Sleighty

Hi there,
I've Recently bought myself a Pro 3 and so far im quite impressed with the results ive been gettin, but these results are on a sports hall floor which is super slippery. I realise that most of the reason the car is good on this type of surface is because the chassis flexes soooo much. But this weekend im going to be racing on Ozite with foam tyres and i've been told the car could be a handful if i dont set the car up correctly. I've purchased the HPI top deck and the purple brace in an attempt to stiffen the car.


My question is this..
Can someone please recommend some setups for this type of surface and car and have as much detail as possible for me to follow, also it would be appreciated if the setup tips could also include tips on what to do if the cars not quite handling right, e.g if the car is overteering change shock oil to 30wt. etc.

I also have a set of Proline V rage and Schumacher Carpet Dragon tyres if you think changing the tyres would help.

Oh and im running a 12x4 motor

Thanks in advance
Paul Sleight

www.team-extreme-racing.co.uk

calvin

Is your car stock except for the options you've mentioned. Are you contemplating buying additional options, if so which ones, or are you trying to find the best setup for what you have. Is your track tight or flowing.

One note. You can't use the HPI top deck and the purple brace at the same time. You can only use one or the other. If you use the purple brace you'll have to use some other brand top deck, no top deck or some other arrangement. The HPI top deck goes from bulkhead ot bulkhead. The other top decks I am familiar with go from the front bulkhead to the midshaft mounts.

Check one of the last pages of the PRO3 thread for a list of available options.

skibum989

I once owned a Pro 3, and found that w/the stock chassis, the car flexes waayyyy too much for carpet racing. If you really want to make your car much stiffer and more raceworthy, I recommend the Cross Racing bottom chassis and top deck together. Schumacher is now importing this stuff from Japan, and it should be easier to track down.

Sleighty

Firstly I dont know how i did it but i have got both the top deck and the rear brace on the car and its without a doubt a HPI top deck but i just went around the instructions and both fit on fine.

The track will have a tight in-field but will open up in places

I have all springs and shock oil weights etc.
Considering the racing is on Sunday I will need to stick with the car as it is as far as further hop ups go.... The car is pretty much stock, apart from the revised diffs

thanks
Sleighty

Korey Harbke

iTrader: (13)

I have had a pro 3 since it came onto the market and have had plenty of time with the car. In stock form it works great for asphalt, but horrible on carpet. If you use the upper deck it will be better on both surfaces, esspecaily on carpet. I have the Cross chassis and the whole point of that chassis is to reduce weight a ton of weight and put more of the weight even closer to the center for better transistional handling. When put with the hpi rear purple brace and a HB 2.4mm upper deck it is much stiff than the stock form of the car. It still has a tiny bit of flex, but this is good and it makes it a bit easier to setup and gives really good performance on asphalt. Carpet on foam tires, I have no experience. For carpet on Rubber tires I have had soem and found a decent setup that is very stable. I used Sorex 24R tires in the front, and Sorex 20R tires in the rear. Both with HPI red inserts. Paragon Ground effects oon the full width of the tire 8 min before your run, or TQ Orange or any other traction compound. Here is the rest of my setup:

Front:

Oil: 50wt
Piston: #4
Spring: Hpi Pro linear grey
Caster block: 6 deg
kickup block: 0 deg
toe: 0-1 degree toe out
swaybar: silver (soft)
Ride height: 4mm
Shock position: Inside on tower, outside on arm
Camber link: Tower: upper outside hole
Hub Carrier: middle

Rear:
Oil: 60wt
Piston: #3
Spring: Hpi pro linear grey
toe in: 2 deg -1.5 deg
swaybar: black (medium)
Ride Height: 4.5mm
Shock Position: Outside on tower, outside on arm
Camber Link: Tower: stock
Hub Carrier: top

Body: Hpi Stratus (I would try the Protoform stratus, stratus 2.0, Alfa 2.0, or the losi alfa instead)
Motor: Team Orion Chrome Touring 9x2 with reedy quasar brushes

-Sushi Boy

calvin

I have assumed that the purple brace you were talking about was the one that goes over the motor. To the best of my knowledge, even though you may be physically able to install both at the same time, the car was not designed to have both installed in this condition. Personaly I'd take off the purple brace. If you insist on using both, I'd recommend putting the purple one on top so that you don't introduce any tweak into the car by forcing the top deck to go at an angle to compensate for the additional thickness of the purple brace.

I'd recommend getting the graphite suspension parts (probably the 4 deg front uprights for your situation). These will make a bigger difference in the way your car will handle than changing oil and springs. The stock suspension is very sloppy, especially if you've run it a while and gotten all the holes wallowed out.

Let me know your plans as I can give you my setup, but it will assume that you're using pretty much the full range of option parts, which will probably make a big difference.

Sleighty

Thanks guys so far for the replies

due to the amount of flex on the car what kind of handling characteristics should i expect? oversteer or understeer or will it just be undriveable?

Sleighty

calvin

I guess Sushi Boy posted while I was typing. His setup looks reasonable. About the only differences in mine is my suspension is a little softer

Front
Springs HPI Pink
Oil 40 wt
Piston 3 hole

Rear
Springs HPI Blue
Oil 40 wt
Piston 3 hole

I also use either the 4 deg or 3 deg caster block with 2 deg kickup depending on how tight we have our track set up.

Usually I'll lay the rear shocks down a little bit more

Korey Harbke

iTrader: (13)

Yeah, it's fairly stiff. It was super high traction carpet at the time because alot of guys were running foams from a recent big specail event race. It was traction rolling in the sweeper when I was in the groove, but when I went out it was fine. I first had a setup like yours just with a bit thicker oil but then I went stiffer and worked alot better. The flex will just make the car scrub a bit more speed in the corners and feel a bit less consistant. I heard the hpi upper deck setup was stiff than the one I run right now, so you might be fairly flex free.

-Sushi Boy

calvin

Yeah, the HPI top deck is stiffer. I have one car set up with the HPI woven graphite chassis and HPI top deck and it's really stiff. The other car has the older composite graphite tub chassis, purple brace and I can use a HB 2.4mm top deck, a special 2.4mm top deck that I've modified to produce more flex similar to the X-Ray medium flex deck, or a simple rod from the rear brace to the battery holder to dial in different amounts of flex. Our track is not high traction and sometimes the car with a little more flex will run faster lap times.

Korey Harbke

iTrader: (13)

Yeah, I know what you mean. I actually dont race my pro 3 anymore. I gave it to my dad so he can run it. He really enjoys it. The seup I have for asphalt just totally kicks butt for our track. My car actually looks very similar to Atsushi Hara's car. Thats how I got the name Sushi Boy (atSUSHI).

-Sushi Boy

calvin

Sushi Boy,
If you don't mind, how about posting your asphalt setup. We have always run carpet, but we may get the chance to run asphalt this summer. At least I'd have a starting point to work from. I could probably make some logical guesses, but it's always nice to start out close.

Korey Harbke

iTrader: (13)

No problom. It's farily similar to your setup. I'm going to list the changes from my carpet setup.

Front:
Oil: AE 40wt
Spring: HPI 27mm pro linear pink
swaybar: none
ride height: 5mm

Rear:
Oil: AE 40wt
Spring: HPI 27mm pro linear green
swaybar: none
shock position: middle hole on tower
ride height: 5mm

Tires: Take Off Cs-27s (preglued spec tire) no traction compound

This setup is very neutral with alot of steering but the rear end stays stuck. If it feels too stuck run blue springs in the back or blue up front. Let me know if it works otu for you guys. I'm Happy to help anytime.

-Sushi Boy

calvin

Sushi Boy,
Thanks a lot. Hopefully I'll get on asphalt this summer and will give it a try.

popsracer

Guys;

I am running about the same set-up, but with Green springs in Front and Red in Back. I like the Car better with a front swaybar, more stability and no loss of Steering.

Anyone tried grinding the Front Diff Bulkhead to loosen the Long Belt?