+1 but,
i think you meant the speed8 EXP (not the HD), and by the way the speed8exp is usually on lower end of the price range.

Yeah, our terminology around here for the Parma shells is Speed 8 and 8HD.

The HD is a bit better in lower traction, or on bumpy tracks.

Wow,great advice form some of the top 1/12 scale guys.
Can't wait to get back to the track.
Thanks to everyone for the help.
Lots of fun stuff to mess with now.

What's up with the all black wires?

I've seen several pics posted of people's 1/12 car where the wires are all black. You guys that confident about your wiring that you won't get the wires mixed up? Really I can see the motor wires being all black because you only wire it once in a while or hardly at all. However all black battery wires? Isn't that playing with fire?

Just put the appropriate heatshrink colour tubing for the last cm or so by the connector. Or, just make your wiring the appropriate length so that it is physically impossible to connect the battery incorrectly.

I generally put a strip of red heatshrink tubing on the positive battery wire... But, first and foremost, I try to make my battery leads the correct length so that the neg lead will not even reach the pos terminal.

That is the most foolproof way of doing it, IMO.

My leads will only reach their appropriate terminals on the battery. For motor wires I strip a small bit of insulation off of some red, white, and blue 13ga. wire, and slip it over the of the end of the motor wires to designate a, b, and c.

I think I saw Jeff Cuffs do the motor wire trick, and thought it looked cool.

Ahh, good ole Speed 8. I still love that old blob

Still one of the BEST spec motor class bodies on the market. Just enough downforce, with very little drag.

Like already said, most of us wire the car so the battery can only be plugged in one way. On my car the battery is virtually keyed into place by the negative wire, no chance of crossing wires. On my touring cars I run black wire and just pay attention to which wire is which. It's not for the absent minded.

I've never understood colored motor wires. Middle wire goes in B, always, so figuring out A and C is pretty easy since most ESC's are marked on the case, and it's not like we run our wires so long that you cannot see which wire goes to which terminal.

I wish all accessories (esc's, servo's, etc.) just came with black harnesses as well. So much cleaner.

I just converted my AE 12R5.2 over to damper tubes...

Everything went smoothly enough and the Speed Merchant parts looks to be very nice quality. My only complaint would be the amount of material(or lack thereof) left around the screw holes on the pod upper plate. But as long as I am careful and dont torque the screws to death, I think everything will be fine. Overall, I am excited to try out the car with the tubes.

I have a few questions for you guys who have been using 12ths with damper tubes for a while:

1) How often do you clean/re-lube the tubes? Obviously this depends on how clean the surface/facility is... but say it is a typical club-type carpet track. Are we talking about cleaning/re-lubing once a week? Or in between every round? Etc...

2) For a typical club-race/medium bite carpet track, what are the common lubes used for a 17.5 12th? I have heard suggestions of 10k, 15k, and the Speed Merchant "Green" Spooge.

3) Are damper tubes a consumable item? Do they "wear" out or develop play after time? And are they a commonly broken item in side impacts? Basically... should I keep spares in my pit box?

Thanks fellas

1. For club racing, I usually rebuild every other raceday.

2. I have 5k, 10k, 20k, and 30k in my box. I rarely use the 5k, mostly use the 10k on front kingpins, the 20k and 30k end up in the tubes. It all depends on the level of traction, and which class of motor (17.5 or 13.5) I'm running.

3. Damper tubes are pretty tough. The tubes on my Xi, were previously used on my XL, and my X before that, so my "normal use" tubes have been in service for at least 5 years. I have spares, but I've never had to install them.

+1

Can you elaborate more on when it is appropriate to use 20k vs 30k in the tubes?

17.5 blinky here.

Very helpful... thanks!