Have no idea how it'll run... I have my doubts, but I really dig the overall look! lol!
Drop me some comments if you want more info on how this conversion was done!
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Buggy Shell Makeover!
This car continues to turn heads at the track both in terms of looks and handling too. It keeps up fine on high traction days, but it truly excels when things get dry and loose.
With some recent changes in our track layout, the only real area where it suffers a tad is when there is any need for a sudden burst of speed. We have this set of whoops on a table top coming right after a turn and with my Cougar I can just about jump these at a go with a burst of throttle up the jump. The FF Buggy doesn't accelerate as hard due to wheel spin and the design of the track doesn't allow it to carry enough speed through the turn to clear the whoops. Car is killer and more than makes up on the rest of the track though. Will have to practice some different lines... I may clear this yet! :)
FF Buggy received a shell makeover and clean-up too...
Standard "BloodClod" team colors (I'm not very imaginative... lol). Here's a picture of my TRF201 and DB-01 in the same scheme.
With some recent changes in our track layout, the only real area where it suffers a tad is when there is any need for a sudden burst of speed. We have this set of whoops on a table top coming right after a turn and with my Cougar I can just about jump these at a go with a burst of throttle up the jump. The FF Buggy doesn't accelerate as hard due to wheel spin and the design of the track doesn't allow it to carry enough speed through the turn to clear the whoops. Car is killer and more than makes up on the rest of the track though. Will have to practice some different lines... I may clear this yet! :)
FF Buggy received a shell makeover and clean-up too...
Standard "BloodClod" team colors (I'm not very imaginative... lol). Here's a picture of my TRF201 and DB-01 in the same scheme.
Friday, May 7, 2010
Chatter chatter...
At a recent run over last weekend I noticed in the pits that the front wheels were exhibiting some chatter during steering. I spent the whole week trying to find the source of the chatter only to realize later that it'd probably been there the whole time. Car seems to go fine on the track but when throttling and steering on the bench the front end vibrates. Did some reading and it seems it's normal for universal joints to do so... week of troubleshooting wasted. lol!
One thing I've noticed with the FF is that tire selection or condition is less important compared to a traditional Rear Wheel Drive (RWD) buggy. On a RWD buggy, especially when tracks get looser, the tire choice can make the difference between a good handling buggy and one that can't even get round the track. On a FF however, even worn tires will work decently - of course a good tire will generate even more traction, but the performance gain is not as significant.
One thing I've noticed with the FF is that tire selection or condition is less important compared to a traditional Rear Wheel Drive (RWD) buggy. On a RWD buggy, especially when tracks get looser, the tire choice can make the difference between a good handling buggy and one that can't even get round the track. On a FF however, even worn tires will work decently - of course a good tire will generate even more traction, but the performance gain is not as significant.
Monday, May 3, 2010
Track testing update - 8.5T motor!
Over the past week the buggy has been in the hands of various drivers on the track and their comments have all been positive, but one thing many said was that they'd like a bit more speed in the car. At our local track the 10.5T I was running was pretty fine for most of the track but at the triples it needed a very good line to clear all 3 jumps at a go... I had to admit that I thought with a faster motor I would be able to clear the triples with less effort and thus knock off some seconds off the laptimes.
Yesterday I had some track time after installing a 8.5T Tekin Redline Brushless motor in the buggy. How did it go?
WOW did the new motor add some zip to the car! The triples were much easier to clear now and that was the one part of the track I would lose a bit of time on if other racers were attempting the 3.
The car excels coming off turns as it one doesn't need to feather the throttle - in fact I found myself having to back off the throttle quite a bit when coming up behind cars (to avoid hitting them) as very often the FF buggy would be able to carry more speed in the technical sections of the track.
At the end of a 30 minute test run the motor and ESC were both very cool at about 120 degrees farenheit.
So far so good.
Yesterday I had some track time after installing a 8.5T Tekin Redline Brushless motor in the buggy. How did it go?
WOW did the new motor add some zip to the car! The triples were much easier to clear now and that was the one part of the track I would lose a bit of time on if other racers were attempting the 3.
The car excels coming off turns as it one doesn't need to feather the throttle - in fact I found myself having to back off the throttle quite a bit when coming up behind cars (to avoid hitting them) as very often the FF buggy would be able to carry more speed in the technical sections of the track.
At the end of a 30 minute test run the motor and ESC were both very cool at about 120 degrees farenheit.
So far so good.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Video : Track Testing
There's been some interest in a video of the running of this buggy...
When I was researching FF buggies before this project I hunted the web for a vid but could never find one... so this just might be the first?
Anyway, here's some testing done at the local track with various drivers having a go at the buggy. Other than asking me to put a hotter motor into it they all loved it!
In case youtube is giving errors playing here, you can view it direct on youtube here.
When I was researching FF buggies before this project I hunted the web for a vid but could never find one... so this just might be the first?
Anyway, here's some testing done at the local track with various drivers having a go at the buggy. Other than asking me to put a hotter motor into it they all loved it!
In case youtube is giving errors playing here, you can view it direct on youtube here.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
New Chassis Mods
Today I cut new chassis plates out of carbon fiber and while I was at it I decided to make some small changes. I changed the shape of the upper deck slightly to add strength to some areas (although I didn't really have any problems with breakage yet) and removed some area for aesthetics.
Biggest change to the bottom chassis is that I've modified it to give more front kickup. The hingepin mounting block used to be mounted on top of the lower deck but now it is sitting flush with the bottom of the upper deck. This is done via spacers which will also allow me to add or remove "kick-up" if I need it.
In case you're wondering, the hingepin blocks come from a DB-01. :)
Hingepin blocks now sit flush with chassis bottom to give more "kick up"
Here's a pic with everything mounted up.
Biggest change to the bottom chassis is that I've modified it to give more front kickup. The hingepin mounting block used to be mounted on top of the lower deck but now it is sitting flush with the bottom of the upper deck. This is done via spacers which will also allow me to add or remove "kick-up" if I need it.
In case you're wondering, the hingepin blocks come from a DB-01. :)
Here's a pic with everything mounted up.
Steering Setup
On the FF buggy, chassis space is a premium as the rear trailing arms are so long and the chassis is much shorter. Within that space I had to fit an ESC, battery pack, servo, receiver AND the steering mechanism.
On the few FF buggies that inspired this build the steering was a direct setup with the servo horn connected straight to the steering knuckles. This setup results in significant bump-steer and I wanted to use a bellcrank mechanism instead.
The challenge is that the typical bellcrank system requires quite a bit of space. To get around this I decided to try something different.
Instead of the pivot point being in the middle of a bellcrank, I moved the pivot point right up front and this allows it to actually sit on the sides of the front gearbox, close to the outdrives. To achieve this, the bellcranks actually mount to the upper deck instead of the lower one. The bellcranks now pivot forward instead of backwards in a typical setup.
This took a long time to figure out how to get everything working freely but it's working!
Here's a picture from the underside of the upper deck.
Space is a premium - that's all the space there is between the servo and the front gearbox.
On the few FF buggies that inspired this build the steering was a direct setup with the servo horn connected straight to the steering knuckles. This setup results in significant bump-steer and I wanted to use a bellcrank mechanism instead.
The challenge is that the typical bellcrank system requires quite a bit of space. To get around this I decided to try something different.
Instead of the pivot point being in the middle of a bellcrank, I moved the pivot point right up front and this allows it to actually sit on the sides of the front gearbox, close to the outdrives. To achieve this, the bellcranks actually mount to the upper deck instead of the lower one. The bellcranks now pivot forward instead of backwards in a typical setup.
This took a long time to figure out how to get everything working freely but it's working!
Space is a premium - that's all the space there is between the servo and the front gearbox.
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