viking252200

I have always been more of an off-road person, but recently a friend of mine convinced me that 1/10 touring cars were great fun and i was missing out if i didn't try...

So a few days ago, I picked up a NIB Yokomo BD5 for 90us$... not the newest of cars I know, but it should hopefully do the trick for now?!

Naturally, I began reading about how to set up a touring car and OMG
My brain is still in overload mode...
It seems that in order to set up a touring car, you have to have set-up stations, tweak boards, droop gauges, set-up wheels and the list continues...
Are all those tools really necessary?

I know that many of us are a bit anal when it comes to our cars, but I was blown away by the attention to details some people exhibit...
In one instance the length of a shock was to be 62.3, not 62.2 or 62.4 but exactly 62.3!
Failure to do so would make the car pretty much undriveable.

Starting out as a complete on-road noob, I expect to crash fairly often, but that will tweak the chassis and make the car undriveable...the only remedy apparently, is to pretty much rebuild from scratch.

I could go on about tires, diffs, spools and what not, but I'm afraid the my post will be a wee bit too long then

I only intend to do some stock (17.5t) club racing and have bit of fun...but maybe I have bitten over more than I can chew?

So guys, help me out here! Are touring cars really this difficult??

wingracer

iTrader: (24)

And you didn't need any of this stuff for offroad?

Sure you can race offroad without all that but if you are really serious, you will have it. Onroad is the same, you can do without but if you're serious, you will get them.

Josh-n-ya

iTrader: (95)

I was thinking the same!

PitNamedGordie

iTrader: (8)

First….nice pick up on the BD5 for $90…sounds like a good deal.

Yes some setup tools are needed. To start, see if you can borrow a setup station when you first build your car. You won’t need to use it a ton after that anyway. Buy a camber gauge ($15)…that is a tool you will use more often. Tweak boards are good to have but there are other methods of checking tweak without one.

Touring cars can be fickle…things like shock length are important as you don’t want to build in tweak. I know when I built my shocks they are all set to 62mm. Not a hard thing to do but it’s necessary.

Now as far as setting up a car….yes there is a lot to learn. What I would do is start with a common setup. As you get more knowledgeable with setting up your car try making small changes to see how they affect the car and your driving. The good thing about getting the BD5 is that there is a wealth of setup knowledge online.

Look here…

http://www.petitrc.com/reglages/yoko...YokomoBD5.html

I could go into much greater detail but I just wanted to talk you back from the ledge a bit…

Enjoy the car…the learning experience is part of the fun…at least it is for me.

cyclonetog

To be fair, you can do a lot of it and get close with an off road camber gauge and a steel rule. The Jilles Groskamp youtube videos are really good and he uses minimal gauges, well worth a look.

To detweak a crashed car at a club meet you pretty much loosen top deck and bulkhead screws and retighten with the car flat, there wouldn't be time to do much else.

uatemycookie

Just have fun! its the most important set up tool

valk

iTrader: (13)

you really dont need the stupid expensive hudy stuff either. i picked up a team integy setup station for $50 used and its just as accurate for my needs.
honestly you only really need it for measuring steering throws and setting front toe. though i do use it for camber adjustment now paired with my camber gauge, as wheels are never perfect to measure against.

a nice ride height gauge and downstop blocks would be good to get. i have quite a mishmash lol. i do have the hudy downstop gauge but i got it used with my nitro car. tamiya ride height gauge which is also a downstop gauge...

dont worry too much about "being serious" and getting everything. just show up with your car built to the box specifications and have fun. then your 99% there already.

malkiy

iTrader: (10)

Really all you need is a ride height and camber gauge.

Only thing the setup station makes easier is front toe. You can borrow someones setup station for this because front toe isn't something you are constantly changing.

You can use a flat counter for ride height, checking tweak and adjusting camber. You do not need a tweak board.

samnelso

iTrader: (1)

Just get everything as close as you can with the tools you have. Purpose-built tools can be accumulated as you get more serious. Also, if you're at a track, surely others can help you out.

As mentioned previously, the most important things off the bat are a ride height gauge, some sort of camber gauge, calipers, and a flat surface.

You should be able to get a touring car close, without being exact, and the car should be driveable. As you get faster, attention to detail will have increasing importance.

jeff jenkins

iTrader: (84)

You only need a camber and ride hieght gauge and a ruler . The ruler can measure toe both front and rear as well as track width. I use a ruler quite often for 1/12 but I do have a setup station . I don't really need it tho.

The Captain

iTrader: (6)

+1, just borrow other people's stuff at the track and have them show you how to properly use them until you decide if it is something you will want to take more seriously and invest more money in.

And no, most offroad guys dont worry about things like tweak and stuff because they take so much abuse its almost pointless. I know when I race on dirt I only care about toe, camber, and ride height. Dont need any special tools for that other than a $10 camber gauge.

nf_ekt

iTrader: (115)

I'd worry about the expensive set-up station when you actually figure out what you are doing, what changes to make, ect. Camber gauge and RH Blocks for now are all you need to start. Get the car balance L/R and make simple adjustments. Just getting the balance and camber all even should make it plenty drivable, along with Ride height. Even Droop also, again you don't need a full on station to figure that out.

Quantra

When I started I used some vernier calipers to measure the camber link and steering link lengths and kept them to what the manual said. I carried a 5mm allen key which I used as a ride height gauge, or rather to check I was running at least the minimum 5mm ride height allowed by my local club.

After doing this for some time a more experienced racer offered to help get me set up. He put my car on his set up system and got everything set up properly. Really it made little to no difference to my speed, times or enjoyment because I couldn't yet drive a clean race. So I didn't buy the setup stuff at that point and went back to my calipers and allen key.

Further down the line I realised that I was improving and really enjoying my TC racing so I invested in a 2nd hand set up system and a bevelled ride height gauge. Learning set up and trying different settings was the logical next step in my racing adventure which I thoroughly enjoyed and still do =]

Sith Lord

iTrader: (21)

x2

x2. Most clubs have a good bunch of blokes there willing to show everybody what they know, especially the new guys. See what others are using, then upgrade bit by bit as you need to. I still don't own my own temperature gauge - I just or borrow others.

bertrandsv87

iTrader: (2)

All I ever used was two rideheight gauges, One camber gauge, and two small 2x2 square plate drilled with a 5/32” hole for front toe measurements, and a tape measure to get my track width to 190mm.... All that hudy stuff is absolutely too expensive...