My R/C Addiction

[Joe]

yeh you are deffinitely running outside of any normal class spec in almost every way. I ran 26mm front and 30mm rear and those were more than enough to keep the car planted pending the car was setup well.

The aluminum rear uprights are what killed the season for me.. They claim 2 Deg toe in... yet when I checked toe... they are 1 Deg at the most. adn 1 deg just sucked for a semi grippy surface on a car with a wheel base that long. Also weight ballance on the car was something I also found upsetting. THe car is heavily ballanced to the engine side and quite a bit back from center in the car. making it able to take a hard turn one way with a certain charactaristic and the other way would be something different.

May want to look at ballast weight to ballance the car.

Also watch for the center dog bones to develop twists wtih teh new clutch. I found when I had some drive line lash I would snap the rear center dog bone all the time due to the instant torque that would be applied with the lash. (I also sheered a CVD head off twice with lash in the rear drive trane after a season. Its better now with more hardened parts in it but still not that well designed. (one of the major selling points for me is that the Kyosho w/ regular steel bearings, has 0 lash on the entire drive line and if you spin a wheel the all 4 will spin after you take your hand off for a few seconds.. theres that little drive line resistance.

One word of caution is those Graphite arms are VERY brittle I went back to plastic so they wouldnt shatter like the graphite ones did. if your lot/track uses walls of somethign hard, the graphite will break easily. Also I found that graphite parts wear bad, and develop lots of slop on the shafts and holes over time. Dunno why, just how it developed on mine.

The Graphite front hub/knuckle set is one I HIGHLY reccomend though, removes a great deal of the movement from the front.

[Joe]

When I talked to them they listed the main spur as discontinued.

Also the quality of materials (balls and diff plates) are ASS. I built one, and rebuilt it, and rebuilt it to get it smooth. I had someone who is a old pro and builds diff's all teh time build the other and we were in agreement that the diff's just arent good enough to last long. Not only did they slip like all hell when new, they unscrew themselves constantly (the thrust bearings dont do that great of a jobin this car compared to other cars I have owned).

I would think the ball diff's would need to be rebuilt after every race weekend atleast.

[rs4lola]

First thing I was going to do was replace the balls with ceramic nitride balls from acer racing. I think a ball diff rebuild after every race weekend is normal. Many of the NTC3 drivers up here do it a regular maintenance when racing every week.

Yeah we can run to roar specs or club specs and I thought I would try
to get a little advantage by running the 1:8 front foam tires. Still experimenting until race season starts again.

When we first go the rs4-3ss, crack the front suspension arms twice
and that was with the 12ss engine. After installing ALL rs4-3ss suspension goodies
(you name it... graphite front hub carier/steering knuckles, suspension arms f&r, woven graphite show towers f&r, woven graphite upper chassis, 3mm super chassis, stainless steel screws in chassis, titanium screws in suspension, alloy nuts for show, f&r sway bars, titanium turnbuckles, flanged ballends...) nothing has broke except cvd pin on rear engine side.
We have not done any serious racing though so we still have a lot to learn.

With ride height under 5mm, car does not flip around and has very controllable oversteer. I layered the shocks by attaching them directly to the diff cases front and rear with an alum rear brace attached aswell. With layered shocks, suspension is very progressive
and for short tracks is great...

pictures coming soon...

Originally Posted by Joe

When I talked to them they listed the main spur as discontinued.

Also the quality of materials (balls and diff plates) are ASS. I built one, and rebuilt it, and rebuilt it to get it smooth. I had someone who is a old pro and builds diff's all teh time build the other and we were in agreement that the diff's just arent good enough to last long. Not only did they slip like all hell when new, they unscrew themselves constantly (the thrust bearings dont do that great of a jobin this car compared to other cars I have owned).

I would think the ball diff's would need to be rebuilt after every race weekend atleast.

[MaxxxRacer]

Joe, RC cars used to be my hobby till i got int overclocking. I had a los NXT (got stollent). That baby had every hop up part from trinity that was made. And I had the airtronics servos in tehre too. Tehre .09 response time one and then the 180oz torque one for steering. Its been so long I cant remember the name of the radio manufacture. Wasnt futaba, jr, or airtroncis. It s the other one. anyway I had their top end model.

Also had a T-Maxx, (where my name came from), and E-maxx, TC3, and a kyosho Mp6 for a short time. All lots of fun, but I had to sell them all because it was costing me too much money. I would run them in the backyard and they would break every day. It was just too frustrating. So I got into a hobby that is just about as risky and costs even more... Genuius arnt I.

Oh, and my first car was a duratrax (should be renamed to duracrap) nitro stadium truck. Cant remember the name of it at the moment, but it was a total load. And my first hop up for that car was a tuned pipe from OS engines.... Good stuff.

[Cranky]

question: im lookin to buy my first nitro car 4wd on road. probally with a .15 engine. any sugestions?

[Joe]

You looking to race? or just drive around in parking lots and streets? (bashing we call it for obvious reasons)

If you are looking to race and want to get in at a very good and easily upgradable car, the Kyosho FW-05T is VERY good for starting out.

The Associated NTC3 RTR is also very good, cheaper, and easier to get parts for. The associated is a bit more delecate than the kyosho which is a bit more sturdy IMHO.

a .15 isnt always good, at some tracks you cant run a .15 since .12 is the spec for most racing series. thats one key item to keep aware of.

Tower hobbies carries all the parts you need for the Associated making it easy to order stuff, Kyosho parts are hit/miss on Tower making it sort of a pain to get replacements at times.

[Joe]

BTW here is a pic of the Kyosho FW-05RR (a 05T can be upgraded to an RR for about 300 - 350$, which at that point just buy a new 05RR hehe)

[MaxxxRacer]

I would also go with the NTC3... I would also go with a .12.. the .12's are usually more powerful as they are used for racing. the .15's are kick back engines for the more toy like cars. Because of this the .12's are much more finely tuned and give SERIOUS power.

Personaly I would not go wit han RTR. you will end up having to replace parts and work on the care (becuase we all crash them) and its a much better idea to have built it the first time yourself. It makes you much more competitin (sp) and confident when you are working on the car... If have a high pain tolerance, you can get it done in about 6 hours from starting out to having it totaly put together. But your fingers will be raw most likely from the allen wrenches...

joe thats a nice car.. kyosho sure has stepped up recently with their onroad gas offerings.. before they were garbage.

oh and another car to check out is the trinity. Not sure what its called anymroe, but i used to have one and it rocked. it was built like a brick and was designed almost entirely by serpent.

[Cranky]

is this a decent first nitro car?http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0161p?&I=LZ0769

what im basically looking for is this: a good entry level nitro car that handles well and is fast. it will mostly be for bashing and such with light racing at times. im a TOTAL noob at this and need some advice. thanks to all that replied.

[MaxxxRacer]

looks fine to me. hpi makes good rtr's akaik

[Cranky]

tnx Maxx for the info. what do ya think of this one?

http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...I=LXEHW8**&P=0

[Joe]

Duratrax is a more econo mfg, but parts are cheap and redily available.

I have owned an HPI, infact I have owned 2 nitro HPI cars, and really... you can do better for cheaper. In the long run the Associated NTC3 RTR+ http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXGZJ4&P=ML

is a better choice. It sports a WAY better suspension geometry than the HPI does. The HPI is easy to work on, but if you plan on using the car in a more race type setting I think the TC3 is easier to setup. That and since the TC3 is way more popular than the HPI in racing areas, there are lots of setup sheets (full details on how to setup the car for a specific use) , aftermarket parts, and knowledgable people available.


I mean this is my HPI RS4 3 SS from last year:
http://forums.procooling.com/vbb/att...achmentid=3001

mind you to get to the level that that car was at it cost nearly 1000$, that should give you some ideal of the amount of work it takes to keep an HPI competative.

[MaxxxRacer]

STAY AWAY From the duratrax. thats all i got a say... they break 4x as much.. and their chasiss are as weak as cardboard.. i tacoed two chassis on my maximum ST truck (if i am remembering the name correctly)

as joe said the tc3 would be a better choice. the tc3 is a rock stable platform. i had a electric tc3 and it was on rails even on rubber slicks.

[Cranky]

tnx for the info guys, i appreciate it.

[Cranky]

yah i got a Ntc 3 after all of the good things i have heard about it. (layaway atm, cbf havin 325$ to drop at 1 time). the engine is a .15 pull start. At the hobby store i went to thay said this should do 35-40 mph outta the box, does this sound about right? also, any recomenned upgrades for this car?

[andy497]

Originally Posted by Cranky

yah i got a Ntc 3 after all of the good things i have heard about it. (layaway atm, cbf havin 325$ to drop at 1 time). the engine is a .15 pull start. At the hobby store i went to thay said this should do 35-40 mph outta the box, does this sound about right? also, any recomenned upgrades for this car?

Heh, best recommendation if that's your first car is drive really really slow. Seriously, it takes sooo much practice to drive well, and you usually have the urge to floor it as much as possible.

Set up some cones or something and practice making eights/circles/etc. around them, braking quickly, braking while turning, etc.

This seems lame, but the reason you're doing it is to save money. At my track, about twice an hour a car owner hands the transmitter to somebody to try (e.g. father hands to son, etc.). Approx. 5 seconds later, the car is smashed against a wall (indoor track), and the whole front end has to be rebuilt. It is amazing how much those little parts cost, and many many folks at my track spend ~95% of their time there replacing parts and 5% driving.

I'm by no means a good driver, but the folks at my track who are (we have some guys who go around circuits winning trophies) say slower is faster. Go easy on the throttle, brake for turns, and concentrate on cutting a good line around the track. The speed will come. It's fun to upgrade of course, but if you're really concerned about going faster, you'll spend all of your time practicing and worry about upgrades way down the line.

[Cranky]

yah, it is fortunate for me that i have a high school stadium parking lot to practice at . i see peeps out ther every sunday or so. TONS of room to work with an few obstacles other than the light posts. the other cool thing is that the hobby store has a real nice track outside that i can use as well.

[Cranky]

ok, got my car today . was a absolute pain in the ass to get it up and running, but it running good now after break in. My question is when i plan to upgrade the motor what would you guys recomend? it has the Associated .15x pull start it it now, but i think i want somthing a little more quicker. Or, should i just upgrade the pipe instead?

[Joe]

new engines are hard to get started and keep running. that .15 is perfect for the car for now, learn how to drive the car before you go and start throwing in more power. Tuning the car adn the engine can yeild lots of speed. Just dont lean the motor out or you can kill it in one run.

as for an upgrade motor. An OS .12TR series motor is a solid choice. very durrable, and very reliable, and the 5 port turbo version has some nice kick.

[Cranky]

first of all Joe: thanks for all of the great advice in getting my first nitro car. yah friend i know what ya mean about power. this engine is gettin faster every day that i run it. all i need to do now is get the suspension dialed in for the track, this car has a nasty habit of drifting to the right, i have adjusted the trim on the radio, but i think i need to adjust the car instead. BTW the motor is runnin really lean ( i adjusted it that way tbhwu ). Having a new elementary school 2 min. away with a huge parking lot is good for learning how to drive this thing as well LOL..

[Joe]

dont run the engine real lean if you do you will kill it real fast