Mini-x tech questions

[Bravin Neff]

No one replied to my questions from my earlier thread, so I'm reposting them here. That last thread was pretty long-winded, so I wouldn't blame anyone for failing to miss the fact I actually asked questions at the end!

1. I could not get the esc to setup properly, and I tried dozens of times. The directions claim that, after the red light stays on and the green light goes out, to pull the trigger all the way full-throttle until the green goes on and the red goes off. Then move the throttle full reverse until the motor beginss spinning in reverse. This never worked for me, and the car only seemed to run well after I turned it off and just turned it back on, without attempting to set it up. Even then, reverse never really works well (full forward works fine, but it just sputters in reverse, and very slowly). I tried every combination of throttle-channel reversing, messing with the throttle trim, and so on. I am suspecting that the radio I'm using (I'm using an AM airtronics blazer temporarily) is just not compatible with the receiver, as I notice people are having good luck with Futaba's and those Perfex ones that come with mini-z's. What do you all think? Is the red light supposed to come on during full forward throttle, which mine does, or is the green supposed to, as I would have expected? Perhaps the esc is accidentally wired backwards to the motor (I can't tell, since the motor doesn't have any marks to distinguish between + and -)?

2. After 3 batteries, I burnt out the motor. I noticed it got very hot, but just ignored it as nobody seemed to have any problem with this. There is an enormous amount of clearance between the long side of the armature and the motor's bushing, but I figured this was just sound engineering as the motor easily could bind if the alignment was not perfect (which it can't be, given the fact the shaft is so long). What do you all think about this?

Thanks for your time,
Bravin Neff