- Sworkz S104 EK1 - Answer-RC - Build -



Not all 10thists will be overly familiar with SW but they have gone from new comer to relative strength in the 8th market pretty quickly. After establishing themselves in 8th they have decided to hunt down some success in the 10th 4wd arena with the S104 which has quite a few innovative features which all make sense.

Over the next year we will have Kevin Brunsden campaiging it and are also looking for team member to represent S-Workz in regionals and Nationals for 2014. We have some direct drives and various shop drive packages availble depending on ability, demeanour etc. Feel free to get in contact (sales@answer-rc.com) The kits are also in stock at a few different shops now as well..

First up - The Box..
(well its a box, what more can we say, nice as boxes go, but hey, its still just a box)


Next, starting to have a look at it all. All the bags are lettered A - K with all the parts needed for each bit of the build in each bag. having looked for "Bag A" we realised it was the manual and actually the build for real starts on Bag B:


The first stage of the build is tha assembly of both the front and rear diffs.
firstly we had a nosey at all the parts and all looking good so far. As is the norm for many kits these days the parts are shown full size down the left hand side of the manual to avoid confusion.


You may note that the diff outdrives have a slot cut into them where the gear locator pin passes through it. This makes the insertion of the pin very easy and is more noted on the diff case build as there is no need for a hole in the case which is sealed with a grub screw and can lead to leakage and makes insertion less fiddly. An added advantage is that the design allows for a longer pin as normally the length is limited by the gap between the outdrive and the diff case.


The rest of the diff builds pretty much as you would expect with a nice tolerance between all parts.


Bag C:

bag C comprises the Gearbox casings, centre drive shafts, diff pinion gears and anti roll bars and one of the nice red machined toe plates.


The pinion sits in the diff case and is well supported by two of 10*15 bearings. The CVD pin and barrel are totally encapsulated by the outer of the two bearings meaning that there is no grub screw to come loose and loose a pin from the assembly.


Next up is to fit the diffs to the casings.. There is a manual addendum for these as the manual incorrectly shows these inserted the wrong way meaning the car will run backwards.

All the diff ring and pinion gears are machine cut steel so should last and last and last and last.. No expensive upgrade needed..


Now we get a feel for the car with the two bulkhead / gearbox assemblies built up.


Next up, bag D:
This covers wichbones (upper and lower) shock towers etc.


First proper look at the SSG Shock towers, 5mm Front and 4mm Rear so they should be almost as unbreakable as they can be!


The kit comes with 6 Anti roll bars, the car uses the same size front and rear and you get two pcs of each (1.3mm, 1.5mm, 1.8mm)


Next up, front end assemblty of the wishbones, anti roll bar drop links and hingepin plate. the insert in both the front and rear suspension hangesr are adjustable for different levels of kick up.


Partially completed front end, also showing the adjustable droop screws, for 8th this is quite normal but not something Ive seen much of in 10th..


Moving to the rear end we get to see the two part rear shock tower, aluminium lower and SSG upper section. The alloy part is angled to straighten the tower as there is rear kick up on the chassis which helps on the jumps and lessens bottoming out on uneven landings. Take care when atatching the tower as its easy to fit it to the wrong side of the alloy part.


Another cool feature is the anti roll bar holders on the gearbox, these can be released with two screws and pivoted away meaning they are not easily lost on the pit table making changin roll bars less fiddly.


A rather sturdy looking wing mount!


Serious progress now!


Bag E:
This is all the extremities of the car, I.E knuckles, hubs, hingepins, driveshafts etc.
The first thing of note is that all four shafts are the same length making life easier for carrying spares..


First up is assembly of the frint steering knuckles.
The CVD Axles are super chunky 6mm diameter which is part of the whole new style axle design allowing use of a larger hgex and more secure fixing system. These are supported on a 6*13mm bearinga nd on the inner a 10*15mm. This rear 10*15 bearing captures the CVD pin, as per the centre driveshafts meaning no grubscrews are involved in the CVD and the pin cant come loose.

Being a pivot ball design is somewhat of a departure for 10th buggies but very common in 8th across some of the top platforms. the logic being that it gives a constantly free moving design with lots of lock and also reduced parts count in that there is no specific hub, only the knuckle.

Here we also see the large 14mm hexes which are held by a pin and a grub along the middle of the shaft.

To top this off we have SSG steering knucle plates which even in 8th have proven damned near unbreakable. The knuckles can be flipped and used either side of the car, again making the spares bag simpler..


Here we have a neary built up front end, wishbones drop easily and freely with no additional modification, steering is free and smooth.


Rotating the front end, we get to see the captured centre shaft and also a good shot of the adjustable inserts for the front blocks which allow adjustment of front kick up.


Moving on to the rear end, rear hubs build up simply and effectively.


We now have a partially built up back end as well:


And a pair of ends

Next up, slipper build.

Relatively conventional design, its worth degreasing the steel slipper plates before assembly though. The pads themselves are fairly meaty and will work well on high grip surfaces, for a low grip surface the slipper will need to be set fairly loose. the bag comes with shims to shim the assembly in the centre bulkhead.


Bag H:
This includes steeing ackermann assembly, motor mount and plastic side guards as well as steeing plastics, turnbuckles and rod ends.

First up in this bag is the steering ackerman assembly. S-Workz include bearings for the ackermann plate but bushings for the bellcranks themselves.. Crazy I know, we built it up using Answer ANSBR0508 Bearings (5*8mm)


Next up is assembly of the steering parts onto the front of the car.
There is a slight movement on the ackermann but this is easily taken out with the use of 5*8*0.1mm shims on the top of the steering posts.


Next, assembly of the rear chassis brace:


oooo... a chassis..
Quite innovative in that there is also some kick up to the rear. The hingepins still sit flat due to the design of the hingepin braces but the kick up allows for easeir take off on jumps and less bottoming out on uneven landings.


Assebly of the front end onto the chassis:


We then move to the centre of the car, motor mount fitment and a decision about which side guards to go for depending on choice of lipo (Saddle or shorty)
For this build we have gone saddle as most racers in the UK will go the same way.


Prior to fitting the rear end of the car is the fitment of the chassis protectors for the droop screws that reduce chassis wear from grinding on the droop screws.


Instalation of the slipper, the kit comes with shims to take out any play so fit these to feel. Very nice centre front brace to keep thisngs solid as well.


Instalation of rear end


Close uo of the "flexi" body mount


Right, we have something that looks like a RC car now!


Onto electronics:
We opted for a Xpert Sn 3301 brushless servo which is a 35t spline. the kit comes supplied with perfectly good servo horns but we fitted one of our Answer servo horns, (specifically the smaller of the range ANSSHSS25-R)


ESC mounted above servo and motor fitted. The kit comes with a 21t pinion as well as three spur gears. We have gone middle size spur gear and 22t pinion.


Now the boring bit of any build, the shocks.. Though that said they are very nicely presented.

The caps come with proper bladers and a bleed hole in the shock cap. these caps locate onto the mounting lugs with a plastic slip in insert which is then held on by a nut.


Buillt!
Also included on the shocks are small shock covers, though as the car will be running indoors we elected to leave these off for now and see how we go. Some runners have mentioned they find the shocks a little stiff in action and have either removed one o ring or replaced with softer O rings, for now we will run as is and see how it feels.
The shocks have nifty little shock covers as well to aid protection from impacst and dirt. Initial thoughts are they would spin in all directions and end up facing everywhere but where they are needed but in reality the shock rod ends have little lugs which they locate onto to hold position.


Super flexi moulded wing:


Saddle lipo hold down set up:


All coming together nicely now really, just wheels and tyres to mount up, bodyshell to paint, electronics to set up and to go and race it!
Wheels, 14mm wheel nuts, sertaed on the rear as well so we shouldn't see any wheels overtaking cars down the straights..


Complete!


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