B5m laydown?
 

Hi,

Try here aswell :-)

I've bought an b5m lite a couple a months ago and some of my club racers have bought an xray xb2.
I have bought some spare parts and some options to my car.
But know in wondering what is smartest, buy a laydown tranny to my b5m or sell everything and buy a xray.

I'll run carpet and astro

I don't think you could go wrong either way.....

B5M LR - Great car
YZ-2 - Great car.....
XB2 - Great car, but a blatant copy of the YZ-2, so it should be.

In your case it would save you some cash if you just went for the LR kit.

There are some cheap ones out there that are 3D printed, but RedWorkshop is the original B5M LR guy and who AE worked with on their worlds car. If you are going to get one, I would just go on Facebook and look for the page, speak to Red and see what the options are.

Other than keeping up with the latest gearbox trend.....is there any other reason you want to change? It's worth keeping in mind that a change of car doesn't always mean a change of position on the track ;)

You could give me Neil Cragg's car and I'd still be in the C final lol

If you just want a bit of 'bling' save some money and buy some blue shiny bits :)

I've bought the three geared b5m lite in august and I really like it. As you say, the laydown doesn't matter in my class of driving.
I'll guess you get carried away when you see all pictures of great drivers. It may be better to buy some upgrades instead.
Alu stearing? What upgrades do you prefer?
I've got Ghea brass in front, alu c and d blocks.
Some said to me that I should change to plastic instead of brass in front to make it steer more. .

What is the main difference whit the three geared transmission Vs the lowrider?

The 3 gear is a 3 gear upright box and the Lowrider is a 4 gear lay down box. Similar to the YZ2.

If I remember right you can't use the b5m lite for the Lowrider conversion.

The Lite chassis is too thin for the waterfall on the lowrider. You need to countersink two screw holes on a thin part of the chassis.

You can get both 3 and 4 gear LR box's. I run the 3 gear, It gives you a more stable car, but the drive is a bit more direct/aggressive.

4 gear gives more grip in both LR and standard gearbox, when compared to the 3 gear versions. So, 3 gear for high grip tracks.

If you want to make the most out of the car, just get the bits that you think you need. If you need the car to do something and you don't currently have a part that will do the job....get the upgrade that will :)

Most of the bits you can buy for the B5M and there for durability. There are a few tuning aids, like the bulkheads, pin braces, gearbox and wheel hexs that make a real difference. Don't fall into the same trap as me and spend a fortune on bit's you don't need lol The Lite is a great car as it is.

If you want to improve and don't want to spend a fortune on bits....

Buy some new seals for your shocks, replace the seal on your diff, clean the car, rebuild your shocks and check all the bearings and screws :)

Don't underestimate the value of a nice new set of yellow mini spikes either ;)

Did I'll understand you right that I shall not buy the new xray xb2?
Everybody that have in my club really like it.


I like my b5m and the spare parts are cheaper than xray.

No he said it was a great car but a copy of the Yokomo so it should be great.

As has been said the B5M lite cannot take the laydown conversion so if you must have a laydown gearbox then you need to buy a YZ2, XB2 or PR1 V3

You can get it on the B5M, just have to have the normal chassis that comes in the Team kit, or the CE kit.

Nothing wrong with the XB2, it's a great car, from what has been seen of it so far. If you put a rolling chassis pic next to a YZ-2....it kinda looks like the same car. That's all I was saying.

If you like it, buy it dude :) or save yourself some money and just buy the kit to make your B5M into a lowrider. It's not like you are going to struggle too much getting parts for a B5M lol

how much did you pay for the lowrider conversion

The cheapest version is the one you can buy from shapeways.com; search for B5m.

http://www.shapeways.com/search?q=b5m

About £55 delivered for 4 parts needed from shapeways, you also need a 3 gear motor plate, and the more recent top shaft/bearings I believe.

A mate at our club is running it, no problems with accuracy in terms of gearbox internals but he did snap the brace that goes up to rear tower...though it was a massive full speed end of straight into wall shunt to be fair.

I've enquired about two others via Facebook and while they're both beautifully made, they are quite expensive. But when you've personally put all that work into R&D I think you're entitled to charge a higher price, and people are buying them.

I'm still hoping AE do one that also enables shocks to front of rear arms...otherwise I might have to consider a YZ2 or an XB2...!

It's true, I really like associated and their price of spare parts is better then xray.
It's easy to get taken away with every picture of lowrider gearboxes.
Maybe associated makes a lowrider car after all.
Strange if they didn't, as now they don't earn any money on the lowrider trend.

The kit from Redworkshop was 90 euros. I got it last year, so the price might have gone down since then...........,but probably not.
You can get cheap ones from a few places though, but I've had a mate that got one for about £50 and he couldn't get the bearings to fit...They do a similar job though.

On dry astro, I think it's the only way the B5M will compete with the YZ-2 and XB-2 this year. If you've got mate with either of those cars, it would probably be worth the change if you want to keep up. If you're not worried about it.....I would save some money and just get some new tyres lol

I wouldn't hold your breath as it was years after mid motor cars were seen on UK and European tracks before Associated released a mid motor car. Also what you have to bear in mind is Associated's biggest market is the clay track market, UK and European sales I believe make up a very small percentage.

lowrider b5m
 

anyone got any pics?
cheers jim

I've never thought about it this way.
But it makes sence.

I'll have to re-think my car of choice :-)
Or hope I can be better anyhow :-)