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Old 01-09-2012, 07:52 AM
  #959  
SteveM
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Default First Impressions

I have now run my Sakura in a club race ahe my impression of the Sakura is that it's a decent sedan and in the hands of a better driver it can be a contender for club events. It is not a high quality kit like the 417X, T3, 411, etc, so don't expect miracles. The stock setup worked well for me and if I had to pick one thing to fix it would definitely be the alloy motor mount. Access to the rear motor screw is a PITA and if you want access to the screw you must use the kit spur. You have to pass your wrench through the holes in the spur to reach the screw to adjust gear mesh. If you use a different spur (like I did) then there is no access to the rear screw. I have the optional vertical alloy motor mount on order and holefully this will resolve this design flaw.

The plastic parts seemed brittle during assembly and threading the bolts into parts was tough. I was worried that they would not hold up to racing but despite my off-track fun (I hit a few boards) nothing broke. The car took the punishment without a problem. My ride height was 6.5mm and I need to get that down. The clip shocks are not ideal but proved reliable and smooth. Associated 40wt oil and kit springs seemed to work well. The instructions give droop screw settings but you really need to double check with a gauge. I used my Associated droop gauge to ensure left to righ were equal.

I added one 0.3mm shim to the plastic steering belcrank as there was too much slop for my liking. This tightened the steering and helped the car track better. The stock servo saver was used which seems to be a direct copy of the Tamiya HD version and I had no issues. There was too much over stear with the stock setup and the rear was sliding out a bit too much. I moved the top of each rear shock in two holes and this resolved the problem. I didn't use the kit tires and rims replacing these with a new set of pre-glued Sorex 24Rs. I used Simple Green to clean the tires after each run and once dry, I applied a full coat of traction compound.

The rear shock tower bolts to the back of the rear bulkheads which places the rear body posts quite far back on the body. This made things tricky when trying to put the body clips on and I had to use pliers as room near the rear wing is tight. More of a pain than anything else. Fat fingers perhaps. I'm loving the stock gear diffs. No leaks and they still feel butter smooth after the weekend of racing. One less thing to worry about or fix.

I chipped a tooth on my 64P spur in the last qualifier and my repair wasn't quite right. I still managed to qualify 7th overall and made my club's GT2 A-main. Other than this glitch the car was a joy to drive.

Last edited by SteveM; 01-10-2012 at 08:13 AM.
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