The RC Carburetor

The carburetor is an incredibly simple piece of engineering, yet it's role is critical to any Nitro RC engine. What is does is mix air and fuel in precise proportions, this mixture is then sucked into the engine via a vacuum intake.

You can control the air to fuel mixture by making small changes to the needle adjustment screws on the carburetor, most RC engines have two needles, one for the top end of the revs and once for the low end. There are a lot of RC cars that only have one adjustment, although it's difficult to get the perfect tune with these, as you typically have to sacrifice either the top end of bottom end.

The only other thing you can adjust is the idle screw which just sets the minimum amount that the carburetor can close.

The parts that make up a radio controlled cars carburetor High Speed Adjustment Needle Low Speed Adjustment Needle Idle Adjustment Screw Throttle Linkage Fuel Inlet The actual locations of the adjustment screws does vary from model to model, but as a rule of thumb the high speed needle will always be on the top, while the low speed needle will always be on the side of the carb.