Swift Pro build

[niggle]

I'm about half way through building a Swift Pro kit. I have set up a web site to document the build here:

http://www.swiftbuggy.com/probuild/start.shtml

This is very much a work in progress, so please bear with me. Enjoy!

 

[Toolman]

Hi niggle, your website looks good.

I personally have given up with the Swift for a while,
My story is that I waited till the revised Swift2 was released before I bought one. I went through all 2000 odd pages of the Swift thread. Made lots of mods & fitted Pro knuckle arms, towers etc. made chassis braces to stop the chassis bending. Fitted a spare set of Kyosho shocks, decent servos & a Hyper engine.

I was pretty please with the handling & was able to keep up with my mates MP7.5 with an RB engine. But while on holiday in Canada 2 diff outdrives broke during the first gallon. I guess they got the hardening process wrong!

I was pretty pissed off and left it with a friend in Canada & bought an X1-CR!

I have bought some spare diff parts (From Schumacher) to take with me when I next go, anyway the parts are all different to the originals (despite the same part numbers). God knows if they will actually fit. I have never seen two Swifts with the same spec parts. I got some Mugen outdrives to try, but these are a lot longer & will probably foul the driveshafts at max drop (might be ok on the front).

More strength to you, die hard Swift fan!

Tim.

 

[Tweak]

Very well documented, very profesional. congrats on a great job man. I hope you have fun with it, considering all the work that's going into the darn thing

 

[niggle]

I got some Mugen outdrives to try, but these are a lot longer & will probably foul the driveshafts at max drop (might be ok on the front).

Yeah, I got some of these too. The driveshafts do foul at full suspension droop but you can fix this by grinding out the inside of the outdrives a little with a conical grinding bit. You just need to remove a little material where the chamfer starts. If I can get some clear photos I'll add this to the web site.

I do think that Schumacher are a bit cheeky in claiming that the Swift 2/Pro outdrives are "hardened". The kit outdrives are very easy to mark with an engineer's scriber; the Mugen outdrives aren't.

Thanks for the words of encouragement from everyone who has replied so far and I'm sure you are going to enjoy the X1-CR, Toolman.

 

[dxm2]

Hi Niggle,

Great web page. Are you warry of using the Swift fuel tank? They use to be notorious for leaking and leaning out the mixture.

Also, did they change the motor mount system? It looks much more like the Kyosho way with the motor mounts attaching to a plate before bolting through the chasis.

 

[niggle]

Hi Niggle,

Great web page. Are you warry of using the Swift fuel tank? They use to be notorious for leaking and leaning out the mixture.

Also, did they change the motor mount system? It looks much more like the Kyosho way with the motor mounts attaching to a plate before bolting through the chasis.

The tank is the same item as fitted to the RTR models from what I can see. Never had a leak on my Swifts and the O-ring seal on the lid is good at the moment but I will keep my eye on it when I get round to running the car. All nitro cars suffer from the empty tank lean problem to some degree. Apparently the MP7.5 tank is a straight swap if you need to.

Yes the engine mounts are different. They are still two-pieces and finned to help heat dissipation, but they have fixed holes tapped in the top where the engine bolts on, rather than the slotted, adjustable sliding arrangement that the RTR uses. These holes are slightly off-centre so you have the choice of two fore-aft positions for the engine, depending on which way round you fit the mounts. Hard to explain without pictures so I'll post back here when I have something suitable up on the web site.

 

[niggle]

The build is now complete, save for the painting and trimming of a new bodyshell. I'll update the site again when the bodyshell has been painted (it's too cold and damp for painting here in the UK at the moment).

I'm also planning a couple of new articles in the near future:

• Modifying the stock SH 3-port engine
• Truggy conversion for the Swift RTR

Check it out at http://www.swiftbuggy.com/probuild/start.html.

________________________

niggle
http://www.swiftbuggy.com

 

[jasen]

Hi niggle just wondering what chaise your going to use for the truggy conversion I've been wanting to do the same thing just need to find a longer chaise with similar hole pattern for the diff cases maybe "mugen" also what arms are you going to use I've been thinking of using x1 crt arms

 

[niggle]

Hi niggle just wondering what chaise your going to use for the truggy conversion I've been wanting to do the same thing just need to find a longer chaise with similar hole pattern for the diff cases maybe "mugen" also what arms are you going to use I've been thinking of using x1 crt arms

What I've got in mind is something like the OFNA Blazer SST, rather than a purpose built truggy like the LSP or CRT. It's meant to be for bashing on rough ground, taking advantage of the increased ground clearance, rather than competing with Pro Truggy setups.

I'm planning on using the Swift RTR chassis, with an extra plate on the bottom to provide additional bracing between the areas where the front and rear braces attach to the chassis. I'll also uprate the anti-roll bars to something like 2.5mm and 3.0mm to compensate for the higher C of G.

I plan to stick with the original arms but will use OFNA full offset truggy wheels which bolt straight on to the original 17mm hubs.

I'll probably use 6" Panther Meat Grinder tyres and 12/48 gearing, which should give me about the same final drive ratio as 15/46 gearing and standard 4.5" buggy tyres. Failing this I'll go with the Panther Low Profile Komodo Dragon truck tyres.

I know the Mugen, LSP and CRT Truggy chassis are longer (360 - 370mm wheelbase) but at 330mm the Swift wheelbase is still longer than a stock T-Maxx or Savage chassis (305mm, I believe).