liljohn1064

iTrader: (17)

Cool!

InspGadgt

That's good news and surprising...I would have thought the threading would be completely different.

I ended up needing to cut slots in my SP insert as the plastic was too weak to hold with the 3mm allen wrench.

InspGadgt

This is how I was thinking on mounting my servo instead of what is shown in the instructions. Given that it uses a bell crank it won't mess up the ackerman or anything like that but I am concerned that the change in geometry may change how much throw is needed left to right unevenly.

liljohn1064

iTrader: (17)

They work! And I can adjust camber with the wheels on.

liljohn1064

iTrader: (17)

Its a runner.

Had to remove the front posts right off, the receiver wouldn't fit.



Justock buried in the mix.



Glamour shot, just needs the body to come in.

LloydLoar

iTrader: (20)

I will write up more later, but a couple things after spending some time building up a good portion of my SP-1 this evening:

- For the football (plastic for center pivot) use a dremel cut-off wheel to take off the plastic portion that is intended to keep the two nuts in place, making the plastic flush. Then you can use an actual 5.5mm wrench to hold the nut in place while you tighten down the pivot. Hebert actually started doing this on his 12th scale, which is how I found out about it. Seems to work pretty well, although it makes it more difficult to set the center pivot without binding.

- when you assemble the pod, I would recommend attaching the motor mounts to the bottom plate with the rear brace loose, and then tighten the motor mounts to the bottom plate before you tighten the brace. I would also recommend doing this before you have attached the pod to the main chassis plate so you can actually check whether you have tweaked the pod. The lower pod plate is thinner than the main chassis plate, which makes it difficult to check tweak when the car is fully assembled, since the pod will rock no matter what due to that thickness difference.

- Don't bother with the SP side links, use AE ones. The plastic for the SP ones seems pretty horrible for the side links. AE ones fit perfectly, and you can use the same screws. You could also use the AE pivot balls if you are concerned about the SP ones, although I had no issues with mine (contrary to previous comments about flashing, etc).

- Don't bother trying to attach the lower arms before you have attached that carbon plate (don't remember what the actual name is) to the main chassis. It was mentioned before in this thread, but it is nigh-impossible to attach the 3mm nuts when the lower arms are in place.

- Don't even bother trying to use the SP upper pivot ball retainers without either dremeling a cut in the plastic or trying to use the CRC part. I underestimated how soft that plastic is...you really won't be able to get it out if you even barely screw the retainer in...don't tempt fate.

- SP needs to release a lower arm pivot ball (where the kingping goes through the lower arm) that is made out of metal (and preferably teflon-coated). I am going to see whether the CRC brass ones fit, but these plastic ones are horrible. Trying to get a bind-free front end is futile.

- SP (or someone else) should make better ride-height spacers to use underneath that front carbon plate. When using the advised stack of 2mm spacers you can actually see how tweaked the arms get when you tighten down the screws from below...it took me a couple tries before I was satisfied with the way the arms were sitting on that carbon piece. It would be nice if someone could make an aluminum chunk that wrapped around the whole front end to serve as a ride-height spacer.

Overall I am impressed with the quality of the kit, but there are a couple plastic pieces that really should be aluminum (or even just better plastic in the case of those retainers) and there are some questionable design choices (I didn't know you could copy the CRC front end and actually make it worse?). I will try and reserve further judgment until I get the chance to drive it, though. Hoping for the best!

Solara

iTrader: (17)

Actually, I think that is workable in 2 different ways...One way, just need a single arm servo horn (can use the one from SP1) with a long 3mm screw and place alot of 3mm spacer so it can extend to the lower area then mount the push rod....I am not sure that will change the whole steering geometry but give that a try. (I really think that will work)

The other way I am thinking of is...mount the servo the same way but the servo need to be pushed to the more forward position....that required some removal of the lower carbon fiber mounting piece in order to mount the servo more forward. Then remove the whole steering ackerman unit and use the direct steering method like the F104 does...using the aluminum long servo horn and go direct link steering with 6mm spacer to connect to the steering rod.

Difuser

iTrader: (2)

I did the same with mine and no issues on geometry or mounting. Didn't have to shave or anything heroic to get it in the chassis
Next weekend is the shakedown run.

InspGadgt

Cool thanks...I've got mine mounted normally right now because I didn't have a ball stud long enough to bring down the ball level with the other one. I'll probably change it later though.

liljohn1064

iTrader: (17)

It took a threaded 5mm ballstud and a 18 mm screw and 12 mm of spacers. No other mods needed. I did have to play with the mechanical steering balance left to right, but now they are nearly equal throw both directions with the radio set at the same percentages left and right.

InspGadgt

The 5mm one wasn't too tight? The SP ones are just a bit smaller.

liljohn1064

iTrader: (17)

Missed that. The stock pivot balls are 4.3 mm. You will need 1 x 5 mm shortened threaded ball cup, 1 x 5mm threaded ball stud, 1 x 18 mm screw and any combination of 12 mm of spacers. I trimmed the ball cup down to 5 mm on the barrel and threaded it onto the remaining half of the steering linkage. To get the steering to balance mechanically, I had to make the linkage a little longer (the added barrel length from the stock ball cup). There is about 2 mm of offset to the left. I used the left outer hole on a Kimbrough medium servo saver (lines up exactly where the Tamiya HD servo arm length to the same hole) and it is visibly left of center from the drivers point of view. Now it pulls equally left to right until the radio hits 90%, about a 36" circle. At that point the steering is at full lock turning right. Adding more will increase left steering which didn't lock until around 115*, about a 24" circle. I left it at 90* on both sides. I'm sure my dual rate will need to be decreased as I don't need that much throw.

The other issue I ran into by not lengthening the steering arm was you can go past max throw left and potentially lock the steering by hyper extending the steering system.

liljohn1064

iTrader: (17)

I was putting on the Associated links and football and snap went the pivot ball in the old football. It blew the side right out of it. Off to the store for some replacements.

LloydLoar

iTrader: (20)

Uh...the AE football won't fit. Unless my SP chassis is somehow drilled completely different, the AE football is significantly wider than the SP version. The AE sidelinks fit, but not the football. The AE pivot ball itself might fit, though.

liljohn1064

iTrader: (17)

I'm going to order the AE Pivot balls, PN 4637. I use them in my F1R also and it uses the AE links and football. I just don't have any spares on hand, so I have to wait some more. that stinks that the base is too wide.