Question About Temp VS Lean Rich

[spudler_t]

So I am curious when you get the Mixture close or good to where you have no Power Bogs etc can you use the Engine Temp Idea to fine tune to get Max power or ensure you are not running say little lean but not enough to cause a Bog?
When it is say 50-60 F out should the engine be around 220-230F when Tuned properly or is that To warm for that Temp?
Now if say the temp was 70-80 F and you had proper cooling should the engine be teh same Temp around 220F or shoudl it realistically go up in camparison with the outside temp and be 240-250F?
I do know it should under no circumstances be 270+F is that the Max Temp that anything under it is Safe like a computer? Ie 250-260F is a Bit high and should be checked but not damaging where 270+F it starts damaging engine components etc?

I ask as I was Fine Tuning my T-Maxx and I was able to do wheelies from 1st and hold it into 2nd etc. I noticed today it would do it in 1st but just as it got close to shifting it would Drop so I leaned it about 1/16th an dit Held it from Off Idle Through 2nd till 3/4 maxx throttle then drop, I did a few WOT runs no Bogs, NO Glow Plug Issues, I could grab teh engine and it was Hot Enough to burn me if i held on for a 3 seconds but 1-1.5 seconds I was ok.
I do not have a Infrared Temp Gun nor teh Onboard Temp Unit and I did teh water test and it took about 2-3 seconds for water to Boil off so I do not think it is above 240F but I have no way to be positive yet. I was figuring if Using teh temp was a good way to fine tune I would get either a Gun or a Onboard Temp Guage, a Good (accurate) gun would cost what $30-$50? where onboard I can get fro about $20 what do you guys prefer and why? I
I do not have Telemetry and do not forsee being able to get it in the future so the advantage that way with onboard Temp is Moot.
Thanks

[Wildman4910]

Get one of the Duratrax handheld one's they are like $25 on tower.
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXEMG5&P=7

Having a handheld IR temp gauge is a great tuning aid, I usually tune for performance & run it hard using the handheld IR to keep an eye on the temp for the first tank after tuning, just as a safety measure as everyone has a bad tuning day now & again!

[RC-Fan]

I had the duratrax, but sometimes it gave me an error, or just couldn't read well, so I switched to the on board temp gauge, pretty simple to install, and you don't have to point constantly the temp gun to the glow plug.

[spudler_t]

I had the duratrax, but sometimes it gave me an error, or just couldn't read well, so I switched to the on board temp gauge, pretty simple to install, and you don't have to point constantly the temp gun to the glow plug.

So let me be Clear You had a Duratrax but switched to the Traxxas Onboard? Did you mount the Display on top of your RX Box and do you have The Black or Greyish RX Box and how well does it stay on and actually fit?
Also can you see the temps with the body on or do you have to remove/cut a View hole in teh body?

Get one of the Duratrax handheld one's they are like $25 on tower.
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXEMG5&P=7

Having a handheld IR temp gauge is a great tuning aid, I usually tune for performance & run it hard using the handheld IR to keep an eye on the temp for the first tank after tuning, just as a safety measure as everyone has a bad tuning day now & again!

If that is the case I used up a Year or more in bad tuning days now so I should Have Epic Tuning days for awhile.
I like the Idea of a Handheld due to the fact I can use it to Check a misfiring engine to find which cylinder is not firing, along with a Huge list of Things I would like to know temps of, My 2 Commercial Series Audio amplifiers for sure as They get warm when I am start pushing 2000 watts or so. But I wondered about accuracy on cheaper Units compared to teh traxxas onboard system.
I had a Smoking Hot Nice Hand Held Raytek unit that retailed for about $200 or so but my Old Roomates Jacked it, I used it to get temps of the bearing housing and gear cases of Huge Roots Blowers they use in Co2 Lasers, But I used that thing all the time on all sorts of stuff. Of course I am not able to afford those prices of tools being in my condition so I have to weigh the Cheap against the Cheaper now

Wildman4910 thanks for the link, (interesting side note I read teh LiPO warning) I had no Idea Li-Po Batteries were so shall we say comparable to thermite when exposed to Air and have to be bagged tagged and Gagged to recharge, I guess maybe making a Concrete or Metal containment device may be advisable if i start using them, I assume Lipo batteries are in teh Temp Guage??

[lubecakes]

It depends on humidity and fuel too, not just temperature.

I can say this though, if your well tuned engine runs 240-250° on a 80° day, a well tuned engine should run about 210-220° on a 60° day.....but once again, it's all variable and you should never tune for anything but performance.

[spudler_t]

Thanks I was Just trying to take extra Steps (like backup Protection) as I had been tuning for performance and what I was getting was great Performance and Idle etc. but found out due to Frying Glow plugs I was lean yet the Performance was awesome, Of course the weather had went from 50'sF and Semi Suny or Partly Cloudy to Mid 30's-low 40's F and Extremly High Humidity like 90% and Up and Raining almost daily, mys settings were from the First Weather Example but I did not notice a any Loss of performance except when I had no ability to start due to Glow plug gone Kaput, and I am Trying to find ways to double check my Tuning to ensure I do not waste the same amount of Plugs I think total I wasted 8 before I got it figured out (thanks 100% to teh people here)
Not to mention how hard it is on the engine running Lean enough to smoke Glow plugs I do not want to have to replace engines prematurely due to Lean runnings

[RC-Fan]

So let me be Clear You had a Duratrax but switched to the Traxxas Onboard? Did you mount the Display on top of your RX Box and do you have The Black or Greyish RX Box and how well does it stay on and actually fit?
Also can you see the temps with the body on or do you have to remove/cut a View hole in the body

Yes I had the duratrax, and switched to the on board gauge. I wasn't very confident with the temp readings, sometimes it gave me errors, not sure why. I mounted the temp gauge with Velcro on top of the rear receiver pack, so I can check the temps without removing the body. If you want to mount it on top of the rx box you can do it also, it fits pretty good.

[Wildman4910]

Yup the Duratrax uses lithium button cells.

I got my IR temp gauge at SEARS many years ago, it has held up great.

HarborFrieght has them too on sale for $30.
http://www.harborfreight.com/infrare...act-69465.html
http://www.harborfreight.com/non-con...ter-96451.html
http://www.harborfreight.com/infrare...ter-93984.html

[spudler_t]

Yup the Duratrax uses lithium button cells.

I got my IR temp gauge at SEARS many years ago, it has held up great.

HarborFrieght has them too on sale for $30.
http://www.harborfreight.com/infrare...act-69465.html
http://www.harborfreight.com/non-con...ter-96451.html
http://www.harborfreight.com/infrare...ter-93984.html

Thanks @Wildman4910, It's funny I love Harborfreight and for some reason it never dawned on me to check there I was looking online and so on thats not a bad deal plus they have a decent return policy if it acts up, At least I have had no problems with Items that need returned and Exchanged through my local store, I will for sure check that out.
Thanks again.

[CarGuy7a]

The only thing I dislike about the Harbor freight temp guns is that they do not allow you to change the emissivity setting which is what makes the IR temp gun accurate. Depending on what material you are checking temps on you could get a 5° or more variance compared to an IR gun with the emissivity value set to the material.

The duratrax temp gun has the ability of changing the emissivity value.