Taking into account the comments from Nuts&Bolts and Tyree, I was aware of the quirks that this car could potentially have. Because the majority of tracks I run on are mid to high traction, I opted to build the car with the aluminum chassis. This is a nice black chassis, and is suppose to be from a different supplier than the previous models. This one definitely has a different "clunk" to it if you give it a tap with a wrench, so that's about it for my scientific analysis of the different material.
I opted to open all the other bags that had any carbon parts so that I could seal them before assembly. I'm not a big fan of sealing the edges with super glue but I knock the edge off just slightly and then use blue locktite on the edge to seal. I use a q-tip to apply it and any runs can be easily wiped off before it sets up. once its applied it gives the edges a darker final finish.
So, on to the actual build. When I assembled the diff, I used a exacto knife to take the flashing off any of the plastic pieces. I also use the knife to take the edges off the gears putting a very slight bevel on the backside of all the gears. I also scrap the backside of the gears to remove any additional flashing. I use the appropriate sized tap to pre-tap all the diff screws. This makes it very easy to assemble the case halves together and as long as you don't over tighten the screws you'll be able to rebuild the diff multiple times without wrecking the plastic screw holes. I use Losi green grease on all the o-rings and coat the gear backs, diff gasket, and the outdrives. I chose to start with 5k diff oil, AE is the brand I use.
Since my fingers are now coated with grease and oil, I jumped to building the shocks. I was very curious to see these tapered bore shocks and see how they actually work. I compared the shock bodies to the previous short BB shocks, and they are the same length. The build process is as per the instructions, note to make sure the ring in the piston is on the bottom. (For those unfamiliar with the VBC pistons, the little grove on the bottom actually helps channel any extra air out from the bottom of the shock if any air gets trapped there, makes for a nice shock) So on to the bore, they are definitely machined now, where the old shocks where black anodized inside these are very smooth and shiny. To the naked eye the tapper isn't really apparent, until you put the shock shaft/piston int the shock body. When the piston is at shock bottom there is slight gap between the the piston and the shock wall. I dumped my oil of choosing into the shocks (AE again) and after letting them sit for a bit, I did the normal stroke to get the air up and out. This is where the tapper becomes more apparent, as after a couple strokes there was virtually no bubbles coming up. I think this is the first time that I built a new set of shocks that didn't require several oil and bleeds before they where void of air. A very nice surprise, and the shocks are very smooth as well.
My build has no rhyme to reason as far as the manual goes, so if your following I jump all over the place. I guess its because I've built so many of these, that I save the areas I feel are the least fun to do till the last. This is usually the oily parts, but as you can see I did these first, doh. Well, I jumped into the spool. I did numerous swapping around and rotating outdrives, finally finding one side that fit decent. The other side I had to knock a little anodizing off as it kept getting stuck in the spool, no biggie, till I tried to put the bearings on. If I put the bearing on the spool, the outdrive was slightly off so you couldn't put the outdrive in the spool. If I put the bearing on the outdrive it wouldn't mate up to the spool. I finally got it together, but I'm not pleased with the final product, so I won't elaborate on my final assembly, but there where a lot of F bombs. Thankfully VBC has acknowledged this issue, so I just have to wait for the rectified parts. (Mine works, but its not pretty, lol)
Next up the suspension. Due to the other guys comments, I trial fit the suspension bridges, less the arms, with the suspension pins, and there is no way that the stock suspension pins will fit on the chassis as is. I ended up taking about 1mm off the suspension pin. The I re-fit it to the chassis, putting a felt pin mark on the pin, and tried to rotate the pin just to make sure there was no tight fit to that assembly. Due to the shorter pin, naturally once the arm is installed you won't be able to use all the wheelbase spacers. I ended up leaving one of the 1mm spacers out and used a 0.03mm shim in place to take up the slack. A funny thing about this, as Dennis and I had discussed the suspension mounts on previous models, and had considered getting some custom chassis made, but we wanted to shorten the gap between the bridges, as we felt that this would help eliminate bent suspension pins. Well I guess someone else decided it was a good idea as well, but forgot to shorten the pins. I'm hoping VBC will supply the newer kits with shorter pins and this won't be a issue any longer.
I probably should add, that the instruction book is merely a suggestion and pictorial view, but chances are that none of the spacers or link lengths will probably apply. I suspect the instructions are a product of copy and paste, but where not proofed before they went to the printer. I looked today, on the web site, (10/11/2017) as Victor said that the online instructions will be updated, but it hasn't happened yet, so check back there, if you need better directions.
The plastics that the bearings sit in are quite a bit harder and the tolerances are tighter, so as Tyree said, using a axle and a washer to pull the bearings into place is well advised. Very little slop once they are finally seated, which is nice. Any of the plastics that require a screw and or other inserted into them I pre-tap just to make the job easier and less likelihood of wrecking a hole in the plastic. I do wish that they supplied bearing crushes with the cars, but I don't seem many if any that do.
The motor mount is something else with all the different tuning options on it. A couple of things should be noted here. The mount itself is about 0.50mm lower than previous mounts. With that, If you run a 110 spur gear it pretty much sits flush with the bottom of the chassis. I don't think you can get a much bigger spur gear in the car, but the for and aft adjustment of the motor appears to be bigger. I believe the max tooth count is 160 for this car, but I'm not sure what the minimum is just yet. More on the mount, the 5 option holes at the back require 0.50mm spacers in the 4 parallel holes and the most rear hole is milled for a 1mm spacer. The option holes on the mount allow the following, the rear most holes, the 4 parallel holes if used will help the side bite of the back of the car, more screws will bite harder, less will loosen the car up. The forward mount holes will effect the steering of the car. Using the rearmost screws will add to the steering of the car, the more the screws are put ahead in the mount, the less reactive the steering will be. Another motor mount item, the previous models fan mount will work, although if you use a WTF trumpet fan it will sit right on the chassis, rather than float, so this could also effect your wiring, so just check before you hurt your wires. In the instructions they recommend using a button head screw to hold the idler pulley assembly in place, but I use a flat head screw, as it seems to center the shaft better.
For my D09, I found the car worked best using the 2mm or the 2.5mm brace that runs between the motor mount and the steering servo mount. This car is no different, but one thing to note, after every run I will loosen those 2 screws and the re-tighten them, as I have found that part will hold a bit of a tweak in the car. Doing this just keeps the car flat and consistent.
The steering rack is pretty straight forward, and its nice to see that the steering limiter is now actually functional. one thing to note here is, in your washers and spacers you'll find 2 thin shims that will fit on your stub axles. I don't use them there, but they will also fit the standoffs for the steering arms, use them there, as without, the arms will actually move up a bit when throw is applied to them. This just takes out the slack there.
As stated previously, the rear roll bar ball end is too long for the depth that is in the arm, there is enough material in the arm that drill those holes slightly deeper are not a issue. Its either that or trim the stud on the ball end, or get shorter ones. I opted to just drill the hole. Since we are on the topic of the suspension arms, these arm are totally different then the previous models arms. The pickup points for the shock mounts are in different locations. The inserts look to be well surrounded by material, so I don't think they will be a weak point, also the insert material seems to be a more pliable material, so they should last longer and feel smoother than the previous configuration. The other thing about the inserts are that you now can have them either in the short or long arm setting, this will give you more lower roll center and width options.
The front end is not unique, but somehow VBC has made this front end to be pretty darn slop free and strong. I have tried to physically over rotate the steering hubs to see if they will hit arms. sway bar links or bend DJC, and this thing would need a pretty catastrophic crash to effect any of those components. (Sorry I doubted you Lucas)
The car, all in all, is one very nice car, they actually out did themselves on this one. Bringing a lot of new things to this platform and addressing some of the old issues. The statement of the the car being about 80% new is very true. I don't have a lot of track time on the car, but so far, the adjustment availability seems to work on the car, and it has very good corner speed. The shocks seem to keep the car planted better and it feels smooth to drive, more time will tell, but so far, its a good performer.
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