Marcod13's Subaru WRX STI XV-01

[marcod13]

Hey everyone im new to the forum and ive been looking up and it for a while now and have noticed that a few members have built some XV-01 kits. I myself have been looking at the kits for a while now and i finally picked one up this week. My main focus of this thread is to discuss the chassis and the long term test/use of the vehicle, i will update it periodically. I know that many want to buy this kit, but most have concerns since its rather new so consider this thread a source for review.

I am going to be building the kit to Tamiya spec, i have built at least 4 Tamiya kits before and they have all gone together so simply and straight forwards. I have never built a belt-driven touring car before so im rather excited.

I just bought the base kit, the one that comes with the 2009 Subaru WRX STI body set and Johnson motor. I have heard that using the kit supplied motor yields incredible 'scale' speed results, but im going to take the brushless route.

For that matter i am installing a Castle Creations Sidewinder 3 ESC, as well as a NeuCastle 4600kv 4 pole motor.

Other electronics:

HPI MG SB-5 Servo (had this one laying around so figured why not)
FlySky GTB 2.4GHz Transmitter (these Tx and Rx setups are not that appreciated in the RC world, however for simple bashing outside race use, i find them to be perfect and economic)
7.4v 2s lipo 40C


The Hop-Ups that i feel are necessary for the kit are as follows ( i have ordered them all, just waitng for arrival):

Tamiya Reinforced Drive Belt No. 54448 (i feel this to be needed for a brushless setup, longterm of course, but im more than sure the stock ones hold up just fine)
Tamiya Slipper Clutch No. 54378
Tamiya Differential Cross Shaft (kit supplied ones are made of resin) No. 54311
Tamiya On Road Spring Set No. 49382 (had these laying around)
I also plan to run some sort of cooling fan within the ESC/receiver housing (probably a 3Racing one)

As for the body set, the final colour is still an issue because i have way too many ideas going on in my head, so ill just save the final unveiling when it is painted and mounted.

Any useful criticisms will go very much appreciated, as well as any tips that you all may have, enjoy! "thumbsup"

 

[Ell206]

Nice, I just bought a second one, these things are awesome! I would recommend picking up 2 of the aluminum suspension mounts because those seem to be the first things to go.

RC Aluminum Sus Mount (XJ) - XV-01
ITEM# 54379
Tamiya America Item #54379 | RC Aluminum Sus Mount (XJ) - XV-01

 

[TURTLE]

The Hop-Ups that i feel are necessary for the kit are as follows ( i have ordered them all, just waitng for arrival):

Tamiya Reinforced Drive Belt No. 54448 It is a viable upgrade, but also look into adding a tensioner and possible aluminum pulleys
Tamiya Slipper Clutch No. 54378 Also a good upgrade which adds standard 48 pitch gears, but personally mine does not get a lot of use.
Tamiya Differential Cross Shaft (kit supplied ones are made of resin) No. 54311 This is one thing I have never had an issue with. I have stripped almost every gear at one point or another and had zero issues with the cross pins. Personally I think adding rotating mass to the drivetrain will just cause added stress and weaken other parts.

I added my comments in green.

I have been racing and beating on my XV-01 for over 8 months now and have broken a lot of parts and found the weak links pretty quickly.

The biggest things you should look into upgrading should be the toe blocks and steering components. A kimbrough servo saver would be the best place to start in the steering area.

After that I have a pretty extensive, build and modification thread that should help with whatever you want to do. "thumbsup"

http://www.rccrawler.com/forum/rally/400591-turtles-modified-xv-01-a.html

 

[marcod13]

Nice, I just bought a second one, these things are awesome! I would recommend picking up 2 of the aluminum suspension mounts because those seem to be the first things to go.

RC Aluminum Sus Mount (XJ) - XV-01
ITEM# 54379
Tamiya America Item #54379 | RC Aluminum Sus Mount (XJ) - XV-01

Thanks for the input! Two for front and rear im guessing?

 

[marcod13]

I added my comments in green.

I have been racing and beating on my XV-01 for over 8 months now and have broken a lot of parts and found the weak links pretty quickly.

The biggest things you should look into upgrading should be the toe blocks and steering components. A kimbrough servo saver would be the best place to start in the steering area.

After that I have a pretty extensive, build and modification thread that should help with whatever you want to do. "thumbsup"

http://www.rccrawler.com/forum/rally/400591-turtles-modified-xv-01-a.html

Thanks for the great advice! I will definitely take a look at your build thread, i never thought about the added rotating mass, this is important to consider because it may throw off the balance and just as equally, add stress.

 

[Ell206]

Thanks for the input! Two for front and rear im guessing?

Yessir. At least start with one in the front, it's much harder to get to. The one in the back is easy to replace and doesn't require any extra disassembly.

 

[marcod13]

Yessir. At least start with one in the front, it's much harder to get to. The one in the back is easy to replace and doesn't require any extra disassembly.

Sounds good, just placed an order for one!

Im really hoping that all these parts come in by next week, i wanna start this kit so badly lol

 

[kikcaffine]

Suspension mounts are the only thing ive broken on mine thus far and its had the crap beaten out of it. alot.

 

[marcod13]

Okay so I've started with masking and painting the body, since all my Hop-Ups haven't arrived yet (waiting on the suspension mount and reinforced belt). So in the mean time ill work on assembling the shocks and mounting the rims to the tires.

The box

The power plant

Heres how the kit looks upon opening, with some extras in there..

Ive settled with a silver body and some black accents

Kit supplied rims painted Bronze (Tamiya X-33)

Mounted on the rally blocks

Some Hop-Ups

Slipper Clutch

Hard Tuned Springs

I'm just finishing up the body now, applying decals! :mrgreen:

 

[marcod13]

Just finished up with the shocks, used the kit supplied "900" weight oil for the front and i used Losi 80 weight in the rear (800 in equivalent to Tamiya spec id guess). The dampers went together really easy as usual, Tamiya shocks always seem to assemble neatly and trouble free. I added the Hop-Up springs i had, put the Medium yellows up front and the Soft red in the rear.

Was going to use the longer supplied shock ends, but i figured to try the shorter ones first and if i need more clearance ill use the taller ones.

Also looking at the kit instructions, i noticed that it says to use 900 weight damper oil in the diffs- does anyone have advice on this, should i use a heavier weight?

Hopefully my other parts come in the mail tomorrow so i can finish this kit by the end of this week if i have the time.

 

[TURTLE]

If you want the oil to leak out of the diffs use the kit supplied oil.

I am currently using 10k front and 1k rear, and even the 1k slowly leaks out. I have tested a few oils all listed in my build thread. "thumbsup"

 

[marcod13]

If you want the oil to leak out of the diffs use the kit supplied oil.

I am currently using 10k front and 1k rear, and even the 1k slowly leaks out. I have tested a few oils all listed in my build thread. "thumbsup"

Yeah I had figured 900 weight would be way too thin haha. I happen to have some 20,000 and 10,000 left over from my EXO Terra so ill experiment with one of those for the front and pick up some 2000 or 3000 for the rear and see where that takes me.

 

[marcod13]

I have finished the chassis finally, been caught up with work and other things so i had no time to complete it really, but now its done :ror:

Front and rear gear box assembly is pretty much the same.. "F" denotes front since i put two different weights in the differentials.

Completed front gearbox

Assembled motor mount and rear gearbox

 

[marcod13]

Finally finished the build, gotta say that it was pretty straight forward for anyone wondering. The most time consuming part, for me anyway, was probably assembling the turnbuckles! Other than that the instructions were clear to read and understand. The car handles amazing, especially with those low profile on road tires i installed. The thing will literally lose its rear end if you give it enough throttle coming out of a turn just like a real front engine A/RWD car! Thing is a blast, highly recommend this chassis to anyone.

Ill keep this updated with any problems i run into, so far the only one I've had was the rear tire coming unglued from the rim but that was a quick fix. I am currently thinking of installing a fan somewhere on the ESC/receiver box to draw any hot air out of there as well as adding an aluminium motor heat sink upfront.

Here's some finished pictures

 

[trakmasterrs]

nice! i'm currently looking into the xv-01 pro kit along with the subaru body.

 

[zzotta]

I just bought the base kit, the one that comes with the 2009 Subaru WRX STI body set and Johnson motor. I have heard that using the kit supplied motor yields incredible 'scale' speed results, but im going to take the brushless route.

For that matter i am installing a Castle Creations Sidewinder 3 ESC, as well as a NeuCastle 4600kv 4 pole motor.

Hi, I read on another forum that the XV-01 ESC compartment is

37 wide
44 long
36 high

according to the Sidewinder 3 specs its size is

L: 1.93" (49mm)
W: 1.48" (38mm)
H: 0.79" (20mm)

did you get any problem to get it in?
Could you post some photos of your setup, please?

Thank you in advance,
Marco

 

[marcod13]

Hi, I read on another forum that the XV-01 ESC compartment is

37 wide
44 long
36 high

according to the Sidewinder 3 specs its size is

L: 1.93" (49mm)
W: 1.48" (38mm)
H: 0.79" (20mm)

did you get any problem to get it in?
Could you post some photos of your setup, please?

Thank you in advance,
Marco

Hey Marco,

The sidewinder fits perfectly fine, so long as you don't have the SCT version with that big fan cover you should be good.

Sorry for the delay in reply, haven't been on here in so long!