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Old 2007.07.11, 08:15 PM   #16
Kel
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Yes, I saw those wheels at Radioshack in the body kit. In the end I think I may just swap the scion out for a different body because this one sits very high on the chassis and adds a lot of top weight. I think a lower body will significantly reduce rolling. I will check out what is on sale at Radioshack again, or pull out one of my old ones.

As of now I have found out that the suspension upgrade kit needs some modding to work smoothly. There are some bumps on the side from where the piece was cut off a mold. They interfere with the suspension movement of the spring, and can cause a clicking noise when the spring moves over it. I simply shaved it down with a hobby knife until it was smooth with the rest of the shaft. I think RS may have put them on there to hold the shock in place, but it is not needed when the shock is fully assembled and is not needed for a serious suspension setup. Here you can see the ridges on the shaft:


I have also found out that the springs in the kit are very stiff. The blue ones are rock hard and the yellow are not much better. For any type of real suspension movement, you need to install the red springs. The low down link that comes in the tuning kit will help stiffen them up a bit too by added some initial compression on the spring. The blue springs will almost lock up the suspension. The soft suspension also reduces roll overs. I will try out all the different spring types to be sure. Here is a rear end pic:


And keep in mind I am using the stock motor when I set the suspension. When I move to a hotter motor, the suspenion will more likely have to be stiffened up a bit. But for now the stock motor has plenty of speed, even for my large sized track. I will post more updates in about a week. I need to get my bearings in and then do another speed test. I think the bearings will help with speed and handling by reducing friction and taking out almost all of the terrible wheel slop and wheel wobble that X-mods are known for. Suggestions are welcome, as I like to see people's input on what they think of the X-mods.
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Old 2007.07.17, 03:14 PM   #17
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Update

I got my bearings and batteries in the mail the other day, and I am really having fun with this X-mod now. The bearing elminate almost all of the slop that the wheels have. I would say 90% of it is gone, and the rest does not effect performence. The bearings also make the steering more responsive and much more precise. I am going 8-10 laps on the track without hitting a wall, which is great for the X-mod. Some of this was also due to a steering mod I did, which I will talk more about later.

I also got the Intellect batteries in the X-mod for the added punch, and they help alot. The X-mod weighs alot, chassis alone, and the punch on these batteries easily push it out of the corners with greater speed than the regular ni-mh's. They look great with the chassis too:

I have fixed the traction rolling issue completely. First, I put the wide rear axels in back from the suspenion tuning kit. After that was installed, I still had some rolling in the corners, so I moved to leightening the body. The X-mod bodies have several screws on them to hold the body kit on and make it removable. I'm not really too concerned with looks, since this is a performance X-mod, so I removed all of the screws and other items that weighed down the body and were dead weight.

As you can see, I was able to remove alsmost all of the screws under the body, minus two that hold on the front bumper(I want to be able to remove this piece). All the screws in this pic are from the body alone. I placed a small dap of CA glue where the screws used to be on the body kit pieces, and they are holding just fine. I took the mirrors completely off, to try and remove even more of the top weight. Overall, I shaved off a good deal of uneeded weight and it fixed the traction rolling problem. Here is a pic after the removal of the screws up front:

More updates will follow. There is still much to do.
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Old 2007.07.17, 03:50 PM   #18
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I don't know how dedicated you are to your Xmod shell, but IMO Iwaver shells rock for cheap racing. Plus they're very light relative to the Xmod bodies.

So far so good Kel, you're treating the Xmod like a production car being reworked to go touring car racing. I like.
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Old 2007.07.17, 03:58 PM   #19
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If you still want to run that Xmod shell, use a rotary tool or something to trim away the command logic light mounts and other molded in spots that you aren't using, and you can make the slots in the battery cover larger.
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Old 2007.07.17, 04:58 PM   #20
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Rocketmini, that is a great idea. I just cut off all the remiaing material that was not in use under the body. I shaved off about 5g of plastic I would estimate. Here are some before and after shots:
Before

After


The first thing I started trimming off, I forgot the dremel was set on high speed, and it went through the body and left a small hole. O well, I dont really care about the body, for racing purposes only.
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Old 2007.07.17, 05:05 PM   #21
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If you don't care about the body, just cut off the top and
make it a convertible ;-) or atleast cutout a moonroof.
that should save some grams.
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Old 2007.07.18, 09:32 AM   #22
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I don't think I'm going to take anything more off the body, it is fine now. Another problem I have run into is oversteering in certain parts of my track. This can be solved by moving some of the weight up front, to the back. As ou can see in this pic, the battery tray is still in its stock position. It can be moved front or back, depending on if yuo want more over or understeer, or less or more rear traction. It actually has 4 or 5 mounting positions, which impressed me.


But I needed less understeer and more rear traction so I slid the tray back a bit. At first I slid it all the way back, but found that I had too much understeer, so I moved it a notch forward, and now it is perfect. Here are some pics:



And if you havent noticed, My chassis is still RWD. I plan to keep it this way. Why? because the Radioshack awd kit sucks. It will give you all wheel drive, but there is so much binding in the drivetrain, you loose about 25% of your speed and efficency. The plastic in the rear driveshaft holder is not very accurate, and can have slight warping. I noticed this on another X-mod evo of mine. This causes the rear bevel gear to not line up correctly, and they will be pushed together too much, cuaseing a clicking noise. It may not be noticibale when the motor in in, but take the motor out and spin the drivetrain and you will see that is is not very free. I have found a way to get rid of most of the binding, by simply shaving off some end of the driveshaft and the end of the bevel gear, to seperate the gear mesh a little.
The RWD setup is very efficient and there is no binding. It handles just fine like this, and doesnt need the added weight of the driveshaft. But if you do go awd, the carbon shaft helps alot, and it can be trimmed easier.
As of now, the X-mod is running very good speed wise. The motor is fully broken in, and the accelleration is easily better than my mini-z's. I think with a ball bearing motor can and carbon brushes, we will have a winning stock motor. More updates later.
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Old 2007.07.19, 11:16 AM   #23
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If you ever did want to go awd, Atomic does make bevel gears. I don't know if they help with the binding though, but seeing that Atomic has a good line of parts, I don't see why the Xmod parts wouldn't be good as well.
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Old 2007.07.19, 01:19 PM   #24
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Ya, I saw those atomic carbon shaft set and the black bevel gears. They look like a delrin version of the Radioshack ones. I have never heard of anyone trying them out yet, but I still think they would need some modding to work without any binding.
I have spotted a weak spot on the EVO chassis, the knuckles. I managed to break one of the rear knuckles somehow. The car suddenly twisted during a turn and when I picked it up the knuckles had broke. But, I have several sets of knuckles on hand, and it was an easy fix. For those of you that like alloy parts, I suggest alloy knuckles for the X-mod, since so many screws rely on that part, and it will make it more durable. Here are some pics of the broken knuckle:



The intellect cells are really kicking in as of now! After about 5 charges, the punch has increased a substanial amount.
One of my friends has a stock class mini-z with PN spec parts, and we plan to race soon. I think it will be a pretty close race, but the test will be to see where I am at, and what I need to add and mod. I will try to get it on video if I can.
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Old 2007.07.19, 01:39 PM   #25
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again, if you want to do some practical testing with lap times and numbers simply use any of the existing hfay tracks. we already have lots of data on mini-z and xmods performance on these tracks and it would give you the best comparison data.
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Old 2007.07.20, 04:53 AM   #26
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You said you did a steering mod that you would later talk about?
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Old 2007.07.20, 09:50 AM   #27
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The steering mod consists of centering the pot inside the servo. This makes it so you don't need to click the buttons on the controller to make it run straight, and the car won't wander on its own. Then you need to apply a think grease on all the gears in the servo, which stops some of the stuttering and vibrations from the servo. I am trying to get some pics, but it is hard since it is in the chassis. I have also tried different servo motors, but they did not work. They would either overpower it and cause some glitching, or pull it too hard to one side and get stuck.

I found out that most of the steering issues are not found on the chassis, but on the controller. Some of the controllers that come in the stock kit are glitchy, I have gotten one like this before. It will cause the steering to suddenly twitch while turning. The only fix is to use a different controller. I tried 2 different controllers until I found the right one without any glitching on my old EVO car. The new EVO controller did not have the glitching problem like the others. But, after it got 25ft+ away, it would glitch on some parts of my track. The fix to this is to take off the short antenna that comes with it, and put on a hobby grade antenna. You will need to ream out a larger hole on top of the controller to fit the larger antenna. Once it is in you will get about 20ft more range and much less glitching. I will get pics of my setup later.
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Old 2007.07.20, 09:57 PM   #28
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One thing I might suggest is to upgrade to an iWaver or Mini-Z pcb. I know a few people here have done it. I have the same problem with 2 of my 5 Xmods, and the first one I got is cantankerous and old and only works when I give it cookies....


....hmm....


...sounds like a mod I should post on the offical Xmod site
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Old 2007.07.20, 10:02 PM   #29
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I think the whole point of the build up is to prove that an xmod can be "race worthy," with stock electronics. Thus the title lol.
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Old 2007.07.25, 06:36 PM   #30
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2nd EVO

I have set aside the RWD EVO chassis, and started working on an AWD chassis. I have worked out most of the kinks, and the drivetrain rolls smooth and has minimal binding. The current plans for this chassis are still in my mind. Should I go hobby grade, and use a iwaver or mini-z board? I am thinking about it. I need some of your input, and if enough people want me to do it, then I will. Here are current pics of the chassis next to the stock racer:


To get the awd kit to work without binding you need to shave 1mm off each side of it, and more if needed. Then shave off 1mm from one of the read bevel gears at the base of the gear, so it will slide down the shaft more. I used a carbon fiber driveshaft, so the shaving can be done with a file. I ended up taking more off the back of the shaft than the front, but others may differ. And full ball bearings are a must for a smooth drivetrain. Here you can see the red gear.

The project will continue this week. I think I may try using a mini-z or Iwaver body on this one. Tell me what you think.
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