Getting My Savage X Running Again

Over the last couple of days I charged all my batteries and picked up some nitro fuel for my Savage X.

This afternoon I finally got it running again.

It’s been two years since I’ve had time to play with it (or any RC’s) so I had to totally reacquaint myself with how everything works on the Savage X.

The first step was to get the engine started.  It’s been so long I couldn’t even remember the process of doing that exactly, but after finding my Savage manual I figured it out.

Starting a Savage X is actually quite simple:

1. Turn on your radio, then receiver.
2. Prime it by plugging the exhaust with your finger and turning the engine with the Roto Start until you see the fuel reach the engine with no air-bubbles left.
3. Push down with your glow plug ignitor while at the same time turning the engine over with the Roto Start.

It took a couple of tries, but considering the car sat there for two years it actually started up pretty quick.

Once I got it running, however, I had to play with all my engine adjustments.  To start with, it was idling really high so when I lifted the chassis the wheels would start turning forward so I had to play with the idle adjustment to turn the idling down.

Once I got it to the point where it would idle without the wheels wanting to turn I started playing with my fuel mixture.  I really can’t remember why I had things setup the way they were on the engine, so after making a few small adjustments I just decided to re-set the High Speed Needle adjustment back to the factory settings and start from there.

I have an Axial Temperature Gun so I was watching my engine temperature to make sure I don’t overheat it.  I took the car for a spin in my back yard for about 10-15minutes and just drove it around at low-med speed just to get a feel for the engine and to watch the temperatures.  I’m pretty sure I finished breaking in the engine two years ago before I stopped playing with it, but just in case I’m going to take it easy on it and kind of go through some of the same steps of breaking the engine in again.

Here’s a list of things I think I still need to do to get this monster in top bashing shape:

• Get the engine properly tuned and fully broken in.
• Look into steering servo.  Current one seems to be really weak.  I think I bought a stronger one 2 years ago but never installed it.  If so, get it installed.
• I bought a reverse module 2 years ago but didn’t install it yet so get that installed as well.

Once those are done, this puppy should be ready for some serious back yard bashing!

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