January 12th 2004

Picked up the HPI RS4 Nitro 3 RTR kit with the Stratus body, along
with a "starter pack" of nitro gear (wrench, igniter, fuel, etc)

January 15th 2004 (approx)

Started the car for the first time. Started right off the bat. The
second tank, I couldn't get it to start, and had to enlist the help
of a friend.

January 19th 2004 (approx)

Ran in to problems getting the body painted. Picked up a replacement
body, and will use the first one for testing purposes. The new body
is a Lancer.

February 18th 2004

Ran a tank through the car, after having a friend help me start
it. I can't seem to get it to stay running myself.

When it was running, it seemed like it didn't have much low-end
power. I took apart the clutch and found that there was grease or
something inside the clutch bell, where the shoes make contact -
obviously that's not ideal. While I was in there I tuned the idle
screw and throttle mechanisms. Tightened down the fuel tank better,
put threadlock on the engine screws (per directions), and adjusted
the steering.

Ordered some upgrades (2-speed transmission, racing clutch,
speedometer).

February 19th 2004

Morning: Tried to start it again. I can only get it to run for
about 3-5 seconds, and then it dies, regardless of the needle valve
setting. I'm not sure what this means exactly. Maybe I need to
clean the air filter.

Evening: Tried to start it again. Same results. The needle valve
looks OK but I may need to clean it out, which means flushing the
whole fuel system I guess.

February 20th 2004

Tried again. Several times as usual. No luck. Posted to a message
board in the hopes that someone has some tip that I've missed
somehow.

February 24th 2004

Tightened everything I could think of to reduce possible leaks.
There's still a leak around the flywheel bearing, but from what I
have read, that is normal. Filled the tank to the top and started
it right up, and man, it was running very well. I suspect that
there was not enough pressure in the tank, so the fuel wasn't able
to go in to the carb fast enough.