savage with Axial .28 . tuning issues

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
fordfan6680

fordfan6680

Member
Messages
31
Location
Ontario, Canada
So recently i sold off my hpi evo 3drifter and bought back a savage I sold over 3 years ago . When I sold it . It still had the stock f4.6 that I'm familiar with as my ss currently has an f4.6 as well . But now to the point here when I bought the truck back it had an axial .28 v1 . Guy said it runs like a top and he tuned it the day before . Now I know tune has a lot of things that can throw it off tune . When I got home I emptied the half tank that was it . Added fresh fuel ( sidewinder 20% nitro 10% oil ) same as he was using took after a few pulls it started idled great but when I pull the throttle the motor seems to hesitate and burps and barely did 10 km/h after trying to adjust the idle . I manage to get more speed out of her but under 200f temps and still quite sluggish gearing is 13cb 52 spur side . I'm not sure if its the gearing that's throwing me off or the tuning . I'm new too this motor and could use some wise words of wisdom . Any tips or help would be apprecatied. Thanks !
 
Well the Axial tunes the exact same as the f4.6 does, start with the idle and then the hi end needle and lastly the low end needle.... sounds as if the gearing is kinda high but should still at least get on the pipe and run, start tuning the high needle and once ya get it above 220 or so it should start running better then tune in the low needle....
 
Thanks for the insite. I as well thought the gearing was a little far off . I'm building this truck to be a torquey basher so was thinking of a 16-48 gearing combo is about 3.00 ratio . Tomorrow ill see what I can do tuning wise . Now I've read that the factory settings ( so to start fresh) , on the hsn atleast would be flush . Now seeing as the hsn can be hand adjusted or with a flat screwdriver . That plastic hand adjustment thing makes seeing " flush " impossible . So how would I be able to tell if I'm flush ? I've seen a ring on the golden peice just before the plastic if I richen it up ( hsn ) but if I lean it , I don't see the ring ( more like a grove . Looks to be marking something ? )
 
The marking on the HSN you are speaking of is the "flush" mark. Line up the bottom of the plastic with it.
 
Also 16/48 is a great basher ratio, I run it myself.

Remember, don't tune until you are at full operating temperature. This is around 220 degrees F.
 
it also helps if you learn to picture the needle housing as a clock face and turn the needles in 1 hour increments till you get it in decent tune....
 
Awesome, that's what my assumptions were but I wasent sure and haven't read that for sure it was anywhere. So I appreciate that . What do you think of the 16cb 48 spur I'm considering getting ? I have some diff locks I've yet to install due to hear in about all the broken parts they've caused . What I've done to this truck in the rear I packed as much heavy duty ( farm grade ) tractor grease to reduce slipping and I will say it had a wack more traction then stock . What are your thoughts on this method ?
 
Saying I start at flush , and using the clock method. (From my knowledge factory settings are set rich ) I would want to try to lean the truck out right ? As in turn clockwise in 1 hr increments ?
 
Like X has said 16/48 is a good basher gear to use....I do not recommend locking the diffs, for 1 you will need a wide area to even turn around and locking them is likely to break other parts so leave em unlocked..., I use heavy grease in my diffs with no trouble as yet.... yes you want to lean the mixture till it still smokes alot and doesn't overheat usually 230 or so, and no higher than 270 or so.... most all my trucks run right at 230 and they all have lots of rip....
 
To - " X " I almost ran a full tank and tried speed runs some climbing but still temps were under 200f . Witch from what you guys say leads me to believe I'd be running the truck to rich ?
 
Yea if you can't get the truck above 200, assuming everything else is fine, then you are a bit rich. That also assumes you gave sufficient time to heat up.
 
Nice looking rig, if ya wrap a lil sandpaper around a can and sand them wheel wells smooth they will not crack so easily.....
 
I like the truck. Good paint scheme. Though I'd constantly worry about knocking those verticals stacks off everytime I landed on the lid.
 
I've never cracked one . But then again I have yet to really beat on savy's just small jumps some mud runs here and there but ill defiantly give it a shot ! And "X" ample amount of warm up time is given . Ill mess around a bit more with the tuning in the next couple days . And ill get back to you with my results .
 
Yeah i was concerned about that when building them . What I did was use half inch copper . Half inch nut and bolts and press fitted with glue the bolts into the copper and bolted them to the body . If anything I believe they'll rip out . But it was for the cool factor . Ahah . I have a set raptor body I bash the truck with normally and the raptor body has its wounds and scars . Along with being wire tied together in places .
 
use shoo goo or GOOP to repair the body when it gets torn up. scrap lexan adds some strength too.....
 
Okay guys. I think I've now rooted the real problem here . Being the tinker time guy I am I spent 3.5 hours tinkering after our chats . I pulled the motor to do a further inspection while doing the inspection I noticed the piston was a golden brown colour on the bottem and normal silver on top . The sleeve still looks good as I can clearly see the cross hatching but it takes little effort to turn over motor . Also if you turn really slow you can hear the air leak between the piston and sleeve when its approaching TDC. so I'm guessing that why she wouldn't tune work a crap . And to be quite honest I'm suprise it even started let alone idle'd so well . Guess its rebuild time ... or a new mill . Or I could flux it ?
 
Yea, an engine with no pinch is no engine at all. it's going to come down to your finances and desires for the truck. For just a piston and sleeve it's around $60. The axial is a decent engine, but it's far from the best that's out there. If you have the coin I would spend a little more and grab a LRP z.28R spec 3, they can be had for $160-175.

On the other hand, if you really have some cash burning a hole in your pocket, and you like modding, the electric route would be fun. You have to swap out several things, and spend several hundred dollars on the parts. But if you want the most powerful set up, that's it.
 
I prefer nitro or gas myself as I'm a mechanic o I know ins and out of most car and truck engines ( real ones ) plus the sound and smell is like icing on the cake . I do like what I've herd about the lrp .28 . A friend runs one in his buggy and says he can really get up and go with it . I was also considerinh the losing xxl mixed gas motor herd there the size of a 5. 9 motor so I would assume it to be a drop in
 
It's smaller than the 5.9. The losi engine (it's a dynamite actually) is a 5.1cc. Also, you lose alot of power if you go to that engine, it only has 2.2 HP. Where as the LRP .28 has 3.89 HP. And the cherry on the crap sunday is that the losi engine costs alot more, more than double the LRP.
 
Well I Bertte throw some coin onto my paypal and hunt down an lrp then by the sounds of it . Thanks for all the detail for each . So apparently I left my glow igniter out side on the lane and my mom ran it over so I was left with it in pieces ... as my other igniter ( back up . Takes 1.5v c battery ) or was until it ceased to work . Wasent any good I went about making one igniter from the two . So what I did was I used the smaller rechargeable battery with the spring from the ignitor plunger used it to lengthen the negative spring . Put it together but still nothing . So I check battery almost full charge . Turned out to be the negitive connection was bad . So I just rewired a negitive ground and bam ! I took pictures but I need to re size them to add
 
So I just tranfered $200 into my paypal and I guess it says itll take 6-8 days to go in . Now while I'm waiting on that I got another question here. In my hpi f4.6 I've always ran blue thunder 20% . I believe oil content is 16% ( lost the bottle I had ) needless to say I out of it . But have a gallon and a half of sidewinder 20% .10% oil . Is it okay to switch ? Is there certain steps I should follow to switch ? Do I need to re - brake in the motor with this new fuel ?
 
Whenever I do it I always take the engine back to factory settings and run a tank through it on the ground bumping the throttle, next tank I start tuning slowly I do it this way to be on the safe side.
 
Any modification to your engine requires some level of retuning. In this case, since the fuel is a fairly major factor and you are dropping the oil content substantially, Griff is correct start from scratch on the tune.
 
I ran my last tank of blue thunder and I reset the tune before even starting ( just as some practice ) then used the clock method and sure enough by the time I was halfway threw the tank it was flying I was having fun . Then I put in the sidewinder returned to fac. Spec and fired right up second pull . But burped and died (touched the throttle). Pulled twice again, an second pull snapped the chord lol
 
Last edited:
Hey guys a quick couple of questions before I tear into my axial motor . After removing the pull start I noticed it to be quite wet at the back . Is that normal or is my bearing toast ? Could this be the cause of my lost compression ?
 
Thats pretty well normal for most engines....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Members online

Total: 303 (members: 1, guests: 302)
Back
Top