Team Associated B74.1D 4WD buggy build 2.0

[DavidB1126]

Here was a qualifier from the other night. Did pretty good. Pretty consistent until the end. After the curve ramp and the 2 short couples, I missed the doubles a couple of times. I guess some would consider that cheating in a way, but its alright. The person in front of me is way more experienced and faster than me anyways so its really no big deal.

 

[DavidB1126]

Getting new ballcups (for the steering / toe links)
10K diff oil (front)
30K diff oil (rear)
1M diff oil (center)
Also ordered 30wt and 40wt shock oils for Beach RC in August for vacation

The current tires I have on now which are the Swaggers are completely worn down
Getting new front tires. Getting JConcepts as they are pretty cheap, and premounted to the wheel
Getting both pairs of Pin Swags and Fuzz bites premounted.
The locals also recommended ProLine Harpoons front and rear. Didn't go that route as I need a new set of wheels, and its much more expensive.

Was thinking about getting the B74.2 battery mount and straps. I heard they fit the B74.1 with just some little trimming of the side guards so no problem. But I removed it from the cart as I'm very very low on money. (Not surprised) The thing I do not like about the kit battery strap is that it is carbon fiber, and you have to take out the screw inorder to put in and remove the battery which makes it a pain between races. Also to mention its a terrible design, well, on both .1 and .2 mounts and straps. I seen one guy had a problem snapping the .2 elastic straps.

With the tires, I am going to run 1 of them in 1 heat, and the other in the next heat, and in the main, I will determine which one I like the best. The other pair I have, I will keep for my uncle just incase if his swaggers get worn down quickly.

The rear tires are pretty good. Me and my uncle both run Schumacher Cactus rear and Swagger fronts so thats where I got the setup from.

And 1 thing I forgot. Got my new radio. Which is the RC8X for prime day. 255 instead of 320. Last chance to get it. I could of done the trade in program and still get it for 220, but it will take a while since it is coming from China. The RC8X should pair up with the receiver already in my buggy and mini b no problem (R6FG V4/V5 rx's). The only issue I will have is higher ms or refresh rate. Not to into that part of rx/tx. They do have the R8FG V2 receivers which can run down to 3ms but the problem is with both of the cars, it is super big and bulky, and dual long antennas. Hopefully Radiolink can come up with a receiver which is mini or micro, antenna-less, and run down to the lower ms rating or whatever it is. So my current radio (RC4GS V3) will be kept for my dad, and for bashing. Really don't want to throw around a expensive radio like that. Might move up to the higher grade Futaba and Sanwa stuff later on in the future.

Last Saturday, I test drove 2 cars. One of them was Lamont's Schumacher LD2 (2wd) buggy, and he has it paired up with his 10PX. Felt pretty good. Got used to driving it pretty fast as I had experience from the Mini B. The other car I drove was James's 22x4, and he has it paired up with his NB4. Felt really dialed in, and fast.

The other thing I am getting dialed in is the timing on the motor can. I was running whatever they had it set to from the factory which I think it was around 40 or 45 degrees. I had turned it up to 50 degrees and it felt a bit faster. One guy has the Hobbywing Tunealyser so he will let me use that to get it really dialed in. (Since this is stock, the timing is only allowed on the motor can, 0 turbo or boost timing through the ESC)

With all of these new tires, and timing adjustments, we will see if I can win the B main and get into the A. Just need a little more practice time with getting used to the new tires, and the more timing.

Won't be going down this Thursday for racing, but should be on Saturday. Running Mini B, and 1/10 if we got people. Last Saturday, it was test and tune, I was the only one who showed up besides the 2 owners and 3 other Mini Z racers.

 

[DavidB1126]

Review, build, and update video coming tomorrow!

 

[DavidB1126]

Last night was racing. I put the pin swags on. I did have to sort of break them in as I was getting lots of front traction, and it almost leveled out in the middle of the night. It was practice for me as I had new tires, new radio, and new track layout. Also not to mention I was driving 2 wheel bashers earlier that day so had to get used to 4wd again. (Also for not being at the track for 2 weeks) Haven't tried the fuzz bites yet but will next time. I think that they will have even more traction so might stay with the pin swags. Had some issues with the battery strap coming loose but I think I fixed it with some super glue. I will hopefully be getting a new battery strap soon. In qual 1 I got 4th out of 6. Fastest lap of a 13.3 so I am definitely improving! Probably because of the new radio and new tires. I have a Avg consistency of 83%. In qual 2, I got 4th out of 6 again (finished in the same place) Fastest lap of a 13.7. Avg consistency of 90%. In the main, I started in 4th and finished in 4th. Fastest lap of a 13.4 and avg consistency of 87%. Will be going back next Thursday and I am going to see if the locals can change my diff oils out for me. Center going to me 1 mil. 30k in the rear. And I will probably stay with 15K out front. But might change to 10k in-between races. and we will see if it makes a difference. It should. Right now I am running 15/500/15 for my diffs. Yesterday I test drove Lamont's Tekno EB410.2 with the 10PX. Love the radio (as I stated before) The brake on it is not strong enough for my liking, maybe it is a brake curve or delay in the radio or esc. Might change it on mine to see how I like it. I also drove Sonny's car. Pretty sure it was a B74. Not sure which version though. He had it paired up with his 7PX which I like the feel of it too. His car is pretty fast. Going to talk to him next time to see what he is running.

For practice yesterday, I had a fast lap of 12.6 which I am not sure if that was an actual lap or a quick test lap or if I skipped a jump or too.
But my actual fast lap was a 13.06 so I am getting up there.

I am dragging my uncle down to the track and race. He has to get up early on Fridays so Thursday's are not ideal for him. Might wait until winter time to drag him out on a weekend. As right now on weekends, its dead, practice / test n tune as most people are doing their own thing or racing outside.

 

[DavidB1126]

Been a while. Got a real Chassis protector. Instead of using gorilla or duct tape.

I think I made a thread that I might be doing a big race soon, that will be next weekend and car is almost ready to go. 30K.rear, 10k front diff. Staying with 500K in the center since it doesn't need to be rebuilt yet. Same shock set-up. Set alignment and ride height. Replaced the front CVA bone, and replaced sway bars. Went with 2.0 out front and 1.9 rear. Will experiment with 1.8 and 1.3 sway bars while at practice on Monday. And then, I will pick up my body from a friend, paint that up, and should be ready! They are racing tomorrow but I have no one to take me down.

 

[BarnFabRC]

That’s a cool chassis protector! I need to do a pretty major maintenance session this weekend. Clean and oil bearings, check the shocks and reset my base settings. But I have to clean the basement up first.

Had a mini flood last night from the drain getting blocked in the window pit on the back of my house. Water backed up because someone’s bodega bag found it’s way in there and water was actually coming in the window from probably about midnight last night till I woke up this morning. Nothing got ruined. It just made a mess. I’m going to order one of those flood sensors for the alarm system this week. It easily could have been stopped right away had I known it was happening.

Idk how you had it last night with the storm but here in Philly we’ve been getting dumped on!

 

[DavidB1126]

Idk how you had it last night with the storm but here in Philly we’ve been getting dumped on!

We survived. Idk what happened really. Cause when I sleep I don't get woken up my anything (unless it's my alarm or the sun rising, or me just waking up naturally) but when I woke up this morning it was raining hard. Now it is just windy and overcast.

 

[DavidB1126]

Got Fuzz Bites rear, premounted. So I'll test them out. And see what works the best with all the tires I have. And I'll combine different tires like cactus, pin swags, ect. But I think for 4wd you would be better using the same tire front and rear.

 

[lambdapriest]

Everybody at my club LOVES Fuzzbites. I like them too, but I've been running Nessis in the rear lately - my car has a tendency to oversteer a little, and the Nessis don't let the back of the car slide anywhere near as much as the Fuzzbites do. I'm not sure exactly why the car is oversteering - could be a weight distribution thing, a suspension thing, or perhaps I'm feeding too much steering input - but between now and whenever I figure it out, I'm going to stick with the Nessis, because I'm a second a lap faster when the car is pointing in the correct direction most of the time!

I'm curious to hear your thoughts on them.

 

[DavidB1126]

Tires. Fuzz Bites front and rear are amazing! Tons of grip to my liking. I had a problem yesterday that one of the right wheels, the wheel nut backed out, and that wheel flew off 3 times during practice. I am using the kit included thin wheel nuts out front, with some loctite. and I am using the spare, thicker wheel nuts I have for the rear. Since the stub axle for the rear is longer for the front. Almost spun / stripped that wheel hex, but still looks ok to use and works fine.

Later into the race night, I got my car more steering, so I got to get used to more steering, maybe put some more steering expo / delay in it as my reaction time is still a little bit on the slower side. Considering I haven't been racing and raced on carpet for 2 1/2 months, My consistency went from 95/96 percent back in august, to 83 percent yesterday, its all good tho. Learning new things with more steering and new tires. Sold some chassis for 10 bucks and got my new LFR (LeadFinger Racing) Body from one of the racers. Will be cutting out and painting that this weekend. Feels alot more thicker / heavy duty so should last a lot longer. My current body is the kit included light weight one and is hold together by duct tape at this point. (LFR Body: https://leadfingerrc.com/shop-1/ols/products/a2-tactic-body-wtwo-wing-set-for-ae-b74-4wd-buggy )

Fastest lap on this current layout is 11.9. Can't remember if that's with a 2wd or 4wd.

Qual 1: Started last, ended last. 81% Consistency. Fastest lap of a 14.56. Average lap of a 18 And was behind 5 laps off the pace.

Qual 2: Started 2nd, ended 3rd. Behind 2 laps off the pace. Fast lap of a 14.31, average of 17.99. 81% Consistency.

A Main - since we had 5 drivers for 4 wheel: Started last, finished last with 2 laps behind the pace, fast lap of 14.23, average of 18.37, 85% Consistency. That average lap is probably because of me getting used to more steering.

Getting back into it @bill_delong

Forgot to mention this, but before racing, also had a problem with that same wheel flying off, that sometimes it wouldn't like to turn. Rebuilt the front diff. Wasn't the issue. Found out that wheel hex was a bit tight, since most race stuff today have clamping hexes.

I also might be needing a new gearbox for the front, as for the sway bar mount screw, it does not stay in, and looks like the plastic where the screw goes through for the gear box is stripped out. Wonder if I can upgrade to the .2 gearbox and bulkhead without mods?

Still had cutting out issues with my radio. New receiver time. Getting all the 6 channel radiolink receivers, without the gyro, too see if the gyro is the issue. (R6F V4) This time I was using the 8ch R8FG V2, and still had issues, and the antenna/s were perfectly fine. Well, I guess its what you pay for. I knew I should had went with futaba. Or sanwa. Or Flysky.

A little story, one race night. One persons radio, took over another persons car. Both users were using Sanwa M17s and same receiver.

 

[Lumikko]

I had a problem yesterday that one of the right wheels, the wheel nut backed out, and that wheel flew off 3 times during practice. I am using the kit included thin wheel nuts out front, with some loctite. and I am using the spare, thicker wheel nuts I have for the rear. Since the stub axle for the rear is longer for the front.

Clean that loctite off the axle and nut threads. Use grease instead. You won’t have another nut fall off your wheels.

I have stub axles with 5 mm hexes in the front. The axles don’t quite reach all the threads on the nuts. But they stay on just fine.

Here’s the logic: there will always be some movement between the axle and pin, pin and hex, and hex and wheel. If the nut is serrated and locked to the wheel it should allow the axle to slip back and forth to retain the grip on the wheel. If the nut is locked to the axle it should be smooth against the wheel.

Try it out. What’s the worst thing that can happen if you do? Your wheels are already falling off.

 

[DavidB1126]

Ordering some parts.
Going to try out the .2 gullwing front arms and tower (CF tower) and see how it does.
The set screw for the sway bar mount always backs out, so I will get a new set of screws and a new gear box, I believe the plastic threads are stripped out
I figured out why I keep going through front arms, as I am using the Carbon arms instead of the OEM replacement ones. Carbon is lighter and more brittle, while OEM is a little heavy and more durable? Gonna order a OEM replacement as I already have a pair of Carbon .1 arms. Its always the front I have issues with, had 0 issues with the rear arms or towers.
So with that, since I'm digging deep, might just rebuild and clean up the front end, and since we are halfway there, maybe the whole car.
Might get thinner sway bars since right now I'm running thick for carpet, and ill be racing on indoor dirt now on for a long while.
My plan is to sand down my bar tires to slicks, which I feel like will give me better traction.
Maybe looking at getting a mod motor

 

[lambdapriest]

If your plastic threads are loose - dab a little super glue on the screw threads before you put ‘em in. Might not get you 100% of the way there, but it might help!

 

[BarnFabRC]

Ordering some parts.
Going to try out the .2 gullwing front arms and tower (CF tower) and see how it does.
The set screw for the sway bar mount always backs out, so I will get a new set of screws and a new gear box, I believe the plastic threads are stripped out
I figured out why I keep going through front arms, as I am using the Carbon arms instead of the OEM replacement ones. Carbon is lighter and more brittle, while OEM is a little heavy and more durable? Gonna order a OEM replacement as I already have a pair of Carbon .1 arms. Its always the front I have issues with, had 0 issues with the rear arms or towers.
So with that, since I'm digging deep, might just rebuild and clean up the front end, and since we are halfway there, maybe the whole car.
Might get thinner sway bars since right now I'm running thick for carpet, and ill be racing on indoor dirt now on for a long while.
My plan is to sand down my bar tires to slicks, which I feel like will give me better traction.
Maybe looking at getting a mod motor

I’d just get a set of slicks and hold onto the bars. They’re a nice thing to have in the pit box when you need them. I ran a set of Radar/Second chance from Raw Speed last week at Pit Stop, it was earlier in the day before the track got dusty and they were awesome. Super soft compound.

 

[DavidB1126]

Going to the dirt track tomorrow for some laps
Need more traction compound so I'll get that, she has the roll on compound from FDJ, most racers there uses the yellow/green dot. Currently got a ProTek spray which I'm almost out of, since me and my uncle used the whole bottle at Beach RC.
Running a carpet setup minus added front ride height.
I was planning on the carpet track but they are closed tomorrow.

 

[DavidB1126]

@ The Track
New traction compound from FDJ. Got the yellow dot. Smells like traction.

 

[Helge]

Out with the old and in with the new.

View attachment 159215

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I allways feel more safe with aluminium than carbon.

 

[DavidB1126]

I actually have a aluminum tower. I I got another carbon fiber one in the parts bag. I'll put it on once I drive better.
At this point, I'm more for durability than weight. But once I get used to it I'll switch to carbon.
Buggy did great today, that new compound definitely works and helped. I think Beach RC got me prepped for indoor dirt.
More lower lap times and being more consistent.
My radio problems with cutting out sort of resolved. It only cut out once and I ran into the wall , but all is good. I actually started having issues once I switched to thoseCHNL batteries. Weird.

 

[Emm2849]

i need to get one of these...

 

[DavidB1126]

i need to get one of these...

You should. Racing 4 wheel is super fun. On both carpet and dirt
I'm running a 13.5 in here but a 6.5 and do a mod conversion, it will be insane