Here is some build and setup info for the TLR22.
Build Tips
1. Be very careful when installing your steering servo – look out for touch conditions between the ball cup and the servo case and the servo arm and the underside of the front bulkhead. We have experienced a touch condition between the S6070 servo case and the drag link ball cup. To overcome this, I have swapped the standard ball cup for a Losi JRXS-R captured ball end (LOSA6017) but a short neck ball might also do the trick. Just look out for this during the build. Low profile servos tend to have an offset drive output - this can casue a light touch condition with the underside of the front bulkhead which can be relieved with a dremel and a small sanding drum.
2. Please note that our early set ups were developed using 6 hole pistons. The car comes with 4-hole. You will need to make a choice as to whether or not to initially drill out your pistons or experiment to make 4-holes work for you. I imagine a good initial base will be 4 hole 56 or 4 hole 55 in the front with 6 hole 55 or 4 hole 55 + 2 hole 54 (6 hole total) in the rear.
3. Its been said before but the 22 is metric – do you’ll need a 2.0mm and a 2.5mm hex wrench and 5.5mm and 7.0mm nut drivers. A couple of odd ball screws thrown in for good measure. There’s a tiny c’sk screw that holds the rear toe block in place that actually uses a 1.3mm wrench – although a 0.05 imperial wrench will fit and of course the slipper nut uses a 5.0mm driver (see below)
4. Slipper spanner – don’t forget it’s a 5mm nut wrench and chances are, you’ll not have any M2.5 nylocs as spares. So don’t lose the slipper nut. Spares are available – TLR6312 for a pack of 6
5. Front wheel lug nuts – we’ve lost a few of these in testing. They’re not nylocs and the outside front wheel can have a nasty habit of coming loose -especially on high bite surfaces. One fix is to VERY LIGHTLY drip some threadlock onto the screw threads and allow it to dry before fitting the front wheels. This helps to create a bind to slow down the coming loose process. That said, it is too easy to put too much threadlock on and you’ll end up having to bin a complete front hub assembly. Cross filing the back of the lug nut may also help it grip the surface of the wheel and stop it coming loose. Please be careful with threadlock and don’t use the red permanent stuff – I used Losi-Lok but very thinly applied. Tamiya Threadlock could also be good.
6. High Roll Centre Blocks are optional but worth the investment for UK style tracks. If you choose to invest in these, don’t forget that you’ll need the corresponding HRC anti-squat shim kit (TLR2045). This is one area where the design of the car changed during development – the US guys prefer the feel of the LRC block but when we tested, we preferred the feel of the HRC block. The LRC block got the nod ahead of the HRC block for inclusion into the kit but at least the HRC blocks became part of the options list.
7. Springs – Being honest with you, I have no idea if our prototype springs are exactly the same as the production ones. Having said that, on a rating scale (of 1 being the softest and 6 being the hardest), you’ll see from the set up sheets that we were running F4 / F5 on the front and R2 / R3 on the back. That would equate on a rising rate scale of a Green or a Blue on the Front and a Yellow or a Pink on the rear. The kit comes with Red fronts (F2 on my scale) and Yellow Rears (R2) so you may need some optional front springs at least.
8. Weight. The 22 can be built up to run at close to the legal limit at around 1500g but in all of our testing to date here in the UK, we have found that adding some weight has been beneficial to the overall consistency of the car on our high bite tracks. On a flying lap, an unweighted car can feel very fast but often, the consistency seems to suffer (or at least mine does
).
During testing, we were using the RudeBits (
www.rudebits.co.uk) CR2 under cell 102g weight under our saddle pack lipos - Thank you Tony. For those who don't know the part number, I'm sure Tony will be able to confirm it - along with some other very exciting ideas
TLR have produced an optional mid car brass weight kit (TLR4151 - RRP £19.95) which is to the design of the weight block that we were using during testing. This system enables 50-60g of weight to be added to the rear gearbox / shock tower area of the car which we found was very useful in all conditions. These have also been shipped with the initial batch of kits and spares and are available now through your TLR stockists.
Set Ups
I'll try to post some actual sheets soon but here is a largely generic astro starting set up. We have found that the car responds well to small changes but by and large, this standard setup is useful for starting out with. Don't forget that our testing was with different pistons but I've tried to give you a starting point for the kit pistons. If you don't fancy drilling pistons, I would recommend starting with the 4 x 54 hole pistons in the rear and possibly going down to a 25wt to begin with - but being honest, this is not something I've yet had the chance to try.