A few years ago I acquired a xxx-4 and started to mess around with it and came up with a plan to fix the problem of high diff out drives and then correct the geometry problems that plague the car on rough tracks. But I knew the car would be under the knife for a while and wanted something else to race while doing all of the machining.

I was thinking of getting another xxx-4 but decided to diversify started looking for a xx4 While searching for a good used car I discovered most of the parts I would need at my LHS, which my parents happen to own. Once I started assembling the pieces I couldn't leave well enough alone and started to modify.

I like the suspension setup on the 22 (I have one of these too) and noticed the two cars share a lot of the same geometry. So I started to graft on select parts from the 22 and other cars.

I installed the 22 front arms and caster blocks with the xxx-4 steering blocks. Then I got to work getting the shocks on the back side of the arm. They just fit! But it was a few hours of screwing around on the milling machine to get it to fit.

The thing I hate most about electric cars is the electronics double sided taped to chassis. This makes cleaning impossible. I also never liked the steering servo sanding up in the car. So I cut a plate mounted the servo, esc and rx then this whole assembly gets bolted to the chassis.

Then for the back I didn't want to use the 22 arms because the mounting would require making new mounts. The rear arms off the xxx-4 just happen to be exactly the same length as the 22 rear arms. So I paired this with the CR hubs which are almost exactly the same as the 22 rear hubs. Then I made the standoffs and the camber plate/shock tower mount. Then I mounted the 22 mid engine rear tower to the plate. These parts aren't done yet I am still making adjustments and finishing the pieces.

The last picture illustrates my problem. My CV's off my xxx-4 are too short. Does anyone know of any CV's that are a bit longer that might work with this combination?

As promised here are some pics of my lengthened drive shafts.

The spacing looks just about perfect. I have to get everything else finalized like the deck height for the shock tower mount then I can do the final test for clearance.

Here is the complete drive shaft.

This is the broken down assembly of the shaft.

Some close-ups of the drive shaft spacers.

These worked out better than I was hopping. They run true and are super tight.

I got the servo mount filed flat so the battery will fit. I will be using the TLR shorty pack from my 22. The next thing I've got to do is get rid of that rib on the chassis to get the battery closer to the center line.

Here are some pics of the front end. I got the turnbuckle made up for the for the steering and it clears the motor nicely at full lock.

Everything came together well in the end and it was AWSOME on the track. I couldn't believe how well it handled considering how much I changed and that I guessed on the setup. Testing ended early when I broke the inner camber mount on the front shock tower, if you look at the pics you can see why it broke. I added shims to space out the camber link to clear the shocks. I need to figure out a new front tower or strengthen the existing one.

Here are some pics.

This is the removable radio tray. Five screws all of the electronics are out of the car, including the motor.

Here are the electronics in the car. At this point the car was fully mocked up and just needed to be taken apart for thread lock and final check for any binding.

At this point I blew the car apart and performed all the finishing touches.

I have made a simple battery hold down but no pics yet.

There were some people concerned about the geometry changes I made to the steering. These pics show how the ackerman turned out,

Here is the body I chose, its the ProLine 2012 Bulldog body for the B44.1 it takes a bunch of cutting and trimming to make it fit but it fits very nice. I did screw up on the front and cut off the front body mount. So, I made a mount and bolted it to the body.

The servo linkage just pokes out the front vent hole in the body.... Perfect! Like it was designed for the car.