine Rebuilt again...
New piston & ring,pin bushings ,pin washers,wrist pin,clips...Lets hope the clips stay
this time..yes the opening is facing up....New Marine cylinder.Dark Soul Cooling head..
Like I had before...New coil..New pull starter...The old pull starter way catching internal
I just scraped it all out as junk...maybe orig for all I know....I will be ordering another pull start for back up...No need to try to repair it...New is like 20bucks complete ready to go..
All is together..have to wait over night for all the sealant & lock tite to cure...
It is ready to fireup....Yup brake-in again on the engine....I will see how this goes
I did like that crazy power the old marine cylinder made....I have another ADA cylinder in the mail ..that may be here yet today...So I do have a back up plan..............
All else fails...part this firemammer out ..get a REDCAT 5T...start all over again...
So ther ya have it....Yup I will get a video again of this rebuild along with a speed check
to see what the stock gearing is....Then the 2 spd unit for a speed check........
I am still waiting on parts for that 2spd..............................
I hope I have better luck now....2 top ends in a month just ain't right.....
.......................All Replies Welcome.........Slawhammer................
 
Tore my semi down last night too and cleaned all the leaked grease up from the dif. am trying self hardening gasket maker this time on the dif to see if the grease will stay in. I want to invest in a nice alloy dif with rubber seals, but again it's that stupid money thing. I had to take an older used layshaft gear and filed the roughness while watching hockey last night. time consuming and not perfect, but a free fix and lets me play. can rip the car apart finally and see what's up with it. one shock leaked out and dif needs grease... no complaints. tinkering is as much fun as running them. the car's chassis has braces along the sides screwed from the bottom similar to what you did. it's a 10mm chassis and then braces, hell I could toss offroad wheels on and take it bashing it's so stiff


good luck this weekend. 65 years young. I am sure you will have a good weekend of running. you deserve one good weekend of fun this summer
 
Hey Pipe...Yeah I bit the bullet awhile back and got a Fg rear diff case Fg8484
worth the money...I can use my friehammer diff internal gears and out drive..
I fill it up with wheel bearing grease...Seems to work fine...Both rear wheel lock up
throw dirt.....I did the same with a lay shaft from spinning a transfer gear..chewed it up good....your chassie mod sound solid..........
I would love to have a sem-tractor....But way too much money in this firehammer.....
soI will play with what I have......It is almost converted to fg anyway....
add alloy front end and that will be all Fg..I will have..........
I can only play with 1 unit any way........Good to hear from ya.....
All Replies Welcome....Slawhammer....
 
Im still running my Darksoul marine set-up..
Love it!!
Lets hope this is a good runner.
Just orderd my steel 19 tooth pinion and it was sent to my old address.. Im sure the post office will take care of it.
Good to hear your up and running again.
Almost time for a Redcat or a BAJA!!!!!!!
Chuck.
 
Hey teamchrome....Yup I hope this is a good runner now....I can't afford any more set backs.....My firehammer project will be about complete as far as I want to go this year..
Then just be maintance and play time......To Quote Bigger The Better" your never Done"
reffering to your always adding or changing some thing....
So I hope to get out today and get this new rebuild fired up.....
Looks as to another rain day here........I guess I could out on the front porch......
Oh the miss's would have the red a$$ for me if I did that.....She has her flowers ther now ..ready to go into the garden....Better forget that idea....She would take my Tx away..and then no play time at all........I will keep ya posted on this rebuild....
..................All Replies Welcome.....Slawhammer
 
Ya know I think this hobby is not ment to be for me...some one put the whammie
on my firehammer....I fired up the the new rebuilt engine...primed the fuel bulb
set the choke..pulled the starter about 3 times.."pop"..took the choke off...pull it again a couple times..fired up..ran about 30 seconds to 1 minute..blowen smoke...carb needles
were base set H 1 1/2 & L 11/4....it just quit...could not pull the starter..locked up...
By now I am really hot.....third top end......I took it in the house...got away from it for a
bit.....come back and put it on the repair stand....I took every thing apart I had too
get the engine out.....I took the new rebuild engine apart ..down too peace's
got some Brake clean and flushed out the bearings,,cleand every engine part....
Inspected the inside of the cylinder....I seen a small nick or scratch...sanded it out smooth.....inspected the piston....I noticed the wrist pin clip had turned to the slot
tryed to come loose.....I had both clips upward when put in and locked in the groove...
I took it apart..I reworked the piston groove for the clips to set deeper....
I put back together with new clips..and put the engine back together....
and install it back in the car....This took all of 4 hours to do from start to finish....
tear down rebuild the engine to back to running again.........I let the sealant & lock tie set over night to cure.....So I am ready to try this yet again...........
You could say I got lucky on this..I cought it it time before any real damage....
I am going out later to fire this up.....got a break in the weather....sun just came ot
so looks to be in a couple hours thing will be some what dry out.....Been rain here
every day for the last week......So there ya heve the lastest again on this project...
So I will keep ya posted on this.....Slawhammer....
 
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