My mistake :woot:

What body have you used JC?

woo hoo, the raptor is out of its cage!!!:thumbsup: (loving the red velcro jc!!)

Looks like it uses a Northy spec battery strap too :woot:

G

Shit I took too many drugs I'm seeing very weird things :woot:

Thought so, looks crazy!! Cool though!!

:thumbsup:

Nice work as always J! :thumbsup:

I loved your first XX4 conversion though, the one with the original 3 belts. Looked super clean! You know I will buy that one anytime!!!

That one was really easy to drive fast too. Nice car that:thumbsup:

:drool: When can I one........

that car is basicly evrything the X5 should have been had x factory thought about it

the amazing drivetrain from the xxx4 and the motor up front like the xx4 this makes the car have a drivetrain that lasts and the motor at the front helps to make the car good over the bumps as the motor pulls the nose up to enable the car to "sail over the bumps" any chance atomic carbon have spoke to phill truman that looks some what like something he had :thumbsup:

That is very easy to type on a forum 6+ years AFTER X-Factory released the X5.....

Trust me, X-Factory DID think about the X5 long and hard when it was concieved, which is why it transformed many an aged XX4 or abondoned XXX4 into a car that kept going for another 6 seasons.

The weight on the X5 was all centered as close to perfect in the middle as was possible at the time with NIMH's and all was enclosed in an almost fully sealed tranmission too.....

It is not the motor at the front of the car that pulls the nose up it is the inertia of how/the direction in which it is spinning and who is certain that a 1 belt transmission is the way forward ;-)

Not spoken to anybody about the car :D only started on it a couple of months ago, when i realsied i had not got a 4wd to run at the belgium gp lol.

You cannot see from the photos but the motor is centralised left to right once the motor mount is made from metal to give a ideal weight distribution, also the lipos are almost against the diff to try and get more weight over the rear end, as most cars running lipos seem to suffer from a lite rear end.

@ Darren i have tried 3 belt cars twice now and i really don't think its the way to go either :) i guess you could have a twin belt ;)

2 belts sounds like a plan :thumbsup: ;)

Car looks radical as ever JC, keep up the good work......

This is very interesting! Jonathan, please explain more as to 1 vs 2 vs 3 belts! Pros and cons!

I find the 3 belts on the original XX4 easier to deal with compared to the X-5's one belt, suffered a lot from belt skip on that one (even with 3 belt rollers mounted, two idlers etc). Still a great car, make no mistake about it!

But the belts on the XX4 when put on astro break very easily... I guess there's too little flex on such short belts? And also they are quite narrow.

And it's a shame! The xx4 is just AMAZING to drive! No matter the conditions!!!

Another thing, isn't the xx4 narrower than for instance a B44?

The rear is.

Correct, what is the idea behind that?

I see you have outer hinge pin holes on the wishbones. Will it then be within the max. width regulations? I guess you'd need longer drive shafts also?

3 belts - To complicated to me i like to keep it simple, also more rolling resistance with 3 belts more pulleys bearings etc, re the XX4 if it did not have some of the belts fine pitch it woudl be better, but it was design in the days of 18-20t motors which people do forget.

2 belts - Main problem is you have to have the motor sticking right out the side of the car ie 501 unless you have a high layshaft but then you raise the c of g a lot so you are comprised whichever way you go, unless you introduce some gears into the drive train.

1 belts - I did have a xxx4 knocking around so that did push me down the single belt route for this car a little. But a very free drive train, the motor can be central in the car, a very low c of g, and lots of options for moving the weight distribution. On the raptor the whole motor mount / slipper & spur assemble can be moved forwards up against the steering servo or moved back 2-3 inch's so its against the lipos.

But i am not sure how far i will take the raptor as the cost's are mounting and for one man in a spare room its hard work and very expensive. And to get the car more race ready is going to take more investment, or i could simply buy something like a 410R and do a little work on it ;) and put the raptor on the backburner.

One thing i will add the raptor did float over the bumps like a well setup xx4, so i know the suspension is sorted lol.

You could duplicate that layout with 2 belts though. Have the layshaft behind the motor and low, the rear belt straight backward, and the front belt snaking over the motor like a single belt design, but needing less pulleys.

Its not as simple as that, as the diff pulleys are centeral on the diffs so you cannot have two pulleys side by side on a layshaft for the two belts, remember that the bulk of the parts are from the xxx4, if you start to use parts off other cars like diffs etc it makes it unviable, unless you are a larger company that can make these parts. Also you are then unable to move the motor / motor mount and slipper assembly to chance the weight distribution, if you wanted you could move the whole assemble to the back of the car against the rear gearbox and have the lipos in front, its a flexible solution.

Thx for the explanation Jonathan, very interesting!

I still find the 3 belt solution on the XX4 great though. But for sure I agree that the belts should have been both wider and stronger. And then we are talking custom parts again... If only Losi focused on 1:10 OR racing again and not so much new toys...

I've done a lot of 1:8 track racing, and it's really strange how the manufacturers there as well never seem to understand that the power and grip has increased a lot during the last decade... but still we have those way too narrow fronts belts that break all the time...

Nowadays, especially for 1:10 OR, both runtime and power is in super excess. So a little resistance shouldn't hurt...

A thought: Would it be possible to downscale the Losi Eight with it's "off center" center shafts? Plus bevelled spurs & pinions? :D (motor in the centre, sideways)

The 4X proto i made a while back was basically a modern xx4 5mm and 6mm belts and same layout as the xx4 same it would cost so much for customers to build.

If i get chance at the weekend i will take a shot of the three 4wd protos i have made in the last year or so side by side so you can compare the layouts. Two are belt drive one is shaft.

That would be great J!

Make sure to use a std. lens, not fisheye! :lol:

Jonathan . What ever happend to this one ???

http://www.oople.com/forums/attachme...5&d=1231868395

http://www.oople.com/forums/attachme...6&d=1231868395

http://www.oople.com/forums/attachme...7&d=1231868395

That's the one I want!

I heard "serious" rumours this weekend that Losi is working on an update (new cars) in their 1:10 OR range... anyone know anything more specific?

Now X-Factory is doing the same...

So it defo looks like the XX4 never will die! :thumbsup:

*bump*

No comments?

Will the new X-Factory car still be narrow as well?

Btw isn't the XX4 shorter than most cars also?

Yes.

Jonathan, did you not need to do any form of bracing to stop chassis flex and belt tension changing?

Te belts were super thick and it had the tub on. It didn't have much flex in it at all and the belts didnt skip a beat at coventry astro track:thumbsup:
(well, until someone broke it!!:blush:) BELSTEN!! ahaha

It looks like a tub Dan, so I doubt it....

No it was flex free :thumbsup:

Unfortunatly, it would be to expensive to produce as a kit, and also with using a Cat Sx front end and a XX4 rear end you really need two cars for the conversion. Shame really as it went very well.

It now leaves under my table with the other proto-types :(

if under your table is getting full mate, i have lots of room:thumbsup:
It was a very quick and superb handling beast

:blush::blush::blush::blush::blush::blush:

Ive not been allowed another go on one since :blush:

i put in the same time as my old xx4 firt time on the track using jc's kit and his setup. It was very impressive.
You needing a hand with car storage then jon???:thumbsup:

There only stacked 3 high at the moment so still got some space lol.

damn:(