Serpent S411
#4726
Its makes the only servo mount point down the center of the chassis. Raises the outer mount point 1mm higher then when using the stock mount so it gives better clearance on hard chassis roll situations, actually now the chassis rail hits before the servo touches. I've never gone back to the original once I did this mod, so its pretty bullet proof, no failures yet. Its very easy to do the only catch is getting the bottom plate material, from there 3 holes drilled in the plate and its done.
Was it worth it? I think its made the car just more consistent. It also allows you to run a servo saver without clearance problems. If you don't like the mod, nothing in the stock parts where modified, so you can always go back (don't think you will though).
If your going to the Airdrie WCIC race come over and you can see the mod.
Was it worth it? I think its made the car just more consistent. It also allows you to run a servo saver without clearance problems. If you don't like the mod, nothing in the stock parts where modified, so you can always go back (don't think you will though).
If your going to the Airdrie WCIC race come over and you can see the mod.
#4727
#4728
Tech Elite
iTrader: (61)
I'm not familiar with the QTS 32 tires, but do they have a taller side wall than a JACO Blue? I'm just wondering if some of the problem is the sidewall is breaking down as the tire warms up. I would be tempted to glue up the sidewalls of the front and rear tires and try that. This can also be used to help eliminate traction roll problems.
If your going to play with the arm sweep, remember that when you do this you are also effecting several other adjustments on the car, wheelbase, shock angle side and forward/back, roll stiffness........pretty much everthing thats hooked up to the front of the car, so perhaps if you like the slight push of the car, instead of the arm sweep, try shock angle and maybe a little different toe setting. Just saying sweep is a big adjustment. Or just try a bigger rear torsion bar to get the front to turn a little better.
What you felt in the medium arms is the same for myself, never really felt they are that bad, just not as prenonced a feel everytime.
For the snap try to move the shock top out one hole.
If your going to play with the arm sweep, remember that when you do this you are also effecting several other adjustments on the car, wheelbase, shock angle side and forward/back, roll stiffness........pretty much everthing thats hooked up to the front of the car, so perhaps if you like the slight push of the car, instead of the arm sweep, try shock angle and maybe a little different toe setting. Just saying sweep is a big adjustment. Or just try a bigger rear torsion bar to get the front to turn a little better.
What you felt in the medium arms is the same for myself, never really felt they are that bad, just not as prenonced a feel everytime.
For the snap try to move the shock top out one hole.
I changed the springs to much softer, 13.5 front, 12.5 rear and went to a front spool. I made some minor roll center changes as well. The snap in the back is mostly gone, though the car in general is much less consistent and not sure how I like it. I liked the softer springs, but up in the air on the spool. It pulls much harder out of the corners though, and noticably increased my acceleration.
I would like to try the arm sweep just to see what it does, but it is good to know that I need to get it back on the board afterwards. I was thinking about 2.1/1.5 instead of 2/2 which should give me a similar width to what I have now. Maybe next weekend.
100k in the front is way too thin. This would be the #1 cause of your on-power push. I wouldn't run less than 500k.....
I would go to thinner oil in the rear diff to prevent the snap. If you are getting on the throttle hard and one wheel slips, it is more likely to cause the other tire to slip with thicker diff oils. 2000 sounds too thick to me, especially on lower bite. 1500 felt fine to me even on higher traction. I'd always start at 1000 and go from there.
Arm sweep is a little hard to tune with if you aren't accustomed to how your car feels. Let's say you have a very balanced steering feel... in terms of entry/mid/exit, we'll say it's split 33/33/33. Anytime I've added arm sweep (.5 to 1*) it felt like it would change the split to 25/50/25.... I noticed a hair more push entry and initial exit, but the car rotated a bit more midcorner. When I ran a TC6 (first gen) our cars were always a little pushy when set right for our grip level. On some of the tighter layouts I would add about a degree of arm sweep to change the rotation point. You could sort of relate it to changing ackerman settings, except that ackerman settings also affect the grip generated by the tires due to slip angle.... any extra grip generated by the arm sweep isn't as noticeable as an ackerman adjustment (more of a "feel").
And 36 runs on the tires?!? Throw them away! They will do NOTHING for you with that much track time on them.
Hope this helps!
I would go to thinner oil in the rear diff to prevent the snap. If you are getting on the throttle hard and one wheel slips, it is more likely to cause the other tire to slip with thicker diff oils. 2000 sounds too thick to me, especially on lower bite. 1500 felt fine to me even on higher traction. I'd always start at 1000 and go from there.
Arm sweep is a little hard to tune with if you aren't accustomed to how your car feels. Let's say you have a very balanced steering feel... in terms of entry/mid/exit, we'll say it's split 33/33/33. Anytime I've added arm sweep (.5 to 1*) it felt like it would change the split to 25/50/25.... I noticed a hair more push entry and initial exit, but the car rotated a bit more midcorner. When I ran a TC6 (first gen) our cars were always a little pushy when set right for our grip level. On some of the tighter layouts I would add about a degree of arm sweep to change the rotation point. You could sort of relate it to changing ackerman settings, except that ackerman settings also affect the grip generated by the tires due to slip angle.... any extra grip generated by the arm sweep isn't as noticeable as an ackerman adjustment (more of a "feel").
And 36 runs on the tires?!? Throw them away! They will do NOTHING for you with that much track time on them.
Hope this helps!
Tires have been officially retired at 44 runs. They still look pretty good, though one has a pretty nasty grove formed in it from the insert. Our track is not very balanced, with 2 right hand 180's, 1 left hand 180, a right hand sweeper, and 3 chicanes, and we burn up left fronts. They still felt good, and going to a much less used set (~12 runs), I did not notice any difference. The tires are as consistent as Sweeps ever are for me, but I have a new set ready to scrub in as well.
Will report back after the weekend.
Thanks again for all the help!
#4729
For what it's worth, we have a very bumpy track and I've changed both of my chassis to 500k gear diffs to get more consistent steering. In 17.5 blinky, it accelerates the same. In mod, it definitely puts more power down with the spool but it's just too difficult for me to handle. There's a bottle of 1000k oil waiting for me at the post office, so I'll try that out in coming weeks.
#4730
Ended up doing several changes, none of them really planned. Working with another guy at the track with a T4, we found out that I have a pretty nasty tweak in my chassis. Lossened everything, and it's still there. It is worse with the battery taped down, and it is very possible I induced that tweak with the battery tape tightened. Did my best to adjust around it, but not sure how long it has been there as I can get the chassis to sit flat, but it shows the issue on a tweak board.
I changed the springs to much softer, 13.5 front, 12.5 rear and went to a front spool. I made some minor roll center changes as well. The snap in the back is mostly gone, though the car in general is much less consistent and not sure how I like it. I liked the softer springs, but up in the air on the spool. It pulls much harder out of the corners though, and noticably increased my acceleration.
I would like to try the arm sweep just to see what it does, but it is good to know that I need to get it back on the board afterwards. I was thinking about 2.1/1.5 instead of 2/2 which should give me a similar width to what I have now. Maybe next weekend.
Yeah, I get that a lot about the front diff oil. I know some running at the track with as little as 20k and others with 300k. Most are using a spool though. The fastest guy with a diff has 300k, but he is also much more consistent of a driver (and is about a tenth faster then me with my diff). TC6.1 and a lot of other differences as well though.
Tires have been officially retired at 44 runs. They still look pretty good, though one has a pretty nasty grove formed in it from the insert. Our track is not very balanced, with 2 right hand 180's, 1 left hand 180, a right hand sweeper, and 3 chicanes, and we burn up left fronts. They still felt good, and going to a much less used set (~12 runs), I did not notice any difference. The tires are as consistent as Sweeps ever are for me, but I have a new set ready to scrub in as well.
Will report back after the weekend.
Thanks again for all the help!
I changed the springs to much softer, 13.5 front, 12.5 rear and went to a front spool. I made some minor roll center changes as well. The snap in the back is mostly gone, though the car in general is much less consistent and not sure how I like it. I liked the softer springs, but up in the air on the spool. It pulls much harder out of the corners though, and noticably increased my acceleration.
I would like to try the arm sweep just to see what it does, but it is good to know that I need to get it back on the board afterwards. I was thinking about 2.1/1.5 instead of 2/2 which should give me a similar width to what I have now. Maybe next weekend.
Yeah, I get that a lot about the front diff oil. I know some running at the track with as little as 20k and others with 300k. Most are using a spool though. The fastest guy with a diff has 300k, but he is also much more consistent of a driver (and is about a tenth faster then me with my diff). TC6.1 and a lot of other differences as well though.
Tires have been officially retired at 44 runs. They still look pretty good, though one has a pretty nasty grove formed in it from the insert. Our track is not very balanced, with 2 right hand 180's, 1 left hand 180, a right hand sweeper, and 3 chicanes, and we burn up left fronts. They still felt good, and going to a much less used set (~12 runs), I did not notice any difference. The tires are as consistent as Sweeps ever are for me, but I have a new set ready to scrub in as well.
Will report back after the weekend.
Thanks again for all the help!
For what it's worth, we have a very bumpy track and I've changed both of my chassis to 500k gear diffs to get more consistent steering. In 17.5 blinky, it accelerates the same. In mod, it definitely puts more power down with the spool but it's just too difficult for me to handle. There's a bottle of 1000k oil waiting for me at the post office, so I'll try that out in coming weeks.
Just wondering if anyone has tried the "foam earplug and oil" in the front diff? I hear (no pun) that it works just about as good as locker compound but is much easier to clean out if diff maintanence is required.
#4731
Tech Master
iTrader: (10)
Serpent sell-off. Absolutely nothing against the car..... just that another opportunity might present itself.
http://www.rctech.net/forum/r-c-item...-w-spares.html
And 500k in mod feels good on carpet, particularly less than ideal traction.... asphalt I would think it'd heat up too much. I also like "cleaning putty" with oil.... I bought a kneadable eraser (craft store) and mixed it with oil, same result.... didn't seem as prone to overheating like traditional diff fluid on asphalt!
http://www.rctech.net/forum/r-c-item...-w-spares.html
And 500k in mod feels good on carpet, particularly less than ideal traction.... asphalt I would think it'd heat up too much. I also like "cleaning putty" with oil.... I bought a kneadable eraser (craft store) and mixed it with oil, same result.... didn't seem as prone to overheating like traditional diff fluid on asphalt!
#4732
Tech Addict
iTrader: (2)
Serpent sell-off. Absolutely nothing against the car..... just that another opportunity might present itself.
http://www.rctech.net/forum/r-c-item...-w-spares.html
And 500k in mod feels good on carpet, particularly less than ideal traction.... asphalt I would think it'd heat up too much. I also like "cleaning putty" with oil.... I bought a kneadable eraser (craft store) and mixed it with oil, same result.... didn't seem as prone to overheating like traditional diff fluid on asphalt!
http://www.rctech.net/forum/r-c-item...-w-spares.html
And 500k in mod feels good on carpet, particularly less than ideal traction.... asphalt I would think it'd heat up too much. I also like "cleaning putty" with oil.... I bought a kneadable eraser (craft store) and mixed it with oil, same result.... didn't seem as prone to overheating like traditional diff fluid on asphalt!
thanks for the tip. I ll test that out at the up coming event.
#4733
Tech Regular
iTrader: (16)
Hey guys last weekend was the indoor champs. Here is the race report with setup. Sorry about the typo's lol
http://teamserpent.com/2012/11/usa-t...indoor-champs/
http://teamserpent.com/2012/11/usa-t...indoor-champs/
#4736
Hey guys last weekend was the indoor champs. Here is the race report with setup. Sorry about the typo's lol
http://teamserpent.com/2012/11/usa-t...indoor-champs/
http://teamserpent.com/2012/11/usa-t...indoor-champs/
#4737
Tech Elite
iTrader: (13)
johnny:
i haven't really messed with either of the cars since i got them. basically refilled the shocks on the mod car and dropped electrics into it. i assume its setup stock but ill probably strip them both down and put them together again, as anyone should do when receiving a used car i guess.
Any recommendations for good starting carpet setup for stock and mod cars? our event is the old style crc carpet. dispite racing on it all year, the layout changes weekly as its a gym track. traction doesn't come up for 3 heats generally.
asking you because i imagine the other WCICS events spec the jaco blue tires as well.
i haven't really messed with either of the cars since i got them. basically refilled the shocks on the mod car and dropped electrics into it. i assume its setup stock but ill probably strip them both down and put them together again, as anyone should do when receiving a used car i guess.
Any recommendations for good starting carpet setup for stock and mod cars? our event is the old style crc carpet. dispite racing on it all year, the layout changes weekly as its a gym track. traction doesn't come up for 3 heats generally.
asking you because i imagine the other WCICS events spec the jaco blue tires as well.
#4738
In any matter to fix it, I would probably opt for green or red loctite over glue to put them back. Make sure you pack them with a good amount of oil in case you get a spill of locking fluid in the bearing, hopefully its enough that you could wash out the bearing if you have to. So you'll need a thin washer again, use a q-tip to spread a thin coat of loctite in the rack bearing hole you plan on putting the bearing in. You only need a really thin coat so be stingy when you apply it. Take a long screw, put the bearing on the screw, then the thin washer (motor shim washer) and put it in the hole in the rack you're re-installing the bearing, now tighten it to one of the steering arms, using it to pull the bearing into place on the rack, and using the thin washer to get the proper spacing between the bearing and the arm. Do the same thing for the other side, then let the loctite to setup.
Good luck.
#4739
johnny:
i haven't really messed with either of the cars since i got them. basically refilled the shocks on the mod car and dropped electrics into it. i assume its setup stock but ill probably strip them both down and put them together again, as anyone should do when receiving a used car i guess.
Any recommendations for good starting carpet setup for stock and mod cars? our event is the old style crc carpet. dispite racing on it all year, the layout changes weekly as its a gym track. traction doesn't come up for 3 heats generally.
asking you because i imagine the other WCICS events spec the jaco blue tires as well.
i haven't really messed with either of the cars since i got them. basically refilled the shocks on the mod car and dropped electrics into it. i assume its setup stock but ill probably strip them both down and put them together again, as anyone should do when receiving a used car i guess.
Any recommendations for good starting carpet setup for stock and mod cars? our event is the old style crc carpet. dispite racing on it all year, the layout changes weekly as its a gym track. traction doesn't come up for 3 heats generally.
asking you because i imagine the other WCICS events spec the jaco blue tires as well.
The setup works really well and if you get a chance to try this setup a couple of times you'll find you can do the front and rear tires the same way and then compensate your driving as the tires warm up.
Good luck and any other questions please feel free to ask.