I've always struggled to get even throw with Tamiya cars and Futaba servos. I found the best way to get it right is to angle the servo saver at about 30 degrees, to the right hand side (passenger), and shorten the link to about 39mm. This makes it pretty linear left and right. If you leave the horn at 0 degrees then you need a servo with a large sweep range, which you can get with a futaba by using programmable mixing, but the result is an uneven L/R bias.

Thanks for that. I am using a sanwa but I will try what you suggested. As I'm unable to race tonight I will have a mess about on the set-up station.

Hey guys,

Just built my 418 and not had a chance to run it just yet.
I have a couple of questions.

- The droop measurement on the instructions and set up sheets points to the center of the outer hinge pin. Is that correct?
The reason I ask is that I am coming from a T4 and the 418 has a lot of droop in comparison. Wondering if I am measuring wrong.

- The Front belt sits very close to the left. I built the layshaft etc as per kit. It is not really an issue but i think under load it will rub a little on the servo mount. Is this an issue? can you adjust it?

Thanks!

If the droop measurements are in the region of 7-9mm, then it would have been measured in the middle of the hinge pin. If it is in the region of 4-6mm then it would have been measured to the bottom of the arm.

Can't say the belt has rubbed at all on my car despite being close.

Thanks mate.

Really interesting setup running carpet with Sorex 28's. Seems excessive.

Anybody else having an extreme bind in the arms with the kit wheelbase. I reamed the arms out with my buddy reamer and the hinge pin goes through more free but once put together and screwed on they are extremely tight

When my mates both built their 418's we had this problem.
One filed the end of the pivot balls down slightly so the wishbones fitted easily (I did the same of an RSD conversion for my T4) the other filed the arms slightly.

We tried using a reamer for ages but it hardly did anything.

Yea i mean the pins fit in the pivot ball nicely i think. I just think the tolerance on the arm itself needs to be better from the factory cuz the front arms went on dialed... reamed them and super free. Rear arms not so much. I will ream more then use some sand paper and get these suckers freed up.

On another note. Anybody have the standard kit setup for carpet. I'm building my car per kit advising now but as far as actual setup sheets.... mine just came with an empty one.

Do not ream the arms!!
You sand them slightly to allow the clearance so they move smoothly. It says in the manual to "file arms for clearance" or something along those lines.
Reaming the arms will only result in added play with the arms as you continue to run in the car.
Make sure you screw the blocks in, in their out most position as this will give you just a tad more room.
The arms only need a light sanding on each side to get no slop and perfect movement.

I swapped out a 1mm wheelbase spacer for an 0.75mm the same as we always did in 416/7 series. Play is perfect.

Exactly. DON'T file the arms, just reduce the number of spacers. I take out the 0.5mm spacer and replace with the fine 3mm ID shims to get free movement without slack.

Yep as above. just used 0.1mm shims instead of the 0.5mm shim until you have no slop. Do not shave the arms as you will then have one arm slightly out of line with the other.

Also ream out the arms, the shafts are meant to feel stiff in the arms, they are meant to move via the pivot balls. As mentioned above you will just engineer slop by doing that.

My TRF418 runs very free, I can take the pinion off and spin the wheels and they spin more than any belt car I have ever had.. to be fair even my TC3 shafty never was as free as that.. (Although there was a guy at our club who could make his TC3 spin for about 10 seconds)...

Waffling now..

Hey Sean,

thanks for your setup. One question about the shims under the camber links: you have 4mm under them both front and rear. Most other 418 Setups I found have 1mm some have up to 2mm, but never 4mm.

With the 418 bulkheads being around 2.5mm (not exactly sure about this) higher than the 417 ones, I feel that's even more unusual. That must change the rollcenter dramatically.

So can you tell us what the purpose and the effect of that change over the standard setup was?

Thanks,

Christian

+1 Do not ream the arms! The pivot balls is where all the up and down movement is controlled, and the arms will go up and down very smoothly!