Mighty FC-ish

[forty2]

This is a thing:



About two and a half years ago I set out to build the thing and this happened:



And this:



Then something else:



Than I stopped for reasons. Last week I stopped stopping in order to start. This is a thing:



The nose proportions don't meet 1:1 quite right (that's what I get for picking right up after 30 months with revisiting reference photos), but I think it isn't exactly a bad thing. I'm ditching the bed in favor of an exo and truggy rear. It'll be a solid C2 when done, but probably not much of a performer. I'm okay with that.

This is all really just an exercise in procrastination to avoid working on an interior for this...

...and I'm starting the cage for a C3 tuber...

I am not a smart man.

[bayareaaxial]

Im not a smart man but I know what love is.....and I love where this is headed.

[forty2]

boop!



More sanding and filling and stuff and things to go, and an exo.

[GEISSE-RC]

that is F******* awesome!!!!! i love it..

[forty2]

I'm afraid I just blue myself.

[forty2]

Went down to the shop last night hell bent on making some serious progress. Started with some cutting and bending a mix of rod and DOM in 3/16", rod down low, tube up high. Got a good start and when I was ready to start melting things together I discovered that I left my argon cracked open and my bottle was dry. This is where my night ended:



Dropped the boy off this morning and straight to bottle exchange. Cut up my frame a little and started putting things together. Rear pumpkin should be just shy of the back of the tire carrier.



Made some decent progress in the last couple of hours. Already scratched the hell out of the body and I've still got a lot of material to go before I can call the cage done.



When I make it back into the shop tonight my goals are figure out how to make the front bumper fit tight to the lower valance and attach to the cage, yet still be removeable for the sake of access. Also, I need to figure out how I want to firmly attach the body to the cage.

I'm not good at planning ahead...

[forty2]

One more picture I forgot, perched on top of the donor Dingo for a sense of scale:

[forty2]

Last one for today, rear section complete except for the shock mounts.

[forty2]

This is where I'm at now:





I've spent the last two nights trying to get a bumper to work and as of right now I've already binned two failed attempts. My goal is to have a bumper that looks like it belongs and solidly marries the cage to the chassis forward of the front axle. The kicker is that it has to be removable so that I can service electronics as well as paint the cage and body separate colors. The body mounts securely with screws running through the plates at the lower section. My thought was a plate bumper with tabs overlapping the front cage plates so the screw that holds the body would catch both. Didn't really work as planned and I can't make it look like it belongs no matter what I do. Next idea is to drop some tube straight down to the bumper from the crossbar above the grill and then a screw up from underneath through the bumper, but I'm all out of 3/16" DOM...

Anyway, going to order more tube soon (got some Wraith parts itching to be a C3) and I'll keep thinking about it. So far I just can't make it fit. Oh, and my wheel arches are a bit on the low side, like 3/8" at least too low for good articulation...

Oh! One last thing. Broke down and ordered shocks, no plastic Axials on this. 90mm Kings in the front and 110s in the back. Decided to postpone shock mounts until I actually have the new ones in hand. Killed my toy budget for a while so we'll be sticking to a stock trans and driveshafts, but she'll look pretty.

[forty2]

Picked up a cheap Falken G6 parts truck as a donor so my 4 year old can keep running the Dingo. It showed up today. The budget is tightening even further so I'll be only selectively upgrading for the time being. First of the donor parts was the trans. The dry, dry trans. Rebuild time with RRP gears and plenty of grease. Had an unused trans housing in the parts bin, no better than the existing, just clean. Keeping the dual slipper for the time being, just cranked the nut down fully.



Also rebuilt the rear axle. New underdrive gears because of all the upgrades I've ever made to an SCX10, under rear/standard front is easily the single biggest jump in performance I've ever gotten. All stainless hardware, just like the trans. Front axle rebuild is waiting on parts for XR10 steering.



Added shock mounts, CMS plate, and panhard bracket to the frame. My welds look terrible, but I'm quite certain they'll hold. Also, frame rails got welded to bumper #3, still not 100% I like this one and may make changes still, but it's here. I also have a plan forward for the bumper to cage interface, so that's something to look forward to.



Links are next. Need them done before I can really place the rear shock mount. Going for a lot of droop and the front was easy enough to guess, the rear has me stumped at the moment though, links will fix that. Set it up on blocks slightly below planned ride height to start to get a picture, pretty sure I'm going to have to open up those wheel wells some. Bummer.





That's it for now, shooting for roller status (probably still on stock steering though) early next week.

[rcjeepbuilder]

killer work!

[joe122]

Great concept, love the fab work!

[forty2]

We have reached roller status!

Going to have to tear it down and redo those wheel arches, need another 1/4" up and 1/2" forward.



You can't really see it here, but those front shock mounts are offset slightly. I'd love to tell you I had some awesome heady reason for doing that, but I don't. Sometimes I rush. Pinion angles are a tilted up a bit, not so much that I'm worried about driveshaft phasing though. I think it'll work out well.



Rear shock mount is simply a piece of DOM welded to the solid upright and a tapped hole through both. Worked out much simpler than what I was planning.



Raised the mounting location for the rear top links effectively moving instant center slightly forward of the front wheels. With a good starting ride height I should have a decent amount of anti-squat and in theory it should climb better, but what the hell do I know? This is all napkin engineering and a little book readin', I'm open to the possibility that I'm dead wrong and it won't hurt my feelings.



Pretty much mimicked the Vanquish three link design. Bent top link, same basic idea at the axle with geometry slightly different to suit my needs.



If you take into consideration the offset ball end on the panhard, the panhard and drag link are damn near parallel. At full compression the panhard contacts the frame and the top link mount at the same time. The drag link it slightly shorter, but by my estimation the Wraith knuckles I'll eventually have on here will put them at the same length. Any bump steer I get out of this setup, if any at all, will be negligible.



Woo! Articu-something!

[forty2]

Wheel arches fixed! Driven! Lots of work still left to do! I need to go to bed!

[GEISSE-RC]

you have some skills brother! great job.....

[joe122]

Like'n the fab skills. Flex shots are cool.

[forty2]

Started off my evening with a trans rebuild to move the motor to the right side:



Narrow XR mod on the front axle came next. Used SSD-RC knuckles, STRC hubs, and of course some beef tubes. Track width is up by 1/2" but still well within C2 and steering is excellent. Unfortunately, budget demands that I use stock R&P, but that'll be one of the first thing to go when I start ditching parts. Not pictured here, but I also reinforced and notched the frame for the panhard so that I can flex the suspension all the way into the cage on the right side.



Cage and frame fully painted with hammered finish grey, cab is currently back in the paint booth for touch ups. Right before painting I added a few more bars to balance out the frame and built a cover for the motor and trans. Cover has hard points for the ESC, BEC, and battery, I'll figure out how to hide everything later. Only thing still missing where electrics are concerned is the winch mount. Waiting on my TZI that should be en route currently, going to wait until I have it in hand to make the mounts for it.

[forty2]

Well, I think we're done here. I mean, there's still suspension tuning to do, a winch to add, an interior to finish, and a handful of other things to get done, but I got a fully functional rig on my hands and I intend to start driving it starting now. There are a few shortcomings painfully apparent right out of the gate: servo is a dog, so that'll need to get tossed sooner than later, front suspension is way too soft for the limited travel, COG is way too high and the foams are too soft. After a little more throttle time I'll probably be able to drum up a few more shortcomings but I don't care, I love it. Oh, and not that RTI counts for anything in the real world, but I'm hitting 1170 on a standard 20 degree ramp.

Picture dump:

[xigtc]

That's pretty sweet man. Always been a fan of FC's. I like the flow of the tube work!!

[forty2]

Made some changes to the suspension in spring rates (front) and oil (front and rear) as well as adjusting F/R ride height slightly. Not 100% there, but much better and good enough for the time being. Shot some high frame rate video around the yard yesterday for the sole purpose of seeing the suspension in action. Everything is just slowed down (obviously), no real editing or music:



Foams. I need good foams.