Tamiya Bearhawk -- 09 VONATs entry

[tecnica2001]

Here's the car I'll be entering in the "Classics" class at the VONATs, hopefully I can give Brandon G. and his "Super Frog" a bit of competition...

Wanting to use what I had at home (save money) to make some nice mods to this car, the only thing that I bought for it was the tie rods and links, servo saver, and bearings, everything else I had in my parts pile.

Specs
Chassis: Tamiya Bearhawk
Shocks: Team Losi
Springs: Associated
Wheels: Carson (will likely change)
Tires: Losi Tires (will likely change)
Body: Mr. Lexan's Repro Lexan Beetle Body
Motor: Trinity Midnight Motor
ESC: Tekin Speed Star
Rx/Servo: Hitec
Battery: Trakpower 25C 4900 lipo

Mods:
Wider rear axles, Lunchbox steering knuckle (wider), the front is now 10" wide and the rear is 10.5" wide, Full Ball Bearings, Dubro Ball Links and Tie Rods, Traxxas Bullet Bumper (will be dyed black). It will also sport a set of DF-02/DF-03 Steel CVDs.

Pics:

[vwjuice]

That is awesome. Love the body looks really sweet.

[tecnica2001]

Thanks for the Compliment,

I've always liked these Darn Tamiya Beetle Like bodies, I've had about 5 different cars with the Baja bodies.

I was thinking about cutting the front fenders to match the rears, but I can't bring myself to hacking those nice round fenders.

[vwjuice]

Don't cut those beautiful fenders. Just get some tubing and make a nice cage around the engine and some nerf bars on the sides. That would look really nice.

[tecnica2001]

I don't want to go too crazy scaling this one out, because this is going to be my "Classics" class racer, so I need it to be not so complicated.

But I would definitely add a engine cage, a nicer front bumper, a Scollins interior, etc etc.

Although, I might end up adding the whip antena and stinger pipe....

[vwjuice]

Now that would be perfect to add all of that. Then you could beat everyone with style.

[Mr. ED]

well done
If you can: try to ad some toe-in on the rear wheels. That really makes a car lots easier to handle

[tecnica2001]

I wouldn't even know how to start doing that on this car, the arms are attached to the tranny case....It would take a whole lot of engineering skill to do that, skill that I do not possess....

I ran it a bit yesterday in the dirt, and it was very twitchy in a straight line, hopefully when I run it at the VONATs, I'll drive it slow enough to be able to control it....

[Mr. ED]

I was thinking of adding the toe-in by using other hubs. changing the mount angle of the arms and do it accurately is very though indeed.
Another way would be to use arms with built in toe-in. Some recent tamiya arms have this.

It would surely help with the twitchyness...

other things that may help: add 5 degrees of toe-in on the front wheels: you seem to have them parallel, or even a bit of toe-out. Under acceleration these will spread further outwards and cause instability.
How does your steering respond on suspension compression? If the wheels open up under compression you should change the level of the steering ball joints (if possible at the knuckle side). Neutral and symmetric is best, symmetric and slightly pointing in under compression is fine too.

[tecnica2001]

Thanks for the suggestions Mr. Ed, but I'm only going to race this car at the Vintage Nationals, and it's going to be my fun class , I'll just drive it as best I can around the track, after that, I'll go back to racing my RC10T4, Losi XXXcr and Kyosho ZX5....

I am gonna get a set of DF-02/03 Universals for it, and some tires that will suit the track conditions.

[Mr. ED]

try to look at the front end: after all it's just adjusting the rod length

[tecnica2001]

oh yeah, the front adjustment it's an easy one... the rear toe in adjustment is the one I'm not going to loose any sleep over.

I have an RC10 steering bellcrank, that I might try to adapt to eliminate bump steer.