Yellowdatsuns mid-motor conversion, on the cheap!

[yellowdatsun]

There's almost no flex, I tried bending and twisting it. There's about 1 inch in the center where there's no support rod, but it seems to be fine. I'm taking it to the track tonight, we'll see what happens!

If this experiment fails, I'll go back to an aluminum chassis, because that really was great. I have a tig welder, but welding up holes on a thin RC10 chassis would be difficult.

[yellowdatsun]

Well, at the track the motor and GT tranny worked awesome. The GT tranny is quieter than my stealth. Makes me wonder why more people don't use the GT tranny. I got lucky and the gearing is nearly perfect. So close that I won't be changing it at the moment. I believe it's 84/25. The steering was all over the place though, I need to back off the drive and speed, and try it again.

On the plus side, nothing broke! The chassis took a couple of nasty hits, and is fine.

I also got a new Hobbywing esc last night, because the Castle one was just too big and hanging off the side of the chassis a bit.

I plan on hitting the track again today, to test the steering and new esc.

[yellowdatsun]

The new esc and steering changes REALLY woke this car up. I haven't been able to get the braking dialed yet, but man, this thing really goes around the track. Easily as good as my B4.2 was, and getting close to my B5M. The long suspension arms really soak up the bumps, I can see them working from up in the 2nd story drivers stand.

What I thought was a broken transmission,was actually the head of the diff bolt breaking off. Luckily I was able to fix that without taking it all apart. That was the only casualty today.

[yellowdatsun]

On my previous RC10T buggy build, and on this one, I've had issues with the larger bellcrank. So I took some of the left over G10 and made myself what I had been trying to find. It may not be perfect, but it works fine, and does exactly what I want.




In the right of the pic you can see a Robinson racing gear tag. I found a metal GT diff gear in a box of "old" parts at my local hobby shop. I may build a second tranny for this car, since I also found a GT tranny case set in that same box. Always nice to have a spare transmission.

[yellowdatsun]

I didn't notice this until right now, days after the car was run at the track............

but I didn't have any issues with traction-rolling in corners. This is usually a huge issue at this high grip moist clay track. The car wasn't run for too terribly long, but still, even my B5M has issues with it.

[yellowdatsun]

Made new nose supports out of leftover fiberglass. Looks way better than the previous Traxxas turnbuckles, works better, and fits better.





So on monday evening I ran it at the track. My best lap with my B5M is 29.5 seconds, and I ran a 31.5 with this, and the track was not in the best shape (too wet clay, makes for a slippery track). Curious to see if I can equal the B5M's time when the track is better, and I have more time on the car.

The track got worse as the evening wore on, they just kept watering it too often. As a result we all kept breaking parts. The nose on this car got bent, a few times, one of the nose braces pulled out a screw where it connects to the G10 chassis.

On fault of my own, I realized I had the wrong diff lube in the car, and it slipped, a lot. Making my best time even more surprising. I pulled the tranny apart, cleaned the diff parts, installed a Robinson metal diff gear that I had, and re-assembled it all.

I also removed the 10T bumper, and added an nos RPM car style bumper, which should help keep the nose in better shape from impacts. The 10T bumper was acting as leverage and tweaking the aluminum badly. I need to find a new/old aluminum nose for the car, but the ebay ones are too pricey.





I'll be going back again after work today, we'll see how she does.

[jwscab]

so you are using truck arms all the way around? Wouldn't that make the car pretty wide?

[yellowdatsun]

so you are using truck arms all the way around? Wouldn't that make the car pretty wide?

It started as an RC10T, with a buggy body, so yep, long arms all around. It does make the car a bit wide, but the flat faced wheels help bring it in a bit. Not nearly as wide as an RC10T with the truck wheels/tires.

[Jimbo302]

I really dig this. Keep it up , man.

[yellowdatsun]

Took some blue aluminum nose brace mounts from another car I had, and put the on here. Also ordered a set of blue aluminum bellcranks, and installed them. These have no servo saver on them, which is something I've wanted for a while, hence the hokey bellcranks I had cut out myself. These are WAY better.

Took the nose plate off since it was bent, and hammered it back into shape. I didn't realize just HOW bent it was, until I went to put the nose braces back on, and they were 1/4" off!





I apologize if the car is a bit dirty in all my pics, it actually gets used weekly.

[RS Chris]

Never apologize for racing a race car. It looks good.