Originally Posted by Johnny Wishbone

I received my kit and some additional options for my existing D09. Thought I'd update some information on some of the option parts as the descriptions don't address everything about the parts.

The new top deck has been beefed up in the narrow sections, where the original decks where prone to breaking. The new deck is also not drilled for the layshaft screws (although I've never run those screws myself). The only thing you may have to be aware of, is to make sure your motor isn't against the top deck at the back if your using a small spur/small pinion combination, you may have to adjust your gearing combination. On track, the deck seems to give the car a better overall feel, with a nice balance between forward bite and rear side bite.

The new shock tower, has the shock screws lowered about 1mm lower than the previous tower. This gives a little better clearance for the shock body to rotate. If your running the stock spec for the shocks, it also will locate the piston up about 1mm which gives it a different pack feel on the track. Physically it does not lower the assembly in the car at all, just the holes have changed. If you run your shocks with back spacers and adjust the lower spring link, you can get a similar feel. (This rod length adjustment seems to be something new that some racers are playing with to effect piston pack, but that is another subject).

The lower damper retainer. I thought this was just a nice new shiny piece that isn't necessarily needed. But once I saw the part I noticed a couple of things that make this item a good upgrade to consider. The first is that the lip of the retainer is thinner than the stock plastic piece, which means you can add about 2 turns on the shock collar adjuster which is nice as I found that some of the springs I run have very little adjustment to get to minimum ride height. The other thing is the machining of the center section of the retainer now makes it virtually impossible to have a spring jump the perch and jam up. I personally have crashed the car and had a spring jump which made the car handle very strange only to come back to the bench to find that the spring jammed up above the retainer. Another upgrade worth doing, imo.

The chassis mounted steering posts is a must have, and if you haven't converted you car to this yet, its something you should consider. Changing to this makes the steering feel more connected to the car, just a more direct feel than what the floating system feels like.

I have used the VTD on carpet a few times, and on a green track it will give you a bit more bite all around, although I think this item is more geared towards low traction asphalt. In running this I never had a belt jump off and never re-adjusted belt tension from the flat top deck to the VTD. The only thing to be wary of with the VTD, is not to strong arm the threw bolts as the aluminum can easily be twisted and broke.

The red plastics are definitely stiffer than the gold, silver and V2 plastics. Again, they give a more precise feel to the car than the softer plastics have. They also have good durability and I haven't noticed a increase in broken parts over the previous versions.

The rest of items aren't necessarily needed but if your fighting a underweight car or like to keep the tape above the chassis, those items are a nice added bonus.

All in all the D09 is right up there with the rest of the cars available, just for less money.

*** On my newest kit build I did run into one issue, the idler pulley shaft needed to be buffed as the bearings where a really tight fit. I'd suggest to trial fit these pieces prior to final assembly. The rest of the car built with no issues.

More build notes. Don't use the axle shims that are supplied with the front setup, if you use them, when you tighten up the wheel nuts it will bind the drive train up.

With the 4.5mm hexes you should trim back the axle stubs as they stick out quite a ways and can snag board seems easily.