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.