The glow plug is one amazing piece of engineering, the closest anyone has ever got to a true perpetual motion machine, you radio controlled cars engine will run without anything apart from fuel, no spark plugs or electrical ignition, these babies run on the glow.
Selecting the correct glow plug is not that difficult you just have to understand how they work. Truth be told they are not exactly perpetual motion machine, they still require a little kick with a 1.5V battery to start the glow, after that they will keep glowing as long as the engine is running.
Turbo or Standard
A turbo plug will only work in a turbo engine, these do not have tiny 1:10 Scale fans blowing air into the engine like there full sized counter parts, the turbo plug is tapered at the end to create a tighter fit to the engine head, this in turn increases power slightly, you can’t use a turbo plug in a standard engine, these require standard plugs.
The Glow Plug Temperature Rating
You need to find the right temperature glow plug for your engine, a hotter plug will work better when the engine is a little short of heat, while you should use a cooler glow plug if you have a large engine that produces a lot of heat.Hotter glow plugs also make it easier to start your engine, while the colder glow plugs will give you slightly better performance during you run.
There is no right or wrong setup, everything needs to be taken into account, from the temperature of the air to the hight above sea level these all affect they way the glow plug will perform.
Quality over quantity.
When buying a radio controlled glow plug it’s always, as so many things in file, worth your while to get the slightly more expensive glow plug, these generally have a more consistent tune and heat and will often outlast the cheaper plugs by several runs, which makes up for the extra cost.
Reading your glow plug
Using a few simple methods it’s easy to find out how close you are to a perfect tune by inspecting the glow plug, if there is a surplus of oil on the head then they are running to rich and need to lean up your mixture, if your glow plug is a grey color with a small amount of oil then your spot on with your tune, likewise if there is little to no oil and your glow plug filament is bent or thinning where it connects to the base of the glow plug then you are too lean and need to richen your mixture.
Some general points about glow plugs
- Never touch the filament, this is very fragile and doing so can break the filament and ruin a plug.
- Protect your engine by only buying good glow plugs from decent hobby shops
- Keep your glow plugs in a cool dry place, they don’t like moisture
- Always select the right glow plug
- Follow the recommended break in procedures for your engine.
- When Breaking in an engine chances are that the plug you use will be ruined.
- Keep your engine in tune
- Never tighten a glow plug too much, it doesn’t need to be as tight as you think
- Watch out for nitro detonation, this means your using the wrong plug or your tune is way off.
- Use the right glow starter
- Ask other racers for help, the RC community is an awesome one and someone will always be willing to help you
Watch the video related to gas remote control cars
This is Bubs gas powered RC Car
Help answer the question about gas remote control cars
what would happen if you add remote control vehicle fuel in to a regular car or planes gas tanks?anybody know what would happen if someone added the fuel you get for model planes and cars to a regular cars gas tank? both are fuel what do you think will happen?
About Author
Gregory Alexander is a lead member of Karnage RC Drift and Race Team, and competes at racing and drifting radio controlled cars every chance he gets. Once a beginner he now shares his experiences with who-ever will listen. To find more tips and tricks like the one in this article please visit my site : The Ultimate RC Resource Site
you are killing your car and your engine man
jon is dat the beast
Start with an electric. Any Traxxas electric will work for a beginner. May I suggest the Stampede or Rustler because of how strong they are. They can be driven on or offroad. So its the best of both worlds. Some links to the rc cars:
http://www.traxxas.com/products/electric/rustler2006/trx_rustler.htm
http://www.traxxas.com/products/electric/stampede2006/trx_stampede.htm
I've never owned one, but I have seen many that will indeed go over 60 mph. For me they are way too expensive for the amount of fun you get out of them.
in the UK motorized RC vehicles [battery] are allowed
to be used with caution and not on the road
but nitro fueled RC vehicles can be used without a permit
but only on private grounds/property and with owner of the land permission ,which is fair enough because some nitro fuelled RC vehicles go extremely fast,and would cause a nasty injury if it hit somebodys foot/leg on the main street,if that helps at all?
ps:and of course there is the high level of
noise pollution to be taken into
consideration too,so all in all !
and i have never been to sunny california in my life,i will stick my neck out and say no you cannot use a gas/nitro rc vehicle on pavements and streets purely because it
makes sense not to
you use rc fuel.. its sold at any hobby store. its about $15-20 a gallon, but the car uses so little that they only sell it by ounces.
the distance it can be controlled from has to do with the power of the transmitter and receiver in the car and controller. You can buy controllers that will work well over 1/2 mile. being $180, its on the lower end, so i would say about 1/8th of a mile.
i dont have one, but my neighbor has one that will hit 75mph, but you need a license for it… thats all i know.. i dont know who authorizes the license, but i know its by how fast it goes.
airsoft much more fun its being in war just with out the deaths
It depends just how hard that remote car hit your ankle…I am sure you can tell by looking at it and how large a contusion you have. At this point I would soak it in some warm/hot water 2x a day,UNLESS it is swollen.
If it is swollen, put ice packs on and off for 20 minutes intervals 2x a day.Feel better and good luck on Sunday. ***** If it really is troublesome, of course, see your DOCTOR.
if it is old, the piston may have more wear and just using more gas, you may try a micrometer and check the piston and cylinder and compare them to the specs of a new engine
1/10 scale is the most common electric if you go up from there you are talking about gas. 1/18 & 1/16 scale just come out and they are catching on big. But most will say a MPH rating and at best they might do half that. With electric r/c's the faster the car goes the less run time you will have on your battery, but just go to your local hobby shop and ask questions
You need to track down why it locks up with the glow plug in there. Put it back in and see if the engine is still locked up. Something could be in the cylinder blocking the piston. Pull the head if you can and check. It also could have just seized from overheating. the time it took to remove the glow plug would have been enough for it to cool off and loosen up again.