TAG/SG Coyote

[dinglem]

All 4 wishbones now reversed to increase the wheelbase, motor swapped to a flying Team MG 11 Double, and a carbon fibre sheet ready for the saddle pack chassis has also arrived this morning.

[Mr. ED]

What angle are the drive bones making from the outdrive to the front wheel axles?
The steering links angles look better now than before

[dinglem]

Front drive shafts aren't fitted yet, but the way it looks they will only be angled forwards by a few degrees. We are waiting for some tiny springs to arrive to fit at the diff end of the dog bones to pressure them outwards slightly to prevent 'popping'.

I have seen these cars built up with either the fronts, the rears, or both flipped like this, and the photo on the outside of the kit box actually has both flipped like ours. Exactly the opposite of what the instructions state!! Might be to do with suggested set ups for 2wd, fwd and 4wd versions perhaps??

[Dadio]

It really is a surprisingly modern design ! If it had C hubs instead of ball studs on the suspension and the motor was next to the prop shaft instead of above it the it would be there .
With a different CF chassis it might be worth seeing if you could move the motor to one side to lower the COG but I guess that would be a big design change that is only going to be worth it if you were competing seriously with it .
Nice project , watching everybody else's builds is keeping me going till the next money boat arrives after Christmas .

[dinglem]

It is almost as if the designers have gone out of their way to make it different to anything else, which is kind of why i like it.

We did discuss canting the motor mount over but decided against such a big change, initially anyway. We'll see how it runs and handles first and se where we go from there. Really enjoying the project so far

[dinglem]

Well the basic chassis plate is cut, just needs a quick tidy up but the basic shape is now there. It fits snugly within the shape of the bodyshell and easily holds the Lipo saddle pack, as well as the rest of the electronics. Bit rough and ready for the time being, but you get the idea. This was a paper mock-up on top of the cf sheet for size reference before we started cutting.

Alternative shocks are now in the post also.... alloy for the wheels is in the shed so they are next then it will hopefully be a runner

[dinglem]

That's the Coyote body shell sorted

[dinglem]

Next up was an upgraded spur gear in hardened steel. The original placcy 48 tooth version looked like it was about to strip even when still sat in the packet so we thought a more modern solution was called for. This necessitated an adapter plate being machined, but it has turned out well.

We went for a 52tooth in the end - slight increase over the original as that seemed like a better idea considering the hotter motor options we have been looking at recently.

We figured as the spur won't be coming off very much due to how it is fitted we could do with going up in size and we can now be more flexible with the pinion choice instead.

[dinglem]

Well here's a thing. Somebody posted up about the Coyote on a Fb forum earlier on today, and several people joined in with posts. Some of the guys were on the British team that attended the European Championships in Austria from around '88, and they began talking about some 'legendary' TAG tyres that were used at this event and were never imported into the UK. A few of the racers from that event popped up and said they still had the tyres they were given that day and posted up a few pictures. I had never heard of them until these posts.

One guy wrote:- ....'some pics from those legendary rear spike tires with a slight different rubber compound compared to the Schumacher 4x20 Spike tires, which made them to be ultimate choice BITD on grass tracks, like Pörtschach/Austria. 4 rows have 20 spikes & the middle row (row #5) has only 10 spikes, I counted them, yes. We cut 1/3 of the height of all spikes away, this worked out to be best.'

I went back and looked through the race reports from these events in '87 - '89 and saw pictures of several cars wearing these rear tyres, including a much modified Coyote (I would have never clocked them as not being CAT 4 row spikes unless I was specifically looking) and I also noticed 2 drivers in the A Final listing were also using them.

Has anybody else ever come across these before, or used them back then? I thought I would never be able to find any and was bracing myself for an endless online searching mission, but within an hour I had already tracked down somebody with 3 NIB pairs and immediately purchased them

[Mr. ED]

I have a set of those on one of my cars. No idea where they came from. Try this for fun: put them in a closed container with aceton for a day and then check them. I promise; no lasting effect or damage of any sort.

[dinglem]

So a little work later and we're almost there. It's not going to sneak up on you....

Still have to turn up our own alloys for it as well as add custom carbon fibre shock towers and upgraded shocks, but you get the idea.

[Dadio]

Stunning job ! Will it be run ?

[dinglem]

Thanks!

Yes, that is the plan, which is why we went for the Lipo install.

Still a few further mods to complete yet though....

[1300GT]

Absolutely stunning.

[Coelacanth]

That's a great-looking car, nice job on the paint!