IRS Chassis for TC3
 

Thinking of converting my TC3 to the IRS chassis, its a bit expensive but it looks way cool.
Any one tried it ? Does it work? Is it worth it? Anything to watch out for? Am I better off buying an AE graphite conversion kit?
Any comments welcome

The IRS chassis is worth buying if you're going to race out doors during the summer when track temps are pretty high. The AE graphite chassis can take the normal track heat but where you run into problems at is the heat from the motor along with the track heat...the chassis warps where the motor is installed. This doesn't happen with the IRS chassis. The price is too high (IMO) but it is well worth the money.

I have two TC3s that are fully decked out in IRS gear. It is over priced....but I work in a LHS and the employee discount helps :D.

The chassis has different "flex" properties than the AE graphite one. It keeps the car glued to the track and the car does exactly what you want it to do. The car kinda "springs" out of the corners and is very responsive. Because of its stiffness it can take turns very well, and accelerates out of them quickly because of the lightweigt (very good for stock racing) If I tell my car to do something, it does it without any loss in traction. My car has Futaba standard servo in it, and the few people at the track I let drive it swear that I have a high speed high torque servo in there (I had to show some of them that it wasn't). If you do get the chassis kit, I will also recommend getting the graphite stiffining kit. This replaces the corner braces with carbon fiber ones, and has two more braces that run down each side of the car. This stiffens the chassis even more, and keeps all 4 tires on the ground where they belong. Before I got the chassis and stiffining kit, If I got in trouble and turned into the turn too early and had to steer the opposite way to correct, my car would break loose and lose all traction and hit the boards. Not so with the chassis and stiffing kit, the car does what I want and I can save myself in the turn and get through it safely. When I drive the car I let off the gas going into the turn, full steer right or left, give it full gas, and the car shoots around the turn with no problems.

Other notable IRS stuff:

Input shafts: A MUST! these are much lighter than the stock steel ones and reduce rotating mass to improve acceleratoin. great for stock racing.

Aluminum outdrives: I think they work good. Lightweight, less rotating mass. But others think that the plastic ones by AE are the best (see recent flame war in TC3 forum). Only problem is that they wear quickly.

Driveshaft: Eye candy. No performance increase or decrease. It is heavy and some say that it will slow your acceleration because of rotating mass. I ran my car with the aluminum one, and then with the stock shaft and campared lap times.....they were the same.

Drive cups: Eye candy. Same as driveshaft. I have seen the plastic ones break though and aluminum will hold up better. Looks great with the drive shaft.

Spur gear adapter: Doesn't warp like the plastic ones sometimes do. If you use this make sure to locktight the spur gear screws in it or they will back out. You may have to put some shims between it and the Big E-clip to reduce play.

Battery strap: eye candy. Dissapates no heat at all, I'm not sure where they got that idea from. Looks great with the driveshaft. I had a problem with my batteries slidding out of the car with this strap. I fixed it by putting a O-ring under the body pin and then tightened it down by turning the pin. Problem solved.

Servo/Transponder mount: Not too sure the purpose behind this one....I was told that it reduces steering slop.

I talked to Dave Irrgang and he said that the chassis was designed for carpet racing. I race on low bite asphalt and it work great. I will post pics later on today (I'm at school right now, d'oh). Hope this helps you out :). PM or email me if you have any questions.

Here is a pic of my first IRS tc3:

Here is a pic of the...."twins":

I think somebody stole your receiver, servo, and drive shaft of the car on the left. :D

I like about IRS chassis is that it looks so simple to clean. No pockets to hold dirts.

If I bought only the chassis would it work with the rest of the car?
Arms, mounts, braces, screws, ...

:cool:

That picture was taken before I installed them :sneaky:

No rocks will stay in the IRS chassis...they all roll off....except that boulder that was the size of an eyeball...lol. Steering rack hasn't got jammed since I installed it. :)

The chassis is a direct replacement and will work with everything.

modena al: nice rides :) i wish my tc3 was halfway as great as those

i think i asked this question before but i forgot the reply so here goes: is the stiffening kit a direct bolt on on the stock TC3 chassis? i saw that they are flat pieces of carbon fiber. do i need aluminum standoffs to install it on the stock chassis? the stock front and rear chassis braces have a bit of a curve in them that allow them to reach from the gearboxes to the chassis, while the carbon fiber braces from the IRS kit seem to be flat. thanks for any info :)

Marvi: Thanks for the comment :).

I believe that the IRS stiffining kit can be directly bolted onto the stock chassis....although I do not know what the effects of it are. The carbon fiber corner braces are flat and do not have a curve like the stock ones. This is where the side braces come into play. They sit inbetween the carbon fiber braces and the aluminum standoff or stock chassis. the side braces are the correct width to fill the gap caused by the carbon fiber corner braces being flat, and fit perfectly inbetween the brace and the irs standoffs/stock chassis. Again, I don't know how this will effect handling on the stock chassis...you may just have to experiment :).

thanks for the info :) there may be very minimal stiffening of the chassis, considering that the stock molded chassis is stiff enough. but i'm primarily getting it for eye candy only. i plan to get front and rear carbon fiber shock towers (probably from GPM) and the IRS stiffening kit is a nice compliment. since i got my TC3 about 1 1/2 years ago, i havent really added anything to it and i might as well get some carbon fiber parts. i'm bored at looking at all the black molded parts (mine's the team kit) and i cant afford the complete IRS carbon fiber stuff.

EXACTLY!!! thanks what im trying to persuade my friend! ITS ALL BOUT DA EYECANDY...imean were not going pro so have a fun time enticing your friends :D

IRS diffs
 

My brother got the IRS extreeme conversion yesterday, but when we were rebuilding the diffs using the IRS outdrives they seemed to bind, and almost be compleetly locked.

Anyone had this problem? ...or know a fix?

Thanks!

What do you mean by they almost completely lock up? Is it like there is a high spot in the diff or something. You may want to loosen the diff just a little...but not so much that it will slip. I had the same kind of problem with mine. I sanded down the rings to take out any high spots on it. Then I made sure that everything went together straight. It's still wasn't totally perfect....if you turn the diffs you could still feel one spot where it kinda binds up/locks up. After I ran the car a few times it smoothened out a little. I had to retighten the diffs about an 1/8th of a turn after 2 or 3 packs.. Its running really good now. :)

Modena Al - Read your comments on the IRS chassis and liked most of them. The battery strap definetly does remove heat from the batteries which means it does serve a purpose. To help stop the batteries from moving I recommend that you use 2 4-40 flat head screws to hold the strap down. Mine have never moved since I did this. The kit was developed on asphalt, the braces were thought of later to help the guys running carpet but they seem to help everywhere.

Marvi - Yes the TC3 braces by IRS will fit on the stock TC3 kit.

MR4racer - Contact me at [email protected] about your outdrives.


Dave Irrgang (IRS)

Hi Dave Irrgang,

I have spoken to you on email before about your products. I was going to email you to tell you about the r/c tech forums. Glad you made it :). Sorry about the battery strap comment, I was kinda talking out my....ya know. Mine doesn't really get that hot...the stock plastic one would be burning hot after a heat, but not yours. I'll try the 4-40 screws this week. Do you need to use any washers on them? I meant to say the chassis stiffining kit was designed for carpet at the end of my first post, d'oh! :D

Any chance of carbon fiber shock towers :sneaky:?

Keep up the good work Dave! I plan on getting my 3rd IRS conversion kit this summer :D.

Allan