ratter

it's also other missions that I'm chasing, not just shaft cars

BuddhaTech

Ratter,

Some factors you may want consider looking into:

-belts/pulleys
You shouldn't have to worry about a skipping belt with a 540 motor so you can run it fairly loose. While you're checking the belts make sure that they are not rubbing excessivley on the pulley guides. As well make sure that the pulleys are in allignment ie: all in the same plane. When the bukheads are tightened to the chassis/upper brace they can move slightly out of allignment causing extra fiction.
Some racers also try to "soften" belts with chemicals to make them more pliable. I've not done that since the days of the Cat XLS but some swear by it.
Use the largest diameter pulley you can. A 20 tooth pulley will be more efficient than a 17 tooth because the belt is able to make a less drastic curve around the small primary drive pulley. You can alter the spur gear to accomodate your desired ratio/rollout.

-gear mesh
make sure the pinion & spur are in good shape and that the mesh is not too tight. Verify as well the the motor mount is not tweaked and that the pinnion & spur run paralell.

-bearings
clean out the factory grease that's inside. Re-lube with a you're favorite light bearing oil. For even less friction (at the expense of protection) you could also remove the dust sheild (s) on the bearings themselves.

-conectors/wires
use Deans Ultra plugs (or hardwire), some good quality 13 AWG silicone wire and avoid using plugs to connect the motor and keep the wire as short as practical.

-temperatures
make sure the motor/ESC/batteries get plenty of airflow. Pre-assembled packs will also have thick shrink wrap that can lead to some higher battery temps as the cells don't get cooled by normal airflow through the car as well as they could be.

-weight
try and get your car down to the minimum class requirement. The lighter the car the less energy is needed to accerate it and keep it moving.

Without going into batteries (charging and conditioning) the above factors are easy to do and inexpensive (compared to buying high voltage/dollar batteries or the latest & greatest ESC or fancy charger).

Hope these suggestions help

ratter

I use the 20 tooth pulley allready
I have checked the alignment of everything and it all appears ok
Gear mesh is set and checked every race
Belts have been soaked in wd40
Bearings have been cleaned, inner and outer sheilds removed and lubricated with trinity royal oil
I use dean plugs and 12 gauge wire, I do have a deans plug on the motor, so I can quickly try a different motor I have 3 motors
Shrink wrap has been removed from batteries
I'm 58 grams above weight for my class, with no ballast
I also use com drops and lubricated the motor bushes with trinity bushing oil

Thanks for your help

WC

iTrader: (28)

What batts are you using and how are you charging them?

No matter how you cut it, 540 is a voltage game. Anything that gives your motor more volts will give you an edge, all else remaining equal.

RCBuddha

iTrader: (40)

Always nice to see another buddha online....hee hee

RCBuddha

iTrader: (40)

Awol,

Kat seems to like to hijack threads by injecting useless comments, to stir people up....

Ratter,

Buddhatech (no association to me) hit it on the head. Make sure your car is nice and free, it'll make a difference in your lap times. I for one, think that you need to replace your Novak Atom. Its not that the speedcontrol is bad, its just that its underpowered for sedans.

Try getting yourself a high end esc like the LRP, GT7, Keyence or any other "racing" esc's. That alone will make the car much faster. Good luck

Buddha

racenut123

iTrader: (32)

Daniel Daniel Daniel.

Again with the remarks on something you have little to back up your statement with.Before you say something about this subject,quit showing how biased you are in your statement and prove it with fact.The last Tcs race here all classes were won by all belt cars.Sorry,you S#*+ doesnt float!

BTW that last piece of advice,please follow it yourself.



Daniel is a harmless thread terrorist.He's 14 so he's bored and wants something to do.If you were to meet him in person,you would see what I mean. See you next saturday Daniel.

The Black Kat

We haven't known each other long enough.....I started out with a Losi & I do better with a properly set-up shaft driven car. I did the tricks with it (every other tooth off, loose yellow belt, over drive front) and while that made it better its just it didn't have the ummph of a shaft car.

And what about expert stock...if I'm right Marc won that....whos crap doesn't float now? lol unless your talking about Hobbytown (I wasn't there ) then just disregard that last few sentances I typed

Yes I am very bored and sick of having to wait to take my car to the track....the streets around here have more grip than the carpet and Sheldon's has about as much grip as a well polished hard wood floor so it does no good to drive on the street for more than 2 minutes to spot obvious problems.

Don't count on me doing good....I'm probably out of practice....

racenut123

iTrader: (32)

Well before telling someone that thier car completely sucks and you need to basically buy a shaft car,maybe you should give the guy some help to improve the car he has.

As far as the Marc winning,its all good.The guys who can put it down share the wins.Its that close.Maybe in a couple years youll be in that group.LOL.But I was talking about the Tamiya championship Series that was run at Hobbytown.All three sedan classes were won by Belt cars.There were evo3's running so your whole rant about Shaft vs belt doesnt hold water. At least now other people beside most of the Bay Area guys have you pegged.They know you like to start crap on the internet.Its still all good.

The Black Kat

I'm not startin crap...I'm stating the facts man....you seemed to have enough with my opinions

I'm not telling him to get a shaft car...just stating the obvious and pointing out a shaft drivetrain is more efficienct than a belt

And for the record....Stuff I do to belt cars:
Chop every other tooth of the belt (frees the drivetrain up)
Run the belt loose
Remove any kinks you can from the drivetrain (ie: Losi has the black belt kit, if the Mi1 has a new belt kit, get it)
Run your diffs a bit tight....better acceleration
If your driving style permits (hell knows mine doesn't) run a spool or a one-way for better rip off the line
Run the stiffest/hardest setup you possibly can without sacrificing handling
Gear accordingly & Properly....if you have to use a smaller pulley in the front GO FOR IT!

And you know I can't get to Hobbytown.... So stop talking about it.

And if you look @ my posts....What rant? Gee, I thought I actually looked somewhat polite in my posts

nitrous36

Do you also work at sheldons hobbies or do you just race there?

The Black Kat

I'm seeking to get a job there.....I need some work pretty badly

ratter

What makes the atom no good for a sedan car? not trying to be smart, but why are the others better, I thought if they deliverd battery voltage to the motor it would be fine (?????)

Thanks for any answers

itchynads

I doubt it would make a HUGE amount of difference unless the Atom ESC is badly set up. The Atom is not a high end ESC but it is far from the worst. I would personally look at batteries or even try a few 540 motors before blaming the ESC.

The 540 class is a tightly controlled class and can be very battery dependent so getting high voltage match packs can give you a little speed boost. If you are using cheap stick or unmatched packs you WILL notice the extran speed and punch provided by some quality matched battery packs.

But before considering spending any money it's more important to find out where you are loosing time to your opposition and work from there.

Some questions you could ask yourself:

Are you being blown away down the straight or is your car soft coming out of corners? You might want to look at gearing of your motor. Start with a gearing that everyone is using and vary it based on your motor's characteristics. 540 motors are not all built to the same standard and may need different gearing from motor to motor. Quality batteries can also be a factor here.

How is your consistency throughout the entire race? Stringing together a few good laps is no good if you have a few average/bad laps.

All these things can contribute to you being "slower". Some can be fixed with money but others can't.

The Black Kat

Speaking from experience here (yes, some experience HICKS!)

The ESC does make a difference (in Stock 27T atleast)
Back when I was actually able to get to a track, my dad and I were running TC3s against each other.....I had the "cheaper" hand-me-down IPC7.1 & my dad was using the Quantum Comp1....I was also running cheap stick packs but I'd smoke him on thew straits because the IPC7.1 supplys more amps to the motor....Once he got another IPC for himself he was on par with my strait speed