Only if some screws have fallen out :p

I would guess the belt pulley layshaft would rotate around the diff so you can use this as your belt tensioner ?. You would need little movement to adjust the tension of the belts.

I'd be tempted to use an idler roler on the belts to get the tension right. Its fast and easy :thumbsup:.

Id also use slipper pulleys front and rear, either on the spur shaft or on the gearboxes.

The reason I thought about using 3 gears in the boxes is to get the height to clear the lipos. Using all B4 internals would cut down on costs and there is a gear or ball diff option there too. I'd make the gearboxes split left to right but also have a seperate diff cover so a few screws will get the diff out easy.

Im thinking that you need to move one of the saddle packs in front of the motor, and also rotate the motor 180* so it will rotate the same as the tires. Also you can remove a gear from the front and rear gear boxes.

i think your on a winner with this!
i think this is how the new car will be as well !!!!:thumbsup::thumbsup:

Video of Paul's main at the R.O.A.R. Nationals two weeks ago now on our site.

http://www.xfactoryrc.com/rc/index.php

It's a 6-min vid of Paul running the X - 7 Gen 5.1 on a great track in northern California.

norcal xfactory running
 

I see that track used a lot on ultimaterc.com, they use it for a lot of review running, the next gen proto looked really good, driven well by Paul, I'm the same as everybody else, just dying to see some shell off shots but I know they will come in good time...any sign of those quick change diffs we heard about a while ago? :)

For now, at least, we are using the standard AE ball diffs they have been making forever. So there is nothing different about them.

What is different is the ease with which they can be removed from the car.

diffs
 

Sounds good, anything that makes removing diffs and working on that area of the buggy will be a real bonus, quick change diffs....wonder if the car will come with outdrive savers as standard to beef up that notoriously weak area on 4wd's?

Keep the news coming :)

We use the standard steel AE outdrives, and they wear out long before they break. The outdrive savers that Chris Long made for us went on the X - 5 which used Losi plastic outdrives.

Team drivers usually re-build their diffs because the outdrives are worn, not broken. This means the outdrives are doing their job preventing body lean. You want the correct amount of friction between outdrive and dogbone, but not a gouge in the outdrive that restricts or prevents movement. Many club racers run their outdrives way too long.

Ace... as Jonathon also said, I reckon for belt tension adjustment... ;)

Or.... there is a method to raise/lower the gearbox, a la the X6sq...

YOUNGCHAZZ can you explain a bit more about how out drive friction works.why did Brian Kinwald invent BK bones wouldn't these get rid of all friction.

Easier to have you run a little test than for me to explain.

Rotate the right tire so the CVD drive pin and outdrive slot are vertical. Move the control arm up and down and note to yourself how much pressure it takes - you'll feel the spring's resistance and that's about it. Now hold the wheel still, and put one finger on the spur gear and rotate it a bit so there is tension in the driveline, especially between the outdrive and CVD. Try moving the control arm up and down again -- it should take much more force.

The bones have friction when they move in and out of the outdrives. The real concern here, however, is not so much how the friction affects the car in stasis, but rather the control the friction gives the driver on the track. When on power this friction adds traction and stiffens up the rear suspension. Off power the car will be softer.

Seems obvious; however the degree to which a driver can make use of this around the track really helps lap times. IMHO, Ryan Cavalieri is best in the world at landing jumps. Watch his control as the car approaches the ground. He uses the throttle to get the exact amount of stiffness and forward drive he wants for the landing.

As the outdrive wears, the friction changes, so the car performs differently from one race to the next and you are wondering why. When you see them start to wear, it's time to replace, usually two or three race weekends with the AE steel ones. And, about every other outdrive replacement, be sure to replace at least the pin in the bone, if not the whole bone. The pin is replaceable easily if you have a small press, not so easy with a hammer. Paul buys hardened rods from a hardware supplier and cuts off pieces to fit. The bones are available separately from the whole CVD kit.

Losi's old outdrives (the big ones used on all their cars up to the 22) are a slightly different story. Those outdrives/drive pins are big enough that Losi spent a lot of time trying to reduce the friction there, as too much can make the car 'catch' over bumps. The Losi plastic outdrives obviously have less friction than the steel, and the ultimate reduction of friction was the 'BK Bone', which used small ball bearings over the drive pin to reduce nearly all this friction. With the smaller outdrives/drive pins on the 22, I think Losi has quietly admitted that AE's design is superior in this regard.

Thanks for explaing all that I had never thought of using the power in that way to land from a jump.I will give it a go.

The other option is telescopic driveshafts. Back in the 80's they were the norm on Schumachers and Traxxas (TRX1), but were a little 'low tech'. Could these be developed to give less friction and restrictions now? Internal rollers, bushed UJ's etc?

Didn't Schumacher make some optional ones for the Cougar 2 with rollers?

I still have some Losi telescopic driveshafts from back in the day, might give them a go

any further updates on the X7?

Ellis ran the car at our indoor club here in Watford last thursday, looked very good all night. He set TQ in all three rounds with some very consistent and fast laps.....

Vid of X - 7 Gen 5.1 in Q3 (Paul's TQ run) now up on our Facebook page, X Factory R/C.

You'll get all the latest news on the X - 7, as well as SCX - 60CF news and all other things X Factory if you like us. We encourage you to respond to our posts, post up your own pix, race results, etc. there.

I originally put a link to our Facebook page in here, but it did not work. So I made another post just below this, put in the same link, and it works from there.

are there any body off pics of the x7 and if not, when will we see them ?

Once Ellis starts racing his X - 7 in a few weeks, we assume somebody with a long lens will stand 4 miles outside his pit and capture something while Big E is working on the car. However, we don't plan to give away the store for a while yet. Too many great new concepts on this car.

Somebody on RCTech posted that he saw Paul's X - 7 at Columbus and it accelerated better than a shaft drive car from a competing team driver. He was correct, and that's an amazing advance in belt drive systems. There are several other proprietary innovations on the car as well.

Because we are so tiny it takes forever for us to get something from design into production. And because we insist on testing at the highest level before production, that adds to the time frame. For example, Greg Hodapp and Paul were at the CRCRC Mid-Winter and then Cactus with the original X - 6 protos many months before the car went into production. So we've got to do our best to keep our ideas under wraps until we are ready.

Most companies do not do nearly so much work in public as we do, and most companies will tell you nothing about what they are doing. But X Factory is not most companies...

That would be Jimmy :p

To be fair, there's a few larger companies that have taken or are taking their sweet time getting their cars from prototype to production.....

Fortunately, this isn't the arms race of touring cars - buggies stand the test of time a bit better.

You're right. But one thing; we are not taking our sweet time, we're going as fast as the R & D money can take us.

One big problem is that all the people involved have other things to do. I've got shipping, work with the Dealer Family, ordering, packaging. Paul has design work, production work (For both, don't forget about the SCX - 60CF.) and Team manager. Ellis has a beautiful family and a full-time job. All the other Team drivers are really amateurs with full-time outside jobs.

So prototype-building and testing, while it's the dearest thing in our hearts, often must wait while the business goes on. Frequently -- more than once a day -- I'm in the back of the shop bagging parts while Paul is in the front making shock towers, and we are shouting back and forth about a design idea. Suddenly one will stop what he is doing, go to the other, pick up a piece of scrap paper, "What about if we do it this way?"

Paul shoots down more of my bad ideas that way...

Just from an outside point of view...

Love the fact that you come on here and talk to people about your products and ideas... Nice to see :wub

Tom

Absolutely-very much appreciated as well :thumbsup:

Thanks guys. We are trying to do this differently from the others in every way.

Good luck, and so strongly that production

Ellis is running the E.P.R Winter series in 4WD, and won again this weekend with his Gen 5.1 prototype. That's two in a row!

He also lapped 2nd place twice in the process

Sounds just like me and designing new things for the kyosho zx/zxr. Ideas just appear and they tend to be the ones that work really well, old car with new ideas. Looking forward to seeing Ellis use his soon.

5.1 proto wins again!
 

:thumbsup::thumbsup: brilliant news

Okay, now where are those paparazzi shots? :drool::drool::drool::lol:

Well, Gayo, get your plane tix now and you may be able to do much better than a photo! I posted this on RCTech:

"Paul has been invited to the J concepts race in Kansas City the weekend of the 20th, and will be competing in buggy and 4WD. He'll run the Gen 5.1 X - 7 prototype. Be in the right place at the right time and you'll get a peek under the body when Paul is working on it!"

Nah, I have not been invited... :p

Just show up, Gayo! If nothing else, you can play paparazzi. And all the J Concepts races are a ton of fun.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net...56350531_n.jpg


from X-factory facebook :)

That's Team driver Lendel Smith, obviously quite happy to have his hands on the Gen 5.1 for at least a few minutes.

Looks like I was pretty close :D