piper_chuck
05-27-2005, 08:08 AM
I've been trying to decide what to do with my old Steve Muck Spartan Streaker mono hull. I put it together years ago as something I could run at the lake for fun. I chose an OPS .45 at the time because it was strictly a fun boat for use at the lake while out family boating. I had other boats for racing.
Anyway, I've decided to try racing again. There's an active club that's a bit less than 2 hours from home. I think I can "escape" from home often enough to participate in some of their club races, and perhaps the IMPBA district race there.
So, now I've got a dilema. It seems that all of the monos in this club are gas. I don't want to spend the money on an entirely new boat, engine, and hardware, I'd like to use the Spartan. The club will let me run in the open mono and offshore with it, but with the current engine, it's pointless. I'd be way too slow.
So, I'm considering a replacement engine. The hull is 40" long and about 12" wide at the stern. It's supposed to be able to handle up to a .90 nitro engine. I originally thought about converting to gas. It seemed that the hull was big enough to use something like a G23 or G26. However, the feedback so far is that's not a good idea. The other choice is a bigger nitro engine. I've got a limited budget for doing this, too many bills and quite a bit of money in planes already. I don't want to spend $500 on one of the typical racing engines. I've found a place where I can get a new OS .81 VR-M for a bit under $240. The specs seem pretty good and it's much more affordable than some of the "racing" brands. This engine would give me a much better chance against the gassers, and I wouldn't need to make major changes to the hardware to use it.
I'm looking for someone who has run this engine, or has seen them run, to know if it's a good engine, and if my plan seems worth doing. Thanks in advance for the input.
Anyway, I've decided to try racing again. There's an active club that's a bit less than 2 hours from home. I think I can "escape" from home often enough to participate in some of their club races, and perhaps the IMPBA district race there.
So, now I've got a dilema. It seems that all of the monos in this club are gas. I don't want to spend the money on an entirely new boat, engine, and hardware, I'd like to use the Spartan. The club will let me run in the open mono and offshore with it, but with the current engine, it's pointless. I'd be way too slow.
So, I'm considering a replacement engine. The hull is 40" long and about 12" wide at the stern. It's supposed to be able to handle up to a .90 nitro engine. I originally thought about converting to gas. It seemed that the hull was big enough to use something like a G23 or G26. However, the feedback so far is that's not a good idea. The other choice is a bigger nitro engine. I've got a limited budget for doing this, too many bills and quite a bit of money in planes already. I don't want to spend $500 on one of the typical racing engines. I've found a place where I can get a new OS .81 VR-M for a bit under $240. The specs seem pretty good and it's much more affordable than some of the "racing" brands. This engine would give me a much better chance against the gassers, and I wouldn't need to make major changes to the hardware to use it.
I'm looking for someone who has run this engine, or has seen them run, to know if it's a good engine, and if my plan seems worth doing. Thanks in advance for the input.