Here are my impressions:
Im still finnishing mine up...screwed up the body...it is really thin on the sides...1mm my bum...anyway one of the scolds i made while cutting out masking tape was obviously too deep and a small flex in the plastic saw it break clean off. other than the sh@tty bitty body - and dog ugly i must add coming from the sleek 2011 808 body
- i can honestly say that having never owned anything other than xray's, that this MBX6R was a great build so far. still need to do the shocks.
The build quality is ABSOLUTELY on par wih that of the xray, and that is my honest opinion. Throughout the build I did not once feel i was building something down on quility. There are also a few great solutions on the 6 which i see i'll prefer over the 808. the 6R steering plate/ackerman setup is just WOW, soooo smooth and simple. the xray has a similar solution but i could just never get it as smooth due to figity parts. another thing i instantly noticed while building my 6R was how smooth the drivetrain was, even with brand new sticky bearings still...incredible....and the diff shimming solution...WHY oh WHY cant other manufacturers make it this simple.
Also, the suspension movement is also buttery smooth, another thing you couldnt always get perfect on a 808...i always blamed the swaybars for being to short for this. the center diff setup on the 6R beats the xray to the dust hands-down. just the brakes/diff/pads and fit/look of it all is superior.
I think I can honestly say now that the mugen kit screws are the best i have ever had in ANY kit bar none. they just hold up great!
I can also see myself favoring this pillow ball setup over C-Hub due to the ease of getting all the adjustments without havnig to buy extra caster blocks etc etc. Also an easy way to dail out slop I predict.
All the xtras in this kit are astonishing really. fuel filters, 4 different chassis braces including an AL one, all the plastic versions of the new AL parts as well...you never know when you might need a quick fix
all th AL bling....all stuff that i had to get xtra in my 808 kit...even the carbon top plates or AL wing braces arent standard with the 808...so big point here for the 6R.
Im IN LOVE with the look and feel of the drivetrain parts...the silver diffs, outdrives, gear etc ook fantastic and very high quality...BETTER than the "fabled" HUDY spring steel in the 808 kits. the hudy stuff gets ugly after a few weekends anyway and xray stopped hardcoating alot of the shafts and things, substituted them with normal black anodizing which comes off if you look at it to long, my guess is to save costs..especially due to all the xstras they included with the 2011 808.
a few things that were/are mild irritants during the build was
A: getting the plastic bushings seated properly in the AL top arm holder...this was a tight fit...i had to heat up the holder a bit to expand it to get the plastic parts in all the way...nothing major...you probbly dont have to do this if you dont mind skuffing your anodixed bits up with some monkey tool
B: getting the front steering link ends over the ball ends...im not a fan of just guerilla-ing the things in place with some pliers...so i had to take some time getting them on without messing up the plastic. a trick the 808 manual taught me is very handy when geting ball-ends inside link arms...you just use the engine mount block and a normal 16 mm screw or similar....losely place the parts in order on the screw and start tightenng them into te engine mount - which serves merely as a "tapped hole" and just watch everything pop into place without any brute froce. obviosuly this wasnt achievable with the steering links due to the nature of the long all in one ball joint.
thus far, the only thing i still prefer from my 808 is the lower suspension holders/ kickup/ antisquate etc fittings, their system just works easier and better...oh and mugens setup sheets SUCK NUTS
other than that i can say with ease this will be my new Fav car out of the 2 so far, the quality is on par with xray and the 'KISS' solution to alot of areas on the 6R just makes sence, no over complicated junk for the sake of being "innovative". good stuff mugen, you made a believer out of a xray cultist for good
ill post pics of my chassis as soon asi finish the shocks...i hav new bodies on the way so mine wont be painted for a while still...and the old one wich was halfway doen is in the trash now
cheers
Morné