perryj676
Posts: 8
Joined: 1/28/2008
From: Carmichael,
CA, USA
Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: K_B
The race roller is more expensive because it has "upgraded" parts already included that the RTR lacks. One important item it has are alloy shock caps whereas the RTR has plastic. They're almost guaranteed to break under race conditions. Other things include a thicker CNC'd chassis and shock towers for added strength, whereas the RTR uses thinner, stamped aluminum. The RTR also only comes with two shoes for the clutch and the Roller comes with a full 4-shoe setup. The diff in the Roller come pre-filled with fluid whereas the RTR has a little bit of grease in 'em and that's it. The radio that comes with the RTR is adequate, but the servos are not good for 1/8 scale use. Oh, and the body on the Roller is much better looking 
The plastics they use tend to absorb shock pretty well and they flex rather than break. I've candy-caned my outer hinge-pins more than once and the arm has yet to break, it just bends with the hinge-pin. Granted, it does weaken the plastic to keep tweaking it like that. I don't know about weight, but I know that alloy arms would just end up bending hinge-pins and I know from experience that bent hinge-pins are no fun to remove.
As for shocks, the Losi shocks are great. They're the standard "big bore" style that everyone is going to now. You could use just about any brand, but some hand-fitting would be necessary as each manufacturer uses a specific length to fit their own stuff. I'm don't wanna sound like Losi fanboy or anything, but generally, with any well-known company that releases a competition kit, the stuff that comes in the box is more than adequate for any level of competition.
The only plastic I've upgraded to alloy is the center and rear diff inserts and hinge pin retainers.
I originally purchased the RTR. It was my first venture into 1/8 nitro and I wanted to get a new radio - it seemed like a decent package to put it all together. I think if I were to do it again, I would get the same or similar radio seperately and get the race roller.
The clutch in my RTR was a 4 shoe, with 2 gold 2 silver mated to 2 lightweight aluminum and two regular aluminum shoes, I have never heard of the RTR having a two shoe clutch. The motor in the RTR seems to be great for an RTR. I did some minor port work and cleaned it up before break in and it has some good pull for how cheap they are. Mine had about 4 gallons on it and running fairly well when I changed it out for a jpx .28. (don't really race competitively)
I did burn out the stock throt. servo in about 2 weeks and moved the stock steering to the throttle (little slower, but works well for me) and bought a Hitech 7955 for steering which really kicks ass. The stock RTR servos are pretty ho hum and would not stand up to racing for very long, even properly setup.
I had to mill out some of the stock chassis to fit a bump box, the hole wasn't big enough. I use the OFNA blue truggy box (its badass). I also replaced the frame braces with the aluminum, got the M2c pins, and aluminum shock caps. Went with 7k/12k/3k diff fluids to replace the grease in the stock setup. I would say I have probably spent 200-300 on upgrades easy, and still haven't replaced the chassis or shock towers (which are coming up next on my list soon enough, the front tower has already been bent once).
Really, to get it race ready, I suspect that most people would want to do the following to the RTR:
- Replace Servos
- Replace Motor and Pipe
- Tune Clutch
- Replace Shock Caps
- Replace Shock Towers
- Replace Frame Braces
- Replace Chassis
- Get new body
- Replace diff. cases (not everyone goes for the heavy duty case, but a lot do)
- Tires
Not to mention the roller comes with some tuning gear like shock springs and sway bars.
For the price of the race roller, it's a good idea. There is is nothing wrong with upgrading as you go, you certainly learn more about the car and get some nice experience taking it apart and putting it back together, but don't get the RTR thinking you are saving any money. It's more cost effective in the long run to get the race roller - or even better, a decent used chassis that you can upgrade and customize on your own.
I like the RTR, it's helped me learn a lot, and don't regret the purchase. I just don't think it was the best long-term solution.
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Project 8ight t - 
