Originally Posted by Steve S (Post 10369565)

Hey guys, I was going to try out Rick Hohwart's 11/01/2011 setup:

http://www.teamassociated.com/pdf/ca...ub_11-2011.pdf

I ran into a problem where the blades bottom out in the front diff outdrives. I have no idea if this was a problem in my previous setup and I just didn't notice until now, but is there some trick to this particular setup or have I screwed something up? I understand some people are running different universals, is that the difference?

Thanks!

Originally Posted by grippgoat (Post 10369741)

The setup says 1mm on the arm mounts in front.... Typically I think that would mean 1mm non-offset, which maybe would cause a problem? Maybe it's supposed to mean 1mm offset since it's a 6.1 setup?

-mike

Originally Posted by mtaddei (Post 10369777)

Anybody can help me?????

Originally Posted by ahpeq_ong (Post 10370107)

any news from Thailand ( TITC ) for AE driver..?

Originally Posted by Rick Hohwart (Post 10371013)

Nobody uses 2 deg caster. At least I have never heard of it. Is there a reason you must use this?

You can try this but it is not 2 degree caster.

Originally Posted by grippgoat (Post 10364146)

Maybe double check that the servo saver is tight-enough?

I've had a bit of what you describe on my initial run with the TC6.1. The first change I made was to add 1mm between the front hinge pin blocks and the bulkheads, at the suggestion of the fast TC6.1 guy in my club. It made the car work a lot more predictably. I think that took care of most of the "the car wants to keep turrrning on exit" issue.

Also, double check your front toe. I think in the past I've found that front toe-in can make the car want to keep turning on exit a bit, but I can't remember if had that going on with my initial run.

Everyone told me the kit setup on the 6.1 was easy to drive, but I thought it was pretty craptastic on carpet. Maybe I'm doing it wrong. :)

Changes I've made from kit setup:
- 1mm on front hinge pin blocks - made the car just work smoother
- 5mm droop front and rear, instead of 6 front / 5 rear - made the car more predictable
- 0.5mm on rear/rear blocks - more corner-exit traction, and more stable in a fast transition
- HPI pink / silver springs - car instantly worked better for me, but I don't think it's the right setup, probably has to do with other issues in my setup. Definitely made the car more responsive.
- hole 1 on front camber links - seemed to help me get into the corners better, and make the front end more predictable
- 1mm under front outer camber link - :confused: that's what the fast guys are running
- 1mm under outer tie rod - :confused: that's what the fast guys are running

The car still isn't working nearly as smooth and consistent as my old car, but my fastest laps are getting there. My main things to try tomorrow night are fresh tires, a front gear diff with 500k, and shocks and springs.


Regarding past experience with twin-point steering... I'm coming from an Mi4LP. When I first got it, I thought the steering was too frantic, and blamed the single-post steering design, having come from a twin-point HPI Pro3. I jumped on the twin point when it came out, and was happier, I thought it was a bit smoother. Something like a year down the road, I threw the stock single-point steering back on, and I think it feels just fine (SkyPilot can say "I told you so" now), maybe even a bit better. The differences are 1) my driving skills progressed so I like a bit more of an aggressive car, and 2) the chassis setup is a lot better than it was back then.

Overall chassis setup / balance are more important than steering geomtry. And more important still are all the little details of how you apply that setup: tire prep, no chassis / spring / swaybar tweak, good weight balance, no binding in the arms/links/drivetrain, accurately set droop, ride height, alignment, smooth shocks, even steering throw, and how you consistently stay on top of how all those little things degrade with each and every run.
And even more important than all that is consistent tire prep and staying on top of what the track surface is doing. If you think the car has the same setup from one run to the next, but it feels like a completely different (worse) car, then chances are you've missed something. I still have a long way to go.

-Mike

Originally Posted by gom (Post 10372349)

Thanks for the detailed response Mike. That is really helpful. I'll try out some of your recommendations on the next practice day. Adding 1mm on front hinge pin blocks sounds interesting as well as using hole 1 on front camber link. I have always been using hole 7 in the front and hole 1 in the back. May be using hole 1 on both will help stabilizing the car.

Originally Posted by dennisV (Post 10372324)

Nothing. They work great too.:nod:

Originally Posted by crash666 (Post 10373172)

im looking to pu a 6.1 to race this year in a 17.5 blinky class on asphalt. my question is,are people running the 6.1 stock out of the box or changing things like the spool and gear diff.any help would be appreciated.

Originally Posted by mesa80 (Post 10373791)

I was wondering our the majority of touring car drivers mounting their motor fans to pull or push air cause i have mine mounted and just wondering is it better to pull cool air over the motor or pull the heat away from the motor

Originally Posted by or8ital (Post 10373998)

blow on it or suck

Originally Posted by grippgoat (Post 10372962)

I'm on hole 1 in front with 1mm under the outer camber link stud. Because that's what the fast locals use. I'm still at the stock hole 3 in the rear with 2mm under the outer camber link.



So to be clear, I put 1mm under both the forward and backward mounts on the front arms. That will effect track width, shock angle, probably roll center a bit, maybe even ackerman and bump steer for all I know. But the main goal with that change is to widen the front track width. Using 1mm spacers between the wheel and the hex would make a similar change without as many geometry side-effects, and I'm honestly not sure why one approach is preferable than the other. My understanding is that the wider track in front generally takes away some roll, maybe takes away a little grip, stabilizes the car, and makes it harder to flip.

I should start filling out setup sheets to track my changes. But here are some notes from last night's racing:
- I ran the gear diff with 500k traxxas oil all night. It diffed out a lot on corner exit, so I know I was loosing some accelleration there, but it was controllable. I think I had a radio calibration issue that was making it really hard to get on the throttle smoothly that I later sorted out. But overall, the car was much smoother into and through the corners, and was easier to do consistent laps with.
- Started on Spec-R C2.9f/2.5r springs with TRF shocks (with clear silicon o-rings) on AE 35wt oil. That car was decent bit maybe a little nervous. I switched to AE Silver/Green springs on TRF shocks (with 50* tamiya x-rings) with AE 45wt oil, and it was a huge improvement. It really settled the car down, especially in the high-speed transition. I think next time I'll start with 45f/40r, and build the extra set of shocks as 1 pair of 50wt and leave one at 35wt, and experiment with the fluid split.
- I copied another local guy's dynamic brake settings for the Viper ESC. I had it off before. This made it easier to be aggressive on corner entry while still maintaining what little consistency I had :blush:. It was kind of weird in a way. I was used to using a lot of brake to slow down a lot to keep from over-shooting, but I found that I could go into the corner a lot faster if I just trusted the dynamic brake. I need more practice with it to get used to it.
- Late in the night, with the car working decently (better than the driver at least) I reduced front up-travel from my initial setting of 3-3.5mm down to 2-2.5mm. This helped the car on corner exit a lot, really reduced the diffing-out problem, and made the car work even better through the high-speed transition.
- In the last qualifier my fast lap was 14.2x with the average looking to be about 14.7ish. Some bad luck with traffic threw me off my pace so I pulled the car to avoid frustration. The only change between then and my B-main was less front droop and fresh tires. I only did 8 laps in the b-main, because I got caught in an accident in front of me in the first corner dropping to 8th / last place, drove 4-5 smooth laps to get back up to third feeling like I had the pace to at least catch 2nd. Then I caught a dot and traction rolled, then started overdriving and making more mistakes, went all :flaming: trying to stay ahead of the people that I didn't want to have to pass again, and eventually just pulled the car. But... during those 4-5 smooth laps, my fast lap was down to 13.9 and the average was looking like it would shape up to be 3-4 tenths faster.

So a good night from the point of view of getting the car working better, but a bad night in terms of actual racing. :/

-Mike

EDIT: I had mistyped hole 3 in front before, it's actually hole 1. Fixed above.