OS's Rally thread

[nascarkeith]

Just rally the Skyline. They are 4wd?

Have you got the lights and stuff for that body?

[OSRC]

Nah...it's a "lightweight" on road body. It'll just get beat to heck. Just gives me an excuse to go shopping again..

So, while I am waiting for the DF03 parts to arrive, I started tooling with my SNRe (my personal designation for the E-conversion)

The one I'm converting over let a fairly pampered life before I got it - most of it was in relatively good shape. Stripped it down, cleaned and re-greased and started rebuilding with a few hop-ups along the way.

New chassis and wheels: gunmetal chassis from the MT (since I cut the old one in 1/2 and it's under another truck) and stock HPI wheels and tires in M compound. Have a set of TGX tires too to mess with.


Front suspension - added Blitz threaded shocks with 30wt oil and the stock springs, aluminum C's and steering, and converted over to threaded rods...didn't have any turnbuckles handy in the right size, but these work fine. Far better than the fixed links. Front 1-way had to go, couldn't make it work with the smaller outdrives.


Rear suspension gets the same treatment.


Heart of the e-conversion...Tekno mount and a 4 pole castle...should be decent for this car- it's heavy, so the extra torque will be helpful. Not looking for ballistic top speeds, but I DO want tire spinning torque. Plan is to make an adapter plate for the mount that then bolts to the old motor mounts on the chassis. Saves a ton of time rather than fabbing up a whole new chassis.



These cars are just awesome BTW...love super scale.

[monkeyracer]

I love the HPI stuff (4 or 5+ cars based on the RS4 right now) and here's what I did with my MT2 chassis RS4:



This motor mount was attached on the chassis with 4 holes, but there was no adjustment if I wanted to change gear ratios, so I ended up making these:



And I am working on another vehicle right now that keeps the stock transmission. (Although extends the wheelbase beyond the MT2/SNR dimensions to fit 1/8th scale bodies.)

I was just going to do what you plan to with a mount that uses the stock nitro motor holes, but It's tough to find a spot to mount the battery with the nitro chassis layout, so I designed a new one with adjustment for the motor mount as well as better placement of everything.

What body are you going to use for the SNRe with the longer wheelbase, wider width and bigger wheels? DRX sized body? There's not a whole lot of choices when it comes to this size, so I'd be interested to see what you find.

[OSRC]

I've seen your threads - nice cars, and great chassis work! I have a standard sized RS4 roller as well...not sure what I'm doing there yet. Have a plan forming, but nothing concrete yet. Both are great platforms for modding...and parts are usually plentiful and cheap.

I have an HPI Subaru SNR rally body for the electric. My nitro will need a body though...holding out for a WR8 body if HPI ever gets around to releasing one. Been keeping an eye on Ebay as well, though not expecting anything. Sadly, I tossed my older super-sized bodies (Skyline and Lambo) thinking I'd never use them. Still kicking myself for tossing the Skyline.

[OSRC]

Finally bit the bullet and invested in a second GT3B and 9 more receivers for my on-road fleet. All my trucks are crawlers are converted over, but was using the leftover AM stuff for my cars....hated seeing that big old 90's antenna sticking out through the body. Finally got into the new century!

[monkeyracer]

Originally Posted by OSRC

Finally bit the bullet and invested in a second GT3B and 9 more receivers for my on-road fleet. All my trucks are crawlers are converted over, but was using the leftover AM stuff for my cars....hated seeing that big old 90's antenna sticking out through the body. Finally got into the new century!

This is somewhat funny since I just finished my GT3B (was waiting on a polarizing film to invert the colors on the display since I messed up the stock one trying to take it off.) and have about 9 rx's to start binding and naming vehicles. It'll be nice to have one controller for everything, especially one this nice. They are really inexpensive, and once you get the stuff to hack one, it's really easy and cheap to hack more.

One of these days I am going to have to take a pic of my fleet. I'd love to see all your rally cars together if you ever get around to taking a pic like that.

[OSRC]

At the moment, I have 1 Futaba with a 10 model memory...and just swap crystals for which vehicle I'm running. PITA. Be nice to get rid of those crystals!

Double update time!

First, the 240z is coming along...rebuilt the shocks for rally duty so it's back to the right height, and added in 60/40wt oil as a starting point. Got in the body mounts and undertray this week.

Undertray ... still need to sort out the electrics, forgot how tight it was under there. May just leave it clear, not sure yet.


...and got the body sprayed. Decided to forgo the kit red and go with "Datsun Brown....not sure how I feel about it yet. Always looks better after some detail work though, so withholding judgement. Need to trim the foam a bit so the body can drop down. Not sold on the wheels/tires yet...might try some other options. Blue nuts REALLY need to go!! Drifter bling has no place on a rally car.


SNR Electric....Getting there slowly - very excited about this one

Chassis progress - Full driveline installed. Just need the motor mount plate.


Secret weapon for dirt traction...Wish I could find more of these - flippin thing works awesome


Body for this ride..leaving the decals off. Went with gunmetal ilo blue. Everyone's got a blue Subie...wanted something different.


With the body on, the front wheels stick out a bit from the wheelwells - enough that they are going to rub without some drastic camber....but they did not when mounted on my nitro chassis. Hmm...I figured I used something different since I built the electric SNR from an MT2 with various parts added...didn't see anything obvious so I started measuring......everything.......see anything different?


Neither did I. Scratched my head for a few minutes.... then realized the answer was super simple. It never even occurred to me that the wheels had different offsets. Both are HPI super wheels..The mesh rims have more offset then the 5-stars. Why? I have no idea.


HPI finally released the Flux wheels and tires yersterday....totally on the list.

[nascarkeith]

Mucho coolness on both. Is the brown a spray can color or something custom?

[OSRC]

Fascolor Brown. Usually use it for interiors....

This is what I had in mind when painting: GUEST BLOG: MIKE REYES>>V8 S30Z - Speedhunters

But it came out quite a bit lighter than I expected. Even backed it with black to tone it down, but didn't seem to make a difference. Think it'll look alright once I get it detailed out. Not pleased at all with how the body sits on the chassis - the foam bumper is going to stick out the front of the body - that just looks hack. Not sure why Tamiya has you trim off the front lip (approach angle I guess) - would have covered it nicely. Oh well, what's done can't be undone. Once I get the ride height and what not sorted out, I'll see where it is.

[OSRC]

Quickie update....been off this week and was hoping to get more done, but wrapping up a few things on the honey-do list first.

Decalled up! Brown is growing on me, though wish I had sprayed it darker.



Experimenting with wheels....think I'll stick with the stockers.


And on the SNR front...Quickie updates....

Motor plate:


Installed...uses the stock motor holes so mesh can be adjusted.


Started fabbing up a battery tray on the other side. Just fits behind the steering servo (mounted that up too) Decided a stand up mount worked out best. Lots to do here yet, still roughing a few holes and fitting things.


What it will look like when done...minus the snake pit of wires of course.


And for the nitro....lookie what I found collecting dust in a LHS: 300mm F150!! Nitro car will be on-road only, so the F150 works out perfect.

[OSRC]

And done! Really don't like the hood light pods....the lens is clear, so all you see is a LED sitting there. Totally ruins the look of the car. Might make them opaque and hope it diffuses the lights somewhat. Only thing I can think of. Not pleased either with the foam sticking out the bottom of the body.



Got everything crammed in there, I had to shorten the motor wires quite a bit (soldered directly to the motor) and the new 2.4 receiver is so small, opened up a ton of room. Think getting the undertray to fit on over top the electronics was the hardest part. Added velcro on the sides later to hold on the undertray. No plans to paint it.


Took it for a spin in the driveway tonight after work, and it really needs more dampening in the front shocks...they bottom out everywhere! Car looks great zipping around though! The base HPI ESC I have stuffed in there was not at all happy about the lack of airflow and the lipo though. Had to be close to thermalling - I could barely touch it. Might cut a vent out.

[Tonysmini]

I had an issue with everything cooking on my TB01's and my RS4 Rally, the inner bodies are great at keeping the dust and muck out, but do bugger all for airflow. The heatsinks just got so hot I couldn't touch them. (And I melted the plastic endbell on an old Kyosho motor)

I cut an air hole behind the front shock tower and cover it in a thin gauze filter (spare stockings from the wifes undies drawer), this covers air getting in, I then mount an ESC fan (biggest one I can fit) to the cover, above the motor if possible as that gets the hottest, and I use this to draw the hot air out from under the cover. It made a big improvement, doesn't seem to affect the run times, and was very easy to do.

[Landcruiser 110]

nice thread, have you got photo of the whole fleet you can post up?

[bikerdobber]

Very Cool . Great pics. Just got the Ken Block car . Going to get other cars allso , Im hooked . Have other fast stuff , Trucks Cars , This is a new kind of cool . And scale too. Pimpen .

[Bad Attitude]

Originally Posted by bikerdobber

Very Cool . Great pics. Just got the Ken Block car . Going to get other cars allso , Im hooked . Have other fast stuff , Trucks Cars , This is a new kind of cool . And scale too. Pimpen .

I'm curious to see how you like this car, I'm really having a hard time deciding between the Kyosho and HPI.

[bikerdobber]

I have nothing but good things to say about it . Played really hard with it . ALOT , very dependable , Fast enough with two cells . Driveable , Three cells FFAASSTTT. Out of controll fast. Changed to 7955 hi tec servo , Running off my DX 3R , Nice controll. I bought another for parts if needed . Not yet BOMB proof. PIMPEN . That what i think.

[TURTLE]

Originally Posted by Bad Attitude

I'm curious to see how you like this car, I'm really having a hard time deciding between the Kyosho and HPI.

From my experience compared to the Kyosho DRX the HPI handles maybe half as good out of the box. Still drives good, but it is not on the same level from my experience.

[Bad Attitude]

Thanks guys, thread hijack is now over.

[bikerdobber]

The Block Car Is Sooooo much faster than my Race friends all what people say car is . And out of the box it kicks some F%^KEN ASS . Have BEEEEETTT IT CANT BREAK IT . So CCCCOOOOOLLLL . Thats what i think . I have two tracks at my house , Rally and Short course . The block car dose it all. with out trouble at all . BLOCK ME UP , Going to build a FAST one . Holly SH7T .

[Gula]

Originally Posted by OSRC

Couple of updates....

This was the TB02 before I pulled the plug..Eh... :



And this is part of why I pulled the plug - got this on Saturday...looks much better (but for another thread):


Got the XV chassis done and took it for a topless spin. First off, those Pirelli's are some darn nice tires. Pretty grippy, both in loose dirt and on the road...oops, i mean tarmac. Chassis setup out of the box is spot on, though I bumped up the pre-load a bit as the front of the chassis was hitting everything. Laying down some paint tonight.


Pair of SNR's brewing...1 will be converted to electric, the nitro one I have no idea yet. Only have a Subie body left, in a rare showing of actually not hoarding anything, I tossed out my old Skyline body. :( It was in good shape, though the paint was terrible. Had I known then that I could strip it, I would have kept it.


If anyone was curious, here are the AKA tires on the SNR wheels...not feeling it.

Witch AKA tire are those?