My Dark Impact hates it's aerial tubes

[Elliott Hopkins]

I was at Tamiyaclub's Reading bash today and due to the position of the aerial, on top of the cockpit, I kept snapping the aerial.

Who makes the aftermarket metal aerial holders that move the position of the aerial?

Are they hard to fit?

Elliott.

[HairySteve]

Fastrax do them, they cost about 3 quid I think. :)
-Steve

[jimmy]

I have the same thing on my Keen Hawk (indifferent sparrow) - its not far from breaking after one days racing.
The keen was 'alright' by the end, running B4 shocks - I wasn't too impressed with the kit shocks or the tamiya hop-up shocks, both have rubbish pistons.:(

[philly]

Much More do them in various colours. You just drill and countersink wherever you want the antenna and Robert's your mums brother!
Here's the order link.
http://www.muchmoreracing.com/store/index.php?main_page=advanced_search_result&search_in_description=1&keyword=antenna+

[Elliott Hopkins]

I was under the impression there would be some countersinking needed. Thanks Philly. It's useful to see a photo too.

You didn't like the upgraded shocks Jimmy? Did you bend a piston? I haven't bent one on the upgraded shocks yet.

Elliott.

[jimmy]

Well, I put 70wt oil in the kit shocks - still too soft - or rather there wasn't enough (any) 'pack'. I built the upgraded shocks the night before - they only come with 2 pistons - again these were same sized holes but 2 or 3 holes.
I put 3 holes in the rear and 2 hole in the front.. the rears were just too soft and not enough pack - I would of ended up with 50wt in there to get enough damping with the 3 hole piston and I hadn't brought the spare 2 hole pistons! oops


If you look at the 501X pistons (same diameter but too thick to be used) they have different sized holes (and 2 of them) - and even the biggest isnt as big as those in the DF03 hop-up shocks.


So to cut a long story short- I couldn't get enough pack in even the hop-up shocks and the car would smack the floor from only a few inches high - so I chose not to run them until I put the hardest pistons in.
I think the best thing you can do to the hop-up shocks is put 501X pistons and shafts in them.

The B4 shocks made a good difference and the car was a lot more planted.

[DCM]

I might try the touring car pistons in mine Jim.

[jimmy]

I'm not overly familiar with the plethora of tamiya parts kicking around and what might / might not work... But if there are smaller hole pistons that might fit these shocks properly then I'd like to know..

The rear diff got a real hammering on sunday - I think it might need a desperate rebuild. The plastic plate holders held up fine despite the monstrous power of the mamba max on carpet - but obviously something had to slip (since there was no slipper) and that was the diff.

[dan_kitty]

mine always bottons out at the rear too, but i havent tried the smaller pistons yet. Did you find any temp issues with the mamba jimmy?, mine comes off very hot from a race, Im not used to 4wd so im not sure how hot they are supposed to be? But then again it used to come off red hot using 19t motors too.

cheers

[jimmy]

The smaller pistons is what you need but they still aren't ideal. You really need smaller holes - as thats where you get the 'pack' from to stop it bottoming out and bouncing around.

The mamba came off from the final very hot indeed- you couldnt put your finger on the ESC for more than a second. but it was fine and worked well. Theres not much you can to, I could (should) of cut the air vent out to aid cooling but never got round to it. The mamba max seems capable of handling the heat.

[dan_kitty]

ah thanks, thats what I wanted to hear, im used to running brushless in a b4 which comes off quite cool so didnt know what to expect
ta

[jimmy]

4wd is always gonna be hotter, the motor is always under the shell and you are usually braking and accelerating harder. if you can / want to, its best to cut out any air scoops in the shell to try keep things cooler.

The df03 is particularly bad with the very enclosed motor.

[dan_kitty]

im thinking about cutting the whole of the front window out, but am afriad this may cause arirodynamic problems. Is this a bad idea?

[jimmy]

The only problem it would ever cause would be water / dirt ingress.. but thats the same with any opening in the shell for cooling really.
aerodynamics on the shell don't really come into play when there is a shock tower in front of it all.. The kit wing on the keen hawk (might be same for the impact) is pretty much used as a bumper also and has no effect at all on downforce I reckon - it is tiny and mounted far too low behind the rear tower.

[DCM]

construction rules states you can't cut out the windscreen, unless you just mean for bashing.

[jimmy]

I don't think it matters at all if you cut the window out - maybe in touring cars etc but for buggys you can do most anything.

EFRA rules are much more strict but even if there was a brca rule like that which I can't see, you can always put a half-hearted driver figure in there and make it legal.

Dan greenwood has regularly run his X-6 without front window

[DCM]

ah right, that rule isn't enforced, cool, although outdoors, I have found holes above the motor and in the air scoops was mostly enough.

[leighriley75]

My first post, so hello everyone.
On the subject of DF03 shocks, has anyone on here experience of the 3Racing aluminium set? I've seen a few DI's on TamiyaClub are running them, and they seem popular enough. Are the Tamiya hop-up shocks worth double the 3Racing shocks, and, are the 3Racing shocks an upgrade over the standard shocks?
Cheers
Leigh

[DCM]

I got some 3racing TC shocks, and they are OK, but I wouldn't buy them again, if that is a hint. I might try a set of B4 ones on it if I can't get the TRF pistons to work though.

[HairySteve]

The Tamiya DF-03 option shocks do really need the 2 hole pistons and really thick oil. The shocks on mine are running 50 weight all round I think, compared to my TRF which is running 35 front 25 rear I think. When I was using the stock kit shocks I ran the 2 hole pistons with 70 weight oil! :o I like the DF-03 option shocks, I bought 3 sets from JR-RC on ebay and used 1 set on my DF-03, one set on a DT-02 Sand Viper, and one set on a friends Academy SB V2. They all went together with 2 hole pistons and around 40-50 weight oil, and they all work really well. ;)
-Steve

[jimmy]

The fronts with 40 and 2 holes seemed OK off the car (I never tried these shocks) - whilst the rears were never going to work.
I'll give them a go with the 2 holes and 40 all round (I dont have harder) and see what they are like.
The quality of the shocks is great, dont get me wrong - but they are clearly not as racer oriented as the 501X shocks - they just dont have the right pistons at all. The heavier oil I would think would slow the pistons down enough, but still not have enough pack. So to stop the car bottoming out you are running oil that is too heavy and the car wont absorb small bumps as well. That is my thinking on it anyway, what is anyone elses?

If I can get them to fit then the 501X pistons are the ideal solution to make these shocks work really well.

[HairySteve]

Strangely enough, one of my mates who I raced nitro cars with last year, came along to the race meet last wednesday and ran my DF-03 in the same heat as me (that was confusing, 2 very similar looking bright green Tamiya cars!! :rolleyes:) and he had a quick spin with the 501 between rounds, he actually wanted to try switching the DF-03's shocks onto the 501 cos he thought they might work better :o Very odd. I'm running Associated springs now, green rear and blue front, and I hear that Tamiya are bringing out machined low-friction pistons (hooray!!) which should work much gbetter than those injection moulded things they supply in the kit. We shall see.
-Steve

[jimmy]

well, I finally got my Tamiya slipper for the Keen Hawk and it took all of 5 seconds to fit a b4 spur on there. It literally took a couple of very light turns of my reamer to bore out the centre very slightly - of course it then had a slight cone shape on the hole - but when its clamped between the pads there is no problem at all. perfect.

I went for the 81 tooth b4 spur which is bigger than the 82 tooth Tamiya slipper item. There is a little rubbing on the gear cover so I used a dremel with a sanding drum to just take off a fine layer of the inside edge of the cover - again, perfect.

The smaller 78t b4 spur would be a better / easier fit, but I need as big a spur as possible for the brushless gearing.

[ashleyb4]

If you want to stop snapping ariel tubes have a word with some of your local nitro lads. And ask if they have any spare fuel piping you will need it about 3 cm long. Cut your arirel tube say 2 cm higher than the holder then join the to ends of the ariel tube with the nitro fuel pipe.

Easy

A