bleach1

I have just gotten my hands on a serpent 705 and have just ran it for the first time today bit have a few questions about the car.
1. I have found it hard to dial in -3deg of camber on the rear of the 705 because the drive shafts are to short to wind out the ball screws that far. Anyone else had this problem?
2. Also i am finding it hard to wind down the collars far enough on the shocks to get the car nice and low. I havew to wind the collar almost right down the shock body just to get tension on the springs.
3. Last thing. The car is very difficult to brake at high speeds. Because of the one way it basically just comes arounf on its self when u brake at high speeds? Anyone found how to over come this or is this just something o learn to deal with with a 1way?

Sow&Steady

bleach, why do you think you need so much camber on the rear?


What surface do you plan to run on mostly? For me, if I need to really get down low, I use front springs in the rear. You'll have to get another set of springs for that but there you go. Also, Serpent did make a set of springs which have shorter rear ones than the Veteq one I think. In general though I've never had to change the stock yellow springs to get as low as 6mm ride.

The collar should only be used to adjust ride height. Do not pretension the springs with them! I think you better check your upstop/downstop screws first before adjusting anything (I am assuming the car you bought was already built).


This is something you'll have to learn to deal with. You have to dial out most of your braking power to slow the car down just enough to take your next corner. Do this based on the fastest part of your track. Even so, make sure your car is not tweaked (pre-loading is a sure way to tweak!), well-set up and trued tyres.

People will tell you the 705 is not the easiest car to get hooked up but if you keep trying with this car for 6 months, you'll learn so much about setting up a car that no one or book will be able to teach more. Trust me!

One more thing, forget using rubbers on the 705, use foams.

Pacman25

Questions: Is the car have the std springs and dog bones? Is there a 7mm spacer between the top arm and rear bearing block?
Yuo should be able to run -4deg to -4.5deg without the dog bones coming out but you will have to shorten the wheel drives to keep the rear track under 200mm.
The car should be able to brake at speed in a straight line but will step out at low speed when you start to turn, check that the rear droop is set equal, as the weight transfers forward when braking one wheel may be un-weighting causing the car to turn around. The one-way only allows drive of the front wheels no braking.

Good Luck!!

EVOLUTION

There is a serpent 705 thread !

http://www.rctech.net/forum/showthre...&goto=lastpost

InitialD

I almost forgot it existed !

EVOLUTION

It's a good thing I reminded you !

InitialD

You seem to know the Serpent car like you've been ages with it !

InitialD

Interesting. I managed to do -4 on the rear tires on the 705 while still able to keep the rear dogbones in. The thing was if I did that, the rear trackwidth was more than 200 mm. I think it was 208 mm if I remembered correctly ! Car handling would be sluggish as you'll get too much rear traction.

The stock aluminum rear wheel hex adaptors are 11 mm wide. Serpent came out with optional ones that are 8 mm and 9 mm wide in one part number (801319) and 10 mm wide ones (801318) to keep the rear trackwidth to below 200 mm when using more than -3 camber in the rear.

I find that narowing the rear trackwidth had quite big impact to the car's handling and the car comes alive and more agile.

Like Sow&Steady mentioned, the spring collars are only used to set ride height. Checking the droop screws to see if that's limited in any way is a good idea.

Perhaps one other thing is your shocks were built too long. I believe the shock lengths should be 67.5 mm for the front and 76.5 mm in the rear (same as for the 710) in the extended and fully locked position. Please refer to the manual.

Yes. You need to learn how to deal with the one way. You cannot lock the brakes like what you can do with full time front and rear equipped diff car. Your brakes EPA need to be turned down. Your driving style needs to be different. Brake early before the corner or apex to set the car to a reasonable speed in order to take the turn. If possible, brake in a straight line. If you need to stop the car faster, tap the brakes a few short times to make sure the rear wheels do not stay locked for long for the rear of the car to loose traction and swing out. Something like what the ABS does on a real 1:1 car. You need to know the braking and acceleration points in order not to overshoot the car in the corners. You driving line must also be good. These are the things you need to work towards in order to drive the one way equipped car successfully.

Like Pacman25 and Sow&Steady mentioned, the car must be tweaked free. This is not just for the 705 but with all cars equipped with a front one way. I have posted some steps to ensure that the car is not tweaked. First step is to check if the shocks are in equal lenght left and right. Second is make sure the chassis is flat and tweak free. Thirdly, the shock collars should be turned down equally for left and right. Fourth, the tire diameters left and right (in the front or in the rear) should be the same.

To aid in checking tweak after all the above is done, get yourself a tweakstation.

InitialD

Oh yes... I forgot to mention this. What I did on my 705 is the following which is the best I think... I shorten the rear upper arms just enough by cutting into half and trimming the rest out. The length would just be enough for you to get -4 on your rear camber and yet give you less than 200 mm rear trackwidth. I use -4 rear camber with this setup and end up with 198 mm for the rear trackwidth. If you want less rear wheel camber, just extend the length of the upper rear arm.

I got the idea from the 950 adjustable rear upper arms. Once I cut them into half, I connect the two parts via a long grub screw. I have attached a pic here. I also mentioned this and posted this same pic on the 705 thread which I forgot it existed !

Sow&Steady

Ahem ... been with Serpents since the Impulse Streetspec!

lawndoggie

I found out that there is tweak at the chasis on my 705... yet I managed to brake at 100% without spinning out...
What I found very important during set up is to make sure the left/right droop set evenly, then use a hex driver to stick it up under the front bottom chasis (that little point at the front) you should see both front wheels lift up AT THE SAME TIME, if left goes up first, then lengthen the RIGHT shock collar at the rear. Do the same thing on the rear....
Do this, and you can break hard even with a tweaked chasis
Anyway, breaking while turning is a no no!
Please correct me if I am wrong...

InitialD

Oh, and I might add MANY Impulse Streetspecs too.

InitialD

Well, you can. Just don't make the rear wheels lock. With a little practise, turning while braking with a one way front can give you tremendously fast and sharp turn in.

lawndoggie

Its better than buying a new chasis!
In fact I was sooo desperate of playing my 705 I even tried using a left steering block on the right just to see my car move on the track..... (ran out of left steering block) strange I think the car was handling better

InitialD

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