Ramination's FJ40 Buggy Build

[n8welch]

Haha. Styrene baby styrene. And a steady hand.

Popcorn for President!!!

[Ramination]

Waiting on the materials for the seats, and paint to dry, and it is killing me.

While I've been waiting I have kept busy with some little stuff








We did some big time shock tuning in the house last night. Typical shock tuning story, start at X, make lots of changes and then ultimately end up back at setup X. I could use a bit thicker shock oil though, and so I will probably figure that out soon. I am running 45wt right now, which was the thickest I have on hand. I need to drive this thing first though, I CAN'T WAIT FOR THE WEEKEND!!!

[MIKO]

I have 50 & 60wt at home that I use in the Exo, I'll bring some for the next outing

[Ramination]

I actually bought a set of oil from RPP this morning...so I should be set for this weekend. Hell knowing RPP the package is probably already at my door.

[n8welch]

Looking good Bo. Hope to see a running vid soon.

Popcorn for President!!!

[Ramination]

Pshhh, forget the video, come to Belle on Saturday and see it run in person

[n8welch]

Yeah i need to get my arse up there. We'll see. With two kids and a needy ol lady i barely have time to wipe my ass.

Popcorn for President!!!

[sgtbham]

You have put in some good work on this rig man, I love it!

[Desert Rc]

Wow lotsa of work in this one....good stuff

[Ramination]

95% done.







Team3six seats:


Dash decals and shock oil should be here today. A few other little odds and ends to finish up, like getting the velcro on the hood and mesh behind the grill but overall its ready for this weekend!!!

I think I have about 40 hours in it since New Years, when I started it. Overall I am happy with it so far, but I have yet to drive it.

I'm not 100% happy with some of the things however, like the gigantic steering wheel or the width of the hood at the chassis. The hood WAS the right width when I started, but I made a small oversight to the fact that as I sanded it to shape I would be losing some width...and I lost more than I expected. I figure this can be my bashing hood, and I'll build another one for photos.

[Ramination]

Mmmm, going to have to do this on the FJC too!



Shocks tuned as good as I can get them in the living room...bring on the weekend!!!

[Ramination]

You may be asking yourself, Ramination, where is the spare.

Here.



I went with the 4.75 inner and soft outer from Crawler Innovations...feels spot on. Great traction for my fingers.



Shocks are now set up with firm (black) spring on top and stock spring on bottom and 90wt oil inside. These shocks need thick oil to dampen them. This setup dampens the shocks so that a dead drop from 6-7 inches is soaked up. The suspension abosorbs it and goes back to ride height. No extra bounces and no bottoming out. I think this is where I want to be...time will tell but I know for a fact I want to jump this pig.

I tried first the 60wt oil (because it is blue ) but there was still almost no dampening, so then I tried 70, still no. I then tried 90 and liked how it felt so that is where we will be this weekend.

Here is a pic of how the grill turned out, which I am happy with.






Seeing how low the FJ40 is compared to the FJC leads me to believe that I am going to have to raise it up a tad, or I will be struggling with ground clearance everywhere with the longer wheelbase. We shall see.

[MIKO]

[Ramination]

'snot bad.

[RusT808]

Nice build! Chassis design looks really nice.

[Ramination]

Thanks!

The first run went well overall. I was happy how the rig performed for the debut run, I should be able to tune from here a little and get it to where I like it. I'm sure I'll be able to drive it better once I get more used to it, too. I thought it was going to be too low, but now I don't think so. The shocks I am pretty happy with, but there is more performance I can get from them I'm sure.

Unfortunately the interior and other scale goodies fell off one by one as we progressed down the trail to the point where nothing was left, so I didn't get too many pictures of the 40. Then I ran out of tiny batteries for this thing and had to use some bigger ones, making the hood hardly look right on there.

Going to try attaching the seat with velcro this time around, and maybe screwing in the rest where I can. I'm not sure on the rest.

I think I am going to try to make a soft top and go CMS, was planning to do it before this weekend but I don't know if that is possible anymore.

Anyways, here are the few pics I got of it out there. I'd already lost the dash by this point.

[Ramination]

Oh, I almost forgot. My initial impression of the Savox 1230 servo is that it is...badass! 500oz of torque at 6V, are you serious? Now it is a couple mm longer than its counterparts, the Hitec 7954 (and alike) servos and a bit more noisy but it is totally worth it in my book. I am not trying to sneak up on anyone anyways.

Now, like the Hitecs, the board is soldered directly to the motor inside the servo...however, from a waterproofing standpoint this one is way easier to do. I corrosion-x'd mine by simply sticking the straw down in the little holes on the corner and flooding it out. On the hitec 7954 I have this can not be done, and so we're forced to take the entire thing apart to get at the backside of the main board and the pot sensor board.

For $75, I will be picking up some more of these.

Here is a picture of the Savox 1230 with the back off.

[MIKO]

Are you going to cut down some of the threaded front axle going past the axle nut? ; ]

[Ramination]

No.

But I will put the little hub things back on when I find them.

[ROWDY RACING]

Rig looked great and performed really well.