Mini-Z, Kyosho Mini-Z Racer, MR-03, MR-02, MA-010, Forums, News, Pictures, Parts, and Shop - Mini-ZRacer.com
Forums, Mini-Z, MiniZ, Kyosho Mini-Z, Kyosho MiniZ, Kyosho Mini-Z Racer
Mini-Z Hop-Ups, Mini-Z Parts, MiniZ Hop-Ups, MiniZ Parts, Kyosho Mini-Z Hop-Ups, Kyosho Mini-Z Parts, Kyosho MiniZ Hop-Ups, Kyosho MiniZ Parts, Kyosho Mini-Z Racer Hop-Ups, Racer Kyosho Mini-Z Parts
Old 2008.12.14, 08:22 PM   #1
color01
Moderator
 
color01's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Los Angeles (Pasadena), CA, USA
Posts: 2,809
color0's MRCG1.1

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.





^ 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:




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





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. )



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.




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

Greyscale RC

PN Racing | My TinyRC Blog

Last edited by color01; 2008.12.14 at 10:57 PM.
color01 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 2008.12.14, 08:32 PM   #2
arch2b
Moderator
 
arch2b's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Washington, DC
Posts: 35,480
Send a message via AIM to arch2b
damn, nice looking mrcg! good tips for the body clips too you made it look very easy

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.
arch2b is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 2008.12.15, 05:35 AM   #3
Flashsp-2
motor guru
 
Flashsp-2's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: In front of you...
Posts: 487
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
__________________
Top Secret Motors - when you are ready to start owning the competition

Available at www.Maine-iac-motors-rc.com
Flashsp-2 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 2008.12.17, 12:21 AM   #4
color01
Moderator
 
color01's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Los Angeles (Pasadena), CA, USA
Posts: 2,809
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).



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.



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!

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.
__________________
Brian Ma

Greyscale RC

PN Racing | My TinyRC Blog

Last edited by color01; 2008.12.17 at 01:04 AM.
color01 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 2008.12.17, 03:50 AM   #5
Slipstream
Registered User
 
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Nor-Cal
Posts: 189
Quote:
Originally Posted by color01 View Post
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.

Last edited by color01; 2008.12.17 at 02:20 PM.
Slipstream is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 2008.12.17, 02:23 PM   #6
color01
Moderator
 
color01's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Los Angeles (Pasadena), CA, USA
Posts: 2,809
lol... Ok, you got me.

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.
__________________
Brian Ma

Greyscale RC

PN Racing | My TinyRC Blog
color01 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 2008.12.17, 03:37 PM   #7
Slipstream
Registered User
 
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Nor-Cal
Posts: 189
Quote:
Originally Posted by color01 View Post
lol... Ok, you got me.

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....

Ok how come you can edit my post?
Slipstream is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 2008.12.17, 08:56 PM   #8
color01
Moderator
 
color01's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Los Angeles (Pasadena), CA, USA
Posts: 2,809
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.
__________________
Brian Ma

Greyscale RC

PN Racing | My TinyRC Blog

Last edited by color01; 2008.12.17 at 10:47 PM.
color01 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 2008.12.17, 11:08 PM   #9
Slipstream
Registered User
 
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Nor-Cal
Posts: 189
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.
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."
Slipstream is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 2008.12.18, 12:59 AM   #10
color01
Moderator
 
color01's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Los Angeles (Pasadena), CA, USA
Posts: 2,809
I AM back in the bay area, what else could ILR stand for but Inside Line Racing?

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.



__________________
Brian Ma

Greyscale RC

PN Racing | My TinyRC Blog

Last edited by color01; 2008.12.18 at 03:42 AM.
color01 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 2008.12.18, 05:08 PM   #11
Slipstream
Registered User
 
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Nor-Cal
Posts: 189
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.
Slipstream is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 2008.12.18, 08:05 PM   #12
minittrackmann
Registered User
 
minittrackmann's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 962
I know what I'll be buying with my Christmas money. This last batch of photos really just convinced me!

Great work Color.

Cody
minittrackmann is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 2008.12.18, 11:22 PM   #13
color01
Moderator
 
color01's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Los Angeles (Pasadena), CA, USA
Posts: 2,809
Yes, it worked!! 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! 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!
__________________
Brian Ma

Greyscale RC

PN Racing | My TinyRC Blog

Last edited by color01; 2008.12.18 at 11:26 PM.
color01 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 2008.12.20, 04:23 AM   #14
color01
Moderator
 
color01's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Los Angeles (Pasadena), CA, USA
Posts: 2,809
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.

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.

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)
__________________
Brian Ma

Greyscale RC

PN Racing | My TinyRC Blog
color01 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 2008.12.21, 01:39 AM   #15
color01
Moderator
 
color01's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Los Angeles (Pasadena), CA, USA
Posts: 2,809
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. 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.
__________________
Brian Ma

Greyscale RC

PN Racing | My TinyRC Blog
color01 is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks

Thread Tools
Display Modes Rate This Thread
Rate This Thread:

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
The New MRCG1.1 color01 GSR 63 2011.09.17 11:58 AM
MRCG1.1 Side Springs JuniorWKR GSR 10 2009.07.05 10:27 AM
MZR Exclusive: GSR MRCG1.1 First Look color01 GSR 54 2009.06.12 04:45 PM
New Greysacle Racing MRCG1.1 1/28 Chassis Kit PN Racing Version Jorge_Jayena New Products 2 2009.06.11 10:19 PM


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 12:17 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.3
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2011 Mini-ZRacer.com
Mini Inferno Sale - Up to $85 Instant Savings!
Micro-T Hop-Ups
RC18R, M18, Micro RS4, Mini-LST, TamTech-Gear, Minizilla, RC18T, RC18B, RC18MT
shop.tinyrc.com Products

more»
Tiny RC Community News
[03/22/17] MZR was on vacation, didn't... : All kidding aside, the host experienced a bit of a server meltdown last week and efforts to restore the site to a new server took longer than anticipated. The current server is temporary until - more»
[11/25/15] Did You Hear? Our Black... : Hey Racers,
We're getting started a bit early with our Black Friday sale this year.  Generally we're not supporters of retailers opening early on Thanksgiving, but in our case, we're - more»
[06/30/15] shop.tinyrc.com: Have You... : Hey All! Just a quick reminder to everyone that we post all of our shop.tinyrc.com Newletters here on the MZR Forum. If for some reason you miss them in your email inbox, you can always see the - more»
Mini-Z, Mini-Z Racer, MR-02, MA-010
M18, M18T, RC18T, Mini-LST, Mini-T, Micro RS4, XRay, 1/18, 18th scale
XMODS, XMOD, Micro Flight, ZipZaps, ZipZaps SE, Bit Char-G, MicroSizers, TTTT, Plantraco Desktop Rover, SuperSlicks, Digi Q
Mini Inferno, Mini Inferno ST, half EIGHT, 1/16, 16th scale
Epoch, Indoor Racer, 1/43, 43rd scale
E-Savage, eSavage, eZilla, e-Zilla, HPI
Robots, Bots, Bipeds, Wheeled, Manoi, Roomba, NXT, Lego, Hacking
Crawling, Crawlers, Micro, RC, Losi Mini-Rock Crawler, Duratrax Cliff Climber
Kyosho Minium, Caliber 120, Minium Forums
Mini-Z Hop-Ups, Mini-Z Parts, Mini Inferno Hop-Ups, Mini Inferno Parts, M18 Hop-Ups, M18 Parts