I have shorty packs, when I run them indoor I just cant seem to get as smooth as I do with the full pack. The C4.2 that TQ'd was running suburbs with red AKA foam, ill get a set of Ions. what is the difference between running a 3/4 foam vs a closed cell like an AKA red?

The open cell foam is softer than the harder foam and will effectively give you mote trsction in the front more roll a bit kore reactive also more wear than a closed cell insert the closed cell insert will givevyou less traction and less wear

I was racing there with you last weekend. Went to practice tonight and got the car much better. I ended up with flat 1.6 f/r, 35f/32.5r. black front, white rear1 thin spacer front and rear. shorty battery 1 thin pad back. running gold barcades front, pink panther barcode type rear. open cell front red aka rear foam. C hub b hole and shaved brace no washers.

Car was still borderline too much steering. I might step the oils down to 32.5/30 and try avid 1.6 or losi 55's. Still getting used to the new car. Only 1 race in since retiring the RB5, and it takes a different style to go fast with th b4.2. overall loving it.

I haven't raced 1/10 in a long time, and my buggy felt like it had too much steering in the in field and the sweeper was just a pain in butt. Seems like the rear would wash out or just break traction in the rear. I wonder if my tire was rolling over so much the rim would catch the clay ??? I was running 1° camber in front 2° in the rear.

well first you shouldnt have to run 2deg camber in rear and try taking going to 1mm anti squat in the rear, and moving your battery backwards 1 small spacer, and if its too reactive with the steering try moving the steering link to the back position on the steering rack that will make it less reactive, also what springs are you running, and oils, pistons, you could try different camber link positions or tires

Personally I see the tapered pistons as the current gimmick trend to sell more product. The reason I say this is that the taper has absolutely no affect on how oil passes through the holes. It is viscosity that alters shock performance and reaction times. Also, something to think about are the physics at play. The tapered portion of the piston should move more slowly because the tapering means the surface area has increased. The larger the area, the more resistance. Even still, the difference at these minuscule sizes is so minute only a computerized system can gauge what little difference (if any) there is.

I have an idea for pistons that I am thinking of producing that is significantly different to anything that has ever been produced. I come from the world of paintball and I have quite bit of experience in that industry to draw from that allows me to think outside the box. I believe many RC components can benefit from paintball technology and that's what my inventive brain is always thinking about. Now if I could only get the financial backing to buy my own equipment, then I'd be golden! LOL

I too have played paintball for many years. I don't understand how paintball tech can even relate to RC? Are you taking about tech for bolts? That's comparing air movement to fluid. A little different. If you are talking about computer systems,then that would be kinda cool to have a computer system to monitor things. Maybe a little more in depths besides the telemetry stuff there is out now.

Rob , if you can't feel the difference between flat 1.6 and a taper 1.6 piston ?

You need to retry again as there is a noticeable difference ...


Not just a trick or gimmick ...

Hideeho
I 1/2 way agree with you bob. I believe there is a difference in feel (felt it myself), but I believe the difference is not from the piston being tappered but from the hole the oil passes through being shorter due to the tapper. If this is correct (not sure it is, no shock dyno to test it), there probably is little to no difference between the resistance on the compression verses the rebound. I have not tried them yet, but I really want to try the M2C tappered hole piston in my ebug. The holes in the piston are counter sunk (just like the screw holes in your buggy). This will make the holes be shorter & cause a venturi effect moving in 1 direction but not in the other. I'm also interested in trying the 2 stage pistons from rcshox.com. The have a keyed 2 piston setup that allows some holes to be closed on compression & open on rebound. This will unquestionably change the damping characteristics of the piston. I'm not a big fan of the MIP system, even though is most closely resembles 1:1 tech. My problem with MIP is counts on blow by being baffled by shims that are in contact with the sides of the shock body. This causes excessive wear very quickly. The same system used over various holes in the piston & not in contact with the shock body seems like it would work much better (I assume there is a reason MIP didn't go this route, it's too obvious & how it is actually done in 1:1 shocks).

I've struggled with my B4.2 since I moved to 2wd after driving 4wd SCT for the last 3-4 years. I'm running in a 17.5NR class on a high traction outdoor track. The car always felt nervous and at the same time seemed slow in some corners. The local top dog regularly runs faster than 99% of the Mod guys so I asked him to check out my car and make some suggestions on my setup. He gave me a couple changes to try and then drove it on the track. He asked if I had ever tried a full sized pack. So I threw an old NanoTech 5600 in the car and could tell that it was easier to drive, but I couldn't tell if it was faster. First round I wound up TQ (fast guy was just practicing indoors) and a full lap faster than I usually run.

So, if you're struggling with setups and a shorty pack try going back to a full size. I'm back to the stock setup with White/35 front and 32.5/Green rear. I'm running a Reedy 309 (318g/7000mA/65C) pack. Besides stabilizing the car the pack holds voltage better than the shorties I've tried.

true on both notes. The higher mah and lower IR packs will have a higher voltage at the end of a given period of time with the same load. I compared my 1 year old gens ace 5k 40c to my 4100 shorty 65c and after 5 minute @15amp discharge, the 40c gens ace had a higher ave voltage. Now, the heavier pack will also use more mah. But i am convinced a good 5k 300 gram pack with a low IR would have more power than my shorties over the course of a race. not would going to 7200 mah 70c be better with the added weight? dunno.

Noticeable how? My lap times were virtually identical with both piston types. The car behaved much the same through all terrain. Granted, I'm not a pro, but am an extremely technically savvy person and am fairly keen to seeing and feeling minute differences between products and with the tapered pistons my car felt the same. Even the drop test was no different.

What I have in mind would change how the piston interacts within the shock body which would affect dampening and rebound differently to how current tech does. Tapered Pistons do indeed affect dampening and rebound but I don't think any human being can gauge the difference because of how minuscule that difference is.

In fact, if you were to do an ultra slow motion capture of a shock with each type piston in there the rebound would look pretty identical and equally so, dropping an equal amount of weight onto each shock would produce an identical resistance figure.

Most guys are running 14g in the rear triangles anyway, just pull that out and put in the bigger pack.

Running back to back I used almost exactly the same amount of power. The big pack just put more of it down to the track.

yeah, chris I keep adding weight to my cars too for outdoor racing. I sometimes think I need an outdoor packs and a shorty for indoors. The car always felt a little sluggish indoor with a full pack. But I spend 95% of my time outdoors. you can add weight in the tray to get the right feel, but the shorty will put less "power", so I am of thought, that if you need more than just a few grams of weight, the full pack might be best, even in 17.5

thats a good idea wildcat, run the sticks mostly but switch to the shorty when you go inside to the smooth high bite