A Brat Story

[Subarutex]

A couple weeks ago I dug out my old Honcho to take camping with some buddies. It had been a couple years since I've done any RC anything. We had a great time passing the controller around all weekend. It really made me want to start tinkering with something again.



I ran across this pic on a FB group i'm in, and it really grabbed my attention. I had pondered a long time ago about building a Brat with a body my buddy gave me, but the wheelbase always seemed to be an issue (unless you did a CC01). So, I logged into RCC for the first time in forever, and did some searching.

I found a great thread on using a STRC SWB Chassis kit with the Brat body, that just so happened to end up being the Brat in the pic I saw on FB. Crazy! 1.55 Tamiya Subaru Brat build (STRC)

I also discovered that the Brat body I have had a build thread too, from way back in 2010. XC Brat

Here is the body as I pulled it out of the box.






So... Now that I had a rough guideline of what I needed to do to change my Honcho into a Brat I started putting a parts list together. It went quickly downhill when I saw the SSD D60 axle cases on RPP, and the whole slew of parts SSD offers. As the price on the shopping cart went up, it started making more and more sense to just build a whole 2nd truck. I further rationalized it by how much fun my buddies had with the Honcho, and that if there was 2 trucks, we'd have twice the fun.

Here's the haul


Parts List so far:
SCX10 Deadbolt RTR
STRC SWB Kit - Silver
SSD D60 Axle Cases
SSD CMS Kit
SSD Ti Steering Links
GearHead Rear Shock Relocation Kit
GearHead Shock Lift/Lower Kit
AMF Rock Guards
RC4wd 1.55 Steel Wagon Wheels
RC4wd Brake Rotor Hubs
RC4wd Dick Cepek Fun Country Tires

My plan currently is to put the RTR together with these parts with the Brat body. I'm hoping to have this done my Memorial Day weekend to take camping... but we'll see!

[Darrell82]

Good luck! Looks like it's a race against time

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G850A using Tapatalk

[Subarutex]

Unfortunately I couldn't jump into this as quick as I had hoped... I did get out with the Fam a bit this weekend and exercised the Honcho.





Sunday Evening I was finally able to get into the Brat.

First... Assembled 1 of the RC4WD Steel Wheels w/ DC Fun Country's to see how they look.





Then unbox the Deadbolt...









Body off...



1.55's are definitely smaller



Width looks pretty decent



Wheelbase needs some work

[Subarutex]

So nice to work on a clean truck.



Truck quickly dissassembles



Decided to work on the axles next. The SSD D60 cases are great. Really good quality!





Kind of regret not going whole hog on the axle build with the fancy bearing retainers and nice spools... Stock until something breaks!



Front axle was up next





Stock internals, D60 Case w/ included panhard mount, SSD Ti steering link, Links from SSD CMS kit.



Now lets get into the chassis



Definitely shorter...



Links and Skid assembled



The STRC kit is pretty good. I wish the rod ends for the kit would have been included. I like how the chassis encapsulates the skid, however... I do not like the hardware choice. I'm not sure if my holes were countersunk to far, or what.



Those screws sticking out interfere with the upper links. To temporarily solve the problem I spaced the links off the chassis using some shock spacers. I'm going to see if I can source some shorter hardware.

At the end of the night, laid all the major players out to see roughly how they'll go together.



It was here that I realized a handful of things.

A. My plan for the rear shocks wasn't going to work. The SSD axles do not have the top mount holes like stock, therefore the lowering brackets for the Gearhead RC relocation kit doesn't work.

B. The 3rd link for the front suspension included in the SSD CMS kit is too long for my application.

Both things I should have seen coming... but were overlooked. So far, only snag in my planning so far.

[Subarutex]

Yesterday during lunch I went to my local hobby shop looking for pieces to do cantilever rear suspension. Some quick research showed that was a good solution for my rear shocks.

However, as seems to be a trend, they didn't have what I was looking for. But they did have something that would work... Frankly I was surprised they had any RC4WD parts on the shelves.



Last night I was able to put a couple hours into the Brat. However it was late, and I was moving quick, so I didn't get as many in process shots as I hoped.

This is what I came up with for the rear shocks



I used the Gearhead Lift/Lower kit as shock towers. I had to drill a 2nd hole in the frame, but otherwise it was all bolt together.

The tiebar is from the SSD CMS kit, the 3rd link that was too long.



The rear diff is angled pretty severely up, but it seems to help driveline angles.



Front suspension all in



I had to swap out the 3rd link from the SSD CMS kit, as it was originally too long to work with the STRC kit. I'm currently using the steering link that came with the SSD Ti kit in its place.



However, I think it is too short. Pinion angle is angled down, and should be at least level. I don't have any other posts/links on hand, so I'm going to play with longer rod ends, some spacers, or maybe relocating the chassis side of the link closer to the front.



Body on mockup



I haven't finished the 1.55's, but here is a quick shot with it sitting on 1.9's





Love the look of the SSD D60 axles with the Ti links and the SSD CMS.



On the agenda tonight:

See what I can do to fix that front 3rd link to get the pinion angle under control, and then I can look at how much I need to chop these driveshafts up.

Getting close! Still trying to get it running by Friday for the long weekend!

[Dezertdirt]

Nice brat. What is the wheelbase on it?

[CM9000]

X2 ^

I have two brat bodies, 1 stil nip.

I doved the front of one brat already and will be doved in the back this weekend. build thread going up soon. but I need a ballpark of what your wb is at right now. the rear looks perfect length for a doved body on 1.9s.

and you could have went with cantilever setup in the rear. as that's what ill be doing with mine. so I can keep the stock bed depth.

great start though!

I like the colors.

[Subarutex]

Originally Posted by Dezertdirt

Nice brat. What is the wheelbase on it?

Originally Posted by crawlingman9000

X2 ^

I have two brat bodies, 1 stil nip.

I doved the front of one brat already and will be doved in the back this weekend. build thread going up soon. but I need a ballpark of what your wb is at right now. the rear looks perfect length for a doved body on 1.9s.

and you could have went with cantilever setup in the rear. as that's what ill be doing with mine. so I can keep the stock bed depth.

great start though!

I like the colors.

Sorry guys. Got caught in real life. I'll measure the WB this weekend and update you.

I was wanting to go cantilever in the back, just couldn't get the pieces together in time to make my Memorial Day weekend trip. I still may do that in the future, but we'll see.

[Subarutex]

Well, Its been a couple weeks.

I did get the truck done for the Memorial Day long weekend. However, due to our horrid wet weather, I didn't run it out when we were camping.

Here's some pics to finish off the build.

As posted above, my front axle pinion angle was pretty negative. I added a longer setscrew and a spacer to the upper link.



I think it brought the pinion angle up just about the perfect amount.



Next on the list was to chop up some driveshafts. I actually really liked the new WB shafts on the deadbolt, made it pretty easy to customize them. Luckily there was some extra shaft pieces in the parts bag, as I did miss cut one my first try.

Front



Rear



Then it was on to finishing up the assembly on the 1.55's and making it a roller.





Flex Test





Then I moved on to mounting the body.

Mockup... a bit too much rake. Wish the rear could be lower, maybe in the future i'll do a cantilever setup.



Magnets seem like the cool way to go now, so I figured I'd give it a try.

I also got all the electronics mounted up. The ESC and RX are on the stock aluminum servo tray that I mounted to the SSD CMS chassis crossbar. The battery is sitting on a cut down stock aluminum battery tray. Between the 1 velcro strap and the friction fit under the rear cross post it shouldn't go anywhere.





All mounted up







I was able to sneak the deadbolt bumper just under the Brat body for some added protection, plus the A-bar that comes up looks sorta like one that came with the Brats originally.

I'm really happy with how all the pieces came together on the truck. Somehow I feel my wheelbase is a touch longer than the 10" its advertised at, but I'll measure that and see.

I centered the center axle in the wheel well, which makes the front axle sit a bit forward in the wheel well. Its not perfectly scale, but moving front axles forward is a common modification so it sort of works in my mind.

I may have to to do a tiny amount of trimming to the front corners of the body under the front bumper. At full lock and flex it just touches. I'm going to hold off trimming it until I get some more wheel time in it.

[microcrawlers]

looks nice! post a video of performance with those little tires

always loved subaru