RC Car Nitro Engine Selection
The Rc car nitro engine size required, is dependent on mostly the car or trucks physical size. This is best represented by the class or scale factor of the model. The scale factor is broken down in to 4 main classes.
The chart below best represents the classes for the size of the RC Car Nitro Engine required.
Scale | Cu. in. | CC’s |
---|---|---|
1/16 scale | 0.07 cu. in. | 1.15cc |
1/12 scale | 0.12 cu.in. | 2.0cc |
1/10 scale | 0.12-0.18 cu. in. | 2.0-3.0cc |
1/8 scale | 0.21 cu. in. and up | 3.5cc and up |
In some cases it may be necessary to select an engine displacement that falls outside of the range provided. However this chart will provide a very good baseline on which engine to select for any car or truck size.
RC Car Nitro Engine Horsepower / Torque
If you haven’t yet read the Torque vs Horsepower Article, now would be a good time.
Higher quality or more expensive engines will generally provide more power when keeping displacement the same for a comparison. It is advised to shop with caution when looking at engine horsepower values. Horsepower values are an excellent and the best measurement for determining how much power an engine has. This measurement varies over several manufactures and makes it difficult to choose the more powerful engine. In this case it would be best to ask on our Forums whether the engine or another option would better suit your application.
For your RC car nitro engine, it would be best to have an engine that has the highest amount of horsepower available, not torque! Remember, we have the ability to optimize gearing, thus changing the torque delivered to the wheels. The difference is we can not change the amount of horsepower delivered to the wheels through gearing. Horsepower always remains the same.
Which would you prefer to have, more horsepower or more torque?