Caseymacgyver

You're on the right track with focusing on throttle control. Anything you can do to improve your throttle control, especially around your typical drift speed, will help (turn down end-points, EPA, etc...). Review your ESC programmable settings and adjust towards more control vs. speed. I would turn off the drag brake if it's an option, as it can really penalize a clumsy finger.

I definitely had Drift lock problems on my stock D3, and it got worse before it got better. Here's some of my observations and things I learned:

• The FOW will help massively to avoiding drift lock and improving transition-ability. The stock solid spool makes it so the front wheels have to fight each other, while also locked into a fixed ratio to the rear. This creates very distinct "Sweet spots" in how it wants to drift, which can be difficult to get out of. The FOW allows the front wheels to spin at different speeds if need be, especially when the throttle drops bellow the driven speed. This effectively creates different responses depending on the car's drift speed vs. the drivetrain speed. The downside of an FOW is that it will create a new problem with a significantly increased tendency to spinout. This will put even more importance on throttle control, but in a different way. It will instantly go from doing beautiful arcs and donuts in only one direction, to being extremely tail-happy and seemingly impossible to keep from spinning out. Overall, the FOW is an absolute must for this car, just be aware that it will not be a cure-all.

• The high CS ratio is definitely a major factor as well, but it's a fine line, since the CS ratio is supposed to induce the "Jack-knife" behavior, but leave just enough control in the car to escape it. IMO, 2.14 is beyond that fine line for this car out of the box. I had much better success in avoiding drift lock, and learning how to better tune and control within the limits of my car at 1.85 (At the time, I was only able to find a 19T pulley).

• Wide angle steering and UWA CVD's will more than likely turn a drift lock problem into a spinout problem, but are still worthwhile improvements. The reason is that although the wider steering angle will increase the ability to countersteer against the drift lock, it will also tend to magnify the factors causing the drift lock in the first place. Again, you have to always keep in mind that this car has been designed to drift. Meaning, it will necessarily have the least amount of traction and control authority when drifting at full lock. This is heavily driven by the 10° caster angle, which changes the front wheel camber as it steers, while at the same time cross-jacking the rear, effectively twisting the chassis and changing rear wheel camber. Since this effect is a function of steering angle, it will only increase as the steering angle does. Again, this is all fundamentally by design, but it may at first make your problem worse. You can see this effect with the car on a bench facing away from you. Watch the camber of the rear wheels to the ground as you steer lock to lock. By changing the rear camber link holes (Roll center), you can effectively change what happens to the rear camber of each wheel as you steer. Keep an eye on your rear droop too, since the need/desire to limit dive to the front, could limit rear down travel to such an extent that it leads to complete traction loss on the leading rear wheel due to cross-jacking. At the same time, the trailing rear wheel will be loaded up, which will magnify the effect of it's induced camber.

Probably need a bit more thickness, but you can use anything (washers, small piece of plastic with a hole, etc...), but it does need to be fairly flat. Since the rear tensioner has a large adjustment range, and the fine adjusting is done by the bearing holders, the exact thickness of the spacer is not that important. It's just that the tensioner ends up being towards the end of the slot with a 19T pulley. The spacers are to effectively extend the tensioner's range.

With an FOW installed and a reduced CS ratio, you'll be able to work through your setup in a much more predictable and intuitive manner. More importantly, you won't be fighting the car as much and will be able to enjoy the process of learning CS drifting

pettyeagles

iTrader: (86)

I ordered the parts Tuesday night from TQ Racing and they here Thursday morning. I can't say enough about their customer service.

FoiVoS_

Everything arrived today . I have assembled the FoW but i cant mount it . Do i need to take of the bearing from the old Solid axle and put it to the fow and then but the bearing holder in there ? In generall , how do i place it ?

Edit: I found it :P

FoiVoS_

Well after the upgrades i can avoid drift lock The car has now become a looooot more sensitive to my inputs 80% Of the understeer is gone but it feels scary on braking I need to practise more to get the feel of it now

eunique

iTrader: (3)

yes...practice, practice, practice...will help a lot!
and also...try turning down the endpoint for your throttle...I've lowered down to 60% sometimes and you will be amazed at how you are able to drive it better...then you can start turning up the throttle endpoint as you get more acclimated to it

FoiVoS_

Thanks for the tip I have to ask you guys a question .. With the one way now installed when off throttle i can turn with my hands the front wheels each with a diffrent speed without any resistance at all (the diff is not moving only the driveshafts) . But when i am on throttle the diff locks which makes the 2 wheels turn at the same speed . Now on reverse i can turn either on or not throttle the wheels on diffrent speeds . Is that normal ?

pettyeagles

iTrader: (86)

In reverse only the rear gets power.

FoiVoS_

Well it seems that the driveshafts need some time to rotate on reverse . Should i make a video ? Could that be a major problem for my FOW ?

eunique

iTrader: (3)

Pettyeagles is correct...when you throttle in reverse, only the rear wheels are driven...front are free wheeling. When you throttle forward...all 4 wheels are driven. If it does not do that, you assembled the FOW backwards.

FoiVoS_

Now i havent assembled it backwards i checked it ... What should i do ? Can you tell me when on throttle can are the front wheels able to turn in diffrent speeds in your fow ?

FoiVoS_

Here is the video i made . On reverse as you can see the whole front one way unit moves with the drivetrain which makes the front wheels to spin too on reverse . I cant understand what i have made wrong ...

+ YouTube Video

pettyeagles

iTrader: (86)

Can you stop the front wheels with your hand when you give it forward throttle? If so you have the fow installed backwards.

FoiVoS_

No i can't !

pettyeagles

iTrader: (86)

So with the chassis on the ground and when reverse is applied do the front wheels have power?

FoiVoS_

I dont know if the get power when on ground but off ground they get only a litle litle torque .. I just want to make sure my fow works good . To be honest i dont care about the reverse , the only thing i am worried is that when i brake the front wheels dont keep spining for so much time as i have seen on other videos but i dont know if it is normal , please tell me by watching the video