Egress 2013

[Aussie Top Force]

I have just finished building the chassis of my new Egress 2013 (pictures later) so I thought I would start a new thread on the vehicle, that discusses the car as a potential racer (vintage events - let's be real!) rather than as an idol to be worshiped. Lets try and refrain from "mines in the mail" posts, but rather stick to what's good and what's not so good about the Egress 2013 and what you're doing to make it good on the track

Before going any further, I had an original Egress and raced it successfully at club level back in the day (1990 ish) so its not my first time with the chassis.

So I'll start off as follows:

Good points: (no particular order)

- High quality finish on all parts - went together easily
- Instructions
- Plastics seem to be of a more durable (not as soft) material than I remember on the original Egress
- tight fit for all suspension parts - does not seem to be any slop in the new parts , so lets see how they wear over time, i.e. will slop creep in?
- Screws seem to be off good quality - no striped heads.
- Carbon fibre chassis plates and shock towers seem to be thicker and have a great looking shinny finish!
- CVD drive shafts all round - much better than original uni joint and optional posi joints.
- turnbuckles all round
- ball bearings every where
- Body and stickers
- Wheels and tires (same as original for that retro look)

Not so good:

- The diff balls and rings - they don't feel smooth at all (in fact the rings didnt' even have that polished mirror smooth finish that they should?) I think they'll wear fairly quickly and need replacement in a racing environment. Hopefully, an after market brand like TSR will release a ceramic rebuild kit. The TSR diffs in my 502X are buttery smooth.

- The diff out drives - these are secured within the diff drive outer bearings and by a firm sponge that is compressed against the done bone. As long as the sponge doesn't over compress the out drive 'should' stay in place. This is the same arrangement for the Avante 2011 Black Special.

- The High cap dampers (why are these here you ask and not in the good section?). First of all they look great and are nice and smooth. However, there are two things that I think will need some track time before I'm convinced Mr Tamiya knows what he's doing:

1: Single red O-ring seal on the shock shaft! The original Hi caps had two and so do all of Tamiya's current TRF shocks. Whilst the bolt in mechanism from the bottom is great, if you over tighten it, you squash the O-ring and restrict the movement of the shock shaft. Thus you have find a happy medium between, smooth operation and leaking shocks. Why they didn't just uses the parts from the TRF cars to bolt in from the bottom is beyond me? I might have to see if they are a direct fit?

2: No air release hole in the shock cap. The original hi caps have an air release hole in the top of the cap. Thus when the shock piston is compressed, which in turn compresses the oil and the seperating diaphragm in the shock cap, the air hole releases the air between the diaphragm and the top of the shock cap. Like a good set of aeration dampers found on most modern buggies, this would result in a small amount of rebound, say 3 to 5mm (with out a spring) of the shock piston after it is fully compressed. However, as there is no air hole in the new hi-caps, the air captured between the roof of the shlck cap and the diaphragm becomes pressurised when the piston is compressed. The result, 100% rebound of the shock piston to it's full length without a spring! With a battery in and using the recommended spring setting the suspension feels very over sprung.

3: Front lower shock mount. This is not the same as the original Egress, which had an extension bracket and stood the shocks up more vertical, which gave the front suspension more droop and allowed for a softer setting. The Egress 2013 front suspension has no droop! The front suspension arms sit dead flat off the chassis. Combined with the 100% rebound of the shocks, the suspension does not settle (rear as well), with motor and battery both fitted in the chassis. This has the effect of pointing the nose down, i.e. the chassis has a significant positive rake angle. This might be good for Redbull F1 cars, but on off road buggies, on a car that has no front kick up? Mmmm...

So where to from here? As I am going to race this car at vintage events I would like it to be the best that it can be. So I've decided to order some lower front shock brackets from Fibre-Lyte. They will replicate the original front shock position and giver some droop and extra ride height for rough tracks. And for the shocks, there are a few different solutions:

1. try them with different oils and pistons and see if they work?
2. try fitting original hi-cap shock caps - do they even have the same thread?
3. cut the centre out of the diaphragms so it just becomes a seal and use them as aeration dampers?
4. investigation if the O-ring holder from my TRF shocks - does it screw straight into the bottom of the new high caps?

It would be interesting to see what others have to say?