EDS
06-22-2008, 02:15 AM
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a2/eds24/Team%20Associated%20TR3/tk122.jpg
Anybody ready for a long post?
Back Round:The idea of this project has been on my mind since November 05'. After collecting parts I ended up starting the Version 1 build July 06'. I ended up with this.
Team Kasanova TR3 V1
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a2/eds24/Team%20Associated%20TR3/TR36.jpg
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a2/eds24/Team%20Associated%20TR3/TR33.jpg
After soon breaking the main chassis and taking alook over the car , I was not impressed and felt like I could make a cleaner,better handling,stronger,more unique,lighter,and altogether better car. You can find more information about the version 1 on my last thread : http://forums.radiocontrolzone.com/showthread.php?t=232933
The thread was getting very long and I decided it didn't have enough room for my latest version. The Team Kassanova TR3 V2
At first I began with a new sheet of G10 and soon hacked it up with my various hand tools to make a new upper and lower chassis. The plan was to use a Side -Side battery pack on one side while all the other electronics where on the other side and the motor mounted towards the rear.
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a2/eds24/Team%20Associated%20TR3/TR3tires2-1.jpg
After many hours of cutting and sanding....and messing up one attempt at a lower chassis.:
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a2/eds24/Tr3chas.jpg
This was the platform for the new version 2. All until a terrible accident. I sent the lower chassis to my friend in California (FasterthanSpeed) for him to make me soem aluminum a-arm mounts for a "Hingepinless Design" (more on that later). He soon informed me that the chassis had snapped. I told him to send it back. I examined it and sure enough the chassis had snapped on the rear right around the spur hole is on the rear. After hours of pondering I came up with a idea to fix the rear weakness and also improve the whole layout....
Present
Now the actual project. The version 2 is going to be a great improvement to the V1 ans is exstensively thought out, unlike the Version 1.My drawn plans...
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a2/eds24/Team%20Associated%20TR3/random007-2-1.jpg
The features/Differences of the V2....
Mid-motor layout- This is the largest change from the Version 1. The spur hole in the chassis on my original Version 2 chassis just made the rear way too weak. I decided to fix this that I would make the car mid-motor mounted. This moves the spur close to the middle chassis. This also will help keep the car more balanced,give the rear more traction. The B44 ,D4,Bj4 all use this set-up and there must be a reason. I will have to use saddle packs though.
-G10 upper and lower chassis: I wanted something that would be stiffer,lighter and thinner for the chassis. Carbon fiber is too exspensive and too stiff for a basher/Racer. G10 is still very tough but at a fraction of the cost.
-Hingepinless Suspension: I hate hingepins! Thats the idea behind this concept at first I was going to use a hinge pin set up like this:
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a2/eds24/Team%20Associated%20TR3/grill0132.jpg
But I found that it was very difficult to make all the holes line up accurately with just a hand drill, Also I have always hated bent hinge pins and e-clips. I could have come up with a way to eliminate the e-clips like on the T4/B4. Instead I just decided to get rid of the hinge pins all at once. The design I have come up with uses no hinge pins. Instead it uses Pivot Balls. This reduces resitence and friction. Also this set up will always me to make sure that the a-arms mount up nicely with out having to worry about hinge pins binding and holes not matching up.
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a2/eds24/Pinless.jpg
-Ultra long A-arms - Anyone ever see the a-arms on the MMGT or the Revo? They are very long and are mounted close together on the chassis. The longer the a-arms the higher the maximum ground clearance and also the more stable the car will be. So I have tried to make the a-arms on the TR3 as long as I can and as close together as I could get them on the chassis. The result is a-arms that should come out to be about 105mm long including the pivot balls.
-Laydown shocks-You may ask why I am going with the laydown type of suspension. When I was making the rocker mounts I was asking myself the same question. But there are advantages.
1. Lower Center of Gravity
2. Less bent shock shafts
3. In my opinion more durable
4. Progressive suspension
5. Its unique
I will be using Revo rockers. For the shocks I have B4 threaded shocks and also some threaded touring car shocks. I will have to experiment with both.
-Quick release motor mount- I have always had a hard time adjusting the gear mesh on the Version 1. With the mid-motor this task was going to be even harder. Until I came up with a different type of motor mount. Its a system similar to how the Rc18t. Two slots on the lower chassis and one on the top chassis. All you have to do slide the whole motor mount towards the spur gear to set the gear mesh. At the end farthest from the spur gear on the slots it opens up to the motor cooling hole. This is what makes it quick release. You just loosen the 3 screws and the motor mount and motor comes out.
-2.2 Race tires- The masher 2000's on the V1 are good for bashing and will still be used but for racing I will be running either Proline Step pins or Holeshots depending on the track.
-Beefy pivot ball hubs- One problem I had with the TR3 was the durability of the hubs. I was running RS4 c-hubs and Tc3 steering block on the front but this proved to be week and was the first part I broke. I was also useing modified Tc3 rear hubs on the back. To keep the set-up simple and durable I decided to switch to nitro tc3 front and rear hubs. Along with being beefy and simple, they also make it very easy to adjust Toe and the width of the car all you do is unscrew or screw in the pivot balls. This is important especially for the width. Because I have limited out drive space for the cvds. So for racing I will lower the ride height and make the car as wide as the outdrives will allow. For bashing when I raise the ground clearance I will make the car less wide so that the cvds don't fall out of the out drives when droop occurs.
-Lexan Roll-cage (optional)- Alot of the time I don't like to use the body becuase it is a hassle. I want protection while I don't use a body so I am designing a roll-cage that will also fit into a body so when I do use a body to bash with the body won't get torn up as fast. When I am ready to race though the roll cage will come off.
-RPM wide front bumper (optional)- Another most have for bashing. It will protect the front and can be replaced with a regular bumper for racing.
-Longer wheelbase (11.75")- I would have been happy with the orginal wheelbase. But to keep things simple I am useing B44 Cva's in the center and this pushed the wheelbase to be alittle long which will help with stability, Also the width of the car will be right at 13".
-10 degree front kick up- I think its very important that everycar has atleast alittle bit of kick-up in the front so that less force is applied on the front a-arms when the car lands not perfectly level
-Anti-bump steer servo saver- Since there is kick up its also smart to have the servo save/rack tilted at the same degree as the a-arms to reduce bump steer.
I hope you guys enjoy and will enjoy the rest of this project as much as I do and will. I apologize for such a long post but this is a very complicated and large project. If you have any questions or comments post away :) I will be making updates as soon as they happen.
Ethan
Team Kassanova
Anybody ready for a long post?
Back Round:The idea of this project has been on my mind since November 05'. After collecting parts I ended up starting the Version 1 build July 06'. I ended up with this.
Team Kasanova TR3 V1
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a2/eds24/Team%20Associated%20TR3/TR36.jpg
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a2/eds24/Team%20Associated%20TR3/TR33.jpg
After soon breaking the main chassis and taking alook over the car , I was not impressed and felt like I could make a cleaner,better handling,stronger,more unique,lighter,and altogether better car. You can find more information about the version 1 on my last thread : http://forums.radiocontrolzone.com/showthread.php?t=232933
The thread was getting very long and I decided it didn't have enough room for my latest version. The Team Kassanova TR3 V2
At first I began with a new sheet of G10 and soon hacked it up with my various hand tools to make a new upper and lower chassis. The plan was to use a Side -Side battery pack on one side while all the other electronics where on the other side and the motor mounted towards the rear.
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a2/eds24/Team%20Associated%20TR3/TR3tires2-1.jpg
After many hours of cutting and sanding....and messing up one attempt at a lower chassis.:
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a2/eds24/Tr3chas.jpg
This was the platform for the new version 2. All until a terrible accident. I sent the lower chassis to my friend in California (FasterthanSpeed) for him to make me soem aluminum a-arm mounts for a "Hingepinless Design" (more on that later). He soon informed me that the chassis had snapped. I told him to send it back. I examined it and sure enough the chassis had snapped on the rear right around the spur hole is on the rear. After hours of pondering I came up with a idea to fix the rear weakness and also improve the whole layout....
Present
Now the actual project. The version 2 is going to be a great improvement to the V1 ans is exstensively thought out, unlike the Version 1.My drawn plans...
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a2/eds24/Team%20Associated%20TR3/random007-2-1.jpg
The features/Differences of the V2....
Mid-motor layout- This is the largest change from the Version 1. The spur hole in the chassis on my original Version 2 chassis just made the rear way too weak. I decided to fix this that I would make the car mid-motor mounted. This moves the spur close to the middle chassis. This also will help keep the car more balanced,give the rear more traction. The B44 ,D4,Bj4 all use this set-up and there must be a reason. I will have to use saddle packs though.
-G10 upper and lower chassis: I wanted something that would be stiffer,lighter and thinner for the chassis. Carbon fiber is too exspensive and too stiff for a basher/Racer. G10 is still very tough but at a fraction of the cost.
-Hingepinless Suspension: I hate hingepins! Thats the idea behind this concept at first I was going to use a hinge pin set up like this:
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a2/eds24/Team%20Associated%20TR3/grill0132.jpg
But I found that it was very difficult to make all the holes line up accurately with just a hand drill, Also I have always hated bent hinge pins and e-clips. I could have come up with a way to eliminate the e-clips like on the T4/B4. Instead I just decided to get rid of the hinge pins all at once. The design I have come up with uses no hinge pins. Instead it uses Pivot Balls. This reduces resitence and friction. Also this set up will always me to make sure that the a-arms mount up nicely with out having to worry about hinge pins binding and holes not matching up.
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a2/eds24/Pinless.jpg
-Ultra long A-arms - Anyone ever see the a-arms on the MMGT or the Revo? They are very long and are mounted close together on the chassis. The longer the a-arms the higher the maximum ground clearance and also the more stable the car will be. So I have tried to make the a-arms on the TR3 as long as I can and as close together as I could get them on the chassis. The result is a-arms that should come out to be about 105mm long including the pivot balls.
-Laydown shocks-You may ask why I am going with the laydown type of suspension. When I was making the rocker mounts I was asking myself the same question. But there are advantages.
1. Lower Center of Gravity
2. Less bent shock shafts
3. In my opinion more durable
4. Progressive suspension
5. Its unique
I will be using Revo rockers. For the shocks I have B4 threaded shocks and also some threaded touring car shocks. I will have to experiment with both.
-Quick release motor mount- I have always had a hard time adjusting the gear mesh on the Version 1. With the mid-motor this task was going to be even harder. Until I came up with a different type of motor mount. Its a system similar to how the Rc18t. Two slots on the lower chassis and one on the top chassis. All you have to do slide the whole motor mount towards the spur gear to set the gear mesh. At the end farthest from the spur gear on the slots it opens up to the motor cooling hole. This is what makes it quick release. You just loosen the 3 screws and the motor mount and motor comes out.
-2.2 Race tires- The masher 2000's on the V1 are good for bashing and will still be used but for racing I will be running either Proline Step pins or Holeshots depending on the track.
-Beefy pivot ball hubs- One problem I had with the TR3 was the durability of the hubs. I was running RS4 c-hubs and Tc3 steering block on the front but this proved to be week and was the first part I broke. I was also useing modified Tc3 rear hubs on the back. To keep the set-up simple and durable I decided to switch to nitro tc3 front and rear hubs. Along with being beefy and simple, they also make it very easy to adjust Toe and the width of the car all you do is unscrew or screw in the pivot balls. This is important especially for the width. Because I have limited out drive space for the cvds. So for racing I will lower the ride height and make the car as wide as the outdrives will allow. For bashing when I raise the ground clearance I will make the car less wide so that the cvds don't fall out of the out drives when droop occurs.
-Lexan Roll-cage (optional)- Alot of the time I don't like to use the body becuase it is a hassle. I want protection while I don't use a body so I am designing a roll-cage that will also fit into a body so when I do use a body to bash with the body won't get torn up as fast. When I am ready to race though the roll cage will come off.
-RPM wide front bumper (optional)- Another most have for bashing. It will protect the front and can be replaced with a regular bumper for racing.
-Longer wheelbase (11.75")- I would have been happy with the orginal wheelbase. But to keep things simple I am useing B44 Cva's in the center and this pushed the wheelbase to be alittle long which will help with stability, Also the width of the car will be right at 13".
-10 degree front kick up- I think its very important that everycar has atleast alittle bit of kick-up in the front so that less force is applied on the front a-arms when the car lands not perfectly level
-Anti-bump steer servo saver- Since there is kick up its also smart to have the servo save/rack tilted at the same degree as the a-arms to reduce bump steer.
I hope you guys enjoy and will enjoy the rest of this project as much as I do and will. I apologize for such a long post but this is a very complicated and large project. If you have any questions or comments post away :) I will be making updates as soon as they happen.
Ethan
Team Kassanova