motor clean-up?

Use aircraft coating remover, made by mar-hyde under the name Tal-Strip II, available in auto supply stores.

Red S.

On 10/5/2004 10:55 AM Ted shuffled out of his cave and grunted these great (and sometimes not so great) words of knowledge:

Get a crockpot (under $10 new at WalMart) and some antifreeze. Immerse the engine in the antifreeze and put the crokpot on low for about 8 - 12 hours. Rinse the engine and lube it.

You may need to use a toothbrush or small brush on some of the stubborn spots, but this works exceptionally well.

DO NOT USE THE CROCKPOT FOR FOOD AFTER DOING THIS !!!! The antifreeze gets into the pores of the crockpot and will come out in the food and poison you.

DO NOT DO THIS INDOORS !!! Do this outdoors as the fumes WILL get to you.

MAKE SURE CHILDREN AND ANIMALS CAN NOT GET AT THE ANTIFREEZE !!! The antifreeze is sweet and children and animals are attracted to it. IT WILL POISON THEM.

As long as you follow the above precautions you will have no problems. The engine will come out looking like brand new.

There is a thread on RC Universe

that discusses this method (along with what to remove from the engine first) and has some before and after pictures.

Replace with an electric motor, then take the gas motor, boil in caustic, and sell on ebay.

I used lacquer thinner once to free an engine that sat rigidly glued by seven year old castor oil. I just soaked it overnight in a small jar. It couldn't have done the rubber seals in any good, but apparently did no harm. The next morning, it was loose enough to turn a little by hand, back and forth, a little more each way each time. A few more minutes of twisting broke it completely free. I remember that engine fondly. It ran just fine afterward, but died a rather violent death one evening several weeks later, but that's a whole different story.

Yep, replace with an electric motor and $1000 worth of other stuff and you will still be underpowered compared to the gasser.

I don`t know .. the new battery technology is pretty impressive.... however .. I did go to the auto parts store and got a spray can of Tal Strip II for $5.75. I sprayed it on and 20 minutes later I scrubbed it with a brass brush and rinsed it off with water... dried the part out and wow... clean as a whissle... oiled everything after clean up. Sure beats $20 for the stuff the hobby store sells.. It didn`t really want to get the carbon off that well though but the baked on oil came off nice...

That's a lot of precautions. Best for bachelors without pets or friends.