Anyone have info on HPI .15 marine engine?

[dannyual767]

I bought an HPI .15 marine pull start engine on ebay tonight. Does anyone have any info on this little motor? What is the hp rating? I've tried to find it on the internet and have come up with a big goose egg :unsure: .

The engine will come with a header but I don't know if I'll be able to use it. It goes down into the boat. I'm planning on using this engine in a Dumas Lil Rascal outrigger that my daughter and I have been working on off and on. She helped me bid on this engine tonight. I was at my son's 9th gradefootball game (yes, they won!) and she got the bid in at the last second and we won by just a little bit . Thanks!

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[Watercadet]

HPI never made a marine motor :blink: That looks like someone had a Traxxas Nitro Vee and put the cooling head on a HPI motor. If it fits and the squish works, great! Traxxas makes a header for the old N. rustler that works well in boats.

Adam

 

[not2bright]

looks like there low power engine. i had one, only lasted for about a half a gallon. note to self: car engines and sand dont mix

 

[Ron Olson]

It looks to me like somebody found a water-cooled head that fits on the HPI. I do know that a Dynamite head is a bolt-on to the HPI .15 SS motor. What that head is from, I don't have a clue.

The Traxxas motors have 5-bolt heads so it's not from there. Maybe a Kyosho?

 

[Eric Perez]

It sort of looks like the traxxas head on the old TRX12 marine that came with the nitro-V. But that head looks too slim(low-profile) to be Traxxas. Probably Ron is right, a head from some old kyosho marine motor.

 

[anthony_marquart]

From the looks of the rope on the pull starter,. Either the rope is new or the engine is hardly used. The rope always gets a little oily after they have been used a bit. Looks like it will be fun. I wish I had a cooling head for my .15 engines.

 

[dannyual767]

Well, everybody, I was hoping to hear better news than this . The seller advertised the engine as "new" so I'm assuming that it wasn't used.

I've been reading on other threads that if you use a buggy engine, you have to be careful and make sure that it is an on-road engine and not the off-road versions. If this is really just a buggy engine with some other marine cooling head put on it, I'm hoping that I didn't buy an off-road version. Not only that, now I'm worried that the head clearance may be way off and this engine might never run right or produce the right amount of power :angry: .

 

[Eric Perez]

Well, everybody, I was hoping to hear better news than this  .  The seller advertised the engine as "new" so I'm assuming that it wasn't used.
I've been reading on other threads that if you use a buggy engine, you have to be careful and make sure that it is an on-road engine and not the off-road versions.  If this is really just a buggy engine with some other marine cooling head put on it, I'm hoping that I didn't buy an off-road version.  Not only that, now I'm worried that the head clearance may be way off and this engine might never run right or produce the right amount of power  :angry: .

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I don't want to be the bearer of bad news -but since when is an HPI FE15 sport engine that comes in the older RTR NRS42 model going to be an engine that can produce the "right" amount of power. This engine is going to be producing close to 1/2HP. If you want to read an article on how to modify this engine to produce more ponies got to http://www.nascart.com look on the FE15 thread.

I think that for sport use the engine will probably work if you install it in the right place and you use the right pipe and the right prop.

I would also like to point out that the engine in the picture has no flywheel. You are going to need a flywheel of some type to get the engine to stay running.

Don't get me wrong, if the price is right then the engine should work for your application, with some elbow grease and a couple of extra parts (flywheel and 5mm threaded flex-hex).

 

[Jr Branham]

Danny,

I had two of those motors, they are on the low side as far as power goes. Run it rich to break it in, then have fun with it. In my opinion, I'm not sure I would install it in a Lil Rascal. Maybe more of a small mono. The lil rascal needs help as it comes in stock form. The alum sponson brackets are way too heavy. I drilled holes in mine to lighten them up some. The kit just builds too heavy for a low power motor. I installed mine in a Bandit pistolero, ran o.k.. Enjoy

Jr. Branham

 

[dannyual767]

Alright, it looks like I should've done a little bit of homework before bidding on this low powered engine. I'm bummed because I could've put the 39 bucks I spent on it toward an engine that produced some power. I hate learning things the hard way .

 

[dannyual767]

Eric, I tried to go to the website that you listed but I had no luck. I'd like to see if there is anything that I can do to help it out. If not, oh well. More wasted money . Ignorance just keeps costing.

 

[dannyual767]

I've just been rereading all of the responses hoping that maybe I read something wrong and really I bought a real powerhouse for not much money. Yeah, right !

Anyway, Jr Branham, you say that you had two of these engines. So it really is a "from the factory marine engine?" Can I rest a little easier knowing that the head clearance is probably okay and that the engine will run? Any additional info would be much appreciated.

 

[Slideblues]

Found this at HPI Racing:

http://www.hpiracing.com/optionparts/stat-15.htm

Gene

 

[dannyual767]

Thanks, Gene. That looks like it with an aircooled head for a buggy. .6hp @30,000 rpm.

 

[Jr Branham]

Danny,

Not sure about the origin of the two I bought. I also won mine off an ebay auction, it was a few years ago. I wasn't too dissapointed with mine, but, you can't expect them to run like a high-end engine. It was more of a "play" project. The hull was a Bandit pistolero (small glass mono).

On my Lil Rascal, I installed an OS motor. But when I built mine, I really was weight conscience. Dumas is known for overkill on their wood weights. The Dumas hardware is not too great either. You could probably use some fast electric hardware, maybe a Fuller's set-up. Do something about the sponson brackets, that is a poor design.

Jr. Branham

 

[dannyual767]

Jr Branham, your engines were marine engines with water cooled heads like the one in my pictures? If so, then it makes me feel a little more comfortable that the engine will run good even if it doesn't produce a ton of power. At least it will work in a sport mode. I don't race and everything that I do is sport anyway. Like everyone else, though, I like as much power and speed as possible !

If I had it to do again, I probably wouldn't have bought the Lil Rascal kit. I've built Dumas boats since the late 70s and I really enjoy building wood boats. I think that there are better quality kits out there (laser cut) and much better, newer designs as well.

My old Dumas Quickie 40 outrigger weighed a ton and never ran right. I built it when I was a senior in high school and things like weight and precision construction weren't concerns of mine. I used 5 min epoxy for everthing and then I wondered why my OPS .65 marine engine shook the boat to death and cracked many of the glue joints. Heck, it had stress cracks everywhere!

Being way older, I now build my wood boats with weight savings and precision in mind. I'll try to keep that little outrigger as light as possible. I've been weighing my boats during construction just to help me keep tabs on the fat!