It's not the best but its soon to be mine Smartech spider.

Its a clone of the marder and as far as i know its got xrc baja type wheels and tyres, alloy front body post, and a rhino servo.

It needs a pullstart, theirs a few around on ebay at £19.99 but are these good quality?

Secondly i hear all the time about alloy engine mounts, gear carriers, alloy pinions and so on, ive read throught many topics but i dont see all i need to know so il ask here hehe:

Engine mounts - What ones do i need
alloy gear carrier - A must or bling?
metal pinion - is this correct or do i need both metal?
Alloy gear carrier - theirs a few sizes whats the diffrence?

I think thats what i hear are most common, anything elece worth buying upgrading for general field and tarmac bashing?

cheers in advanced for any help or opinions, plus tips on cheap traders is a massive plus hehe

kris

congrats on the new car mate! I have the FG Baja (basically a Marder underneath) and it it completely stock apart from a radio tray stiffener and it has been fine, loads of people have recommended the hopups you mentioned so they are a good idea on the reliability front.

As for general stuff, keep an eye out for loose screws and nuts and any breakages.

Matt

cheers fella, you got any ideas on officail pull starts and these £20 ones off ebay, any ideas on quality issues?

I'd go for one of RC Demon, I have heard great things about them

http://www.rcdemon.co.uk/shop/product/c ... _assembly/

i assume thats a full pull start assembly? if so im sold as its cheaper then ebay hehe

I'm not sure, drop him an email and ask

nice one... petrol all the way

that is a complete pull start.you can just buy the specific worn pat?

hello mardermaniac, the pawl is whats gone and to be honest its about £11 quid so a £15 pull start seems the ticket hehe.

I know youve got the marder knowledge so i can pick your brains, and maybe even a few left over parts i can get off you some time.


cheers for the help so far guys, cant wait im all excited hahaha

if you cant get em.i av an almost new genuine zen g260rc1 pullstart not a scratch on it and wi the zen sticker.£15 posted

i'll take it mate pm with anything else you have for a marder that i may be after.

also add your paypal lol

deleted the large pic hopefully

if you take some pics chris so we can see the bits.when you upload them size them as 640 by 480 and they will link perfect on the forum.the zen pullstart fits the cy flywheel cover too?
i have interchanged them many times over the years.

sorry about the pics, im really struggling on this eeepc linux laptop to photobucket stuff and resize. I will try and get a pic of the parts, i was thinking maybe changeing the flywheel cover (the bit the pull start screws too) to another version so i can fit a normal pull start.

hi kris .i have had a look at the pics you had up before and i do not recognise the covers that are on that engine.
even the exhaust is new to me.i think if it was a cy or zen then the seller would have probably sourced a pull start no problem.
im not saying it is not a cy. it could be a very old one or a remodelled one.really not sure but the covers are totally different from what i have seen before.
i havemeasured my baja cy and marder zen pullstarts and they are identical.

i have no knowledge on the car you have.maybe someone can add to this thread with a link.

hope you get the bits sorted.

A few more pics for you guys, anyone have any idea what the motor is? begining to think ive fallen into a big whole of doom with this lol

IIRC you can also resize in photobucket itself.

hi kris the pics are spot on and good detail.
the pull start is of a design i have never seen before and totally different to the normal zen n cy ones.

man those baja wheels are close to the chassis.did u say they were square drives in the rear wheel centres(look at the wheel not the hub just incase a square hub was forced into the normal hex insert on a baja wheel)
great steering servo,nice alloy shocks,the rear plastic gearplate looks as an fg would,the front upper n lower susp arms are not fg but are adjustable uppers,suttle little differences in the roll cage.

looks quite clean.

sure you will be up n running in no time

got her started (i have blisters its not been run in a long time i was told)

I can get her going but atm all she wants to do is drive off into the sunset lol i can seem to cure the throtle problem, the servo is working correctly and the car link closes all the way i cant push it further so assume its closed like it should.

Ive been told to reset the settings to 1 and a quuater turns out so il make a note as they are and try and reset the l and h needles.

other then that im pretty clueless anyone got any ideas? of what to check? its a pain to start and needs the throtle open to get it going.

ok ive had a little bit more of a play, so far ive taken the air filter off to check both buterlys open and close which they do.

Car seems to idle with the choke full on, its not a great idle but atleast it dosent wana fly away, now what does that suggest? new ring, new gaskets?

any help would be much apreciated

just so you know i also dont have much fuel in the tank so will collect some tomorow and see if this helps, and its a brand new ngk spark plug which ive just fitted which has helped with the starting a fair bit and ive reset the needles l and h and turned the choke a fair way in. compression wise if i pull on the starter one wheel lifts up as the string comes out.

please please help

WOw this forum is dead, or im borring lol

anyway, i have had a minor break through, the engine is an smt 1/5 petrol 23cc engine shown in the link below, now to source parts for this or will a zenoah 26cc big bore kit fir this? reason i ask is if i have to change the piston ring and the gaskets i may aswell put a 26cc on it?

http://www.smartechracing.com/English/P ... asp?id=176

Kris, I'm a bit stumped about your comment that you have "turned the choke a fair bit in". The choke is a butterfly and it's on or off (closed or open respectively). The operating lever moves 1/4 turn to go from full off to full on, it doesn't turn in more than that.

Anyway, I've included a link below to the set up sheet that comes with new FGs it details all of the various carb base settings, you might have to try most or all of them.
For "full load adjusting screw" and "no load adjusting screw" they mean H and L screws respectively. The "Neutral gear adjusting screw" sets the idle speed.

FG Engine Manual

The symptoms you described initially with a high idle that you couldn't turn down might be an air leak at the isolator block between the carb & engine. Check the screws are tight. If they are, check the gaskets.

Because it started before, albeit with a high idle speed, I'd turn the L screw back to the position it was at then, before you reset both to 1.25 turns out and work from there.
Initially, try setting the idle screw so that the throttle butterfly just grabs onto a 1mm allen key when it's closed.


Work on getting it to idle properly first, then once it does DO NOT move the L screw again. The rest of the mixture settings are 99% certain to be with the H screw and moving the L screw will only give tiny performance differences but will mess up your idle again.

I don't know if Zenoah parts will fit. Stevo's the guy to ask for that but it might be a case of send it to him and have him look at it if it's the first one he has been in to.

His service is excellent and he's very reasonable price-wise.
One advantage to getting him to do your engine is that he'll test run it for you and so will have set the carb up ready to run for you.

Drop him a PM.

hi,

the turned the choke in alot, was meant to say turned the idle in alot. sorry about that hehe

Also just to say i have tightend the screws into the airfilter and carb firmly but i didnt inspect the gasket, from what i remeber its black and looked fairly tidy, ie no rips etc is this coorect?
As for now the car will fire, the new ngk spark plug i had from a 1/5 tourer has helped the fireing.

With the needles at about 1.25 out and the idle in most of the way it will start and with the choke on full i get a lumpy idle which cuts out. If i lift the choke during this idle the car revs pick up and it wants to go for a drive.

i need to get some more fuel and mix in some 2 stoke as its not got alot in atm due to me using the fuel left from my mini moto. As i now know the engine is an smt has anyone heard of these? i cant see alot about them and im not sure what gaskets to use if i replace them.

Edit: cheers for the reply i will pm him now and see what he says, id rather not post the engine as it will prob cost me 30 odd quid to get it their and back and il probably get the answer of " new engine hehe" just because i know my luck but we will see

cheers

been away from the forum tonight but you have had some great advice.
never heard of that engine.if you do seriously consider any major changes then i would check to see if a zen or cy engine could fit
you would need to check the drive train and engine mounts.
have you actually checked that the throttle stop is back correctly as allan mentioned.just take the throttle rod of the servo and look at the other end as you move it forward and back and see if the throttle is closing down properly.
i can just see it barely in one pic.be careful adjusting needle settings.engines are seriously tempremental and tiny adjustments can make for big changes.

That gasket seems to be OK. Mine has the CY blue gaskets in but any gasket should be fine unless its damaged.

Did you set the throttle plate idle gap to about 1mm?
It's no good moving settings unless you remember where they were in case it makes things worse and you have to go back, especially if you're moving 2 or 3 settings at a time.
Make sure you set this with an allen key or similar and then once you have the mixture right (L&H screws) you can finally adjust it with the screw but not before.

Does it idle at all with the choke off?

Normally they don't run at all with the choke on. That's why the instructions tell you to put the choke on and pull the starter till it tries to start, then take the choke off and start it.

If not, I suspect that it's far too lean on the L needle to run at all, and choking it is the only way to get enough fuel in to make it fire. Slowly taking the choke off it speeds up which again is a classic symptom of "too lean".

Try some of the alternate settings in the manual I listed.

I seriously doubt Stevo will try to sell you a new engine unless there's a valid reason for it and there doesn't seem to be as it will "sort of" start and you haven't mentioned any nasty noises.

hello lads, it will indeed run if i take choke off but the wheels spin up and the revs get faster.

The throtle lever on the carb goes all the way closed, i will check to see if the butterfly closes to about 1mm.

I adjusted the needles on the advice of someone on msn with a baja and a marder so i didnt remember the settings originally. but it still fires the same as before and trys to run off just as before hehe

My plan tonight is to
A. get more fuel and mix with 2 stroke so theirs a good half a tank
B, find a manual and rest the needles
C. check the butterfly closes to a 1mm gap and adjust accordingly.

Is their anything anyone can suggest?

I have my carb off right now so I checked for you.
The gap is way smaller than 1mm, maybe 0.3 or 0.5 at the very maximum.

My index finger nail JUST fits in the gap when the carb is closed.

Sorry for giving you duff info mate.

If you set it too far closed and it won't quite catch or run you can temporarily adjust it with the trim on the r/c just until you know it runs, but always try it at those settings forst.

I'm away all weekend from now so good luck with it.

right my body cant take it any more, im in agony from using the dam pull start lol

but seriously its got to the point wher ive fiddled here and fiddled their with the settings set them to base and it just wants to go, then when i adjust a screw and try to start it no longer wnats to start.

The gasket on the outer side of the carb to the air filter is quite worn in comparson to the one on the engine side, will this be the cause?

for now thoe im shatterd ive put in more petrol etc to solve the low tank issue and im at a lost end, it still wants to run when the chokes on full.

i think im going to have to invest in a engine or send it to stevo

Where are you located Kris? If you're close one of us may be able to lend a hand

Matt