The Rug Rat won the Nats on asphalt in 2003 and wins on carpet too. Its a great car. Changing damper systems will not really have a huge effct on the car unless the original system was jacked up somehow. The Rat works well everywhere if setup properly.

I like the shorter wheelbase cars. They react faster. The Rat, Hyperdrive and Switchblade are ~1/8' shorter than the L3/4.

were can i get a rug rat :D

Anybody that carries IRS parts should be able to order one for you. I don't know if they sell a complete kit or not.

I think you can also order the cnversion kit from IRS direct as well.

can u give me a link :)

www.teamirsrc.com

-James

thank u for the link :D

Shimming king pins
 

Hi,
Can anyone give me some advice on what to look for to know the best shimming for the king pins? :confused:

All the way to the rear. I don't run the batteries anywhere else.

Here is the thought line behind my suggestion.
The AE dynamic strut was designed for the 12L series of cars. They originally came with a .084 thick chassis and the 12L4 still uses that thickness in the kit. So my deduction is the stock version of that suspension must line up based on that thickness chassis to get the original performance enjoyed with that suspension. The RugRat I have is .106 thick. So I use the lowered arms and compensate with the shims to get the same roll center. I am only off by .005. I haven't done much with changing the roll center of the front other than use the IRS caster blocks. They have several hinge pin locations to adjust the roll center. I am running better with the standard AE version. Newer versions of the RugRat chassis are in the .113 - .118 range. I will shim the suspension arms such that they think they are on a .084 chassis. I hope that car will respond to tunning as well as the .106 car I am running now. More later.

Conversion kits are available from the IRS website. http://www.teamirsrc.com/

I use the special 1/12 IRS king pins. I put the head on the bottom and place the spring between the head and the pivot ball in the lower A arm. I then place the spindle on the king pin in a position where it is touching the pivot just as the spring unloads after compression. I then place the pivot from the upper arm on the king pin. The eyelette should be with the larger openning up to accept the nut that threads on the king pin. Then thread the nut in place so there is no slop up or down of the king pin or spindle.

If you use the king pin with C clips, do the same thing, but shim the top with the .020 shims till you get the same condition of no preload on the bottom spring before applying the top C clip. I would use a shim and get a small amount of preload of the spring rather than leave a small amount a king pin travel. Also, if you get interference of the king pin to the inside of the wheel, adjust the position of the shims you need from the top to the bottom of the king pin, below the spring. Hope that helps. Good luck.

Wow, I will check that. I have a 12L4 sitting here so I can get an accurate measurement.

Is anyone going to be at Maximus tomorrow night (Fri)?

Nick

Hey Nick, Maximus is setup for oval. The final race of the triple crown series is this weekend. Not sure when he will have the roadcourse layout down again. The racing season doesn't start till October. Some of us will be at RCE on Saturday. I just ran 12th on Tuesday so I wll be running sedan. Trying to split the two evenly until vegas.