just to keep the discussion going;

assuming a shorty pack, just new lower chassis without the cutout, move the front shaft back, use an NT1 side belt, and i pretty sure the nt1 front belt would fit but dont have a spare one and pulling it out of the car is a massive beotch.

maybe use the rs2 swingrack and turn the servo sideways.
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f2...12cfdfc00e.jpg

Glad to hear that, I was starting to think I was crazy ...

I pickup a brand new E4FS for a great price for playing in my backyard ... The nearest track is 1h45 drive but the first time I run there, I felt in love with on-road racing ... The board at the track are pretty hard on plastic but I was breaking a LOT on pieces and prematurely finish my day at the track (not cool when you drove 1h45 for going too ...)

After a lot of online order (9$ shipping for every order) for the E4FS, I finally buy a TC6.1 because the LHS is a AE distributor ... And it's was simple and cheaper on the long term.

I will certainly run the E4FS too since a got spare parts ...

Yodog, please keep it simple. Just having the dual rack steering with the shorty lipo will help the car enough. If there is enough room left over to allow the option of mounting the battery more forward or rearward, even better.

I am more concerned on how you plan on retaining the battery onto the chassis. I hate using tape and I've seen too many instances where the battery pops out of the tape after a hit. Perhaps you should take a look at the Exoteck TA06 chassis regarding battery access without the use of a removable top plate.

pretty good day with my e4, though still have issues with the steering going fiddly after any kind of wobble or tap.
running a savox 1251mg but sometimes it will just go straight for a bit then dive toward the board.. really strange.

aside from fighting that though, car handled great. tq'd and came second in the main to a driver much much much more experienced than me.
is there a stronger duel bell crank? i broke mine pretty easily.

Keep it coming rick cant wait for the actual proto to test it put a smile in my face..

Rick should I Place my order now...

Your better off using the single steering bell rank... It's more precise and no slop..

im not convinced the bellcrank is totally to blame, though there was less wobble at speed with the dual.
im essentially running a solid arm as i had to ca my saver to prevent high speed bump deflection.kfactory single bellcrank.
also running 5mm of bumpsteer spacers on the steering arms which helped a little bit but still occasionally does funky stuff heh.
they sit level at ride height, but there is quite a bit of bump steer just compressing the chassis a little bit.

maybe i should go to a higher torque servo? 1251 is fast, but average torque wise. maybe i could try my 1258 in there.

despite the minor gripe though. set a personal best of 26 laps. my season average is 25. was flirting with 27 until i ended up on my roof ha.

Still trying to squeeze this in with all the other projects I got going on.
The battery mount that I am planning on using is from the TC6 and one could use either tape or Velcro straps.

Hi all,
I'm thinking on trying electric touring and would appreciate if anyone can tell me something about the RTR E4 JR is this car any good?.

It has a nice price and looks to be competitive!.

Any feedback would be appreciated.

Greg.

The new E4rs call E4RS2.

I like old E4rs.:(

http://www.teammagic.com.tw/wb_main....07001&pageno=1

I have the E4JR kit version. It ran good when I first got it. I used a brushless setup on it with a low profile servo. The RTR is a brushed motor with a standard servo.

The E4 in general is a little sluggish in the straights due to is three belt drivetrain but it transitions very well in the in a tight infield due to its centered electronics setup.

Things that are different on the E4JR vs. the other E4's are:
Top loading battery
I like this vs the bottom tray because of its convenient access. However, the thumb screws holding it are small and with big fingers a bit hard to unscrew if you need access to the battery in a hurry. Also there's a lot of flex and potention for flex on the battery cover if you don't screw it down tight which can affect your handling. It can also affect your steering because the steering bellcrank is mounted to the battery cover. Also if you're going to use the newer hardcased lipo, you'll need to shim the battery cover by 1.5mm under the hinge mount at the front. Don't flex or sqeeze the cover to fit because it will affect handling.

Plastic chassis
I have found the chassis to be somewhat not durable. There was good intention in the design but it doesn't work so well. I'm talking about the fact that the chassis is made of three pieces. A front piece, a main center piece, and a rear piece. The idea was that if you get damaged in a crash in the front or rear, all you need to do is just replace the modular piece. However, I've had those pieces damaged in such a way that it also ripped the mounts on the center section such that the center section would also need to be replaced, so no savings there.

Other than that, the rest is all standard E4 aside from the plastic bulkheads both front and rear and the plastic shock towers. Those pieces are all good.

The biggest advice I can give you is this: DON'T UPGRADE THE CAR WITH ANY ALUMINUM OR GRAPHITE PARTS!

The reason for this is that all the plastic parts work together perfectly. Once you stiffen one part of the car or another, the added stiffness or strength puts more stress on the other plastic parts it mounts to. Case in point, I upgraded to aluminum bulkheads and that resulted in more stress to the front and rear lower chassis pieces. I also upgraded to the graphite shock towers which mounted to the plastic upper bulkheads which mounted to the aluminum lower bulkheads. Guess what failed? The squishy part in between the aluminum and graphite.

Parts to keep on hand
Upper and lower bumper piece: This part is very fragile. Despite the foam taking the hit, the upper and lower piece tends to snap too easily.

Hubs and suspension arms: This is pretty standard for just about any car out there.

Front and rear lower chassis pieces: It shouldn't break so bad if you keep it all stock but its good to have them. You should keep more than one rear lower chassis piece because that one will break more often than the front.

Battery cover thumbscrews: These things are small and can get lost easily. The car won't run right if the battery cover is not secured using this. You can replace it with a 3mm locknut and use a nut driver instead of your fingers. Actually that may work better than the thumbscrews.

Enjoy the E4JR RTR as it is. When you are ready to upgrade, there are plenty of E4FS or RS available out there that can be had for a very good price.

Wow that's very helpfull I really appreciate you taking the time to write this!!.
So the rtr version is a nice and competetive car and should make an awesome electric touring platform for me.

Do you know a good source for parts for it?.

I see that emain hobbies has the car but its out of stock at the moment.

Best regards and thanks.

Greg.

Try this:
http://www.rcshopping.com/profra.jsp...3005&proclass=

BTW, just get the Drift Spec E4D. Its the same as the JR except with a painted body and drift tires. Since everyone almost always ditch the kit tires it won't make any difference. Especially since AMain has it so cheap with free shipping.;)
http://www.amainhobbies.com/product_...RD-24GHz-Radio
Ooops! Not quite.:sweat: Just add a set of pre-mounted Sorex 36Rs to your order and it will qualifiy for free shipping.:)

For my Team Magic E4FS, I always buy from RCSHOPPING ... Note that i'm from Canada ...

Nothing bad to say about the service ... The web site is creepy (or crapy) but I always receive my parts in A1 condition ... Price and shipping are okay

I sometime buy from a Willpower on EBAY and he is alright ...

Thanks for the feedback guys I appreciate it very much!.
Its a race between the HB RTR Cyclone S and the TM E4JR do you guys think the E4 is more competitive than the Cyclone?.

Greg.

RTR cars are RTR cars. great to get you into the sport for sure, but if you decide to stick with the sport, you WILL replace every single peice of your rtr package, so keep that in mind.

the e4 chassis is quite capable of being competitive in the hands of the right driver. its easy to drive at speed, holds a lot of corner speed ect. if i got that jr, first thing i might get is a set of turnbuckles for the upper links. you cant adjust those ones and they look liek they would be the first part to break in a crash. cant tell from the pics but id assume the steering links would also be solid plastic. couldn't adjust toe out in the front without turnbuckles.


that cyclone looks like its more adjustable out of the box which might suit you too.

if it were me, id get a nice radio "which you can resell if you dont like the hobby" a cheap hobbywing brushless system and a tc4 clubracer... not to spit on this thread... you all know i love my e4!

wonger how the e4rs would handle with an e4D chassis. sure , its plastic and might not flex as much but top load battery would make things a ton easier. could this be transfered to cf easily?

or would the thumbscrews create too much of a variable in the flex of the car?
thats all i would need to make me happy with this car. it handles fantastic the way it is, but changing batteries is a pita. if we could balance the flex and make the car easier to service, id buy into that.

Cyclone!:nod:

There's more parts for the Cyclone out there in both factory and aftermarket.

Although this is an E4 thread and I own an E4, I wouldn't recommend the car to someone as their entry level car. The E4 is interesting if you've already had a few cars and want to try something different.

this is my first time using solidworks. found a good set of youtube tutorials and sat down to learn it.
so, first drawing in solidworks, work in progress and i wont promise all the holes line up.
gonna cut it in mdf and try to build the car.

basically copied the chassis shape and hole pattern. instead of a battery cutout i made slots for strap tape. after tommorrows race, ill take thec ar appart and figure out some lipo holding blocks that will allow removal of lipo by pulling side belt. and sliding it out.

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f2...solidworks.jpg

this is my first time using solidworks. found a good set of youtube tutorials and sat down to learn it.
so, first drawing in solidworks, work in progress and i wont promise all the holes line up.
gonna cut it in mdf and try to build the car.

basically copied the chassis shape and hole pattern. instead of a battery cutout i made slots for strap tape. after tommorrows race, ill take thec ar appart and figure out some lipo holding blocks that will allow removal of lipo by pulling side belt. and sliding it out.

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f2...solidworks.jpg

Getting a little more into this stuff. Now. Had to model most of the e4 bulkheads to check my hole alignments so ill be able to produce chassis plates shortly if there is any interest.

Im gonna go a little deeper though and try to adress some of my personal grievences with he car.
Im going to delete that bs side belt tension peice and unify it with the layshaft carrier on the same side. I had to cut it and broke it in a crash as a result. So that wont happen with the new one.
Lipo blocks are a challenge due to clearence to the front belt carrier but ill figure it out. Right now it will assume the use if strap tape.

I also want to redeign the lower bulkheads to delete the superexpensive uppser bulkhead shock tower mount. The top deck will be extended to capture the bearings and double for camber link position.


Is there anything else that would be interesting to try? Probably not worth all the effort with new cars but i like it, think it deserves an update.

Here is some new ideas using a 2 belt layout.

Valk, PM me your email address and I can send you one of my chassis models which has all the stock hole locations.

I like the design but this layout has already been done before... If you search Atlas YM34 Type-T and it's pretty close to HPI pro 3... Although its less drag on drivetrain but the CG is higher...

I have driven both car and they Are not stable on high speed corners they tend to roll to much due to higher CG..

Yeah the cg is a little higher but given the components that are up there, it's not that much. The other versions I've seen have the battery mounted transverse which kinda hangs the battery weight outward. Notice the way I mounted the motor mounts. Essentially attaches to the chassis in a triangular pattern which should greatly improve rear flex with equal distribution. They don't attach to the rear bulkheads at all. Since the motor is even more centered in the chassis, you could run a shorty pack and still balance the car without too much ballast weight. I have another 3 belt idea but need to figure a few things out first.

yodog, you think offsetting the top deck mounting hole on one side of it would screw up the flex too much? im trying to modify my motor mount model into a new layshaft part with build in side tension.

it doesnt fit... lol. but if i move the pearch for the top deck mount back 2-3 mm, would it royally screw the car?

Well, since the flex is not symmetrical to begin with, it may not matter too much. If you can somehow link the 2 upright plates, you could make a new top plate to attach in the middle, between them. Sort of the approach I took in the latest pics I posted.

coming along.

Refined the hole positions a little bit and made a new layshaft bulkhead. eliminates that peice of plastic that has to be trimmed to fit a lipo in.
I also moved the lipo as far forward as possible without touching the front shaft carrier. maybe .75mm clearance there.

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f2...d_layshaft.jpg

nice! where will the steering crankbell go?

Stock likely. I could move the frobt shaft up and put a swingrack under it but that might bit be any better than where it is now.
I have another layout idea that would require longer layshafts and differebt belts but i want to get this modeled close to stock first so i can mock it all up.

spent some hours today refining my chassis plate and building some bulkheads to check mates for accuracy. ive made all the parts that will screw into the stock hole locations so i can move stuff around and experiment now.

finished the side bulkhead and everything aligns! but for it to work the stock front shaft carrier will need to be modified, or i would have to supply one that deletes the angled extrusion on it.
the side bulkhead cuts in behind the lipo so there is no room for blocks behind the battery, or blocks between the battery and front shaft carrier as they will almost touch.
strapping tape is the likely solution, though i could add holes to use crc lipo blocks or similar to stop it moving left/right.
it definitely wont move between the shaft carrier and bulkhead though ha.

also looking at the placement of the side belt tensioner, you couldn't just pop the belt off and slip the battery out without removing one screw on the cf peice that carries the tensioner.
i might go back to this and make a new side tensioner thats unified to the bullkhead to eliminate this problem.

this is definitely not an easy car to modify. a lot of thought went into laying the components out in such a way that mere mm's are left unused ha.

if i make these modification parts im not sure they will enhance the cars performence a huge amount but they should make it easier to deal with. anyone wanna guinea pig? lol.
and without that big ass hole, it might be more predictable. hard to say, im sure someone at TM knew what they were doing with the hogouts on the electronics side which probably offer some equalizing effect to the flex.

well, here's another idea...
I've decided to go for a shorty pack design in order to drop the weight and get better side to side balance.

Great job !!

Yodog, I appreciate your effort but......

Can't you just keep it simple and keep the chassis as it was except that it would allow the shorty pack with the steering taking the space up front on the lower chassis in front of the shorty pack? The whole point of the three belt design was to keep the battery pack and motor centered. Now you're offsetting the pack and getting all weird with the belts by reconfiguring the pulleys.

Just keep it simple. Please! Otherwise, you'll have a very costly conversion for a not so popular car that won't sell. I don't think us E4 enthusiasts here on this thread are interested in plopping $200 plus on a conversion that may require special parts. Think more like Exotek where their conversions are about $100 or less but just enhances the existing platform that makes it better and easier to work on.

That layout would work but why not go transverse shorty pack. Just make deeper pullies so te side belt hangs off chassis

I'm just treating this as an engineering exercise. I already have a chassis designed that simply eliminates the battery tray. I built it, ran it and it worked pretty good. If enough people want a simple chassis replacement, I can make some. There was just not enough interests so I'm learning more Solidworks and experimenting with some ideas I had. I throw nothing away so the files are still just sitting here. That's why I sent Valk some of my stuff as he may have the motivation to actually make something of it.
Here is a picture of what has been peaking my interests lately.

Thats great! Got pics?

Trying to get 50/50 weight balance.
If I go transverse, the battery movement will be limited and I most likely will have to go with the over motor pulleys again like the previous layout.

Here ya go...:D