2wd 1/8 nitro desert buggy - 4 stroke adventure

[LongRat]

Hi there,
not really posted much on this site before. My name is Dave, I would describe myself as a committed RC hobbyist in all senses of the word . My area of interest is in full custom scratch built vehicles, control systems, electronics and engineering. I built this buggy a few years back as a test bed for new interesting ideas, like tension wire steering, home made engines, suspension control ideas etc. The completed car is the same size as a 1/8 buggy but is rear-engined, 2WD and a little more realistic in appearance than a normal buggy. A full build thread is on RC Kingdom, although that site doesn't have a large membership interested in 'true' custom work as I would put it.

Also, my personal site with details of the project is here:
http://www.fulloption.co.uk/ProjectVehicles.html

So here are some pics of the car as it was finished off, running a Collari .32 2-stroke.





Engine mounting arrangement


Layshaft mounted metal-ceramic disc brake system


Tension wire steering


So the point of this is that I am going to build my own DOHC 4-stroke engine for the buggy. This is a big project so before I dive right in, I am going to run the car with a commercial 4-stroke engine. I need some 4-stroke experience first. I have an ASP 52 4-stroke in there (roughly). I've read everything I can find on the web about 4-stroke nitro engines in cars - there isn't much. I'm here to listen to any advice anyone has that may be useful. I know that I am going to be running the biggest gearing I can, and that cooling will be critical. The 52 runs WAY hotter than the 32 2-stroke. The good thing is, because this is a completely custom car, I can do pretty much anything needed. Liquid cooling, any gearing needed, etc is all do-able.