Model Forum / Radio Controlled / Land Models / October 2006

Anyone running anything other than the standard air filter on their Nitro
Car or Truck?

I put a Motor Saver on the Tmaxx about a month after we got it and it made a
huge difference in both performance gained and generally keeping the Mix
clean inside.  We were cleaning the Traxxas filter every time we used it but
this is not necessary with the Motor Saver.  We had to richen both the LSN
and HSN up a little when we put the new filter on too.

While having the Savage a part I thought I would just check and clean the
filter.  I noticed that the inlet on the filter was pretty small.  The
throat of the carburettor is 8.5mm in diameter, the elbow pipe down to the
carby is 15mm and the hole on the filter is 8mm and the airflow is not a
straight path through the body of the air filter so surely this has to
reduce the airflow.  Also being a bi-directional flow into the ai filter
only coming in the sides, if you had it facing down on one side this would
also reduce the airflow and probably suck heat into the filter rather than
cool clean air.

The reduced airflow would definitely dampen the performance of the motor.
It would also probably make the motor louder as the main velocity of the
airflow is coming from the air filter and not the throat of the carburettor.
After inspecting the Motor Saver filter on the Tmaxx I notice that there is
no restriction on air flow right up to the throat of the carburettor except
the bend on the elbow pipe.  About the only reduction in performance I can
see by having the Motor Saver filter on the Savage is a little less low end
power but a huge improvement on top end due to the change in velocity of the
air flow.

After a little bit of research I see that HPI actually do a copy of the
Motor Saver filter as option #72438 High Performance Air Cleaner for all the
Savage models.  Obviously HPI agree with my theory if they offer this as a
performance upgrade.

The list of new parts grows. :-)

Cheers