color0's MRCG1.1

[color01]

Just in time for the kits to arrive in the Shop (as well as Christmas-season Z racing!), I took some of the production aluminum parts and slapped them onto my car. Granted, there isn't alot of aluminum on the chassis to show off -- that's why it's so darn light -- but there's enough to give everyone a preview of the production car.

http://img68.imageshack.us/img68/9018/img0170bt5.jpg

http://img185.imageshack.us/img185/8742/img0174tu5.jpg

^ I haven't installed the production rear pod bulkheads yet (need to pick up some ride height adjusters! lol...) but here's the most intricate part, the motor mount:

http://img185.imageshack.us/img185/4072/img0173qj7.jpg


And to keep up to date setup-wise, I bought a 2007 Super GT 350Z shell and mounted it up to the chassis.

http://img68.imageshack.us/img68/1423/img0164md3.jpg

http://img68.imageshack.us/img68/1748/img0165oj8.jpg

I opted to stretch it out to a 98mm wheelbase as the MRCG has a better weight distribution in 98mm config. I left most of the rear diffuser on as well (just shaved off the bottoms of the fins) for a bit more weight at the rear. The car is still just 172g -- very light -- so keeping a bit of weight in the tail end will help with traction when I go to Inside Line and Fast Pace Racing. Wheels are PN, 1N/2W, and tires are Kyosho 30d radials and 20d radials.


As I had heard from arch2b, this shell takes some work to fit, so I documented some of the important bits. The 2007 SGT 350Z has some very strange new side clips that interfere with the MRCG's flex plates, so the solution is to simply cut away the excess plastic on those clips until they look like "regular" Mini-Z side clips. And then cut off the excess plastic at the end of the clips to make them MRCG-compatible. (As you can see in the previous pictures, this little modification is undetectable from outside. So if you were worried about modifying a pristine Autoscale to mount on your MRCG, worry no more. :))

http://img68.imageshack.us/img68/9384/img0176yu0.jpg

When you glue the clips on, leave a 1mm gap between the clip and the stopping notch on the shell (in other words, lower the clips 1mm from Kyosho specs). This 350Z sits strangely low in the rear so we need to raise it back up.

Then dremel some more plastic off the insides and you'll have enough clearance for the MRCG's suspension system.

http://img185.imageshack.us/img185/803/img0177we2.jpg


That's all for now, I'll be testing and racing some more this week!

[arch2b]

damn, nice looking mrcg! good tips for the body clips too;) you made it look very easy:p

when will pn have the metal parts? i'd like to upgrade mine at some point but i guess i should get the steering together and working first.

[Flashsp-2]

Nice Brian, very nice. The alloy parts are a nice touch, do you know if they will be available separately? If not, I may just have to purchase MRCG number 2 :D

[color01]

I'm not sure if they will be available separately but I definitely have some. We'll see. :)

Anyways, I went to ILR today to conduct some proper testing. First thing to do was to finish replacing my old prototype parts with production aluminum ones. These rear pod bulkheads go together with Atomic's ride height adjusters (included in every kit).

http://img384.imageshack.us/img384/8046/img0184cu9.jpg

Looks much more professional now; if not for the treaded rubber tires you could almost mistake this for a 12th-scale pan car. These are the exact production parts, so for those of you who preordered, I hope you enjoy the view because your MRCG's will look like this when built. :)

http://img247.imageshack.us/img247/7083/img0181na6.jpg

The best part is that the new additions really improved the feel of the car! Thanks to the new 350Z shell there's a bit more weight in the rear end and very good traction (despite near-freezing temperatures at the track). Plus, the stiffness of all the aluminum parts (vs. my Delrin prototypes) makes the entire car feel more buttoned-down and responsive. Almost too responsive, actually -- I was turning in too early for the first 10 laps! :o

Once I got the hang of it I put down some pretty fast laps. I had turned down my throttle on the Anima II for practice so I got easily smoked on the straights, but I was definitely one of the fastest cars in the infield. I felt some tire chatter in the sweeper going into the first chicane (didn't glue my tires...) but everywhere else it was great, very smooth and quick despite not having the torque to accelerate out of corners. I also need to get my hands on the new USA handout motor Binh was talking about. They looked very powerful, maybe as powerful as my custom handwound motor. I haven't used that one in ages, but I'll try it again tomorrow.

Lastly I ought to mention that despite the longtail 350Z body, the MRCG is still extremely quick through chicanes and transitions. There are 3 sets of chicanes in ILR's current layout, and it puts a nice little grin on my face every time I drive through one of them, because the car is just that nimble. :)

[Slipstream]

These are the exact production parts, so for those of you who preordered, I hope you enjoy the view because your MRCG's will look like this when built. :)

I hope not Brian. I like my new car to be assembled without the dirt. :p

[color01]

lol... Ok, you got me. :p

Are you coming to ILR today? I'm going to finish off my current set of rear K20 radials and try out the new PN 6 radials.

[Slipstream]

lol... Ok, you got me. :p

Are you coming to ILR today? I'm going to finish off my current set of rear K20 radials and try out the new PN 6 radials.

Don't know if I can make it. Work and traffic is a PITA....:rolleyes:

Ok how come you can edit my post? :eek:

[color01]

This is the GSR forum so I have moderating abilities. I only cut out the excess material from your big quote, no worries.


Well, finished my day's testing/tuning.

Kyosho 30d radials in front and 20d radials in rear, 1N/2W PN spoked wheels
PN white springs with green anti-roll bar
PN red center spring
Kyosho red oil damper spring
1000wt oil damper
1000wt disk damper, green (soft) springs top and bottom

This setup felt absolutely amazing except on the sweeper, where it would chatter and spin out if I let off the throttle too late. Once Binh helped me tape my rear tires the spinouts became slides, which if managed carefully flowed right through the first sweeper. Really, really fast.

Then afterwards my rear tires gradually faded so I swapped to the new tire of choice up at ILR, the PN 6d radials. These really are a huge improvement over the old batches of 6d radials, 1) they fill out then entire 11mm of rim and 2) they stick like glue! I actually had too much rear grip and now I need to figure out some ways of getting more steering. Currently I have no more anti-roll bar, purple instead of white front springs, and a yellow Kyosho oil damper spring instead of red. And there's still not as much steering as with the earlier setup I went to ILR with. I'll play with the center spring and disk damper, and rebuild my diff tonight to make it as free as possible. With new front tires (still K30 radials) it should be dialed. :)

[Slipstream]

Yeah I figured you had mod privileges in your forum and I ain't scared. You have to come back to the Bay Area sometime. :D
I originally was going to strip all the excess in the quote but got lazy.

I received the chassis today so thanks for the setup tips. Is there a way to get spares? i.e. side flex plates, etc.

LOL The old PN radials are like GPMs. Same "Oops I measure the width for the tire wrong." :rolleyes:

[color01]

I AM back in the bay area, what else could ILR stand for but Inside Line Racing? :D

I will talk to PN about getting some G10 spare parts; the tierod and flex plates should be the only parts on this car that will wear or break. I've been constantly "rebuilding" my tierod with CA glue on the edges + filing, but I imagine most people would rather just replace the tierod. The flex plates won't break unless you get T-boned really hard while running a Lexan body. I don't think mine have worn out yet either, they're just comfortably broken in and provide good to awesome rear grip (depending on tires).

---------------------------------

Just rebuilt my diff with ceramic balls. I really, really should have bought these a long time ago. I rebuilt the front and rear suspensions too so now the whole car is nice and free and sooo much smoother than before. My goal tomorrow is to turn my PN 6d radials into 6d slicks -- then, assuming the rubber hasn't dried yet, I'll have the right amount of traction for Saturday's race.

---------------------------------

One more thing before I go to sleep: I'm obviously still trying to get new buyers and new interest, so I shot some more pics and sent them off to Mini-Z-Bar.

http://img390.imageshack.us/img390/1900/img0188bk8.jpghttp://img390.imageshack.us/img390/5088/img0189fq2.jpg
http://img390.imageshack.us/img390/4143/img0190ed2.jpghttp://img390.imageshack.us/img390/7026/img0192pi2.jpg
http://img364.imageshack.us/img364/7416/img0193ix4.jpghttp://img529.imageshack.us/img529/8583/img0194kq2.jpg

[Slipstream]

I know you're back in the BA now. I'm speaking of the future when you decide to change my posts for your nefarious gains. :D

[minittrackmann]

I know what I'll be buying with my Christmas money. This last batch of photos really just convinced me!

Great work Color.

Cody

[color01]

Yes, it worked!! :D Thanks Cody, I hope you like it!

---------------------------------------

Today I continued to struggle against excessive rear grip. The changes I made last night (center spring, disk damper, ceramic diff balls) worked out very well, but I still lacked the sheer corner speed and steering I had with the K20 radial rear tires. Binh gave me some tips on camber, and I got myself a new pair of 0.5deg knuckles, which improved steering response a bit and mostly made the car more consistent (previously, my front left 1.5deg knuckle was sticky and I couldn't fix it). Then the big change came when I found some old 3racing AWD springs to replace my PN greens. The black 3racing AWD springs are extremely soft, I think even softer than PN reds, and gave my car the front grip I was craving. I had to go home after a few laps with the new setup but it definitely feels like what I'm used to driving now, except that the super soft springs make turn-in a bit sluggish. Funny how temperatures work... the last time I used Kyosho 30d radials in front (late summer) I had to use hard springs, and now I'm using the softest ones I can find! :eek: Anyways, to get some more steering response I just put a green anti-roll bar back on the front end. We'll see how it performs tomorrow, I think it'll be pretty dialed and ready for Saturday's race! :)

[color01]

Sorry for the blog-like style of this thread but these are my daily testing impressions, after all...


Today I found out that the anti-roll bar stiffened up the front end just enough to make the car not steer. Well, off that went then, and very quickly I was back on pace. EJ Evans (T.O.P. Racing driver) came by today to check out/test drive my car, and after we played with the servo a bit, he really liked it, both on the bench and on the track. His most important feedback for me is that I need to speed up my servo, and that otherwise this car feels great! As a testament to both his skill and my car's performance, EJ drove faster laps with my car within 2 minutes than I had for my entire week's worth of practice. :eek:

Later on my 6d radials faded and so flinging the car into a corner with EJ's settings resulted in a nice little drift. I'd occasionally spin out on the sweeper, but otherwise I could get around basically every corner with a controlled powerslide. I wasn't much slower than before, and had lots of fun for the last hour of my track time. :D

Anyways, the MRCG is ready to rumble tomorrow!

Kyosho 30d radial front/PN 6d radial rear
3racing AWD black springs in front (softer than PN red)
PN MR02 yellow center spring, preloaded all the way
Kyosho yellow oil damper spring, 2mm preload
1000wt oil damper
1000wt disk damper, springs tuned according to traction at that hour

Special settings: +40% steering exponential on Tx (varies with traction)

[color01]

Race results!

Traction today was WEIRD. My car was super-dialed yesterday before the tires wore out; today was fine until about 7PM, and then I was hitting apexes everywhere! I was also involuntarily drifting the sharp hairpin in the infield.

Anyways, I was in Sportsman Stock heat 2, and on my first qualifier the car felt great! My driving was crap as this was my first race in months, but traction was up there, the car was super-smooth and I pulled out a 9.83 and 9.84, giving me the fastest Sportsman lap -- I think that's still standing -- and an early TQ, which then got beaten by a couple seconds. So I was 2nd qualifier after round 1.

Second qualifier things started going awry, I suddenly gained a bunch of steering and started hitting apexes. I don't recall my standing at the end of the round but my laps were either low-10's (didn't hit anything) or mid-12's (I hit something).

So I changed the oil damper spring to a Kyosho green (medium) and turned up the steering dual rate a bit to make the car more forgiving. While that worked OK, it made the car more sluggish than I would've liked. I should've changed out the front springs from 3racing black to silver (these are AWD springs, btw) to sharpen up response as well. I also tightened up my diff as I had been burning it up during the first qualifier (and still got my 9.83, lol... not too shabby). The third qualifier was a bit better but the other drivers had warmed up, and so at the end of all the qualifiers I was actually 5th, putting me in the top of the B main.

Come B main time, I discovered that my setup suddenly kicked in and I lapped the field within a few minutes. Comfortable bump to the A main.

A main was, for me, nuts! Starting in 5th, I hooked up really well on the start and almost caught up to 4th place when I got caught up in a big pile-up. Then another one happened, and then finally I got put into the wall to start me off in 6th place and about to be lapped. :( Eventually I did get lapped by the 1st and 2nd, and after (clumsily) letting them pass I drove the piss out of my car, getting my lap back, passing 5th, and passing 4th. I could've sworn I passed 3rd too but the lap timer said I was 4th, which is okay.

The 350Z shell might not have been the body to run here as the layout for the race was fast and yet very technical. The SC430-clad MR02's were very quick in the chicanes. On the other hand, my 350Z-clad MRCG has massive amounts of corner speed. One of the places where I caught up to people the most quickly were on the high speed sweeper going into the infield: my car ate up the gap like it was nothing, time after time after time. :eek: At a less technical track, this combination would simply rock the house.

Perhaps it's time for me to go back to 94MM and the SC430. I'd been worried about traction earlier (hence the longtail 350Z) but with these new PN 6d radials I can definitely go back, and use a saner spring combo while I'm at it. I honestly didn't like running such soft springs in the front, it restricts me from lowering my body.




If there's racing at ILR next Saturday I will try to make it, I need my revenge. :)

[skyler]

Brian, First I would like to say thanks for all the info you are putting on here. Maybe as others get their cars going they can add info too. Question about your car. Are you running a servo saver? If not, it looks lie people might get away without running one. Aren't you using a Hitec servo? BTW people...the production kits have orange aluminum parts.

[color01]

Skyler,

The first batch of prorduction cars have silver aluminum parts. I should know because I put the kits together myself. ;)

I'm not running a servo saver, and I've been getting away without one since the very beginning of this project. The servo is a Futaba S3113 without the control board.

[skyler]

Skyler,

The first batch of prorduction cars have silver aluminum parts. I should know because I put the kits together myself. ;)

I'm not running a servo saver, and I've been getting away without one since the very beginning of this project. The servo is a Futaba S3113 without the control board.
That's good to know. I finally found a servo saver to fit my servo and it's way too big to use in this application. I wish mine had been silver. Maybe sales of your car will be so good that colr options will be offered. BTW it's an aesome kit.

[color01]

Strange, so Philip gave you an orange one? I told him to hold off till the second batch... :rolleyes: Anyways, the orange PN parts are slightly different (must use PN's rear axle height adjusters) so keep that in mind when looking for replacements. Glad you like the kit. :)

Back to the servo, make sure you seat the servo as far forward as possible, and when attaching the long tubing to the servo horn, seat it as far into the Delrin tierod adapter as possible. I've had a couple reports of tierod adapter breakages when this step is not done. I think I will have to make an announcement about this before people break all their tierod adapters. (For the record, I have not broken a single one yet. They last when you use them correctly, hence the need for an announcement.)

[skyler]

Brain, After seeing this chassis and how well engineered it is made me hope you will eventually want another challenge. Some guys in Hong Kong are cutting up M02's & MA010's and gluing them together to make a balanced AWD. So what I am wishing for is a CF AWD chassis. .Advantages: stronger,balanced, no more worries about warpage from motor heat... Just a thought.

[color01]

http://www.mini-zracer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=28716

^ There's your MRCG AWD concept. ;) I've changed it a bit since that last update, with the cells stacked in a diamond shape instead of that oddly shaped pack in the thread. Relatively easy to do and less development time needed vs. the MRCG. I just need to figure out a front tierod.

----------------------------

Back to the [RWD] MRCG, I've replaced the 350Z with the SC430 to test out some more this week. While the 350Z has great traction and corner speed I didn't like the fact that I had to use such excessively soft springs to get enough steering. I'd rather use the more aggressive SC430 and harder front springs. Now I'm using normal PN green front springs and the car feels a bit quicker and much more precise on my small test track. Btw, 1N/2W still works out beautifully.

http://img386.imageshack.us/img386/9812/img0205cp0.jpg

[HaCo]

That body looks awesome!!!

[skyler]

http://www.mini-zracer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=28716

^ There's your MRCG AWD concept. ;) I've changed it a bit since that last update, with the cells stacked in a diamond shape instead of that oddly shaped pack in the thread. Relatively easy to do and less development time needed vs. the MRCG. I just need to figure out a front tierod.

----------------------------

Back to the [RWD] MRCG, I've replaced the 350Z with the SC430 to test out some more this week. While the 350Z has great traction and corner speed I didn't like the fact that I had to use such excessively soft springs to get enough steering. I'd rather use the more aggressive SC430 and harder front springs. Now I'm using normal PN green front springs and the car feels a bit quicker and much more precise on my small test track. Btw, 1N/2W still works out beautifully.

http://img386.imageshack.us/img386/9812/img0205cp0.jpg
Awesome. So you're WAY ahead of me... Thanks Brian.

[color01]

No prob. :)

Here's a little something I'm working on at the moment... if anyone doesn't like the Delrin tierod adapter, you may want to consider a setup like this:

http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/8440/img0207fo9.jpg

The original idea, of course, was EMU's, but I fabricated my own adapter instead of using a spare part. The ball joints are Atomic's, I used spare parts from the RM DPSII system and glued the shock ends together.

Here's what it looks like in the car, very compact:

http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/3614/img0208ms2.jpg

The steering seems to be a bit more precise with the linkage in, so I guess this really is a better way to do it. However, I'm wary of trying to release this as a hop-up for the chassis until I can source good ball links. Shaving down the Atomic shocks and gluing them together is not my idea of user-friendliness.

[color01]

Had my first serious testing session at Kenon.

First thing to notice: Kyosho 30 radials are NOT the front tire to use, they have way too much bite.

Second thing: Need more disk damper. I was chattering like mad until I stepped up to a hard top spring and medium bottom spring on the disk damper (same 1000wt oil).

Third thing: My PN 6 radials have dried out.

Thankfully, Philip hooked me up with a set of 20d slick fronts and 8d radial rears, so I had decent grip for practicing. I think I will need 15d slick fronts and 6d radial rears in a race situation, as the 98mm MRCG has less weight overall, especially on the front end, and could use some stickier rubber.

Actually, Philip and Grant hooked me up with a lot of stuff. :o

http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/4599/img0217ah1.jpg

http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/4786/img0218uy0.jpg

New ceramic diff: I was worried about smoothness (to be honest, previous PN diffs weren't spectacular) but this one IS spectacular. Really, really smooth and free. A bit on the heavy side but it feels as good as an open diff in terms of raw corner speed. 52t 64p spur gear.

New PN 70t, and 64p gears: Philip gave me a spare (with 12t pinion) to test out. Although the motor seems pretty loud, it winds up nicely, lots of torque.

F1 top spring: Grant pointed out to me that my rear suspension didn't have quite enough bump stiffness so he gave me a yellow F1 spring (thanks!). I had to adjust my center spring to compensate for the higher ride height but afterwards this thing did help corner exit steering a lot!

Philip also tuned my ASF board a bit on the ICS software, so now I get a bit more power (if less smooth... I'm not sure if I like this better) and faster servo response. My fastest lap of the day was a 7.7 (using 2007 350Z body, btw), which is the current Stock Sedan record! Not bad for a first day. :cool:

After practice: new bearings (the Reflex ones were waaay overdue for replacement), installed new Delrin rims and half-worn Kyosho 20 radial rears. The Delrin rims are amazing, I regret not having installed these earlier. I also went to +1W rears (down from +2W) to tuck the wheels into the body a bit better. The 350Z body's actually the narrowest new Super GT body, kinda weird.

But still, 7.7 with dead bearings and practice tires tells me I can probably hit 7.3 or 7.4 next time -- that'd be smashing the record, I can't wait. :D

[color01]

Took the time to clean up and detail my 350Z to make it a bit more distinctive. So if you see GSR stickers on the track... ;)

http://img136.imageshack.us/img136/6746/img0238ob1.jpg

http://img136.imageshack.us/img136/2851/img0240cu8.jpg

http://img136.imageshack.us/img136/5195/img0242ee6.jpg

[EMU]

Looks good Brian, I would round off the front lip so it doesnt get stuck in the borders as much though...

[camaro93]

wow that is very nice the stickers just make it stand out they look good btw for the rear shock what kind of spring do you have on there

[color01]

I cut an angle into the splitter, EMU, so the car glances off walls instead of digging in. I just hid that fact by leaving the corners sharp. :)

The spring on the top shock was a Kyosho F1 spring, but I've changed it out to a normal MR02 top spring (softer) to see if I can get a bit more on-power corner speed.

[color01]

Recent updates:

Took apart my servo to show you guys how to wire the S3113 to the Mini-Z ASF board:

http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/7831/img0276g.jpg




Also... I saw the McLaren white bodies and swore to myself that I'd buy one, and thankfully Binh at ILR had one in stock for me (thanks again btw!). Here she is with a nearly-perfect Sharpie job. :D

http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/8793/img0279c.jpg

http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/615/img0280qdo.jpg

http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/6286/img0281j.jpg

http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/5425/img0282b.jpg

I even installed the mirrors this time around because Kyosho finally made them flexible! I cut out the rear end to take some weight away and let the air flow out from under the body (works somewhat like a crude diffuser, just look at 1/12 Pan and 1/10 TC). The McLaren actually feels like a pan body rather than a touring body though, with the low height and wide offsets (you're looking at +3N/+3.5W in the pictures!). At Kenon they were just as fast as the Pan Cars so I think this will be a good body to run, even if it is on the heavy side. Can't wait till spring break comes around. :cool:

[Davey G]

As it rests on a pimp pitboard. :cool:

[marc]

[QUOTE=color01;338626]Recent updates:

Took apart my servo to show you guys how to wire the S3113 to the Mini-Z ASF board:

http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/7831/img0276g.jpg




Also... I saw the McLaren white bodies and swore to myself that I'd buy one, and thankfully Binh at ILR had one in stock for me (thanks again btw!). Here she is with a nearly-perfect Sharpie job. :D

http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/8793/img0279c.jpg

http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/615/img0280qdo.jpg

http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/6286/img0281j.jpg

http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/5425/img0282b.jpg

That look's awesome in white! However, I wouldn't have gone with the Sharpie "Maaco" job. Still very, very nice. Look's like one of theme test-cars in all white! That chassis is very tempting by the way, but I bet is more complicated to set up than basic MR02?

[skyler]

Hey Brian, I'm not sure if you've covered this in any other of your posts, but have you upgraded the fets on your 2.4 board, or are you still running the stock ones? Thanks.

[color01]

Still running 3010 FETs... I'm considering upgrading to 8858 once I get home, but will probably be too lazy to do it myself, lol... :o

[skyler]

Weren't you running 2 differen't mod motors with that board?

[Davey G]

Got my MRCG today, cant wait to start building this kit, will show pics shortly.

[color01]

Skyler- yeah, I was running a handwound 31t spiral. So? :p

Dave- good to hear man! Keep us posted and let me know if you need any help. ;)

[EMU]

Have fun building it Dave. If you need, you can borrow my servo/saver assembly for your build, or devise your own setup. I know you are very picky about setup, so you may want to do it your own way...

[skyler]

Skyler- yeah, I was running a handwound 31t spiral. So? :p

Because i've always been told you have to have a stack to run a mod motor. I was wondering how you got around it or if that belief is a load of bull, that's all.

[EMU]

The 2.4ghz boards have 2 fets on the top and 2 fets on the bottom. Basically they have a 2x2 stack. You can get away with running most mod motors without having to replace the fets. I actually prefer the 3010 fets with the mod motors, since they have a smoother throttle response.

[skyler]

Thanks EMU.

[color01]

^ What EMU said, except I don't know if I prefer the 3010 FETs more... especially with this Top Secret motor (wound by Flashsp-2), the power delivery is way too smooth and I could actually use some more punch. That and I like racing Stock class more, where the FETed cars seem to have a slight advantage. Gah, mental dilemna. :D

But yeah, most Mod motors are fine on the 2.4GHz ASF board, just don't stall the motor. ;)

[skyler]

Thanks Brian. NOW I get it.

[philly123]

Hey, just wondering how do you change the chassis from 94 to 98 wheel base?

[skyler]

Hey, just wondering how do you change the chassis from 94 to 98 wheel base?

There are 2 sets of hoes in the front of the main chassis plate for the L arms and front body mount. Also, there are 2 set of slot in the rear upper brace/damper post mount. For 94mm use the holes closest to the back on the boy mount and L arms. Also, on the rear plate use the slots closest to the rear to locate the body mount blocks. For 98mm use the forward holes for the front body mount and L arms and the front slots for the rear body tabs. Hope this helps.

[color01]

^ What skyler said is correct. :) I had to configure the car that way to give it more corner speed in the 98mm configuration, but maintain very MR02-like qualities in the 94mm configuration. This is detailed in the MRCG manual which you can find either on the GSR website or even on the MRCG's product listing here at the Shop. ;)

[philly123]

Thanks for the help.

I just got my chassis kit pn version and started building. i have a few questions

-to make regular kyosho bodies fit do i have to shave off the excess where it clips on? because i cant put any body on now.
-with the pn version i did not get any tubing for the steering set up, so what could i use in place of it?

[mk2kompressor]

you have to trim a part off the side clips,there are pics of this somewhere(im sure color knows)
1/10 antenna tubing fits over the screw in the servo horn

[skyler]

Thanks for the help.

I just got my chassis kit pn version and started building. i have a few questions

-to make regular kyosho bodies fit do i have to shave off the excess where it clips on? because i cant put any body on now.
-with the pn version i did not get any tubing for the steering set up, so what could i use in place of it?

Hi philly123, Just go to page 1 of this very thread. There are some very detailed pics of the modification you will have to perform. Have fun.

[color01]

Once again props to Skyler for his quick reply. :)

To make Autoscales fit on the MRCG you basically have to modify them like you would to fit them on the MA010, i.e. cut off the excess plastic that contacts the chassis brace. Once you've done that the Autoscale clips will slot right into the MRCG's own H-clips.

1/10, 1/12 antenna tubes fit, anything with a 3mm diameter (a spare disk damper post also works!) will be fine for the steering setup. Hope this helps. ;)

[philly123]

thanks for all the help:) will posts picks when built

[EMU]

Bring it with you to Action tomorrow... I can help you with a few small details if you need.

[philly123]

Well, here it is... just needs a 2.4 board that im waiting on
Couldnt make it to action because i went to opening day at jackson

[EMU]

Looks good. Did you glue your batteries together? Just remember that battery movement can cause tweak in the chassis. When you glue them, just a small amount, and you have to make sure that the cells are flat and lined up properly. You can glue them while they are sitting in the chassis before you solder them into a pack. Use thick glue so it doesnt run onto the chassis...

How much room do you have in front of the servo? Try to see if you can get the servo horn as close to the tie rod adapter as you can. If the servo horn is too far away, it will flex more and bind a little. I used a ball joint link setup, just to get rid of slop, and increase durability (I had broken the delrin one on my prototype chassis at the PN regional). You may want to use an old t-plate to reinforce the servo horn, so it has less flex.

[philly123]

Yes, i put the pack in the chassis and put apoxy in the creases and cleaned it up by putting alittle pressure and running my finger down the battery. As for the steering set up, I will probably change it out because i have the adapter that goes on the tie rod. the tubing is all the way in the tie rod adapter, the picture didnt show it idk why

[philly123]

im having a problem with the tweak on the chassis. when i push down the front right of the car the rear left(side without the spur) comes up and its causing tweak. what can i do to fix this?? and i tried putting weight on that side and it only helped the slightest bit

[color01]

Hm... is your battery pack tweaked? Sounds silly, but because of the way the battery pack is integrated into chassis stiffness, it actually matters a little bit.

If that's not the problem, then loosening and re-tightening the flex plates (carefully, of course) should help. Is there anything stuck underneath the flex plates? Are they bent up or down when you look at them from the rear?

I also notice that if you drastically overtighten the motor mount it can cause tweak on one or two cars. Make it just tight enough to hold the motor still, like you would do on a normal motor mount to avoid stripping the motor can threads.


Let me know if this helps or not. ;)

[philly123]

tried what you recomended and a bunch of other things to; center spring, side springs using all hard to soft springs, shims on one and then both sides, taking out a lot of the suspension in the front... but as soon as i push down on the front the right wheel comes right off the ground... not sure what else i can do...?

[color01]

Could you post up some pictures for us of the problem? It's hard to imagine what's going on if nothing's helping. I have my car in front of me, and there is enough downtravel in the rear suspension that neither wheel should ever come off the ground.

Another thing to consider may be one of the front kingpins sticking. When you push down on the front left or front right corner of the car, the entire front end should dive down a bit.

And of course the final call is how the car drives... have you tried it out on the track yet/does it feel tweaked on the track?

[philly123]

yea it slides out really easy on left turns...i will try some other things now and check what you said about the front suspension locking...if its still doing it ill take picks nd list my set up to see if we can figure it out because it is fustrating...because besides that the car handled extremely well and i could power hard through turns(only right turns)...i appreciate all the help color and i post back up later after i try some more things

[skyler]

Hey philly123, Did you CA glue the edges of the chassis? I have ruined some micro chassis' by doing this. The heat from the CA curing causes them to warp.

[philly123]

-i did not CA the chassis

-i think i found the problem...when i push down on one front side, the other does not dip at all causing the back to come up. when i push one side and with my other hand slightly push down the other, then the rear wheels are planted on both sides. i tried loosening up the screws alittle that hold the caster rod on top and the a arms on the bottom and it was good but once i tightened them back up it would still do it alittle...So what could i do about that? so far im running kyosho red and the medium shock limiters and the rear does not come up or barely comes up, but if i go with harder springs the other side dosent go down and the back begins to lift again...is that just a side affect of the car or is that fixable?...let me know and once again thanks for the help...im just happy i made some sort of progress with it tonight

[color01]

That honestly sounds like a kingpin problem to me, I had the same symptoms with an old, worn-out pair of kingpins. I currently run PN white or yellow springs and my rear wheels stay planted on the ground always. Granted, I run a very low front ride height (doesn't leave too much room for the "push" test) but my rear wheels never leave the ground.

Again, if you have pictures of your front and rear suspension it would probably be helpful. ;)

[Davey G]

Here are a few pics of my build. I put the servo behind the rack for a more centralized weight ratio. The biggest addition to my car is a makeshift central pivot. It is simply a screw that was ground down to a point and a grub screw (that has a dimple in the face) that was threaded into the bottom plate. The suspension now pivots on these 2 parts instead of on an imaginary point somewhere between the 2 flex plates. The Grub screw and pointed screw can be adjusted to change droop as well of course.

http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w277/Dgraboski/Untitled-1-1.jpg
http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w277/Dgraboski/Untitled-2-1.jpg
http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w277/Dgraboski/Untitled-3.jpg
http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w277/Dgraboski/Untitled-4-1.jpg

[color01]

Start your OWN thread for your OWN car, lol... :p Looks excellent though!

[Davey G]

C'mon man...its called Research and Development. lol

;) :D :p ;) :eek: :) ;) :o :) :D

[philly123]

Thats not even his car:p

[minittrackmann]

If I have already converted the Futaba S3113 servo to work with a 2.4 board, how can I make it so I can hook up to a regular reciever?

Cody

[color01]

You'll need to put the servo control PCB back into the servo before you can hook it back up to a modular receiver. ;)

[minittrackmann]

Is there any way, to use a 3010 am board and use the Futaba Servo?

[color01]

Yes, however I've forgotten how to do it. :o

It's similar to how you hooked up the servo to an ASF board but the pot wires have a different configuration. You *can*, however, play around with the wire configuration all you want and you won't kill the servo.

If I find the info I'll let you know, I haven't played with an AM Mini-Z in a reaaaally long time...

[cowboysir]

It works the same as an AM board to its own pot...you just have to figure out which pole of the pot gets one wire and the other two poles get the other wire.

[minittrackmann]

Anyone try the Associated XPS ESC yet?

It seems as though it is as small as the Xray 180..

LMK,
Cody

[cowboysir]

I'd have picked that one if I hadn't found a smoking deal on a Novak SPY. Decased the XRS has a very small footprint.

[color01]

Been a while, but I finally remembered to take a picture of my completed MRCG1.1. :)

http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/7692/img0357j.jpg

I won't be getting too many chances to race this summer, but when I do, expect this car to make a good showing! ;)

[color01]

Turned my clean electronics install completely upside down... here's a Tekin B1R and a prototype 2.4GHz receiver I got from a friend, mashed onto the MRCG1.1's generous electronics plate.

http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/4975/img0429cnz.jpg

The setup is so ugly because I need to keep the receiver un-soldered... but it'll hold up well enough for racing 1/28's. There are two lights on the Rx though, so combined with the Tekin's built-in KITT bar (6 LEDs! lol...) my new electronics basically light up my car like a Xmas tree. :D

http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/5218/img0430b.jpg

I'll be bringing this to the track tomorrow, but here are some bench videos.

Steering and throttle test:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e345/color0/th_MVI_0432.jpg (http://s42.photobucket.com/albums/e345/color0/?action=view&current=MVI_0432.flv)

The KITT Bar :D I dunno about you guys but this thing is terribly amusing to me, and so much cooler than the one-LED interfaces on other ESC's.

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e345/color0/th_MVI_0431.jpg (http://s42.photobucket.com/albums/e345/color0/?action=view&current=MVI_0431.flv)

[skyler]

Hi Brian, This thread sure has been quiet. I'm just wondering what super secret project u r working on.

[color01]

It's not such a big secret-- I'm trying to retrofit either the 02 or 03 servo into the MRCG/MRCG1.1's front end. It seems that no hobby-grade servo is fast enough to match the ASF 02's servo speed, so to keep up with the new 03, we need to stuff a Mini-Z servo into the car.

Much easier said than done though, which is why I haven't made much progress. :o

[skyler]

It's not such a big secret-- I'm trying to retrofit either the 02 or 03 servo into the MRCG/MRCG1.1's front end. It seems that no hobby-grade servo is fast enough to match the ASF 02's servo speed, so to keep up with the new 03, we need to stuff a Mini-Z servo into the car.

Much easier said than done though, which is why I haven't made much progress. :o

Good luck. Hope you can git ur dun!

[Felix2010]

Just by hap-stance I checked this thread out again, and I finally saw the "new" MRCG 1.1 you built color0, with the Tekin B1R and proprietary 2.4ghz Rx. This is the coolest setup yet IMHO...:D
Ever since Dave G. mentioned in one of his posts how he liked the horsepower of the Tekin B1R ESC, I have been wanting one.:) Add the fact it has those KITT lights.... Hotness right thurrr.:D
I like the vids too color0 - I would love to see more.

Awesome car!!!

[color01]

As the year rolls to an end, I unfortunately have yet to make any real progress on stuffing the MR03 servo into the MRCG front end... but, I still gotta prepare for the Tekin 1/28 Nationals this coming January so there's work to be done.

I found out that my old Futaba S3114 servo was nice and broken (notchy, grinding and all that jazz), no wonder why I couldn't get the car to handle since the summer. :eek: So that's replaced with a fresh one, and voila, I've got steering response almost on par with the MR02's (still a little slower, wondering if some ICS tuning will fix that). This episode tells me that I could really use a metal-geared servo, since the small-Futaba servo splines don't fit any servo saver I've found...

There's a freshly rebuilt diff in there with the new PN V2 spurs, and I actually used proper diff grease this time! :rolleyes: The new diff is smooth as butter and light to boot. There's a little bit more limited-slip effect even without the V2 spurs in action though, I think this is due to the grease (I used to use disk damper oil in my diffs, much thinner stuff it is).

Also, I raided my PN dual-spring shock for some new springs for the MRCG1.1... the rebound spring is the perfect replacement for the MRCG1.1's center spring, and the compression springs (I picked the yellow one) are a perfect fit on on the ball end, as long as you shorten them a few mm (I cut off 1 coil and then bent the wire to recreate the flat part). The new spring combo gives the car some much needed bump stiffness, which should translate to better corner exit traction in concert with the new diff.

Front suspension is the same as always (unfortunately no MRCG WTF yet), just one more shim on each spring cup to achieve exactly 0 droop and 0 preload. Letting the front end of the MRCG roll more than the rear isn't a great idea, as the rear end is pretty stiff in the roll department.

All the minor tweaks add up to one smooth-driving MRCG:

http://img192.imageshack.us/img192/1923/img0493v.jpg

The rest of the preparations include trimming and washing the body, and putting together a few new battery packs for the race:

http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/6535/img0490ua.jpg

The trouble with this preparation, though, is that I can't actually make the race. :o So Binh and I have arranged for a "designated racer" to campaign this MRCG1.1 for me. To that end, I don't really know what the hot setup for this car will be (heck, I haven't been to Inside Line Racing since the summer), so I'm just setting it up with a "best guess" config and leaving the rest to him. We'll see what happens! :)

[Red Team]

Really nice and clean set-up you've got there Brian, as always...to bad you can't make the race....goodluck to whoever will drive this Black beauty :)

Do you know, this will be the only one non Kyosho platform in the race ?
I've read that the Proto chasiss will make the race but that it's pretty much Kyosho based. I'm thinking of P'28, Sinister, Razr or other prototipes...

[skyler]

Brian, I am unclear about how much to remove from the spring. How long was it when you were done? About as long as a regular PN MR02 front spring? Thanks.

[color01]

No, it's closer to being an MR03 front spring in length; you can pretty much do the same thing I did, cut off one full coil, and then bend the end of the spring to make it flat. It should take between 2-3mm off the original length.

[skyler]

Thanks Brian. I'll try that.