Originally Posted by
Korey Harbke
So.... I may be crazy, but I think the F104 pushes a lot. On a prepped high traction track, it seems like it has a lot of trouble just turning in and taking a set. What springs are you guys running the in the front at the moment?
-Korey
Add a 1mm washer under the rear ball stud on the upper arm(where it meets the servo mount). That will make it steer more in the center of the turn and not wash out as much---adds to the reactive caster effect. You may also want to try various greases and/or diff oils on the kingpins. Generally, it seems like the heavier the dampening, the more reactive the car will be.
Another thing is the t bar-which one are you using? The "high traction" t bar actually lets the car wrap the corner more because it has more articulation. The soft tbar is the same material, but it has no cut out in it. If you do a back to back, the soft t bar takes rotation out of the car, in fact it will want to slide rather than rotate. It also helps to run the screw about as loose as you can get it. In fact, if you don't race TCS races, I would just take the center adjustment screw out and let the t bar flop. You can glue a foam donut from an Associated shock rebuild or even one of the pink foams for the bladders in a Tamiya shock and glue it on the tbar over the screw hole to keep the ride height the same. That's how we were running the car out here until we found out it is illegal for TCS
You can also space out the rear axle as well like a 1/12 car. 1.5mm per side is about all you can get out of the axle. You will need long shank pinions for a 540 motor.
One other thing, if the track is really high traction, you might want to try touring car inserts in the tires. Last year they were really saturating our track with coke syrup, and I was using 24mm sedan inserts cut down to fit the rim. They made car car steer way more. This just makes you do donuts if there is not a lot of traction, though.