Back in Time - XLS For Vintage Racing

[Peakey]

The trick with the crash back system is to cut the uprights and use it to replace the spacer. As if you use the whole upright it will be too wide for the front end.

Well that's the way I'm doing mine and you can use it to support the whole crash back system in the process as you will see in due course

[Groomi]

I put the steering linkage together today using mostly NIP parts and doubling up the locknuts for security.

There's not much more I can do for a few days until the screws etc arrive unless I can get a bit of time alone in the shed to make the rear upper wishbone mounts.

[Groomi]

I've been testing various old electronics on the bench tonight before tidying up the wiring on whatever I choose to run.

I'm happy to report that the Speedmaster Silver Star ESC still works fine, as does the very batter Hitec I used to run. Does anyone know what the motor limit was on the Silver Star? I'm planning to run an 11triple.

[CAT3K]

Back when the Silverstar was new, a hot motor would be about 17 turn. I think it would cry no more if you showed it an 11 turn

Paul.

[DerbyDan]

Back when the Silverstar was new, a hot motor would be about 17 turn. I think it would cry no more if you showed it an 11 turn

Paul.

I agree - if you wanted to run a hotter motor than a 17t in 4wd then you would need the 'Turbo' version of the Silverstar

[Groomi]

I guess I'll be running the Hitec ESC and 14 quad that I did BITD then.

[Groomi]

The front end is almost complete.


For now I'm putting the suspension together pretty standard just to get it ready for testing at Eden Park Raceway on 6th July. I'm midway through building the modded suspension which will get fitted if ready in time.

[DerbyDan]

Looking good!

Its interesting - you've mounted your one-way driveshafts on the outboard end of the driveshaft.... I think this was how mine were mounted on my ProCat when I first recieved it & so when I first re-built the car I fitted them back the same. The ProCat manual that I've downloaded doesn't detail the assembly of the one ways & isn't too explicit when it comes to fitting the driveshafts to the front diff... but the exploded view does show the one-way bit mounted in-board nearer the gearbox. I'm not sure if it makes any difference in practice but I guess having the heavier part of the driveshaft near the outboard end of the driveshaft will create a pendulum effect - requiring greater control from the shocks?

[Groomi]

I did it that way so I can easily swap between one-ways and normal driveshafts just by pulling the pins from the uprights. Much easier than disconnecting the driveshafts from the diff.

[DerbyDan]

Good point! Anything to make these cars easier to work on!

I must admit that my car seems fine with the one-ways in it, racing on high grip astro... & they must help relieve some strain from the front diff?

[Groomi]

I must admit I'd forgotten how awkward everything was to work on back then. My current SV2 can be stripped and rebuilt in an evening!

[tamiyadan]

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[Groomi]

More progress made today. Having finally managed to find a pair of the upper rear wishbone mounts on Ebay, I moved onto the rear suspension assembly. Unfortunately I quickly found that the lower fibreglass bracket was not an XLS item as described on Ebay, but the narrower XL item. Undeterred, I pulled out a sheet of fibreglass and set to work with a drill, coping saw and file:


The end result was a pretty good fit, so I assembled the wishbone mounts using titanium coloured aluminium spacers from 3 Racing in Hong Kong and the hardened steel cap head screw from Accuscrews:


At this point I think I've broken the back of the build now and we're almost there:


Hubs fitted and turnbuckles cleaned up and fitted:


And the front end with the steering turnbuckles fitted:


I'm not particularly happy with any of the ball joints though. I'm finding both the wishbone hub joints and the turnbuckle ball joints to be quite stiff in operation but without a particularly positive 'click' when compared to my modern day SV2. Is this normal or am I expecting too much from a 30 year old car? Any recommendations on how I can improve things?

PS: I know I haven't put the screws in the ball end of the wishbones yet. The hubs will be coming off again shortly when I start playing with the next round of period mods...

[tamiyadan]

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[Groomi]

Could I ask a favour from anyone out there who has front and rear roll bars for these cars to post up a few dimensions so I can make some for my car?

Cheers,
Iain