RC Glossary

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New to the RC Hobbies? What does buggy, bulkhead, nitro mean in radio control car hobbies? Check out the glossary for remote control cars below.

Pinch Zone --

A nitro engine's sleeve tapers in near the top to help the piston seal the combustion chamber and improve compression. If you rotate an engines crank, you will notice increased resistance as the piston reaches TDC and passes through this tapered area, which is known as the pinch zone. As the engine heats up and the parts expand, this resistance becomes less noticeable. A common rule of thumb to quickly see if an engine is still in good condition is to rotate the crank and judge how much resistance is felt at the pinch zone - if its hard to turn the crank past TDC, you're makin' power, if you dont feel any resistance, you may have a really cool paper weight.