Fangdango! V8 drag car

[paytonimusrex]

dude this thing is cool as hell it’s looking awesome i’m curious to see the body once it’s on!

 

[johnnydmd]

dude this thing is cool as hell it’s looking awesome i’m curious to see the body once it’s on!

I'll probably have it mounted tonight, just have to put the rear posts on and mark the spots, but it's looking like settled science at this point.

After all of this, I will have to make some brackets and what not to mount the turbos and exhaust. Shouldn't be a problem though, plenty of room and bolt points.

 

[paytonimusrex]

wow this thing is beyond impressive !

 

[Xraycer]

So, is that radiator actually water cooled?

What will you be using for engine lubrication?

 

[johnnydmd]

So, is that radiator actually water cooled?

What will you be using for engine lubrication?

Yup, well I'll use pink antifreeze.

They recommended 10-50 oil, but I put in some 10-40 synthetic for the break-in. Felt like a little thinner would be better for that, as the engine is pretty tight.

 

[Doom!]

Trial and error, but lots of progress.

 

[johnnydmd]

Trial and error, but lots of progress.

More rapid than I expected honestly. Looks like my best bet is to re-design the transmission plate and just cut one myself on my router. Reason being is I never accounted for where to mount the brake lever, lol. Everything else I think is pretty spot on actually. Other than having to move the rear cage back some, and trim the front radiator/body mount, I haven't had to whip out the dremel much.

My wife is going shopping tonight, so I have a bunch of me time to knock out some things

1. Re-install panhard bar and test.
2. Put in heavier front springs. (I also have dampeners I was considering adding, but will see if there's room after I adjust the steering links).
3. Install the throttle brake servo. (I need to upgrade both of those, I just have 12 dollar Amazon cheapies that never last long for testing that I had laying around).
4. Mount the radiator and hoses. Also, I want to mount the little overflow tank to the front of the shocktower, just above the servo. I'll fab some brackets for that.
5. Install and set up the wheelie bar. I have everything material/part wise, but I want to make it fully adjustable, and maybe spring loaded. That's probably a whole project itself.

 

[johnnydmd]

Well, I got 1, 2, 3, partially 4 and started on 5 done while my wife was having a good time at Sam's Club

Servo is slightly too high, so I'll get some posts that are 10mm shorter. Panhard bar made the rear ultra stable, like now 0 shake/flex. I think my blue links are coming today to replace the green ones. Front springs changed out, much better. I also repositioned the shocks some and added 10mm of travel.

I mounted the body, so that is now done, and I can paint whenever.

I decided it was time to weigh the car. I had been sort of wanting to not, because I didn't want to be let down, but darned if it didn't weigh pretty close to my projections:

That's at 10.4 lbs. However, the CDI, battery pack, gas tank was not on the car. I weighed those on my scale and that was an additional 243 grams, putting the car at 10.9 lbs. I also have to install a (very slim, light) radiator fan and the overflow tank. Those two items would probably put it right at 11 lbs. The wheelie bar, which is very light, might bump it just over. I do plan on adding the steel trans gears, so that'll slap a few more ounces on as well. However, I intend to replace the very heavy motor mount that is made of stainless steel to an aluminum one, which would more than offset that, as well as take some weight off the nose-heavy balance. It's funny that the balance is pretty much the exact opposite of the nitro cars. I believe in my original post I said I hoped to build this thing 10-12 lbs to make it a viable race car, so looks like it's on target.

Racing this weekend, so probably no work to be done until Sunday evening. Wheelie bar is next to finish.

 

[Xraycer]

Just keeps getting awesomer and awesomer!

 

[Chubaka]

Amazing work. Kinda bummed it's not a v12 but that's beyond your control. Can't wait to see it in action.

 

[johnnydmd]

Amazing work. Kinda bummed it's not a v12 but that's beyond your control. Can't wait to see it in action.

There is a small v12 out there, but it's not exactly cheap. Vipers have v10s though, and I don't think there's a scale v10, or at least not one that's this small. Blasphemous to put a V8 in a Viper, I know (but I've seen some promod Vipers with them).

Probably a good ways away until action, but maybe before winter sets in.

 

[paytonimusrex]

i’m so excited for this

 

[paytonimusrex]

someone showed up on my feed recommended because of the rc group

 

[johnnydmd]

Not much time to work on it this weekend, Saturday was race day, Sunday recovery and football, but got to it after the game.

Main thing I wanted to accomplish was getting the wheelie bar finished, so that I could see how the body would fit with it and any cuts that I needed to make. Lot of drilling, tapping, cutting, but got it done. I may eventually put some shocks on the upper links, but for sure I need to make it adjustable one way or another. Probably just some holes in the arches to start with.

Maybe it's better to be lucky than good. Stuff I had just seemed to work out for the bar. I did need to cut the body a little in the rear as expected.

I also mounted the radiator fan, and got the bracket adjusted and positioned. Everything is a super tight fit.

The overflow tank will sit just behind the radiator. Opting to go this route instead of pressure cap since I fear any steam coming out of the cap the way I've seen videos will destroy the body.

I am waiting on some replacement CF parts - the side rail on passenger side with a much larger shelf, and the transmission mount plate and rear body mount plate with updates, so that I can bolt my gas tank there. I also probably need to add a cross brace behind the engine to help prevent excessive chassis twist.

With that done, I was back to watching football and masking the body to get it ready to paint tonight.

One last obvious hurdle I have encountered is the drive shaft. Every dogbone I searched for at 65mm was a 5mm ball, and I needed an 8mm ball. I really want to keep the Kyosho cup for the brakes, so I am thinking of making my own from some 8mm t6 aluminum rod. I have the pins already, so I suppose I can drill some holes and press the pins through. Should be super beefy.

 

[paytonimusrex]

Not much time to work on it this weekend, Saturday was race day, Sunday recovery and football, but got to it after the game.

Main thing I wanted to accomplish was getting the wheelie bar finished, so that I could see how the body would fit with it and any cuts that I needed to make. Lot of drilling, tapping, cutting, but got it done. I may eventually put some shocks on the upper links, but for sure I need to make it adjustable one way or another. Probably just some holes in the arches to start with.

View attachment 206923

Maybe it's better to be lucky than good. Stuff I had just seemed to work out for the bar. I did need to cut the body a little in the rear as expected.

View attachment 206924

I also mounted the radiator fan, and got the bracket adjusted and positioned. Everything is a super tight fit.

View attachment 206925

The overflow tank will sit just behind the radiator. Opting to go this route instead of pressure cap since I fear any steam coming out of the cap the way I've seen videos will destroy the body.

I am waiting on some replacement CF parts - the side rail on passenger side with a much larger shelf, and the transmission mount plate and rear body mount plate with updates, so that I can bolt my gas tank there. I also probably need to add a cross brace behind the engine to help prevent excessive chassis twist.

View attachment 206926

With that done, I was back to watching football and masking the body to get it ready to paint tonight.

View attachment 206927
View attachment 206928

One last obvious hurdle I have encountered is the drive shaft. Every dogbone I searched for at 65mm was a 5mm ball, and I needed an 8mm ball. I really want to keep the Kyosho cup for the brakes, so I am thinking of making my own from some 8mm t6 aluminum rod. I have the pins already, so I suppose I can drill some holes and press the pins through. Should be super beefy.

i’m so excited to see this thing completed and running

 

[Doom!]

Getting closer! looks killer already, nice job on the wheelie bar.

 

[Chubaka]

Getting closer! looks killer already, nice job on the wheelie bar.

I think it looks wheelie great too.

 

[Lukedavis]

Dude. This thing is sickkkkk

 

[johnnydmd]

The body was finished last night. I dialed back the idea of doing a hex pattern on the roof and hood, as it turns out the metallic gold, despite seeming to be somewhat translucent did not really show much color change with the different backing colors. Not enough to warrant taking a chance any way. Otherwise, I think it came out pretty sweet, one of the first recent paint jobs I didn't mess up on.

My new suspension links all came in, so that's my next move, getting them on, and getting the suspension adjusted/centered, etc. As soon as the new transmission plate arrives with the other updated parts, I'll work on that, the gas tank, hoses for cooling. Then I suppose I'll get back to the engine and fix the stuff I need to there and maybe fire it up.

 

[Xraycer]

Unique color combo. Looks great!