Set ups, tips, tricks, whatever you got...... Please!

[Skye]

Hi All,

As a newbie I think its polite to tell you who I am first of all..... I am Richard, Im in my late 20's with a long standing interest in RC Cars and racing. I used to race (if you can call it that) when I was about 10 years old but became disgruntled and then discovered girls and booze a few years later so took my eye off the ball for a while but am looking to get back into the scene now in a big way.

When I raced before it was only on a schoolboys pocket money budget so I was pretty hopeless. I could drive, but I was driving my Tamiya Madcap with stock everything against men and other kids who were bankrolled by the dads so it was my Madcap against modified Losi XX's and such like. After a year or two of this and trailing home near the rear week in week out I drfited away from the game.

Recently I have rediscovered my love for the game and have been investing in getting back into the scene. During this time I have spent hours, days, maybe even weeks on the net trying to pick up views and tips. That is how I discovered this forum, and what a forum. It is by far and away the best forum I have discovered for all things RC Car related! A big pat on the back to all involved!!

So what I have spent my money on so far....

Well I went to my nearest serious RC shop which is not that near at 33 miles away (many seem to have disappeared since I was first involved sadly ) I must have been a sales guys dream. I basically walked in with a blank page and an open mind looking for guidance.

As the guys there were all big on Kyosho that is the way they steered me and I chose 2wd electric as my weapon of choice.

So I purchased (forgive me forgetting the exact model numbers in some cases but I dont have them to hand to list just now) :

Kyosho Rb5 Sp2
Spektrum DX3E handset
Orca 7.5t brushless motor
Fusion Exceed ESC
Savox steering servo
Bionic 5000 40c LiPo batteries

What do you think to this set up? As I said, it was largely purchased on the advice of the guy in the shop who led me through the purchase.

I took it back to the same shop yesterday to get some assistance with the soldering and I saw a different guy who advised me to turn it down as it would likely be too fast and end up planted through a wall....

So what I am looking for is advice and tips with things such as set ups and tuning / modifications. When I raced before as a 10 year old I just turned up and raced, there was no consideration given to set ups and such like so this aspect is all new to me. It is something I want to learn and fully understand though to give myself the best chance of succeeding so anything you can tell me will be gratefully received!

I apologise if you have seen threads like this millions of times before but I just thought it would be easier for me to find everything if it is on one new thread.

Many Thanks in advance!!!

Richard

[mattybucks]

Hi,

I'm at work so I can't really spend to much time on the thread but my advice would be for you to bring all your gear to the moto arena on a Tuesday night and speak to people down there.

You can also race, people arrive at about 6-6.30 ish.

I don't know alot about the ESC but the rest of the stuff you've bought seems good.

[RudeTony]

Hi yah Richard
Firstly if you are a total novice you may need to tone that power down some what! The equipemnt you have is close to winning a world championship in the right hands - LOL.
You need to decide where you are going to race the car and then we can give you some advice in setting it up right so it's giving you the most enjoyment.
The car you have is a great car and many will tell you this and that and the other but my plain advice for now is very simple.
When you can achieve a whole races, round different circuits, and you make no errors, then you can think about power and so on.
Till then you have nice equipment so go out there and enjoy.

[Ritchie T]

Run yellow wheels

[Skye]

Thanks for the replies all. You know what, that is good advice. Out if being eager I just want to get out there and be winning races. But it makes sense what you say, I need to just get out there and get used to the car first, drive in a few races with standard set ups and just get a feel for it.

Matt, from your post I'm guessing you work at Moto arena? If so then we have already met! I was in yesterday and you helped with soldering in the ESC and are spraying my shell for me.... I am planning on getting down there on a tuesday but was just looking on getting some set up advice beforehand as I didnt want to be bothering people there that I had only just met. Seeing as Moto Arena is going to be my main track for racing on then if you have any specific set up advice then it would be gratefully received!

One other thing, when I finished the build last night I went to charge the batteries and noticed that the charging adapter that plugs into the batteries doesn't fit the charger so I am going to need another adaptor. Is this something you will have in stock? If so then I will pick one up on Sunday when I collect the shell.

[mattybucks]

Originally Posted by Skye

Thanks for the replies all. You know what, that is good advice. Out if being eager I just want to get out there and be winning races. But it makes sense what you say, I need to just get out there and get used to the car first, drive in a few races with standard set ups and just get a feel for it.

Matt, from your post I'm guessing you work at Moto arena? If so then we have already met! I was in yesterday and you helped with soldering in the ESC and are spraying my shell for me.... I am planning on getting down there on a tuesday but was just looking on getting some set up advice beforehand as I didnt want to be bothering people there that I had only just met. Seeing as Moto Arena is going to be my main track for racing on then if you have any specific set up advice then it would be gratefully received!

One other thing, when I finished the build last night I went to charge the batteries and noticed that the charging adapter that plugs into the batteries doesn't fit the charger so I am going to need another adaptor. Is this something you will have in stock? If so then I will pick one up on Sunday when I collect the shell.

That's a different Matt, I know the Matt you mean. You also have the club down by the rugby club in Silverstone which is also run by the same people who run the tuesday meetings.

I think the cells have a deans connector (a red one) whilst charger may have a tamiya connector. I sure it's an easy fix, I would just solder the correct one on.

[Skye]

Has anyone ever bought a kit to assemble and found there to be any shortages in the box? I bought a B44.1 yesterday (I didnt see it coming either, it was FS2 all the way but had a last minute change of heart!?) and the first assembly is of the front and rear diff / gearbox.

When counting out the thrust balls the pack only contained 11 instead of 12. Has something like this happened to anyone else before? I know accidents can happen, but this has been a big pain for me. I started the build last night and the last thing I wanted was to have to stop due to a shortage of parts in the packet!! I just hope all the other quantities are correct otherwise I wont be happy......

I have ordered a pack of 6 replacements from MK-Racing so hopefully they will arrive asap so I can continue and get the rear gearbox completed.

If anyone from MK is on here and sees this, please please please send them as I'm dying to get it built!

This (quite big) problem aside, first impressions of the build are good. I much prefer the way everything is bagged together for each stage of the build, as whilst it wasnt a big issue I wasnt keen on the way for the RB5 I had to keep looking for the right parts on the plastic components 'tree'.

My only other gripe, which is probably my fault is not having the right tools. I have a complete set of metric hex drivers from building the RB5 but found out straight away that the B44.1 is imperial. When it told me I needed a 3/8" driver to screw together the front gearbox my heart sank. None of my metric equivalents are even close enough to make do....

I have also ordered a set of imperial drivers from MK, although curiously not one set (even the AE branded set) listed a 3/8" hex driver. They all though list a 0.050. Why do they list an imperial driver in a metric size? So I am hoping that there is a driver in there that will suffice as I flicked through the instructions and saw that 3/8" keeps popping up regularly!? If not then.....

[gainsy]

Mk are usually really fast sending stuff out so expect it soon
I would order a bag of diff shims as well as you don't get enough in the kit, part number as3911, it says to put 4 one side & 3 the other but you will probably need 6 & 4/5, put more on the short outdrive than the other side, this should give you a nice mesh on the gears
Enjoy the build

[Skye]

Thats good to know!

Thanks for the advice on the shims as well, I will get some ordered tonight.

When building the front diff and tightening it down I wasnt 100% certain how much to tighten it. IF I understood the diagram correctly it told me to fully tighten the screw, and then unscrew it by 1/8th a turn to get the correct kit setting. Does this sound about right?

[gainsy]

When your tightening it up just do it bit by bit, don't do it up completely or you could flatten the diff balls a bit, as it starts to feel tight hold both outdrives( i usually stick 1 side in a vice) & stick a allen key through the other side, then try & turn the centre pulley, if you can turn it it's to loose, just tighten a little at a time till you cant turn it, then your diff is set sweet, check it's still tight after your first run, when the car is assembled i think the diff should spin for no more than 1 second then stop, works nice for my car
Also loads of black grease on the thrust balls so they stay in place when you put them in the outdrive
Hope that makes sense
Gainsy

[gainsy]

Forgot to say the idea of the shims is to stop the diff moving sideways, just add enough so it sits nice but still spins freely

[Skye]

Yeah that makes sense, thanks mate. I just hope I havent over tightened the front already then. I didnt burst a blood vessel on it or anything but because I thought it was telling me to fully tighten and then unscrew by 1/8 turn I did tighten it by hand until the resistance meant I would have had to adjust my grip to turn it anymore. I then released it by 1/8 as that was my interpretation of the instructions....!?

[Skye]

Just a quick question for you all, how strong is carbon fibre? I am assuming that as many premium kits choose to use it ahead of aluminium or plastic then it must be fairly good but just wanted the opinions of those who have raced with CF car kits.

My reason for asking is that last night I started screwing everything to my B44.1 chassis and installed the front / rear shock towers. I was surprised at how it felt in the hand, almost like I was working with glass. The front shock tower in particular is fairly thin and incredibly light. It just gives me the impression that it wont take much breaking, but Im guessing if this was the case they wouldnt use it!

So how does CF compare to Alu and Plastic??

[gainsy]

Personally never had a problem with cf, never snapped any but know it has been done, especially to the upper chassis's, there are various ways to make it flex more but that involves cutting parts of the carbon fibre away, there is a thread in the associated section on flexing
The front shock mounts are 3mm thick standard, my car has had a upgrade to 4mm, i agree the 3mm version does feel fragile but should be plenty strong enough really, although the 4mm version on my car does feel really solid & it survived a full speed barrel roll the other day when i was expecting it to disintegrate
My rear one is 4mm as well
I have heard of people glueing 2 together for extra strength but i would think 6mm is a bit much really
Never had alloy shock mounts but i expect the worst you could do to them is bend them, remember breaking plenty of plastic one's
Pics of my shock mounts below, dunno where they came from but i could always ask the guy i got the car off for you

[Skye]

Thanks Gainsy. The 4mm shock mount you have does look like it could take some stick! I will give the standard kit parts a try and see how they go. If I manage to kill it (quite possible ) then I will give you a shout re the 4mm versions.

[/tobys]

B44 front towers go quite often after a big off. The .1 is slightly thicker but it used to be quite a common upgrade to get thicker towers. When I had my B44, I used the Atomic Carbon ones as these were 4mm thick. I have also heard that the alloy tower mounts help reduce breakages (by stiffening everything up). They are AE Factory Team option parts and can be bought from any decent AE retailer - check out places like DMS and MK Racing if you are struggling.

[Skye]

That's top info, thanks very much. I will give the CF kit option a go but will get some spares in ready and waiting just in case....