It appears to me your internal gears are not lined up (probably the gear next to the spur is not lined up correctly with the 4 satelite gears. I would loosen it up and make sure the gears are lined up and turn freely then tighten it back down.

Battery Tray
 

What all have people done to try and get more air to the batteries? I know some have extended the cut on the outside of the battery tray? Anything else?

Did you install all the phillip screw holding diff bearing in case? If so take out the one on side where gear are meshing together.

I personally have not had a problem overheating the batteries. They may get warm, but not too hot. You could maybe make some cutouts in the body to help with airflow as well as trim the tray a little.

I run these most of the time, both for practice and racing:

http://hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store...APPROVED_.html

They are cheap so you could buy a bunch of them. Kinda low C-rating but they don't get hotter and have the same punch as my Turnigy 6600mAh 90C ones (wich by the way are kinda crappy and loose punch really quickly).
The oldest ones I have are on their third season (and probaly around 300 charges as I use them in my 1/10 touring car as well) and has lost some runtime and punch but I still use them for practice and they give me 10+.

I run them with Hobbywing Xerun 150A ESC and motor with almost no punch (step 2) and just a little timing added (step 3 or 4). LVC set to 3.4v and I get between 12 and 18min out of them depending on the track.

Maybe not the best battery if you like to cram every last amp of your ESC but if you want a cheap way to get a driveable car and get to the podium without spinning the power away you could try them. :)

Is it the nano-tech ultimate that losses punch quickly? I'm hoping not, but would be good to know. SMC's race formula are my favorites, but they don't have any right now.

What is the difference in V1 and V2 springs and how do I get a comparable shock setup between V1 and V2 springs? I only have V2 springs and I want to be able to run similar setups I see that are using V1 springs.

Do the Serpent delrin pistons work better/smoother?

Is there another manufacturer whose pistons properly fit the Serpent shocks? There are not a lot of piston options on the Serpent website. I don't know that I want to drill my own (don't have a drill press).

Regardless of what the packaging says here is the springs in order of softest to stiffest.

Front

orange v2
red v1 and v2
pink v2
blue v2
pink v1
blue v1
purple v1
green v1
grey v1

Rear
orange v2 green v1
Red v2 grey v1
Pink v2 yellow v1
blue v2 white v1

All the v2 springs are 1.4 wire and bigger spaces between the coils. The front and rear springs are also longer than v1. If you have a hard time knowing what you have email me a picture and I can tell you. [email protected]

The serpent 8 hole pistons are the ones we use now. 600488 they are 1.2mm. We always drill the rear to 1.3. Sometimes the front depending on what oIl we use. If we have to get above 700 we keep the front stock and use lighter oil. I'd say leave the front undrilled for the time being to be safe and adjust the oil to be a heavier feel from the rear on the bench ready to race.

It's not the Ultimate ones, just the ordinary nano-tech 6.6 ones I have had problems with. Loosing punch rather quickly and I have had problems with 4 out of 8 swelling and loosing cells in under 100 charges, the worst one swelled up and lost one cell after just 10-15 charges. And that's when running low punch/timing with low gearing, cutoff at 3.4v and always storagecharge them directly after my last run.

The 5.6 and 5.8 ones I have has worked alot better and even though they get rather hot when running them in my Be they still function great after alot of abuse! :)

Thanks, that's good information.

Shock Pistons
 

Chicky, what is the benefit of the square holes (600488) vs the normal holes (600350)? Thanks.

The holes are round in both. We call the 488 square becasue the piston is not tapered. 350 is a tapered piston.

Hey everyone! Hope racing is going well. I am looking for a little more forward bite and a little more rear rotation on power. Current set-up 2.0 with v1 diffs, 7, 7, 4, rear links are middle hole on hub and tower, should be 5 middle on the anti squat inserts. Thanks

I would say anything that will soften up the rear end, hubs back, lighter rear swaybar, thinner oil, softer rear spring, 6 inserts in the rear blocks all around.

Thanks Chicky!! I will give that a try.