Building and Set-Up Tips

• Remove the baffle from the stock exhaust muffler. This will allow the gases to easily escape from the chamber. It will increase the engines performance and make it louder.
• You can set up the car to run wide or narrow. I found that the wider set up provides better handling.
• When putting on the shock caps for the first time be sure you thread them on straight.
• Cut the back end if the body out to increase the amount of air traveling through the body, and help keep the engine cool.
• This car can reach serious speeds, so it is important that the tires are balanced to retain good handling on the straights.
• The piano wire which connects both steering belcranks and the throttle servo to the carb can be replaced with ball joints for less slop.
• Put washers on the screws which hold the front "upright set" or hub carrier in english, to reduce the slop.

Running Tips

• The best tip I can give you is to stay in control of your car. Although you might be able to gain a lot of speed on the straights, this won't do you any good if you don't give your self enough room to slow down for the upcoming turn and end up smacking the boards. Staying in control will cause you to break less parts and do better in races.
• When breaking in the engine be sure it is running extremely rich. Acceleration should be slow and speeds should be kept very low.
• I have found that a good operating temp for the stock engine is about 250 degrees F. My second time racing at the track I set the car too lean in attempt to get more performance. Little did I know how much stress a 15 minute main puts on the engine. My friend used his temp gun and it read a scorching 357 degrees F. Since then I've still ben able to use the engine but I probably shortened it's life by a lot.
• Don't run the car in areas with too much loose asphalt. Small pebbles will fly up and get lodged in between your belts ands pulleys.

Other Kewl Tips

• I found an easy way to dye light colored plastic parts. All it takes is some "RIT" clothing dye, (you can find this at almost any super market for about $1.99) water, and an old pot (don't use your mom's brand new supper high tech teflon coated, thermo nuclear digital pot because there is a chance it might get stained). I actually used a large can which was once a tomato sauce container before I turned it into my personal parts dyer. Fill the container with water until all the parts are covered. Remove the parts from the water. Start heating the water, and when it begins to simmer reduce the temperature. Add a high concentration of the clothing dye and stir well. Carefully place your parts in the water and continue to stir. The longer the parts are in the water the darker they will get. Once they have reached your desired shade remove the parts and let cool. There you have it.

Your Tips

Author's note: The following tips have been e-mailed to me by fellow R/C enthusiasts. I don't necessarily agree with these tips. I believe that spending lots of money on hop-up parts is not necessary to be competitive. I would only recommend getting them if you have money to burn, (and who does these days) or if you are a serious racer.

The following tips have been provided by Craig.

Clutches, Carbs and Fuel Filters
• Take off the clutch springs, because they are way too tight to get the car going. Also, Replace the stock carburetor with an O.S. 2bka carb, which will help increase the stock engine's performance. Don't forget a fuel filter to stop any particels from reaching your engine.



The following tips have been provided by David.

Air Filters
• You can use the Associated RC10GT air filter on the Nitro RS4. All you need it an Associated air filter base, the paper element that fits it plus the pre filters. Just make sure that you ziptie the base after you put the paper filter on it. With this setup all you have to clean is the prefilter or just change. A new one only costs 3 or 4 dollars.



The following tips have been provided by Joe.

Tubing and Performance Parts
• To keep new fuel tubing on the stock pipe and fuel tank I used a piece of shrink tubing to sorta squeeze the tube in place. The reason I did this was because I couldn't fit a zip-tie on it. It works well and all I needed to do was heat it up a little, to hold it and then run the car and it will shrink more and give out a real firm fit. Only do this if you are using after market tubing that is thicker than the tubing that comes with the kit.
• Use the sway bars for the nitro! They are very nice, and work well.
• Use the front ball one-way diff. It is very necessary if you are going to race. It will increase handling in the corners when you hit the brakes and also when you let off the gas a bit. This is because you stay in complete control of the front wheels.
• Buy an OS engine. The HPI nitro 12E engine runs at a max rpm of 25,000, a nice OS .12 CV-X will go at 31,000+. OFNA makes a .12-.15 upgrade for REAL POWER! I will be installing my OS engine soon when I get some time.




The following tips have been provided by Neil.

HPI Pipe
• Here's what I did to put a MIP stinger pipe on my Nitro RS4... it rips! I used a Losi GTX manifold and header tube (the rubber one), and connected these to the Mip Stinger. I didn't use the MIP head pipe. The pipe does not run down the left side of the car, because it rubbed the body that way. So I ran it around the right side of the engine and down the center of the car. I have a Losi pipe holder (wire) attached to one of the gas tank screws to hold the stinger. The only thing left to do is some how aim the exhaust away from inside the body/chassis. I used the stock HPI exhaust tube (clear), attached to a piece of curved aluminum tubing to get it out the side of the body. Here is a sketch of the set-up:

  




The following tips have been provided by Nick.

HPI Pipe and Overheating
• First I have to comment on what Neil suggests to do with the MIP tuned pipe. Basically I think tuned pipes are a very good thing. They increase your engines performance while at the same time making it run cooler and taking away the pressure that builds up in a normal muffler, which results in longer engine life. Now what Neil suggests is, to mount a very long tube to the end off the pipe which will increase the pressure inside the exhaust system, causing the engine to run hotter and less efficient (ever tried to blow through a straw then cut it in half and felt the difference?). So if you want the highest performance from your engine donīt restrict exhaust gas flow!!!!! I recommend either the original HPI tuned pipe assembly or the Integy one. I have to admit though, that both are (as Neil mentioned) mounted along the left side off the chassis which might cause them to scrape the body, which is a pain in the a.., but still better then decreasing your engines life and performance!
• Second thing I wanted to suggest is, that all you guys who are using the stock engine (which I think is a very good little power plant) go and buy a real heatsink-head. I myself have always had problems with the engine running too hot, no matter what the air/fuel setting was and I think that this is mostly because of the pathetic little heatsink-head that HPI provided the engine with. I believe that a good aluminum cooling-head (Dynamite, MIP,...) will solve the problem.

The following tip have been provided by Stephen.

Easy Cleaning
• Ihave found that a compressed air hose works wonders when trying to clean up my car. its powerful and gets into those hard to reach places in your car. Don't have to worry about brush bristles breaking off in hard to reach places. I'm sure you know, its no substitute for a deep down cleaning, but it saves alot of time.