Dlux Wraith Build

[Erik D_lux]

This could be a short and sweet build. I am not sure how into this car I will be since I really like the comp scene the most but, I am really liking this car right now! I dont know how entertaining this thread will turn out or if I will even come up with anything fun to do with the car but I do know that anytime I have not done a build thread I have regretted it when I do come up with any idea that I would like to share.

If youre looking for the scale type stuff, this may be the worst build you have ever seen. Scale is just not my thing, however, 801 has the ultra 4 comps going on and I think I will really like the go fast racing aspect of the hobby.

[Erik D_lux]

One of the first things that I noticed when I was building this car is how heavy it is. I really want reliability and performance so I want to get the weight down. I didnt deal with most of the car as far as weight, but I will be dealing with it in waves. It seems that this car will be fun to take weight out of but at the same time there is so much that its over whelming. First priority is to get the car up and running for this weekend so lots of issues will be dealt with later.

I made a couple changes to the transmission....

First thing was that I did not want to deal with a slipper so, I deleted it and took some weight with it. The slipper was actually pretty light to start with so I dont think I lost more than a gram or two. I did get rid of that spring though too.

New slipper eliminator

[Erik D_lux]

The motor plate was begging to have weight taken out of it. I am guessing that you could take all the material off after the motor mount bolts and be just fine. I need some practice on my rotory table though so I went to work.

Stock motor plate 8g



Milled out plate 5g

[Erik D_lux]

For the final gear in the trans, I did pretty much the same thing as the slipper eliminator and then some more.

Stock rear output 17g



Stock front output 10g



After milling and drilling....

Rear output 10g



Front output 6g



You can see in the pictures below that I gun drilled each of the shafts and then I milled out as much area as I could under the bearing seats.

[Erik D_lux]

Stock top shaft 7g



Gun drilled top shaft 5g Sorry for the blurry pic

[Erik D_lux]

The middle shaft would not read on my scale...



So I put it on with the top shaft that we know weighed 7g..



So it looks like 2g for the middle shaft. I was having fun at this point so I took a piece of TI that I had laying around and I turned it down and then gun drilled it. Its pretty thin.

Custom TI middle shaft 0g, or so LOL

[Erik D_lux]

I cut the spur gear covers mount and I am not going to run the cover at all. I then added all aluminum screws and then cut the dig mount off the back. I dont think I will run dig and if I do I will just buy some new plastic.

I didnt get a weight for a stock trans. Does anybody have that handy?

Modified Wraith trans 84g. Still a big piggy.

[Erik D_lux]

I made some suspension links. It was really nice just being able to ballpark the links and not looking for an exact 12.5 wheel base.

Aluminum uppers to save weight, TI lowers for weight, strength and slickness.

Rears on the left, fronts on the right. I made the rear uppers just a touch longer in order to raise the drivelines out of the rocks.

[Erik D_lux]

I followed up the suspension links with some steering links..... This picture was taken when I only had the stock plastic knuckles. When I got the hi clearance knuckles it raised everything and I had to make some slight mods. Same principal though.

[Erik D_lux]

I really wanted to give the stock shocks a go but I was not that excited after building them. I really liked the idea of the adjustable rebound/compression of the stock shock. Hopefully I can try that idea down the road.

So, I switched to my beloved Big bore shocks. I have a hard time not running these shocks. They dont leak, are super consistent, the Mini-T springs have great rates (and you get 3 rates when you buy 1 pack of springs), they are very light when lathed down and when you mix in my shock cap balls and the idea of using rod ends on the caps, you can almost have any length shock that you need.

I wanted my chassis to bottom out on my axles at full compression so getting the height perfect was a big priority to me.

For the front shocks, I like my suspension geometry so the lower links are below the center line of the axle. I like my rears to be the opposite, lower links above center line. So, I flipped the axle mounts upside down in the front giving me a lower ride height. To compensate for this I ran a rod end on the cap of the big bores. It turned out perfect.

For the rear shocks, I thought the ride height was way too high so I flipped the upper mounts to get it lower but that was still close so I used my Dlux shock cap balls ****Big Bore Shock end SALE $7 a set!!!**** to make the shock that much lower.

Front and rear frame rails almost come into contact upon full compression front and rear.

I turned the shocks down the same as I do for my lathe services

Traxxas BIG BORE lathing services

Shorter shocks with the DLUX balls on the left, same shock but with the rod end mod on the right.

[Erik D_lux]

You probably would not have to be a genius to figure out what wheels I will be running. DLUX 2.2 AND 1.9 wheels

I had some old prototypes sitting around so they fit the bill nicely. The white faces have always had a place in my heart, I really, really like the look of them. I may switch over to the CF faces but right now I am enjoying these.

Super light, super strong, adjustable and have many weight options.

[Erik D_lux]

Shot of the steering linkage

[Erik D_lux]

Couple shots of the suspension links







Random shot of the rear

[winkscrawler]

Not bad so far Erik.

[Erik D_lux]

I have always loved using the link sliders that I make but for this car, being a belly dragger an all, I knew I needed the best. So, I made some Titanium link sliders.

It looks like the rear axle rod ends will take quite a bit of abuse and obviously the belly will on both ends so I threw the TI sliders on there. For the front, I just left them delrin to save weight, cost and I dont think they will see quite the abuse.

http://www.rccrawler.com/forum/chass...k-sliders.html

[Erik D_lux]

Originally Posted by winkscrawler

Not bad so far Erik.

Thanks Ryan.

That pretty much up to date on this thing. I have some parts coming so I will update the thread as they come in.

There is still a lot of weight to be pulled from this car. I am thinking just switching over to aluminum screws could be an ounce or better. There are lots of screws!

RTR the car is weighing in at 5lb 10.5oz. That is with panels, interior, NO weight in the wheels and a 5.5oz battery.

[klabeaume]

Did you actually use a "gun drill" bit to drill the outdrives? Or is that just the term you use.

[Erik D_lux]

Just the term I have always best known for drilling the center out of a shaft. No need for anything other than a standard twist drill bit for what I did.

[Erin]

Very cool, just started putting one of these together as well. Ill be watching for ideas.

Only concern I see is the motor plate, they will flex stock with any kind of good power. Maybe switch to 32p gears to help with that.

[Erik D_lux]

Yeah, we will see. All of it is pushing it a bit. I tried to be somewhat conservative.

I am running 32p gears now. I was actually surprised at how stiff the motor mount still is. I cant bend it with some decent force with my hands.