mgivens

iTrader: (12)

Hey guys,

trying to pick up a team edition but amain says they are out of stock...
is this because serpent is fixing some issues with the kit or am I just gonna have to wait for another shipment to come through?

Thanks!

celt

iTrader: (5)

Yo Johnny,

You seem to know your way around this car, so I'm starting with your 17.5 blinky setup - coming from a Schuey.

I get the two piece motor mount comment, but not the "set screw" part.

Can you elaborate?

"2 piece motor mount with set screw"

Martin Crisp

I tried the exotek chassis, with all of those cut-outs, as well as a few different pre production upper decks they sent me. I tested them on a very high grip carpet surface because that was what I had available.

I found the exoteck chassis actually added steering to my surprise given the cut-out should have made the chassis more flexible than the standard serpent 2.25mm chassis. But I think the weave of the fiber in the exotek is stiffer than the standard serpent chassis resulting in similar lateral stiffness, but in my opinion more longitudinal stiffness.

I don't know if they have released the upper decks yet that I tried, but they had some interesting designs that gave the rear of the car much more flex than the current available upper decks, which made the car very stable.

I am looking forward to trying these out on some asphalt surfaces.

cheers.
martin

Johnny Wishbone

iTrader: (6)

In place of a normal screw from the motor mount thru the top deck I just run a long setscrew (its long enough that you could use a nut on it if you wanted to lock the top plate down). It lets the car flex but not so much that it takes out the spur gears, a problem when using the 2 pce motor mount, it allows so much flex that the motor will flex the mount and take out the spur gears.

If you wanted to use the stock top deck but have a little more flex, I use another stock top deck but have cut the back so it has two long rails, but its cut so that the center screw hole stays intact to avoid the flex/spur gear problem. Its basically cutting along the right rail only and keeping that center section attached to left rail. Its a nice alternate deck option over the flexi deck.

Also on my setup, the shock pistons are all three hole, one of them is incorrect, so just make sure you run the 3 holes.

Hope you like the setup.

Johnny Wishbone

iTrader: (6)

Can't say what A-mains kit status is, but the supplier has a hold on the kits they have waiting for Serpent to get the fixed issues into the kits and then out.

mgivens

iTrader: (12)

Hey thanks a lot johnny!

guess i will just have to wait, hopefully it gets figured out soon!

-Michael

celt

iTrader: (5)

I see this comment in a few setups, is this done for better alignment of the steering assembly?

duckman996

iTrader: (14)

One of the benefits of "flipping" the rack is that it becomes much easier to make ackerman changes. Remove the bumper and use a longer 2mm driver and you can remove the ball-end screw from the ackerman plate with it still in the car. Adding or removing shims becomes very easy this way.

From a performance standpoint, I found flipping the rack allowed for a more direct feel in steering feedback vs. the traditional position.

Johnny Wishbone

iTrader: (6)

Duckman is correct, although I use a long ball end wrench and don't even have to remove the bumper to make the adjustments. You will have to trim some material of your battery hold down if you run it in the forward position. Put it together and you'll be able to figure how much and at what angle you have to trim the part.

Also on the LE the flipped arms is the normal assembly now.

beaim

iTrader: (8)

i not sure u guys feel the same?? my te save tire even with -1.5 chamber all round. compared to my others car. does the soft arm cause this?

celt

iTrader: (5)

Thanks Johnny Wishbone and duckman996 for the quick responses,

I did trim a pinch from the plastic tape retainer to get full steering, pretty simple mod.

Often times when building a new touring kit, everything is compared to "Xray" quality, for a long time that was the standard. Not sure what others have found, but this kit at least is as good in terms of materials quality and design for that matter, than anything I've built from Xray. Also, I can't see durability being an issue at all.

rdlkgliders

iTrader: (21)

Durability seems to be very good. I have been running outdoors for 2 months plus and taken my share of impacts with both other cars and barriers. I have not broken anything (yet). I too like a lot of other guys on this thread used to run xrays, I still have a couple in fact and the Serpent holds up very well in comparison, both in durabiity and quality. I do like the Exotek bumper brace thougn as an option for the one potentially week spot especially when running the 2.0 chassis

LOW ET

iTrader: (109)

how much ground clearance do you run on your body vs. the chassis ground clearance? for example: if your chassis has 5mm ground clearance, does your body have 5mm ground clearance? more clearance? less clearance? front and sides?

the reason i ask is i was looking at some racing photos of ets and ats tc series and the front splitter seems to be very "thin" compared to the cut lines that are molded in the bodies. it looks as though the sides may be cut in the right places but the front has been cut higher for more ground clearance.

what's your thoughts?

Ovcloock

the steeringblock are defective and that does not happen you need to put a siim Whaser betwen a bearing steeringblock of 0.30
I have received here in Spain 4 s411 TE all have the same problem

Johnny Wishbone

iTrader: (6)

Most of the time I have the body trimmed to the cut lines and mounted, I make sure the nose is solid and has little flex, use a third mount to keep the hood from sagging. Then with the tires on the car (ride height set) I run a sharpie around the body to see how far out it is, which by all accounts is about 4mm more trimming.