Engines and rain!

[Adam Nelson – Tom Shipperlee]

Hi all

In the winter cup we thought we had an engine problem but it soon came apparent that it was due to water getting in.

Is there a guard or some kind of method people use to help stop it as we lost about 6 mins in the second race due to pitting and slower lap times. The engine just kept spluttering.

Thanks in advance

Adam – Artifex Racing

[Amigos]

Hi Adam, we had terrible trouble with an older set of engines exactly the same as you every time it rained… you can reduce some of the misfiring by reducing the plug gap in wet weather but unfortunately water will often find its way in to the engine if it’s very wet and constantly raining. The oil will look white and milky when you drain it out so top tip is to always drain the engines as soon as you can after the race (next day at the latest) if it has been raining before the moisture corrodes the piston and barrel. If it comes out white then you will need to put new oil in and run the engine for about 10mins to hot and drain that oil out and throw away again, this will get rid of any moisture and remove any corrosion. Then new oil in again for your next race. Hope that helps, unfortunately it is a problem for us all and some engines are more prone to letting in water than others but if you reduce the plug gap then that should help the misfire, i’m not aware of any guarding or special waterproofing other than spray WD40 on the plug lead on every pitstop! perhaps some of the other more experienced teams might share their secrets regarding this one 🙂 Hope that helps.. Roy

[Adam Nelson – Tom Shipperlee]

Cheers Roy. We’re learning day by day! What oil would you recommend?

Adam

[Amigos]

I only use Joe Gibbs

[Stuart Allan]

Here is an eBay item number for you to the oil most teams probably run these days

301348708580

A very good oil and apparently a very small gain in performance over some other oils (so I’ve heard)

[Andrew Long]

We had exactly the same issue at the last race of last season.

Richard from UFO put us onto the spark plug gap trick towards the end of practice and it worked ok.

For the winter cup we came a little better prepared and had a seperate set of wet weather spark plugs already with a reduced gap and we doused the inside of the spark plug cap with wd40 before hand. As a result we had absolutely no issues with the engines at all this time round.

[Adam Nelson – Tom Shipperlee]

Perfect. Any idea what the gap was? I will get a couple of plugs ready. Looks like a wet one again on Saturday!

[greg lg racing]

hi adam I will be at the 1st round I will show u how to stop water getting into the engine /changing the plug spacing may work but to much m water getting in will still make it splutter like shit ///also wd40 is no good as it washes away it water u need duck oil spray //sprayed on the engine lead/plugs/switches before it rains it stops water pemertrating and stops any shorting out //?I thnk u have some duck oil in the bits I sold u //will come and have a chat at next round all the best greg

[Adam Nelson – Tom Shipperlee]

Sounds great. i will look through the bits and get whatever we need before saturday. Adam

[stephen]

We are in cadets and would appreciate knowing the reduced plug gap size for the wet…..currently set at 42 thou in the dry.

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