Upgrading the Traxxas Nitro Vee

[harles]

Don't get me wrong, I like the Nitro Vee.

I love the electric start. The Return to Shore is great. It has a huge tank for long runtimes. It is immensely reliable.

I just wish that it could keep up to my Villian EX.

I have already made a few changes. The boat refused to plane out with the stock prop, so I put on an X440. Now it planes out nicely.
It ran terribly hot, so I added a second cooling loop. Now the head is on it's own loop (with larger tubing and pickup), and the exhaust is on annother (the stock loop). Now I can touch the head when I bring it in after a run.

I guess the question is, do I try to find a good tuned exhaust, or do I replace the engine completely? What else would you suggest?

[helodog]

Why would you want it so cool that you can put your finger on it ?.The trx pro runs at about 275-300 .It is designed that way to expand when at that temp.If you run it at 175 then you are wearing it out cause the sleeve isnt expanding like it should.I am not sure what temp the trx marine engine should run .When I asked the tech guy ,he wasnt sure ,but you need to heat it up a bit so it expands properly .remember when a new engine is cold ,it turns over harder than a warm engine.

[harles]

I guess the reason I was worried about how hot it was getting is because it actually cracked the plastic above it and started to melt the forward portion of the exhaust tube. perhaps it is too cold now. I guess I can always restrict the water flow, but I do believe it was definately too hot before!

In any case, it is alot of fun to run! :)

[helodog]

WOW!.Melting is not good .Maybe they do not leave alot of room with the top on .Is it vented good?.

[harles]

There is not alot of room between the head and the top. When you put the cockpit in, it actually bends over the wire that heats up the glow plug. With the additional cooling, I can put it in and it keeps alot more water out. there are some ventilation holes toward the back of the deck, but they are right over the radio box, and do not do alot for cooling. It is an interesting place to put them though, several inches away from the carb, so the exaust line has plenty of time to heat it up before it gets to the engine. Is that not a bit counter productive?

I guess I don't know enough about glow engines. I used to me a Kawasaki Jet Ski mechanic though. Now those things ran cool! The water intakes were INSIDE the jet pump, so when it is running, the cooling systems is pressurised with up 600lbs (depending on the model). They had water cooled heads, cylinders, and exhaust. At no times did they run so hot that you could not touch the engines with your bare hands. Of course, we were running at Bear Lake here in northern Utah. It is at over a mile in altitude. The water there is always a bit on the cool side! :)

One of the really interesting things that were happening in the aftermarket while I was at that job (this was nearly 10 years ago now) was the development in tuned exhaust systems. I was really fond of a system by Factory Pipe, that used a short pipe for good top end power, but had a microprocessor controlled water injection system to cool the exhaust at lower rpm. The cooler exhaust would slow down the pressure waves, which had the same effect as lengthening the exhaust. In effect, no matter what rpm the engine was running at, it was on the pipe! Now if only someone would shrink that to make it useful on the little weedeater engines....... :D

[harles]

I think I have come to a conclusion. I am going to convert it to electric. Right now, I am thinking alon the lines of a direct drive Graupner Speed 700 12V on twelve cells. I have been looking at the Jeti 600N esc, but I am open to suggestions. Any ideas?

[joeyman15]

I have a Nitro vee for about 6 months now. What can i say but i love it, at first i thought i made a huge mistake when i bought it. But all it took was a little work. I really don't know what every is talking about prop is bad. I am Useing it and i can plane out in about 5 - 10 feet. But the stock cooling is crap. Change out that tube for a brass one and get bigger tubing. once you do that it should run just find.