16LikesSerpent S411
09-01-2012, 11:05 PM
#4127
So, time for another long post today, couple of weekends to report back on!
Anyway, last weekend was a sunday of testing at the state titles track... and unfortuantly it didn't go well. There had been a fence put back in place on the outside of the sweeper, and on the second run I got on the dirt, and well, the ensuring meeting between post and car resulted in the rear most suspension block pulling through the back of the chassis plate. It also took the hinge pin with it, and the block itself had a slight bend. Tears, basically
Thankfully, the screw had pulled through pretty cleanly, and there was a bit of meat left that would hold the block in place. The hinge pin was simply replaced, but with no spare 3.0 block, I decided to carry on with it as is, and see how it behaved, and try to get something else out of the 3hour round trip...
With that issues resolved as best as possible, it was time to start running through a list of things to try, mainly to get the car to rotate a bit better, find a bit more high-speed steering, and try and improve it over the bumps.
First on the list was changing from Hpi Silver to Ride Blue springs all round. Straight off the bat this was an improvement, car less effected by the bumps, and also getting round the track with an improvement in laptime. I think these are rapidly becoming my new go-to spring...
Next up was bodyshell mounting. Now this is a more general thing, but I always mount my bodies quite far back. Having been chatting with a few others, wanted to try out mounting the body much further forward. Theory going that more steering, especially at high speed, will result. And well, the theory was right
Gained a bit more steering all over the park, and seemingly without sacrificing stability. All good...
One thing I did notice during that run was that I noticed my car wasn't coming out of the corners, especially the low-speed hairpins, as some others. It had the feeling of some slip going on out the corner, like it was lacking punch. Given I was still running 1500wt oil in the diff, and it was much hotter, I decided to give 2000wt a go again, and this did work out very nicely. Car was a little more edgey on initial throttle, but more stable into the turns, as well as gaining straight-line traction.
I was still struggling with the car getting thrown around bit by the bumps, so the next coupe of runs I played around with the shocks, running through some different oil combinations, but not really finding anything I was happy with. I think the main issue I've been running the car too heavily damped, and/or with too much pack in the shocks... a change of oil brand is in the works now, to get a bit more similar to what others run at the track, just I can do a better comparison!
Last few runs of the day, I played around with rear roll bar again (still prefer the 1.4mm), as well as trying out the BD7 style mount again. Before, when I tested that out, I didn't like it as it made the rear very loose. However looking again at it at home, seems that the centre shaft mounts were hitting the top deck and causing a bit of odd flex to happen. So, this time round, mounted it up the same, but raised the top deck 0.5mm with shims to make sure the flex stayed the same (couple of pics at the bottom). This worked much better now, giving a bit more rear traction and stability, without the snappy on-power of before. For now, it's staying on the car
Anyway, setup I ended up on is here.... I'll do another post below for today's marginally more succesful run
Anyway, last weekend was a sunday of testing at the state titles track... and unfortuantly it didn't go well. There had been a fence put back in place on the outside of the sweeper, and on the second run I got on the dirt, and well, the ensuring meeting between post and car resulted in the rear most suspension block pulling through the back of the chassis plate. It also took the hinge pin with it, and the block itself had a slight bend. Tears, basically
Thankfully, the screw had pulled through pretty cleanly, and there was a bit of meat left that would hold the block in place. The hinge pin was simply replaced, but with no spare 3.0 block, I decided to carry on with it as is, and see how it behaved, and try to get something else out of the 3hour round trip...
With that issues resolved as best as possible, it was time to start running through a list of things to try, mainly to get the car to rotate a bit better, find a bit more high-speed steering, and try and improve it over the bumps.
First on the list was changing from Hpi Silver to Ride Blue springs all round. Straight off the bat this was an improvement, car less effected by the bumps, and also getting round the track with an improvement in laptime. I think these are rapidly becoming my new go-to spring...
Next up was bodyshell mounting. Now this is a more general thing, but I always mount my bodies quite far back. Having been chatting with a few others, wanted to try out mounting the body much further forward. Theory going that more steering, especially at high speed, will result. And well, the theory was right
Gained a bit more steering all over the park, and seemingly without sacrificing stability. All good... One thing I did notice during that run was that I noticed my car wasn't coming out of the corners, especially the low-speed hairpins, as some others. It had the feeling of some slip going on out the corner, like it was lacking punch. Given I was still running 1500wt oil in the diff, and it was much hotter, I decided to give 2000wt a go again, and this did work out very nicely. Car was a little more edgey on initial throttle, but more stable into the turns, as well as gaining straight-line traction.
I was still struggling with the car getting thrown around bit by the bumps, so the next coupe of runs I played around with the shocks, running through some different oil combinations, but not really finding anything I was happy with. I think the main issue I've been running the car too heavily damped, and/or with too much pack in the shocks... a change of oil brand is in the works now, to get a bit more similar to what others run at the track, just I can do a better comparison!
Last few runs of the day, I played around with rear roll bar again (still prefer the 1.4mm), as well as trying out the BD7 style mount again. Before, when I tested that out, I didn't like it as it made the rear very loose. However looking again at it at home, seems that the centre shaft mounts were hitting the top deck and causing a bit of odd flex to happen. So, this time round, mounted it up the same, but raised the top deck 0.5mm with shims to make sure the flex stayed the same (couple of pics at the bottom). This worked much better now, giving a bit more rear traction and stability, without the snappy on-power of before. For now, it's staying on the car
Anyway, setup I ended up on is here.... I'll do another post below for today's marginally more succesful run
Last edited by TryHard; 09-02-2012 at 01:23 AM.
09-02-2012, 12:49 AM
#4128
And so, onto today... Local club meeting, on a parking lot track with 17.5 blinky, kinda removed from full bore mod running, but hey, it's all fun 
Anyway, started out with the setup from above, with the exception of switching to Xceed 400 oil. I had a play around on the bench with different shock setups, and settled on the feeling of the 3hole/400wt oil. It's softer than what I was running before, so should be better over bumps. I also gave a little side to side test between 4hole/450wt, and 6hole/1500wt (as suggested by Johnny above). Have to say the 6hole felt good, but the oil was heavy, so maybe 1200 or 1000 would be more comparable to the others I tested out.
The club was using a new venue for the first time, on pretty recently laid tennis courts. I've never seen a venue that has such smooth surface, pretty awesome for a temporary track. Smooth, no bumps, and good grip from the get go too. Overall, very impressed with it.
Anyway, I had a few things I wanted to try out, including bodyshells, battery position, as well as a few geometry tweaks.
First run, car was pretty good, a little too reactive on the front end, and laying the front shocks down into hole 2 helped there. Next up, I tried 4mm on the inner rear link to try and stop some of the sliding, but this ended up taking away too much of the mid-corner rotation, so I went back to 3mm.
Next run, I wanted to test out the battery in the rear most position, by flipping the plastic holders round. From previous experience with other cars, this should give more rotation. What was interesting that this way, it gained middle, and also lost a bit of entry and exit, which is exactly what I was after, so mark another thing to the list of staying on the car
Last thing to test was bodyshells.... I'd been running the LTC-R all day, but I have in the stable a HB Subaru TypeC that'd I had painted up as an option. Now the last time I tested that shell out, I didn't like it at all, felt numb on entry and exit, but with a load of mid-corner. Admitadly, it had been on a different car (A700) and a massively differenet track with much higher grip level.
This time round, I have to say I actually quite liked the feel of it, slightly less initial and exit than the LTC, but with a good level of mid-corner. However, checking the laptimes, it seemed like it was about a tenth to 0.2 slower than the LTC, so for the final run of the day I went back to the LTC to check. Low and behold, I did exactly the same laptimes, so my guess is the tyres have started to go off, rather than anything to do with shell. At the very least, gives me another option, and have a shell for club racing
All in all though, good day. Ended up 3laps up on second place, with good consistency across most of the runs too, so can't really complain
Todays setup is here
Anyway, started out with the setup from above, with the exception of switching to Xceed 400 oil. I had a play around on the bench with different shock setups, and settled on the feeling of the 3hole/400wt oil. It's softer than what I was running before, so should be better over bumps. I also gave a little side to side test between 4hole/450wt, and 6hole/1500wt (as suggested by Johnny above). Have to say the 6hole felt good, but the oil was heavy, so maybe 1200 or 1000 would be more comparable to the others I tested out.
The club was using a new venue for the first time, on pretty recently laid tennis courts. I've never seen a venue that has such smooth surface, pretty awesome for a temporary track. Smooth, no bumps, and good grip from the get go too. Overall, very impressed with it.
Anyway, I had a few things I wanted to try out, including bodyshells, battery position, as well as a few geometry tweaks.
First run, car was pretty good, a little too reactive on the front end, and laying the front shocks down into hole 2 helped there. Next up, I tried 4mm on the inner rear link to try and stop some of the sliding, but this ended up taking away too much of the mid-corner rotation, so I went back to 3mm.
Next run, I wanted to test out the battery in the rear most position, by flipping the plastic holders round. From previous experience with other cars, this should give more rotation. What was interesting that this way, it gained middle, and also lost a bit of entry and exit, which is exactly what I was after, so mark another thing to the list of staying on the car
Last thing to test was bodyshells.... I'd been running the LTC-R all day, but I have in the stable a HB Subaru TypeC that'd I had painted up as an option. Now the last time I tested that shell out, I didn't like it at all, felt numb on entry and exit, but with a load of mid-corner. Admitadly, it had been on a different car (A700) and a massively differenet track with much higher grip level.
This time round, I have to say I actually quite liked the feel of it, slightly less initial and exit than the LTC, but with a good level of mid-corner. However, checking the laptimes, it seemed like it was about a tenth to 0.2 slower than the LTC, so for the final run of the day I went back to the LTC to check. Low and behold, I did exactly the same laptimes, so my guess is the tyres have started to go off, rather than anything to do with shell. At the very least, gives me another option, and have a shell for club racing
All in all though, good day. Ended up 3laps up on second place, with good consistency across most of the runs too, so can't really complain
Todays setup is here
Last edited by TryHard; 09-02-2012 at 01:23 AM.
09-02-2012, 01:06 AM
#4129
The link to the setup isn't working.
09-02-2012, 01:58 AM
#4131
09-02-2012, 02:01 AM
#4132
TryHard can you explain little more about this V2 motormaunt V1 center piece thing?
Thanks
Thanks
09-02-2012, 02:18 AM
#4133
Basically, I take the V2 (one-piece) motor mount, and put on the V1 (two-piece) centre bit. This part connects the top deck as well as the bottom deck, where as the V2 centre piece only bolts to the bottom deck.
Now, when mounting it up, I put the screws in the same place as the V2 on the bottom deck (so that's 5 screws, leaving the middle one empty, first pic below), then in the top deck, just mount up the forward most screw, that screws the topdeck into the V1 centre piece.
(As I mentioned in the first post, you do need to raise the top-deck to make sure you get even flex though, hence the adding of the orange 0.5mm shims in the second pic)
This is the same way that the BD7 has it's motor mount setup, and it's something that seems a lot of other cars are moving towards... seems to help with a bit more rear flex, and does seem to help give more rear traction.
HiH
Ed
09-02-2012, 03:04 AM
#4134
Have a look at the pictures in my first post.
Basically, I take the V2 (one-piece) motor mount, and put on the V1 (two-piece) centre bit. This part connects the top deck as well as the bottom deck, where as the V2 centre piece only bolts to the bottom deck.
Now, when mounting it up, I put the screws in the same place as the V2 on the bottom deck (so that's 5 screws, leaving the middle one empty, first pic below), then in the top deck, just mount up the forward most screw, that screws the topdeck into the V1 centre piece.
(As I mentioned in the first post, you do need to raise the top-deck to make sure you get even flex though, hence the adding of the orange 0.5mm shims in the second pic)
This is the same way that the BD7 has it's motor mount setup, and it's something that seems a lot of other cars are moving towards... seems to help with a bit more rear flex, and does seem to help give more rear traction.
HiH
Ed
Basically, I take the V2 (one-piece) motor mount, and put on the V1 (two-piece) centre bit. This part connects the top deck as well as the bottom deck, where as the V2 centre piece only bolts to the bottom deck.
Now, when mounting it up, I put the screws in the same place as the V2 on the bottom deck (so that's 5 screws, leaving the middle one empty, first pic below), then in the top deck, just mount up the forward most screw, that screws the topdeck into the V1 centre piece.
(As I mentioned in the first post, you do need to raise the top-deck to make sure you get even flex though, hence the adding of the orange 0.5mm shims in the second pic)
This is the same way that the BD7 has it's motor mount setup, and it's something that seems a lot of other cars are moving towards... seems to help with a bit more rear flex, and does seem to help give more rear traction.
HiH
Ed
It came to my mind you'r trying to do it like on BD7
I will do it like you'r suggesting it for my next outing. But sadly that's not earlier than in two weeks.Regards
09-03-2012, 04:49 AM
#4135
different topdecks are a great option to play with. also have a set of Hard Plastic parts to test with. the car comes with medium parts.
prices are very good as well compared to other brands. DJC is only 41 euros for a set. single piece motor mount is 23.50 and the plastic bits are lest than 6 euros each set.
run the car as it is at the moment then you can decide what you will need depending on your driving style and the track you are on. here the track are mediumt o low traction on asphalt so the Te fits perfectly as it is. Most people just buy a spare diff, internals and gears.
09-04-2012, 12:28 AM
#4136
Tech Regular
iTrader: (12)
DJC and the single piece motor mount are something to look at.
different topdecks are a great option to play with. also have a set of Hard Plastic parts to test with. the car comes with medium parts.
prices are very good as well compared to other brands. DJC is only 41 euros for a set. single piece motor mount is 23.50 and the plastic bits are lest than 6 euros each set.
run the car as it is at the moment then you can decide what you will need depending on your driving style and the track you are on. here the track are mediumt o low traction on asphalt so the Te fits perfectly as it is. Most people just buy a spare diff, internals and gears.
different topdecks are a great option to play with. also have a set of Hard Plastic parts to test with. the car comes with medium parts.
prices are very good as well compared to other brands. DJC is only 41 euros for a set. single piece motor mount is 23.50 and the plastic bits are lest than 6 euros each set.
run the car as it is at the moment then you can decide what you will need depending on your driving style and the track you are on. here the track are mediumt o low traction on asphalt so the Te fits perfectly as it is. Most people just buy a spare diff, internals and gears.
1airborne
09-04-2012, 10:05 AM
#4137
Well, got the new servo mount done.... But I used scrap CF and random screws so it's a bit ugly. I'm making one for a friend to test also, so I should have his cut today.... if so I'll post his, since it'll look more "production".
Can't wait to get back on the carpet
Can't wait to get back on the carpet
09-04-2012, 04:36 PM
#4138
The servo is about 1-1.5mm off the chassis... the bracket bolts to the 2 steering post and uses a standoff on the hole centerline behind the steering. I also could remove the Exotek brace since it helped eliminate slop. The 2 servo mounts attach to the bracket. I'm gonna see if the local machine shop can make 2 short standoffs and a tall one so I don't need to use so many shims. The center standoff is a post from the Exotek bumper brace, but it is still 4mm short. this also doesn't touch the upper deck.... I'll get to try it out Friday. There is also more than enough CF.... if it functions like I hope, I'll shave it down some more!
Sorry for the crappy pics.... iPhone 3
Sorry for the crappy pics.... iPhone 3
09-05-2012, 04:57 AM
#4139
The servo is about 1-1.5mm off the chassis... the bracket bolts to the 2 steering post and uses a standoff on the hole centerline behind the steering. I also could remove the Exotek brace since it helped eliminate slop. The 2 servo mounts attach to the bracket. I'm gonna see if the local machine shop can make 2 short standoffs and a tall one so I don't need to use so many shims. The center standoff is a post from the Exotek bumper brace, but it is still 4mm short. this also doesn't touch the upper deck.... I'll get to try it out Friday. There is also more than enough CF.... if it functions like I hope, I'll shave it down some more!
Sorry for the crappy pics.... iPhone 3
Sorry for the crappy pics.... iPhone 3
09-05-2012, 07:08 AM
#4140
The servo is about 1-1.5mm off the chassis... the bracket bolts to the 2 steering post and uses a standoff on the hole centerline behind the steering. I also could remove the Exotek brace since it helped eliminate slop. The 2 servo mounts attach to the bracket. I'm gonna see if the local machine shop can make 2 short standoffs and a tall one so I don't need to use so many shims. The center standoff is a post from the Exotek bumper brace, but it is still 4mm short. this also doesn't touch the upper deck.... I'll get to try it out Friday. There is also more than enough CF.... if it functions like I hope, I'll shave it down some more!
Sorry for the crappy pics.... iPhone 3
Sorry for the crappy pics.... iPhone 3
Regards
Ed