I was talking to Frank over the past week at Nat's. He has a new c/f router for cutting the stuff out. He's obviously putting it to work. He said the new parts support the spring adjustment better and are a little stronger. The car is narrow now. Another plus, it has the p/t recessed or it has the chassis routed open directly under the 'sponder so there is no interferance. Very well thought out! They took top 3 in 19t

Hi Brian,

Was great to meet you at the nats, I really like the modded car you have, looks really good. Did you machine the bottom of the motor mounts to get the motor back down after having it raised byt the t-bar?

I really liked the ms2.2 on asphalt when I ran it at Ripon last year, very stable and predicatable to drive, also the burms at Ripon are very forgiving. There is a chance of running 2 classes there and I think I'm gonna set it up for stock. The hot tires to run were green rears and dbl pink fronts but I think we will be trying wraps too this year.

Chris

hello all rc fans....i just bought a carpent knife 3.2..and just wondering where could i get parts online? does stormerhobbies accept paypal? and where has the most parts in stock?

thanks

www.kthobbies.com accepts paypal I am 99.99% sure and has Calandra parts.

Stormer doesn't do paypal that I know of. i just ordered from them and had to use my Master/ATM card to order. Really fast shipping and good customer service.

KT Hobbies is my other favorite and they do accpet Paypal and have fast shipping also. I didn;t need to use customer service yet because I never ran into any problems.

Frank didn't mention when the newer version might be available did he?

alright m8...thats really cool.....finally got one......really thanks for your help

YOu may know more about set-ups than me, but if you need help with the CRC 3.2-just post away here. I am running one now and trying lots of different things.

all of the Pictures of Frank's new carpetknife.

http://www.rc50.com/modules.php?name...bum=25&pos=285

http://www.rc50.com/modules.php?name...bum=25&pos=286

http://www.rc50.com/modules.php?name...bum=25&pos=287

http://www.rc50.com/modules.php?name...bum=25&pos=288

frank said he had it at cleveland just wouldn't let me take pictures of it the bum. but he did hook me up with some tires to use at the nats! love the high rollers!

Chris,
Yea, there was a lot of machine work on the MS2X. It's easier to point out the factory parts instead of listing the modified parts. Factory parts: center shock and damper tubes, upper rear plate, body posts, front upper a-arms...

... shock mount....

... front spindles...

that's about it. The rest I either modified or built. A lot was learned from this car that I hope to carry over to the MS line.

Frank didn't say anything about an eta on the new car/parts. My guess is that he was "shaking them down" to see if they are good. Nothing like testing in the heat of the battle.

As I look closer at the pictures, I see a lot of similarities to the SpeedMerchant Rev.4. Look at the change in the dampener tubes. They are angled slightly forward just like the SM Rev.4. I also like the position of the tweak springs, they are moved outward for a finer adjustability. They are not quite as far out as I would like to see though. I also like the predrilled center holes in the bottom plate and front of the chassis. That will make it easier to center up the weight and measure width from center. I am also noticing that there are not any balls on the bottom pod plate for the tweak springs to rest on. It looks like there is less distance between the tweak plates and the chassis. I’m going to guess that they are 0.250” closer to the chassis. This would also effect the angle of the dampener tubes. I’m not seeing much different in the front end except the center brace. Turn over a Rev.4 and look at the number of screw holes in the back end of the chassis. Could the additional screw holes in the CRC weaken this area of the chassis?

Two other things to note in the pics of Frank's new Carpet Knife. There isn't a cap on the GTX and the shock is mouted upside down from what I would consider the normal position. I thought a cap should always be used on a GTX but maybe it's different with 4 cells. Sure would be nice not having to fit that cap somewhere. I wonder what the benfit is of mounting the shock that way.

B&B: There is nothing weak on the new CRC Knife prototype. I have looked at Tom Firsching's prototype car extensively, and it is built like a tank. If you notice, the car uses 4 standoff posts in the rear to support the rear tweak plate and damper tubes, so it is much stronger than a design that uses 2 standoffs. The 1-piece side links are also far stronger than the 3-piece type.

As far as a release date, there have been several different prototypes of the car kicking around the CRC "skunkworks" since the end of last summer. I would not expect Frank to release a new product until he is 100% satisfied that the new product has all the adjustability and user-friendliness that he demands, and that the new car has a performance advantage over the old car.

Rick: Mounting the shock upside down ensures the piston is always sitting as deep in the oil as possible. If the shock were to leak or there was an air bubble inside, it would be at the opposite end of the shock body as the piston. This is probably the same reason all off-road vehicles mount their shocks with the shock shafts pointing downward.

Not sure about the capacitor.

Wouldn't an air bubble in a shock travel to the highest point in the shock body?

exactly, which is why we mount our shocks "upside down" now. so the piston is not at the highest point where the bubble is. instead, it's at the lowest point of the body.