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Would a 2014 XRAY T4 be good for VTA?

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RetroThutmose said:
our first race day went well. They let my kid drive the car in a beginner class and i raced in VTA. With this older 25.5 i felt i was at a power disadvantage but i had a pretty good setup following the basic xray asphalt setup. i would lose time on the two long straits but then i'd catch up and pass in the twistys. We didn't have any breaks but did drop a couple of screws out of the bottom that captured the B block. Kid had a squirrelly session with that but i had plenty of m3x5mm screws to repair. just need a drop of loctite going forward. I also realized our wheels and tires were just barely holding on. IDK what glue was used to mount them but i guess 10 years of sitting is enough to weaken the bond. Also didn't help i was trying to dope the tires to bring some softness back into them. Going to order some new tires but i dont think i will mess with the electronics this summer. Really fun car and by far my cheapest venture into RC racing.

$200 for:
2014 xray T4 chassis (with a few upgrades like shock towers, maybe a few other small things)
novak edge ESC
novak 25.5 motor
ko propo servo (it's 10 years old but this is a really good servo)
mylaps 2-wire transponder
2 bodies
spare parts for common break items:
2x front arms
2x rear arms
bags of ball studs
bags of xray branded screws (i dont even want to know what an xray screw cost vs a basic one)
a couple of pinion and spur gears
some drivetrain parts
some other suspension parts
and two brand new shocks still in the bag never been built.

All i added was a cheap flysky receiver and radio for about $40. I already had it but just adding it to the cost.

so for $240 all-in you really can't beat that.

Going forward i might switch this over to my radiomaster system but the flysky is so easy to adjust on the fly, so that would add $130 if we were to buy brand new and it comes with recievers.
new tires all around will be about $50 for the spec tires.
so still, this will be an incredibly cheap racing venture. little bit of luck and waiting for the best deal to pop up helps a lot.
Click to expand...

That's a pretty good deal. If you were to change anything out, I would recommend changing out the motor. There has been a lot of upgrades to motors over the past 10 years. Next, swapping out the ESC might be a good idea. They are a lot more efficient and offer more adjustments.
 
WutUp Clegg said:
That's a pretty good deal. If you were to change anything out, I would recommend changing out the motor. There has been a lot of upgrades to motors over the past 10 years. Next, swapping out the ESC might be a good idea. They are a lot more efficient and offer more adjustments.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I have a bunch of HW ESC laying around but I don't have any other 25.5 motors. My plan is to run it this summer as is and maybe sell the Novak stuff at the end and pick up another motor.
 
I went digging in the crates and found a bunch of on road wheels and tires I thought I'd never use. I had no idea I had a complete VTA set of wheels and tires.
PXL_20250402_031350508.webp
 
Got another third place finish. Went over the car with a fine tooth comb and found the cap on one rear shocks was skewed. Then found on of the ball cups on the rear shocks was bent or never screwed in the proper 90* orientation. So got those fixed up easily since it came with 2 extra unbuilt shocks. Also ordered two bodies a Dodge dart and Plymouth Barracuda. Also going to stick my new HW ESC that I wasn't using since I know the Novak BEC isn't the best and I should have a motiv motor in house by Friday. Going to get it all ready Friday night, do some testing Saturday and race sunday 😎
 
RetroThutmose said:
Got another third place finish. Went over the car with a fine tooth comb and found the cap on one rear shocks was skewed. Then found on of the ball cups on the rear shocks was bent or never screwed in the proper 90* orientation. So got those fixed up easily since it came with 2 extra unbuilt shocks. Also ordered two bodies a Dodge dart and Plymouth Barracuda. Also going to stick my new HW ESC that I wasn't using since I know the Novak BEC isn't the best and I should have a motiv motor in house by Friday. Going to get it all ready Friday night, do some testing Saturday and race sunday 😎
Click to expand...
Please post about those bodies!!! I love old Mopars!!! 😍❤️
Sounds like a major handling issue corrected. With that, a new motor and esc, you'll have a whole different car!!! 👍
 
CertifiedMike said:
Please post about those bodies!!! I love old Mopars!!! 😍❤️
Sounds like a major handling issue corrected. With that, a new motor and esc, you'll have a whole different car!!! 👍
Click to expand...
Thanks, I was a little over a second off the top pace but a ten year old motor and ESC is a real performance gap I hope to close up. Handling was never really an issue. I've had a lot of experience setting up my oval and off-road cars at this point and I just used the X-ray stock setup. It worked great for our surface and a lot of the experienced guys gave me compliments on getting on pace so quickly. I'm not sure when the shock got messed up, I had a couple of harder hits than I am comfortable with. Car is tough tho, I will give it that. The shock was still operating fine and had not even lost any fluid but the cap was cross threaded. Toughest part was setting the preload. I was aiming for 25% but their method was not working for me so I use the method I use for oval shocks. Drop the bladder in the shock, hold it in with a small tool, compress the shock and let the overflow bleed, then place the cap on. I find this method way easier and repeatable.
 
RetroThutmose said:
Thanks, I was a little over a second off the top pace but a ten year old motor and ESC is a real performance gap I hope to close up. Handling was never really an issue. I've had a lot of experience setting up my oval and off-road cars at this point and I just used the X-ray stock setup. It worked great for our surface and a lot of the experienced guys gave me compliments on getting on pace so quickly. I'm not sure when the shock got messed up, I had a couple of harder hits than I am comfortable with. Car is tough tho, I will give it that. The shock was still operating fine and had not even lost any fluid but the cap was cross threaded. Toughest part was setting the preload. I was aiming for 25% but their method was not working for me so I use the method I use for oval shocks. Drop the bladder in the shock, hold it in with a small tool, compress the shock and let the overflow bleed, then place the cap on. I find this method way easier and repeatable.
Click to expand...
They are nice cars! I'm glad its working out for you!
I bet you will pick up pace with the new electronics and the better adjustability of the esc.
Sounds like a pretty huge week for you! 😎

Shock set up is always a trick. I've seen videis where ppl swear by their method but I can't make it work at all... other times the shocks go together easy and work better than I'd hoped. 🤷‍♀️🤣
I wonder if the shock got smacked and caused both those issues.
If the ball came loose and saved the rod, thats a good deal! 😎👍
 

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