Total Lurker here.... went through every page and read most posts.
Curious, I finally log in with my account and it says there is only 796 pages, but as guest there is 2122.
Great information guys,
I got a lot of great info.
But this is what I took away off the top of my head:
IMOP must have buys:
Spring kits(for Orange and black springs)
TLR tuning kit - best price ratio (budget: buy rear shk twr)
Hardened lightened out drives (replace only after stock is worn)
There were some early problems with diff pins(that Chris Atterberry had a solution) but since have been fixed.
There was a running change on the diff gears, run what you have until they NEED to be replaced, old ones are fine.
Setup: Go to Losi site, pick one and try, Lanes seems to be the most popular. (edit: Ryan says the Dunford setup is the goto startup setup now
)
Diff weights: 553 still seems to be the most recommended starting point. (753, and 332 closely follow)
Seal your metal inserts in the diff cup - RTV, CA, Grease, pick one
Diff rebuild: Take your time, make sure everything is seating properly, dont over fill, may be a little notchy when first put together due to square nuts not quite seated, but should smooth out. Metal shim under shim gear does wear out, Chris Atterberry, makes what most use to replace. Most replace with diff oil, but few are still using grease.
Out drives: they can wobble a little and its ok - There are a couple aftermarket center diff braces that have a second bearing to reduce some wobble.
Great Chassis debate - Run your stock for a while, then pick one of the aftermarket chassis's - personal pref. on which one. TLR, BCE, BUMP, Jammin, Xtreme, King Headz, etc, Just read up and see which one you would like to try
Chassis braces: seems to vary based on track, and which aftermarket chassis you choose.
Sway bars: Make sure where they are attach on the bulk heads that they can move freely, those set screws should not be overly tight and should allow the bars to move.
Great Motor debate: Winner still seems to be pro4 4600(13-16 tooth pinion most popular for this motor), but there were some great alternatives mentioned. If running the pro4 4600 to keep temps down put Current Limiter to 80%(if you have a RX8)
Pinion to use: varies greatly on which motor. So make sure to include what motor and spur gear you are using when asking what pinion
Great ESC debate: Tekin rx8 and MMP still seems to be the top choices, but again some other good alternatives were offered
Batteries: Turnigy nano-tech 65-130c 6000-6600 seems to be the most recommended, but shipping times could take a while and cost just as much as other good batteries once you factor in faster shipping. There were some other good recommendations on local batteries at a decent price, search...
Emulsion shocks: Seems to be the rage, but there are a few out there that like the bladders still.
Shock oils: seems to have a very narrow range, 27.5 - 32.5 seems to be the most recommended.
Droop: Full droop(screws not touching chassis) also popular 2 turns out on shocks ends for even more droop.
Front end is going to have some slop you may be able to get rid of some of it by upgrading your posts to the harden ones, Aftermarket Bell crank, and new harden balls new Rod links, to varying success. In the end you are still going to have some slop still, Just the way it is. Run it the way it is for a season then think about reducing some slop for next season(depending on how much you run)
Tires: just like any other car, it all depends on the track. However the stock eclipse tires, are not bad for out of the box.
Wheels: Losi stock still most recommended, however AKA just came out for SCTE.
Well take that for what its worth from a newb, I bought a new SCTE at the beginning of march and have applied the knowledge I learned here. I took my car out to the track for the first time last weekend, and I had a blast driving it, It was good enough to just drive and get around the track and had a blast! I didn't have worry about setup quite yet. Now all the fine tuning begins.
Thank you all that contributed, specially Casper and Hacker7. You guys really did answer a lot of the questions asked, and kept this thread together. There are quite a few people on this thread that I value there opinion after seeing how much it has helped others.
(whew longer than I thought post!!!, back to lurker status...)
-Woody