MMV ultimate revenge: 14 sept. 2012: 1 year and still going

[Mr. ED]

I bought the Lipo pack thinking my nimh pcks and charger were distroyed in the flooding... but not.
I've got a starting spot for the 2012 EIR in February. I believe a few places are left in 4WD. If you want I'll go 4wd and you can take my spot in 2WD.
The race takes up all weekend and practise even starts on Friday morning already.
I'll give you a ring this weekend.

[Mr. ED]

I've made a couple changes after the last race:
New LRP ESC since the previous one burned out after a wet finale.
Tamiya Desert Gator body: lighter, lower CG and better aerodynamics than the stock body with hotshot cage.
Heavily trimmed Asso driver for looks
New body mounts in the rear: lighter, lower, more stable
Lexan spoiler: lighter and lower CG than the nylon unit
Home-made wing tower with tamiya TRF adjustable wing mounts: replacing the hotshot cage built-in wing mount and moving the spoiler a little higher but mainly further back
MPP optima rear arms: for less toe-in and hopefully increased steering; under acceleration and at high speed
Ultima pro-xl front arms to match the black coloured MPP rear arms.
re-organized receiver and AMB: providing the extra mms required for fitting a lipo saddle pack

Pics:
















And for the money-shots:

[Momo5]

Looking great! What side body mounts are those?

[Mr. ED]

They're nothing special: similar to the front one. Basically it's a little cilinder with a screw from the bottom, crosdrilled for the clip, and a bit of rubber on the base to stop the body from rattling.

[Momo5]

If you decide to sell the original body you had on it let me know. I really love the look of it.

[Kayne]

Looks great. Paint turned out good on that shell.

[Mr. ED]

If you decide to sell the original body you had on it let me know. I really love the look of it.

I on't think you'd be happy when it arrives: it's about 10 or 15mm shorter than should be for the standard car due to the changes I made on the rear bulkhead.

And I can still make it work with the new wing mount if I hack the rollcage wing mount off... so I think I'll hang on to it for now. I don't want to arrive at a vintage meet and be told the car can't run with a modern body on it.

The body is an item I did a couple years ago; just plain straight tape and rattlecans. For this project I just covered up some of the extra holes with LRP stickers and 1 piece of black electrician's tape. Yeah, I know, I'm a cheap-skate
They still sell this one, and very cheap too. So I may get one or two more to try a few more paint schemes.
Aside from that I'd like to get a shorty lipo pack and move the ESC down under the topdeck. Speaking of which; I want to dye that black and the gearbox brace too... maybe the stealth also? A short bumper connecting the chassis in the rear with the moterplate is another to-do. Depending on how it goes (and others) I may swap the gold-shocks also some day.

I did make a mid-moter conversion on my griffin during this contest also. Now I am a bit in the middle on which of both I should take to a big 2-day race in february... stil some time to run both and maybe even build something else

[Mr. ED]

It's been about a year since I first took this car to the tracks and this are some pics of its latest race.
The car's gone through some big changes but's been running regularly without any real breakage (except for 2 rear arms that had dried out apparently).

[losiXXXman]

Looks good on the track Erik! MPP stuff is kind of rare in the states, I think? When you broke was it difficult to source some new ones? I'm really leaning towards basing all of my future Ultima endeavors on the stock arms, just because they are so easily replaced.

[Bormac]

Erik you never cease to amaze me with your builds. I am certain you could take a boxk load of old cars and peices and turn them into some kind of great creation. I have always enjoyed reading about your unique builds and here is yet another.
Well done mate.

[Mr. ED]

Thanks for your attention guys.
The MPP arms are indeed not something I've seen around too often. Now I mislead you. I really need to put some under-the-hood pics: I've removed those MPP arms long ago and put the traxxas arms back on: to increase toe-in again. The car runs a lot better with those to my taste. So just to be clear: the MPP's never broke. 2 Traxxas arms did break, but the other pair has survived several race days both in stock and modified class.

I have a spare runner with the stock ultima rear arms, but it's hard to drive: too responsive to the steering for me.
That's another one to take pics of. You're gonna love that one too Jason.

[losiXXXman]

Eric, which Traxxas rear arms are you using? TRX1/3? Are you mounting them in between the Ultima mounts, or using traxxas rear suspension mounts? WOuld like to see some under the hood pics for sure!

[Mr. ED]

Check the pics on page 1: with the gen1 body
It's the blue eagle arms (but I think that's the same as TRX-1: I'll get you the part nr).
No need for the traxxas arm mounts, and you can use the original axle carriers.
BUT: the mount points of the shocks on the arms are further back, so I had to modify the rear bulkhead with some added parts...
ok, I guess I really need to make pics or this will be a loooong post.
I'll be back (think deep voice)

[losiXXXman]

Erik,

I think I see what you are referring to. I see also that you are mounting the shocks on the rear of the tower, and it looks as if you have a spacer between the tower and the bulkhead which also serves as your upper camber mount. That doesn't seem too difficult to do. Since you say the shock mounts are more rearward, does the modification also add a little wheelbase?

Further, I see your using the custom works sliding steering rack on this and the "second" car. How has that steering been working, does it bind or hang up? Also, do you think a stick pack will fit inline with the rack and a std servo?

Thanks,
Wes

[Mr. ED]

You mean I made those pics for nothing?
partnr is tra1950 for the arms. But, I forgot I have the stealth transmission in it; with narrower out-drives and extra-long CVD's. To cut it short: The arms are about 4mm wider from hinge pin to hinge pin compared to the stock ultima arms. So if you put on the stock rear carriers this corrects for the modern wheels with less offset (GOOOD) but also means you'd need longer U-J's or dogbones (BAAD).

I'm running a Yokomo shorty pack I got on my last visit to Japan. This allows me to center the weight further.
It's a very light pack and much lower than a standard shorty too. The guy in the shop called some-one (at Yokomo?) to figure out the C-rating. Just 35C and 2800MAh, but it's ample for the 8minutes finales we run in stock class.

The anti-roll bars were added just recently. I'm not really happy with the tie-wrap fixation in the front.
(Note the lead under the body post too)

For the rear anit-rollbar I drilled an extra hole in the back of the arms and bent the ends a bit to just clear that B4 gearcover.

a couple details for Wes:

NAh, unfortunately it's more like loosing maybe 2mm in wheelbase. The arms are just naarower compared to the stock arms with that triangle area the shock mounts on

Maybe you noticed the new wheels?
On the front we have Borego's for the durango 2WD. Mounted on wide CRP axles, narrowed by 2mm for the larger bearing spacing.
I also had to narrow the rim by taking of the inner bead. They were interfering with the steering knuckles even with the wider axles.
For the rear I got RB5 Borego's.

The custom works racks (different model on The Lizard) were a bit hard to get right. I had to do lots of cleaning and filing to get them smooth.
One day I put copper polishing paste in this one. Since then it's been fine.
(I do have to find out why my neutral trim isn't holding precise anymore. I'll let you know fi it's play on this rack but I got other prime suspects)