Originally Posted by
monkeyracing
Interesting, possibly-related-to-the-future-of-m-chassis-news: A123 Systems (makers of LiFePo4 batteries) has filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection. Will they survive? Will Tamiya come to their senses and stop building cars based around their batteries? Stay tuned!
Also, thought I'd mess with the suspension geometry on my M04 a little. Using the M06 rear lower ball stud/hinge pins on all 4 corners, I Moved the lower damper mounts out and down. This required using longer ball cups on the bottom of the dampers. (touring car dampers would fit, too) I recently drove a friend's M03 with this modification and it was incredibly smooth and stable. Let's see if it does me any favours.
Pushing the shocks more out on the arm will in theory make them harder, because the wheel makes less lever. And if they get more angle in relation to the arm (witch happens if you keep the top mounting point the same) it will make them softer (so you'l be back to the same), and as the arms compress and make an angle closer to 90 they will get a more direct action. More angle is like progressive springs, that's good for traction.
There was a topic about this somewhere else as well because of the new mounting points on the new hop-up m-06 parts.
One thing i have to ask you: you run with out rear bumper or rear brace (like m-03) holding the bottom of the gearbox. Doesn't this make it flex or prone to crack the case on crash? I never took it out, always though it had a structural purpose.