Bladders in the Shocks, or Not?
When building my car, I asked Matt Chambers if he thought I could tell the difference between building the shocks with and without the bladders. He recommended building them with the bladders, as they are easier to build and I probably won’t tell that much of a difference. I would imagine this would hold true for 90% of the people out there. I can always cut them later. I also recommend picking up a second set of bladders, they are cheap and that way you can switch back if you try the cut ones and don’t like them.
Shorty Lipo?
Almost all of the Losi Pros are now running the short 3800mah 60C 2s lipo in their cars. This brings it closer to minimum weight, and Matt Chambers reported his lap times dropped almost ½ of a second when switching from a standard pack to the 96mm pack. Some may find that it makes the car harder to drive consistently with the pack, but it is always better to be able to add extra weight where you want, where as you can’t remove or control the weight with a standard lipo. You don’t need the shorty pack, but if you are buying new lipos regardless, I highly suggest picking up the shorter packs. Either way, you can run them without weight, or add back the weight they lost in the places you want. Win-Win Situation!
Blue Screw's Tips:
Polish the A-arm kingpins so they almost "float" into the arm to avoid having to brake the arms in.
Put a drop of glue on the slipper Pads to hold them onto the spur gear.
For all of you Losi guys, if there are any tips I did not get here or in “The Build” section that you would like to add, PM me!
2. The Build
Everything you need to know when building your new kit!
General:
Do not use an electric wrench on the build. This is a sure way to strip out screw heads or the threads themselves. Use a quality wrench set, such as losi’s with Tini hex tips.
Wrenches Needed for the build:
.050”, 1.5mm, 2.0mm (Or 5/64), 2.5mm
Hex Wrenches: 5.0mm, 5.5mm, 7.0mm
Lexan Scissors, a Needle Nose Pliers, a Hobby knife, and a body reamer are also needed.
Take your time! Do not rush, and follow the directions carefully. The manuel has no words, so be especially vigilant if this is your first kit.
Many people do not use body pins to secure the body, myself included. Just some velcro along the side of the chassis plastic guards and the body are all you need. If you go this route, do not install the front body mount on the nose plate or the side body posts on the chassis guards.
Do not over tighten any of the screws. Carefully thread them in, and stop as soon as they bottom out.
The Kit comes with extremely tight tolerances, and for a reason. The kit may be tight at first, but after a few runs, the plastics will break in the tolerances will be perfect, with 0 slop and free movement. Do not ream anything out, unless you find a bur or something similar in the plastic. I have not heard of any occurrences of this, however.
Spare tuning parts such as antisquat blocks and pistons can be found in bag F.
The car is very durable, but a few parts that have been shown to break are the rear hubs, front steering rack, rear a arms, front spindles, and the rear camber block. Of course, other parts may break as well.
If you have any problems or defects with your kit, call Horizon. Their CS is second to none.
Turnbuckles!!!!!!!! This can be a problem for inexperienced builders. The ball cup ends are extremely hard to thread on, but if you know these tricks it is very easy. First, take a body reamer and open up the opening of the ball cup ends where the turnbuckle threads into. Just ream it out a bit, but don’t overdue it. Now, before starting to thread the turnbuckle on, do one of the following:
A: Use some Chapstick or Beeswax and coat the threads of the turnbuckle
B: Squirt some black grease, white lithium grease, or Vaseline into each ball end
(A small dab of grease! A little is all that is needed). This will make threading and turnbuckle adjustment much easier. I personally have used black grease with great success. If you can find the white lithium grease, that stuff is fantastic.
Keep in mind that the notched side of the turnbuckles has right handed threads, and the other side has left handed threads. When installing all of the turnbuckles on the car, make sure the small notch side is on the left of the car when facing forward.
Here is an online walk through with pictures of the build:
http://rcracer.com/off-road-electric...-report-tlr-22
Steering:
Step A-1 to A-3
As stated by Dan, this car has a lot of steering built in to it. In order to get all of that steering, you have to follow a few simple tips. When installing the servo arm on the servo, make sure the servo is centered with no trim or sub trim on your radio. Put the steering arm on as straight up as you can, but one click to the right if that’s not possible. Only ONE CLICK to the RIGHT! (While looking at the front of the servo) Next, before you put the small ball cup turnbuckle together, take a sharp Xacto knife (I find a razor blade works a little better) and cut off 1-2mm on each ball cup where the small turnbuckle threads in. IF you cut too much off, do not worry. Any of the older ball cups used on XXX models, or even AE’s SC10, B4.1, or T4.1 will work. I personally used RPM ball cups, which work perfectly (You still have to cut them). When putting the ball studs on the steering arm and rack, make sure the one on the servo arm and other one, which will connect to the small turnbuckle are the smaller ones without a hex base. Tighten the ball cups on the small turnbuckle almost all the way down, and snap one side onto the steering arm ball cup. Do not attach the other side until you are completed with the build!
You may notice that there is a small high spot in the steering, this is ok, it will break in and smooth out after a few runs.
Step A4
The manuel suggests how many shims are needed for different brands of servos. However, some are incorrect. Here is a current list of confirmed servo shims. The JR and Hitec (Both use 0 shims) in the manuel are correct.
Futaba Servos: 0 shims
Savox 1251 low profile servo: 2-2.5mm of shims. Some bulkhead shaving may be required
Savox 1258: 0-.5mm shims
Savox 1257: 0 shims
Orion Servos: 0 shims
KO Propo 2415 Low profile: 2mm shim
Basically, you want the servo linkage to be parallel, without hitting the servo or bulkhead. If you have to, it’s ok to shave the bulkhead to provide clearance.
Front End:
The kit setup is designed to be good for a variety of tracks and is very easy to drive, but it can leave something to be expected. I highly recommend building the kit as close to Dustin Evan’s Reedy race setup. Every change just makes the car better. If you don’t have the 5 degree front castor blocks, run the kit ones first. However, use Dustin’s amount of shims under ball studs on both the front and rear end. For the front, this will remove the bump steer present in the kit’s setup. Follow his turnbuckle positions as well, and use the 2.5 degree antisquat block in the back. Then add the 5 degree front castor blocks with 25 degree pivot shim, and the 3.5 rear degree lrc block later.
Step A-8:
Install the two m3 locknuts upside down, with the nylon facing downwards. This will allow the bottom screws to reach the nylon.
Step A-13:
Be careful when installing the small setscrews, as they will not bottom out and keep going through the bottom of the plastic pivot block. Thread them so the top of the setscrew is not protruding from the pivot block and you cannot pull the hinge pin out.
Rear End
Step B-3:
Start out with the 2.5 antisquat block, found in the tuning bags. The 2.5 part that goes on top of the toe block does not fit correctly, so use the stock blank one.