ProTek RC Samurai S03 3-Port .21 Competition Buggy Engine w/22D Carburetor (Turbo Plug)

I ordered this engine about 5min after it was loaded to the site, recieved it on a Monday and raced it that Tuesday. EBIS break-in performed by me, Flashpoint 30% fuel, OS 2100 pope set, Kyosho MP10 buggy. The engine is clearly more powerful than the Ty2/2101 engine, but not nearly as peaky and insane as the Spec 2 that has the same bore/stroke. Smooth but powerful mid range and great torque out of corners. More drivable than Spec2 but similar feeling over all power due to a more linear powerband. Will update as I get more fuel through it. So far so good!

Would be nice if somehow the ProTek branding brought the price down a bit since there's several engines at this price point that are all O.S. based, but I suppose that wouldn't make business sense for O.S. and/or ProTek to just take the loss there. In any case, being that this engine is indeed O.S. based, it's no surprise that the quality is excellent. Runs great, responds to tuning changes as it should, develops great power at a competitive rate of fuel consumption, and has very strong parts support to be able to service/repair things as needed, which I think is an often overlooked category.

Speaking of overlooked features, something I like about this engine is the ball linkage on the carb slide. It has 2 threaded holes for set screws 180'd apart from one another. I removed the 1 grub screw installed from the factory and replaced it with a 10mm long button head screw and added a 2nd button head screw on the opposite side. Doing this creates an awesome pair of ears to hang a throttle return band on, going from one screw around the intake pipe and back to the other screw. This pulls the throttle very evenly and not at an angle where it might wear the slide abnormally. It's very easy to install and well worth the 3 minutes to do, and I should've done it from the start because at 1 quart in, I had a runaway due to not having a throttle return band equipped when my receiver battery came unplugged. Engine slung a rod, but I replaced the piston & sleeve and got it back together. I'm now at 1.5 gallons and it runs like a champ.

I always preheat to 200F before starting. My tune is still a bit on the rich side for the high speed needle just for safety since I'm just club racing and practicing, and at this level the races are even less dependent on who has the most power and fuel mileage. I run a Novarossi 41020 manifold and 9901 pipe, and I planned to swap around to my shorter 41021 manifold or perhaps to pick up the ProTek 2090 pipe/manifold, but this setup has worked so good right now that I don't feel compelled to change it unless just out of boredom. 5/5 Would recommend this engine to a friend.

Bought the S03 with a 2090 pipe and using Byron 30% nitro 11% oil. Running it in a 8ight X elite. This is my first nitro in over 20 years and it made the experience very smooth and easy. I've ran a couple gallons through it now and I'm impressed with it. Lots of low end (and plenty of top), smooth, easy tuning, gas mileage is still improving but getting plenty of time per tank. Good buy.

good god this thing is amazing, idles forever, i mean i could probably go make a sandwich, do my taxes and this thing would still be idling.