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Old 25th January 2006, 20:44   #1
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Nitro fuel ??

Hey, Maybe in the wrong place so Mods pls transfer this to where it shud be !!

Anyways what I wanna know is what is nitro fuel ? Also is it available in India and if yes where and how much does it cost ... Actually I'm asking this question as a friend of mine in the US has promised to gift me a radio controlled monster truck when he comes and he wanted to know its availability here as if nots avail here then theres no use getting that for me and will get me a battery operated truck. I'm planning to get this truck from either www.toyhaus.com or from traxass !!
If any of you own nitro powered rc toys pls give me your feed back on owning them ?? Is there any rc club in India ..any info on that wud be appreciated ..

Cheers

Mod note: Excessive smilies removed.

Last edited by DCEite : 25th November 2007 at 10:47.
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Old 25th January 2006, 22:12   #2
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Quote:
Originally Posted by khaadu75
If any of you own nitro powered rc toys pls give me your feed back on owning them ?? Is there any rc club in India ..any info on that wud be appreciated ..
First of all, the term "nitro powered rc toy" is a misnomer. If its nitro powered, its NOT a toy. A r/c buggy or monster truck at 100+ kph is no joke. Be warned, these engines are not "plug-and-play", they will bog down, run poorly, or fail if you dont take due care in tuning and running them. They do 25000+ rpm (thats right) routinely and thats no joke either.

There are rc clubs in India and most are for flying, not surface vehicles. Check out www.indiarc.com. They have a good forum with lots of people in this field.

As for nitro its available here. Even "nitro fuel" is a misnomer cooked up by these buggy and truck manufacturers. The correct term is glow fuel. Its a mixture of (usually,but not always) 50-75% methanol, 5-30% nitromethane, and rest castor (or castor-synethetic blend) oil (atleast 20%). Again, its not cheap. Methanol can cost anywhere between 80 to 150 rupees a liter. Castor oil is cheap, you can get it for Rs. 40 for 300 ml in any medical shop. But nitro will make a hole in your pocket (and also piston if your not careful) at a hefty Rs. 500 to Rs. 900 for 0.5 liters.

But driving these vehicles is an immense amount of fun if your willing to spend the money.

My advise, as someone whos been in the hobby, is to do good amount of research on the net on whats involved. Then its upto you to decide whether you are willing to go through the hassle of getting fuel, fuel accessories, glow plugs, and then tune the engine to top performance before you start having fun.

As for your truck check out www.towerhobbies.com, thats where i get my stuff from (airplane not cars). You have a good selection of RTR and ARRs (Ready to Run and Almost Ready to Run) there. I have not heard good things about Traxxas. I am in possession of a truck which has a SINGLE part made by Traxxas, and guess what, thats the part that prevents the truck from running. There are other manufacturers like HPI, Tower, Kyosho etc who make good products, check them out too before deciding.


My $0.2.

Ananth

Last edited by ananthkamath : 25th January 2006 at 22:16.
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Old 26th January 2006, 10:46   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ananthkamath
First of all, the term "nitro powered rc toy" is a misnomer. If its nitro powered, its NOT a toy. A r/c buggy or monster truck at 100+ kph is no joke. Be warned, these engines are not "plug-and-play", they will bog down, run poorly, or fail if you dont take due care in tuning and running them. They do 25000+ rpm (thats right) routinely and thats no joke either.

There are rc clubs in India and most are for flying, not surface vehicles. Check out www.indiarc.com. They have a good forum with lots of people in this field.

As for nitro its available here. Even "nitro fuel" is a misnomer cooked up by these buggy and truck manufacturers. The correct term is glow fuel. Its a mixture of (usually,but not always) 50-75% methanol, 5-30% nitromethane, and rest castor (or castor-synethetic blend) oil (atleast 20%). Again, its not cheap. Methanol can cost anywhere between 80 to 150 rupees a liter. Castor oil is cheap, you can get it for Rs. 40 for 300 ml in any medical shop. But nitro will make a hole in your pocket (and also piston if your not careful) at a hefty Rs. 500 to Rs. 900 for 0.5 liters.

But driving these vehicles is an immense amount of fun if your willing to spend the money.

My advise, as someone whos been in the hobby, is to do good amount of research on the net on whats involved. Then its upto you to decide whether you are willing to go through the hassle of getting fuel, fuel accessories, glow plugs, and then tune the engine to top performance before you start having fun.

As for your truck check out www.towerhobbies.com, thats where i get my stuff from (airplane not cars). You have a good selection of RTR and ARRs (Ready to Run and Almost Ready to Run) there. I have not heard good things about Traxxas. I am in possession of a truck which has a SINGLE part made by Traxxas, and guess what, thats the part that prevents the truck from running. There are other manufacturers like HPI, Tower, Kyosho etc who make good products, check them out too before deciding.


My $0.2.

Ananth
Hey, Thanx for the info !! I'll go and check out the club site and see what info I can gather on this . Also which company wud you recomend ? Are there any models that run on the unleaded fuel that we use for our cars as well ... I really wud like one but not if there are too many head aches involvd in owning and mantaining one..

Cheers
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Old 26th January 2006, 11:04   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by khaadu75
Also which company wud you recomend ? Are there any models that run on the unleaded fuel that we use for our cars as well ... I really wud like one but not if there are too many head aches involvd in owning and mantaining one..
I dont recommend anything cause I dont know much about the surface r/c vehicles. Do some research on a site like www.rcuniverse.com, and you will find what you want there.

Yeah there are models that run on regular unleaded gas but they are slightly bigger and more expensive than the nitro ones. I think the cheapest one will be about $600. Yet its worth it because if you are going to use it a lot it will save you money and time on fuel and tuning issues. Get lots of spares like tyres, spark plugs (or glow plugs for nitro) and other consumables. Because they are unavailable here.

make sure you get a RTR version to save you headaches of assembling.
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Old 26th January 2006, 11:58   #5
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ananth is right.
the word is nitromethane.
it is basically methanol 60% nitromethane 30% and castor oil 10%

i dont think it is available here because ive been trying to do the conversion to run on about 20% nitromethane or so but dropped the idea in favour of methanol.methanol is good for about 30% bhp increase.also it burns cooler than most other fuels.
http://www.jrwhipple.com/sr/fuel_making.html
you can try making your own fuel though.

you also have to know the stiochiometric ratio of the fuel you use.

i know gasoline is 14.7:1
alchohol is apx 8:1
and nitromethane is apx1.5:1-2:1

so you might have to go 3x 4x greater with your fuel flow.if jetted correctly it should give you 100% hp increase thats considering your piston/conrod can handle it.

ananth any idea about availability of castor oil here?
talking about castor based 2t oil(motul/castrol,etc)..wouldnt be a good idea to use the one available at chemists because it is sticky and clogs up your fuel lines.

cheers
tavish.
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Old 26th January 2006, 12:01   #6
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another thing .. buying denatured alcohol requires a license i believe.you will need people to source it for you.
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Old 26th January 2006, 21:17   #7
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cbr what engine did you try it on?

20% nitro is a BIG amount for an engine not designed for it. It will burn holes through your piston and bend conrods like crazy. Do not try, I've had a bitter experience and I dont want other people having it. I'm not saying it cant be done, it can, but with very careful changes to jetting and spark advance.

On glow engines however you can use up to 30% without worry. Some engines can run on as high as 65% but are used only in pylon racing and such competitive r/c events.

castor oil does not clog your fuel lines if you use the correct percentage meant for the engine, burnt over 15 liters of fuel in my r/c engine and all i can see is - NOTHING. No varnish buildup or sludge. As for 2T dont even think about using it in a r/c engine. It burns with the fuel and does not lubricate as well as castor in the event of a lean run.
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Old 27th January 2006, 11:55   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ananthkamath
cbr what engine did you try it on?

20% nitro is a BIG amount for an engine not designed for it. It will burn holes through your piston and bend conrods like crazy. Do not try, I've had a bitter experience and I dont want other people having it. I'm not saying it cant be done, it can, but with very careful changes to jetting and spark advance.

On glow engines however you can use up to 30% without worry. Some engines can run on as high as 65% but are used only in pylon racing and such competitive r/c events.

castor oil does not clog your fuel lines if you use the correct percentage meant for the engine, burnt over 15 liters of fuel in my r/c engine and all i can see is - NOTHING. No varnish buildup or sludge. As for 2T dont even think about using it in a r/c engine. It burns with the fuel and does not lubricate as well as castor in the event of a lean run.
idea was to try it on a rx135 engine.(ofcourse it wasnt stock)

i know people in the US who run their bikes on 80% odd nitromethane and 20% 110octane and so.
the problem with nitromethane is that you have to reduce compression because it burns very very fast.
also which castor oil did you try because from what ive heard .. you need to tear your engine down pretty often because of carbon deposits in the cylinder and the clogging of jets.
what is r/c ? racing ?
i was considering OWS 2t with methanol which i would be giving a shot pretty soon because couldnt get race use castor oil.

OT are you THE PIPEFATHER by any chance? who ports KB blocks in mysore
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Old 28th January 2006, 22:15   #9
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double post; mods pls delete.

Last edited by ananthkamath : 28th January 2006 at 22:17.
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Old 28th January 2006, 22:16   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cbr1000f
idea was to try it on a rx135 engine.(ofcourse it wasnt stock)

i know people in the US who run their bikes on 80% odd nitromethane and 20% 110octane and so.
the problem with nitromethane is that you have to reduce compression because it burns very very fast.
also which castor oil did you try because from what ive heard .. you need to tear your engine down pretty often because of carbon deposits in the cylinder and the clogging of jets.
what is r/c ? racing ?
i was considering OWS 2t with methanol which i would be giving a shot pretty soon because couldnt get race use castor oil.

OT are you THE PIPEFATHER by any chance? who ports KB blocks in mysore
Well you need to do a double check on that information...I think it might be 80% nitro and 20% methanol, not 110 octane; They may not be running stock ignition curves or they will blow the engine. Compression (even trapped compression) is not the only factor there, spark advance is much more important. I ve never heard anyone mix nitro with petrol, the stoichiometric ratios are simply too far apart that you couldnt possible jet the bike.

Racing castor (Castrol R30) might be available here but I dont know where, and in our r/c (remote controlled planes/boats/monster trucks) engines only regular castor is used. Sludge build-up is negligible and anyway you'll be doing teardowns often on a race engine (I assume you arent foolish enough to try nitro on the street).

No need to use castor on a RX engine though, regular 2T will do, just use a proven brand like Shell or Pennzoil and mix it in the right ratio for methanol.

Yeah I am the pipefather, it says so in my avatar
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Old 29th January 2006, 11:38   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ananthkamath
Well you need to do a double check on that information...I think it might be 80% nitro and 20% methanol, not 110 octane; They may not be running stock ignition curves or they will blow the engine. Compression (even trapped compression) is not the only factor there, spark advance is much more important. I ve never heard anyone mix nitro with petrol, the stoichiometric ratios are simply too far apart that you couldnt possible jet the bike.

Racing castor (Castrol R30) might be available here but I dont know where, and in our r/c (remote controlled planes/boats/monster trucks) engines only regular castor is used. Sludge build-up is negligible and anyway you'll be doing teardowns often on a race engine (I assume you arent foolish enough to try nitro on the street).

No need to use castor on a RX engine though, regular 2T will do, just use a proven brand like Shell or Pennzoil and mix it in the right ratio for methanol.

Yeah I am the pipefather, it says so in my avatar
when i say nitromethane i mean the same approx.60-30-10 ratio not just the nitro.
the ratios are too far apart..thats a point i didnt pay attention to before.
but im guessing fuel and nitro mix pretty well together so the ratios would get adjusted.right ?
i dont know of any engines in our country to handle even 10% or so of nitromethane forget higher.
castrol R30 is what ive been looking for since a very long time.
castor has properties which make it flow towards the heat.unlike any other oils.
even to run with regular fuel it would be more effective ..keeping aside the fequent tear towns.

cheers
tavish
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Old 30th January 2006, 19:31   #12
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Never used nitromethane but a IIRC I used to run a 30-70 mixture of methanol and castor oil in my control line model aircraft - has a glow plug engine - havent used it in maybe 10 years though....

Wish I'd graduated to RC aircraft - must be fun ....

zaphod
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Old 30th January 2006, 21:02   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by zaphod
Never used nitromethane but a IIRC I used to run a 30-70 mixture of methanol and castor oil in my control line model aircraft - has a glow plug engine - havent used it in maybe 10 years though....

Wish I'd graduated to RC aircraft - must be fun ....

zaphod
yes that is what most aircraft engines run on.
could you share details of where you got the castor from ?
ive been looking for racing castor since a while now.
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Old 25th November 2007, 00:27   #14
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Hi,

Does anybody know from where to get glow fuel (nitro fuel ) in Bangalore.

Cheers,
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