getting the Novarossi P5 engine broken in is a PITA!

Not much more you can do, you can loosen the glow plug a little prior to starting and heating it up real good like you said. I see your from Boston, so I know the extreme cold is not helping your breakin process either. Just think after a few more tanks it will all be worth it.

JUst heat it up to get it running... just with any top mill I whould do 2 tanks at a high idle. to ease the break in .

actually since its a turbo motor you dont want to losen the plug at all, if you get debris in between the plug, then tighten it back up, you will ruin the seal.

just use the heat gun, and you can open the throttle a bit to get it to fire a little easier. also do a search for the "heat cycle" method of breakin. your idling tanks through the engine is the older method and not recommened anymore with newer manufacturing technology.

You also need to bring the piston to BDC, then put a paint dot on the flywheel so you know where it is. As soon as you shut off the engine, return the piston to BDC while it cools down.

i had the same deal with my p5 and it is a PITA....u just have to do the "patience" thing...use the heat gun to heat the engine but don't get it to hot...the parts are new ...remember this...heat it up to no more than 180-200....it should fire pretty easy at that temp....and go get a few more glow plugs too...they tend to foul out easily during breakin....

i just started breaking in a new nova notor myself. it seems they keep getting a little tighter each year. as everyone says- heat it up. use a real hot igniter every time you fire it. sometimes they are set so overly rich on the bottom they tend to load up so bad that it will take a lot of fire power to overcome the amount of fuel taken in. you may even need to pinch the fuel line or remove it just to clear the case of excess fuel. dont be affraid to lean out the lsn just a bit. its very important to get the mill up to 200F or so. zandor had a good tip there- turn the idle up. unless you have done this before you have no idea what a big help it can be. and definately mark the flywheel so you know exactly where bdc is.

I personally would never break in a ~$260 engine in 30 degree temps. Unless you live in the tropical section of Boston.

Don't idle tanks thought your engine. You'll cut the engine life from 7-8 gallons down to 3-4. Use the heat cycle method.

Speaking of which you shouldn't fire the engine until it up around 200 F with the heat gun. You can use a hair dryer but you'll be lucky to see 160 F in "normal" weather. Following the heat cylce method you need to drive the car around and keep the temps above 200 for 3 or 5 minutes. You'll have to wrap your heat sink in aluminum foil to accomplish this (again in "normal" temps). In 30 degree weather, you may have to bungie the heat gun to the engine in some manor </sarcasm>

I appologize if I've come off negative. I know I was pretty cool with you on your personal transponder thread too. The thing is that I love my P5 and to read that someone is taking a great engine and just destroying it by idling tanks through it in freezing temps just gets me upset. EDIT: making me even more upset is that you're telling the whole forum that breakin in the P5 is a pain in the ... (PITA). My breakin went very smoothly (at "normal" outside temps)

I'm sure you're not very happy with my post here, but this is how I feel. I don't have any beef with you, I just don't agree with your breakin process. I'm sure we can agree to disagree. I just wanted to be heard.

I actually do not live in Boston anymore..........I live in Northern California now. I used the heat gun till I got the block to around 200 fired it up and let it idle nice & rich then putted it around my local track for 5 minutes. Put at BDC let it completely cool....then started all over again for the first 3 tanks of gas never going over 50% throttle.

I then went to my local race on Saturday and dropped the buggy on the track for 5 minutes running brief spurts of WOT and had my pitman check the temps and the engine never went above 235.

Entered into Sportsman Nitro class and qualified first for the B Main (first two spots move up to the 20 min A-main)...I won the B Main and took 3rd in the A-main....not I do think is that bad due to the fact I have never raced nor drive an 1/8 scale buggy prior to Sat.............

Plus I just got done going over the buggy and at WOT on the trigger the carb was really only open about 75% which means I still have 25% more to go! OH YEAH THIS BABY IS GOING TO FLY!

Your location is misleading then. Sorry for unloading on you.

No worries no offense taken plus I should have updated my sig...........I agree breaking in the mill in Boston temps would have been a waste of a good motor.

I have 2 P5's and the break in was more difficult than most engines I have had but it is worth it. The bottom end and reliabailty of the engines is great.

I was actually thinking about getting another P5 as a back up motor just in case something happens to the first one..........plus I have been officially bitten by the 1/8 scale buggy bug..........

Scottd said:

I have 2 P5's and the break in was more difficult than most engines I have had but it is worth it. The bottom end and reliabailty of the engines is great.

Click to expand...

Maybe I was lucky then. The only problem I had was keeping on top of the temps and forcing it to get up past 200. I ended up with several layers of aluminum foil, a sock and beer cozy all wrapped around the head. LOL

I noticed it takes a long time for the engine to build up the heat....like 5-7 minutes so I just had to be patient........at least I can start the motor on the starter box without using the temp gun if I leave the piston at BDC................I had to adjust my EPA for high as at WOT the slide carb was only 75% open....what in the hell am I going to do with 25% more top end and even more torque in a race!!! WTF!!!!

The P5 is a bottom end engine. The top end is not bad but a large part of the torque and power is down low.

One of my P5's is a Hotmod. It has more power overall then a "stock" P5 but the most impressive aspect is how much the top end increased and how much more rpm's it will pull over a non modded motor.

I looked at the mod motor and I felt the regular P5 was more than enough power to win at my local track and my most recent racing results show this to be the case...........the track has lap times from 22-24 seconds...........more top end would do me little to no good because there is not enough room to let it wind out......

Mine is also modded. I've never seen it run against a normal P5. I'd like to tell you that I've seen it walk on a WS7. In racing circumstances you just don't get a chance to drag race people. I donno how powerful it is compared to the other race engine. I just know it's too much for me.

well I raced again today and I am at the end of the first gallon of fuel through the engine (Trinity Plat. 30% Race Blend) and I placed 2nd in the A-main....against a number of RB C5, WS7II, WS7, and modded P5s and none of them could pull away from me on the straight....in fact I could pull on all of them without much problem.....I ran the 20 minute main and at the end the engine temp was 195F.............

Also the P5 started to pull wheelies........which was crazy and my pit man thought I was trying to show off and I told him "I am giving the same amount of throttle as before but the engine is finally starting to break-in."

Do you have oil in your diffs? My buddy was breaking in his Sirio .27 in his PCR and he started pulling wheelies on pavement before he put oil in the diffs. Your track must have some good traction too..