Which Lipo kit are you using to convert it: the sideways battery or the longways? I had the 5.1 (sideways) and went to the longways. You pretty much need the whole kit and a few misc screws. You could buy it piece by piece, but I think it would be easier and within a few dollars as cheap to get the whole kit. In comparison to the sideways battery(5.1): The spring plate is thicker. The shock mount is different. The front brace is different (wider). And you need more standoffs (3). I would definitely make one of the upgrades, but the verdict is still out on my longways conversion. I have only ran it once and had some issues the day I was running it, so I didn't get a good feel for it. And for sure budget in some other type of center shock. whether it is the Encore, Hotbodies, or the Silva. Getting the Hotbodies shock was the single best upgrade I have ever made to this car, and I am not an upgrade person. I seldom buy hop-ups or different equipment than what came in the box.

I am converting from sideways to longways.. I know the pod looks different on the 12r5 vs the 5.1..

So I have really been struggling with trying to have a consistent car over the course of a day (or evening) of racing. I find that I will often have a car that is absolutely dialed for the first qualifier, but will then be horrible for the rest of the qualifiers and the main. Sometimes it will be great for the 2nd or 3rd qualifier instead of the first one, but what I am trying to get at is that consistency is difficult for me.

I have been trying to make sure that after every run I check ride height and rotate tires, but it seems like I definitely need to be doing more. I also think part of it is adjusting my front doping width to account for grip levels rising over the course of the evening. As such, I am looking for advice on the following:

- Routine post-run to get ready for the next run. Any recommendations for things to do, procedures, anything? Right now I basically just rotate the tires and then check ride height to make sure it is still good. Any tips?

- Also, ride height seems to be something I really need help with. Does anyone know of a guide (or have a brief explanation) of how running equal ride height (front, middle, pod, rear) will differ from having lower middle/pod ride height or even a higher middle ride height?

If you pick-up the lipo conversion upgrade, all the graphite pieces are included.

I think from there only the aluminum pod plates and brace are needed ?

Have you tried using 2 sets of tires? Run the first set in the first qual, then clean immediately with motor spray when you come off the track. Let that set dry. Use the 2nd set for the 2nd qual, and clean immediately afterwards. By the time the 3rd qual/main comes around, the 1st set will be dry and ready to dope...

You can use more than 2 sets even. To the point where you are only running a set for a single round over the course of the day.

Unless your track is changing dramatically over the course of a race day(unlikely with carpet) or you are ping-ponging off the walls every run... odds are that your tires are picking up rubber/sauce/debris/etc and are changing in regards to overall grip from run to run.

How does the car change? Understeer, oversteer, traction roll?

Okay, I found a Silva and an Encore (Bladder) shock from Stormer Hobbies.

Guess I'll have to do a shock build-off for dummies once they all come in.

Thanks again for all the recommendations. Jim

I have not tried this, but it sounds like a reasonable idea. Right now I have just been taking all of the fuzz off of my tires between runs, but not actually cleaning them with any sort of motor spray. Seems like it might also make ride height adjustment a lot easier over the course of a day.

I would describe it as the car becoming edgy. Tendency towards oversteer, and I have to be a lot more careful on the throttle to prevent the rear end from kicking out. It just doesn't seem as "hooked up". Never really had issues with traction rolling, the handling just seems very inconsistent between runs. Will seem easy to drive and fast for one run and then very difficult to drive an hour later. I have a nagging feeling this is also related to my tire care in between runs, and not actually cleaning them off other than taking the fuzz off...?

Thanks for the help, im going to go through the 2 manuals to determine what is need...I don't want to have to spend $330 or so to build the 12R5.2 that I am sure will be released soon...

What tires are you running front/rear, and what tires is everyone else running? That's a good starting point, figuring out if you are running the right tire in the first place and adjusting from there.

Tire care changes from track to track, sometimes. At our club we just defuzz the tire. If you stay in the driving line though the tires come off very clean. Most of us also set up our cars so we run full dope across the front.

As far as ride height, I always set my car up square. 3.7mm across the deck, and I start an evening there. By the end of the night I usually am around 3.5mm rear and 3.3mm in the front. I don't bother adjusting during the night unless my rear/front bias grows greater than .2mm. You can experiment with chassis sag, but typically for me I always run 1-2mm of uptravel and no chassis sag.

The length of time you sauce, and track temperature play important roles in consistency. If the track is getting colder as you progress through a race day it may be losing grip, you may need to sauce longer or run a softer tire. On the other hand if it is getting warmer and grip is coming up you may sauce less. I generally try to sauce for 15 minutes and adjust from there. If the car feels loose late in the run I will go to 20 minutes, if it is too edgy in the beginning but feels fine late, I will sauce for 10. For me I've found its important to sauce the same time every time however. Just slapping it on and calling it good introduces inconsistency.

The easiest thing to do is see who's clearly faster consistently and ask them what they are doing. It will get you on pace faster than speculating on the forums since none of us run that track.

If you are new enough to this and don't know what to ask figure out this;

- Tire Compound.
- Tire Sauce, applicatino length, and amount across front/rear.
- Tire Diameter and sidewall radius amount.
- CA on the side wall, if so, how far.
- Ride height.

Other things to consider that effect consistent handling;

- Diff smoothness and tightness. Ask to spin their diff, if it's clearly smoother than yours you have to fix it.
- Dampening rates and springs. Are you running a similar setup?

Good luck!

Bumping this so it doesn't get lost in the shuffle...

Simichrome Polish, made by Happich.

Polish everything that isn't coated

So ixnay on the link balls... Thanks

Ashford Hobbies

Stormer just listed a bunch of new compounds for the Enneti tires. Anybody know anything about these?