FAB system

[Big G]

Has anyone used this system before on the SX?

Thinking of getting one for our indoor races. Just wondered if anyone has used it and it's worth getting or would the traditional 1 way diff be better.

[bigred5765]

its works more like a one way lay shaft than a one way diff, but you get the advantage of adjustable breaks, so you can have some or no front breaks,

[gazhillAE]

I use it and its FAB!!!

Sunday on grass it helped to loose the rear slip with the fab set loose.

Tighening it up kept it alot safer.

Indoors unless on carpet you will need it tight really unless you want to be drift king

[/tobys]

is it similar in principle to the XX4 ratchet system?

[lochness42]

Originally Posted by /tobys

is it similar in principle to the XX4 ratchet system?

Basically yes, it's very similar to clicker system.

[mikeyscott]

May have to look at one of these as I'm only running the one way layshaft at the moment

[Big G]

I'm going to give it a try hopefully next week at club. high grip bumpy grass track

[/tobys]

@Big G
How do you find the Cat vs the B44 you had before?

[Big G]

I really like it. It seems to go very well on grass out of the box (well I got it 2nd hand lol). It gave me my highest regional finish 1st weekend I ran it at Coventry grass. On Covertry astro it felt like hard work to drive, although when I did get a good run in it went well. Hard to compare the B44 on that track as I'd only run it there twice.

At kiddy it seems to rocket round or at least feel really fast. don't really have times to compare the 2 properly, but my dad said it looks balisticly fast round there.

our club track is all grass with a lot of random bumps. the big bores with ghea pistons on 25wt oil really eat those up. I did a lot of testing/trial & error with the B44 to try and sort this, but it never rode the bumps like the cat does. Can only put this down to the weight distribution, ie, motor at the back in the cat

also the cat jumps in a different league. very easy to adjust in the air. I often found the B44 nose dived a lot in the air and I was always putting more lead between the lipo to try and solve this.

The cat seems to be totally bullet proof lol. Pushing hard to kiddy results in some largish crashes, but it carries on going! Only got the 'stegger' brace and alloy tops on the diffs. My only gripe is the idler gears doesn't seem to last long, but the last lot (bought from MK) I installed at Cov regional. done 2 club nights on grass and 1 club night on carpet w/ jumps and still looking good so fingers crossed! The B44 was a strong car, but I must have got through 20 or so wishbones in my year of ownership. Never really broke much else. Sometimes the shock caps went bye bye in a wishbone crash. The B44 had very annoying meshing method, which they've resolved now with a new motor mount.

Our winter club nights are run on a polished floor. I had some good results with the B44 using a NTC3 spool in the front as this gave a very stable car to drive and unrivalled get up and go out of the corners. it lacked a bit of turn in at times though (expected really) lol. Can't wait to get started with the cat indoors.

[mikeyscott]

Sounds great, what chassis are you running and are you running any additional weight etc?

Done anything in particular to it?

[Big G]

I've got the SX2 solid chassis on at the moment to try and remove some grip. previously grip roll was high on the menu for everyone at our club.

no weights anywhere.

Mossy Oswestry National setup works really well at our club. I got it as close as I can. I don't have any 5 hole pistons for the rear shocks though.

[Big G]

fitted the FAB and it works really well. Very nice turn in now which is very controlled.

I used 2 of the thin washers to set the end float. no idea what that means though. there's a bit of left to right movement. is this normal?

[MattW]

There should be a little play. This is to take in account the compression in the white PTFE pads.

[mikeyscott]

Time to order one then!

[mikeyscott]

So how would you compare / describe the:

Fab
One way layshaft
One way diff
Full Diff

[/tobys]

As I understand/interpret it:

FAB
One-way layshaft that can be adjusted from fully locked (no one-way action) to loose (full one-way action). Can be used to reduce the amount of braking vs Full diff or offer additional stability/reduce free-wheeling under braking vs one-way. Full front diff action under power.

One way layshaft
No braking force transmitted to front end (free-wheels off power). Full front diff action under power.

One way "diff"
Spool pulley with one-way bearing. No braking force transmitted to front end. Both wheels pull simultaneously under power, no diff action.

Full diff
No one-way action off power, full braking force transmitted to front wheels. Full front diff action under power.


Could be wrong tho....

[Big G]

Originally Posted by mikeyscott

So how would you compare / describe the:

Fab
One way layshaft
One way diff
Full Diff

the fab and the 1 way layshaft are the same, but the fab has adjustment so if it's too loose under braking you can tune it. if you don't want it at all just tighten it up and it becomes a full diff.

I normally run mine quite tight, but with a bit of free spinning, but this week was damp so it did it up for more stability

[mikeyscott]

Aids turn in and stability I assume

[Big G]

my FAB pulley was really stiff when I first fitted it. Since having it on the car for about a month now it's free'd up and free wheels as good as any 1 way pulley