Jon Seals Modded Chassis

[Wacker 2]

Ok, following on from my thread about my Phat Bodies Bodyshell, people have requested that I show details of my modified X6 chassis.

So here goes.

I wanted to run saddle lipos, and not stick lipo from left to right - so I started by dremmelling out some of the interior webbing:



Its actually the webbing that remains that acts as the battery tray and as you can see from the next pic it gave great space for lead plate to be installed as weight - but I could actually put it wherever I wanted, I am still currently playing around with weight distribution at the moment:



I then needed to make a battery strap to hold the new batteries down. I had a sheet of fibreglass so i have used this for now but am in the process of getting a better carbon fibre brace made, which will actually have 4 posts and 4 thumbscrews at each corner of the cells:







However, as you can now see I have very little room for the radio gear (speedo and receiver) so rather than taking out more of the interior webbing, I made a plate to sit just above the webbing and behind the servo. I know this will raise the weight of the electrics up higher, but not a massive problem as they dont weigh very much. Luckily I found some posts (I think from an old 1/12th i used to have) that were the exact height of the webbing, and were threaded at each end. These were screwed into the existing holes in the X6 squared chassis for the back servo mounting:





Bolt the plate on:





... and I now have space for the radio gear. All nice and neat - I know you cant see as the radio gear is not installed (had to take it out to race my 1/12th at the weekend) but the motor wires run along the left hand side of the chassis next to the side of the lipos, meaning I have no wires going over the batteries and getting in the way. I will also be redesigning the radio gear plate in carbon fibre.

What do you think???

Thanks for looking, Jon

[dogpinkscot]

you can't polish a terd

[dogpinkscot]

you should of bought a master smacker from eric

[Jamie.T]

As much as i realise the modding youve done is excellent job. But wouldnt it be easier to sell your saddles and buy a stick type like i did. You would also be left with a lot more room for radio to sit. Just seems a lot of wasted space down the sides.

I actually managed to fit my saddles in by just cutting the clear shrink off.

Jamie......

[Body Paint]

I believe the new 09 TP saddles actually fit straight in the X6 and X6^2 chassis end to end

[Garry Driffill]

More central weight can only be a good thing, I like this. Try and get some photos of the electronics installed

[Body Paint]

I actually disagree GD, spreading the weight a little wider increases the weight transfer which is what gives the X-6 that lovely planted easy to drive fealing

[Northy]

I'm with BP on this.

Did you get my email BP?

G

[Garry Driffill]

Does this make slim cars not soo cool BP? (weight dead centre)

Havin all the weight in the middle, wouold this make the car very nimble?

Plus not soo smooth left / right body roll? ...

[Body Paint]

GN- not back to work till thursday, so if you sent it to my work email i'll get it then.

GD- yes, IMHO you are correct. That is not to say that slim cars are no good, just that they will inherently have less grip due to less weight being moved to the outside wheel.

[Wacker 2]

Ok thanks for your comments -

I've done this as I dont want to run a Lipo from left to right as I wanted the weight as much down the centre as possible. I've gotta be honest the majority of all the Atomic Carbon S2's I've seen handle sooooo much better than the X6's I've seen and so I was basing my weight distribution on that. Although saying that you CAN still move the weight all over the chassis as far out wide as you like to get the perfect weight positioning and so this would not have a disadvantage to the left to right lipo. One thing I'm confused about... If the car goes better having more weight towards the outsides of the car, then why when originally designing the chassis did X Factory provide a NIMH battery configeration of 4-2, rather than 1 set of 6 from left to right??? they must have done this for a reason else they would not have designed the chassis like this! When I ran NIMH last year I made sure I had the 4-2 configeration and mine changed direction so much better than others that were running a 6 pack from left to right. Also, having a saddle pack lipo configeration means that I can easily have thumb screws on all 4 corners of my batteries without ever having clearance problems with the bodyshell - many threads on here following release of the X6 squared are around the problems that people are having with bodyshell clearance: cutting slots in battery straps, using screws and thumb screws etc etc. Also I am a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to neat wiring and so having extra room down the sides allows the motor wires to run next to the batteries and not over them... this means that all looks neater, doesnt get in the way when changing batteries and also eliminates any possibillity of electrical technical faults caused by battery wires crossing motor wires etc.

It didn't take 5 mins to do with the correct tools, and it hasn't taken any of the rigidity out of the chassis.

Just to confirm, this was just a test exercise to see if it was all ok... a prototype if you like, as I did not like the original configeration of the car.

Thanks for all your comments tho, keep em coming.

I'll get a picture up on here once I've got the radio gear back in.

Cheers again, Jon!

[Wacker 2]

Originally Posted by dogpinkscot

you should of bought a master smacker from eric

Master Smacker???

[Wacker1]

A Master Smacker is the Business!

Eric will be able to sort you out

[bender]

Sorry, a bit off-topic, but I'm confused by the mention of the following weight transfer theory - "just that they will inherently have less grip due to less weight being moved to the outside wheel."

Unless I've completely forgotton all I ever learned about physics and vehicle dynamincs, the above statement seems a bit backwards to me

We all know that lateral grip increases with more vertical tyre load, but this doesn't occur in a linear fashion, but rather along a non-linear curve.

So, in reality, as body-roll occurs, the rate of increase of vertical load of the outside tyre is less than the rate of decrease of vertical load of the inside tyre, therefore resulting in a net loss of grip.

[dogpinkscot]

back to the master smacker subject ive been running one there really balanced. ive been putting extra weight in mine im using an extra 2kg at the front which consists of an old money tin i found full of broken master smacker wishbones and schumacer dogbones . and at the rear ive put in 3kg which consists of an old toaster and kettle .


team smacker rules

[Darren Boyle]

Loving the contrast in technicality in the last two posts

[jayst]

does the kettle and toaster plug into the battery for tea and toaster at racing ?

[Chris Doughty]

I think the feel of increased grip from a wider car comes from the lower polar yaw inertia. not from weight transfer to the outside wheel(s)

with the long narrow cars, the weight distribution is much longer in the car, once it starts to slide, it keeps sliding.

with the cars that have a wider and therefore short length of weight in the car, it is easier for the tires to slow its yaw down and get the tires back inside their traction limit and this makes it feel like it 'snaps' back into grip again.

[Wacker 2]

Originally Posted by dogpinkscot

back to the master smacker subject ive been running one there really balanced. ive been putting extra weight in mine im using an extra 2kg at the front which consists of an old money tin i found full of broken master smacker wishbones and schumacer dogbones . and at the rear ive put in 3kg which consists of an old toaster and kettle .


team smacker rules

Not to be funny, but can we keep this on topic as I am really keen to hear what people think about what I've done - and not about money tins and kettles!!!

Besides team smacker... Team Wacaday Racing (TWR) will stomp all over your wacker smacker!!!

[Chris Doughty]

I say keep working on it, it may not be any better, but for you driving something that you put a lot of effort into, it will definately be better!

driving a car that you have done more than just screw together makes you drive it with much more care and respect and you will end up finding that you are quicker with it.

same thing applies if your car looks like a shed (paintwork, stickers, wheel colour ) then it will drive like a shed.

your looks cool from what I have seen, good luck racing it!