The Ofna Picco .26 big block engine is a powerful outlaw nitro engine!  The picco .26 race engine design is a popular upgrade for big monster trucks like the HPI Savage or Associated Monster GT trucks.  The Ofna .26 is based on the picco p3 engine design and incorporates race engine technology from Picco's vast experience in race engines.  This high quality Ofna .26 engine offers the best of both worlds with its BIG .26 cu. in. (4.3 cc) displacement that helps generate BIG POWER and TORQUE at lower-midrange engine RPM's while the picco p3 design also gives powerful HP levels at higher RPM's.  The Ofna Picco .26 Outlaw engine is made for Ofna by Picco - which is a world re-known, high quality, high power engine manufacturer in Italy.  Picco is well known through out the world for it's excellence in high performance engine design and manufacturing.

The Ofna .26 Outlaw engine is the same basic design as the picco p3 engine.  The Ofna .26 engine is just OEM'ed from the picco p3 for Ofna which is then marketed under the name of Ofna Picco .26 Outlaw.  In a similar way, the Picco P3 Monster is OEM'ed for Team Orion, and it is marketed by them under the name of Team Orion Wasp .26 engine.  The Picco P3 Monster is distributed by Werks Racing in the US.  The difference is that the Werks Racing Picco P3 Monster engine is not an OEM situation like the Ofna .26 or the Team Orion Wasp .26 engine.  Werks Racing directly imports these engines from Italy into the United States as the US distributor.  In all 3 cases, these are POWERFUL and HIGH QUALITY Picco .26 engines! 

BUYER BEWARE: We have seen some rumors floating around on the internet that the Werks Racing Picco P3 engine is more powerful because it has "special porting" or "polishing". The numbers circulated are usually around 2.9HP, while the Team Orion Wasp .26 engine and Ofna Picco .26 Outlaw are commonly rated at 2.7HP. Where did people come up with 2.9HP on the Werks Racing Picco P3 version? Good question. The rumor is usually something like "special porting" or "polishing" or something like that. Sounds good, but is it true? Some have said that if you take a part a Werks Racing Picco P3 you will see a couple minor tweaks to the crankcase/block. This is what some people are saying is the "special porting" or "extra ports". If the cast crankcase has any differences, then the Picco factory in Italy would need to have 2 separate molds (or different mold cores) when die casting these engine blocks... one special one for Werks and a different one for the Ofna & Team Orion engines. Those familiar with engineering and manufacturing processes know that a precision die cast mold can cost many thousands of dollars. Why would someone want to make expensive extra molds of an otherwise identical part? Or these die cast engine cases would need to be CNC machined as a secondary operation with a different CNC program.  Are there different molds or processes used to produce these engines and their components? Some would like you to believe this, but.... according to the Picco factory in Italy all 3 engines leave the factory being identical except for minor cosmetics like color, naming, and packaging. They say that all the parts are interchangeable. Did you get that? That's the info from the manufacturer that actually produces ALL these engines!

What is important to understand is that it is not unusual for tweaks and revisions to be made to tooling (molds, etc...) during ongoing production runs. Ongoing tweaks and adjustments can be made to further improve a part or product as a manufacturer refines their product and processes. This is not unusual. So, if someone takes a part a brand new, factory fresh Werks Picco P3 and finds that the crankcase appears to have some small revisions inside, they can NOT just compare that to an old Ofna Picco 26 Outlaw engine that was manufactured 9 months ago and say: "See, my old Ofna crankcase doesn't have those same small indents in the case. The Werks is better!" Remember, the Ofna Picco 26 version has been sold since Spring 2003 and has been around for a while. Also remember that it is not uncommon for revisions and tweaks to be made to tooling (molds) and processes in an ongoing manufacturing process. Perhaps that's just what is going on here. So, what would really need to be done is to take apart a brand new: Werks Racing, Team Orion, & Ofna engine (all of them factory fresh - not just a "new" Ofna or Team Orion engine that sat on a shelf somewhere at a distributor or dealer for many months). Then all these factory fresh engine can be compared. According to the Picco factory, ALL the parts are interchangeable and the same except for minor cosmetic differences! Hopefully they know because they make all these engines!

Of course, if Werks Racing is selling an expensive "modified" version, then that is an entirely different story. It would make sense for a more expensive modified engine to be different and more powerful. We are talking about custom modifications that cost extra money. Werks Racing seems to be a great company, and they do in fact offer this service to customers that want to pay for custom modifications. However, they do not take apart each and every Picco P3 engine they have ever received and then custom modify each one! If you think about it, that would be absurd. Who can afford to take the time to totally disassemble thousands of engines and make custom modifications, carefully clean out any debris from custom porting/polishing, then re-assemble each engine, and then sell it for the same price?!?! Just think about it! Even so, we have been seeing people selling box stock Werks Racing Picco P3 .26 engines for under $200 and saying that they have have extra power because of special porting and polishing that the Ofna .26 and Team Orion .26 versions do not have. Those people were probably also just victims of misinformation that has been circulating around. It doesn't take long for rumors to spread like wildfire on the internet! Werks Racing may be a great company, but they also need to make a profit, and doing extensive work in order to custom modify each and every engine in house (and at no extra charge) would be unreasonable for any business.

Don't just take our word for it (or anyone else who is trying to sell you something). Do your own research! We'd recommend that you start your search by checking out the source... go to the Team Picco website and see that even they clearly rate the Picco P3 at 2.7HP! We expect that Picco knows how to rate their own engines!!  www.teampicco.com

We share all this in an effort to try to help relieve some confusion about this. We are interested in the truth (no matter what that may be). We believe it is only fair that customers receive accurate information. Be an informed buyer. Use your head. Do your own research and consider where info is coming from. Don't just believe every thing you hear, read, or someone tells you. Check it out for yourself.

So, no matter what version you buy (Werks Racing, Team Orion, Ofna), you will be getting a powerful and high quality Picco made engine! This information is NOT intended to put down any of these versions of the Picco 26... they are ALL great engines!

Ofna Picco .26 Outlaw Engine

For a quick visual reference, you can check out some pictures of the Werks Racing Picco P3 Monster and the Team Orion Wasp 26 engines.

Click here to see the Werks Racing Picco P3 Monster.

Click here to see the Team Orion Wasp .26 Engine.

Some of the features of the Ofna .26 Outlaw (which can also be applied to the Team Orion Wasp .26 engine and the Werks Racing distributed Picco P3) are:  It has a composite carburetor body to reduce heat transfer to the carb and to help increase power output.  The composite carb design should also help enable better tuning of the air/fuel mixture.  The picco p3 composite carb comes with an 8mm venturi insert which can be changed to a 7mm or 9mm venturi (optional) if desired.  The Picco .26 Outlaw also has a big 14mm crankshaft, hard chromed cylinder sleeve (ABC construction), double bushing connecting rod, and a convenient pull start mechanism.  The picco .26 race engine has a high flowing 5 port + 2 by-pass port design in the sleeve.

It's one thing for engine manufacturers to make claims about engine power output, but it's another things for these engines to be tested on a dyno by a third party.  Radio Control Nitro magazine (commonly referred to as RC Nitro) tested the Team Orion Wasp .26 engine on their dyno and posted the results in the March 2004 issue.  The Ofna .26 Outlaw and Team Orion Wasp .26 are rated at 2.7 HP.  Guess what the picco p3 based Wasp .26 dyno'ed at?  It thumped out a massive peak of 2.67 HP at 26,400 RPM and ran up to 38,000 RPM!  RC Nitro commented in the article that that it was the most powerful big block engine that they had ever tested on their dyno up to that point, and they have tested some very expensive competition engines.  The picco p3 based picco .26 race engine design really thumps out massive amounts of power.  Once again Picco has produced an incredible nitro engine!

UPDATE: The Picco 26 engines have been superseded by the updated Picco 27 engines.  Click here to see more about the: Ofna Picco 27 .