secretsg

I installed the center diff mount and Engine mount plate last.

Key thing to notice is the tilt direction. TRF801X (stock + lw) + TRF801XT (lw) chassis have a tilted engine mount for better CG.

MAKE SURE you THREADLOCK AND TIGHTEN the engine mount plate. There is never a reason for the plate come off again unless you are changing chassis. If this gets loose you will have fun replacing clutchbell/clutch/spur.

secretsg

Center Diff assembly is next. I have an Inferno Mp9 center diff for comparison. (Weight is for cup + spur only) The Inferno 777 spur I'm told is a direct fit on Tamiya Cup. If you are not familiar with 1/8th scales, a lot of the parts can be interchanged between buggies. This is because manufactures copy each other's designs, and the fact most of the modern buggies originated from the original Kyosho inferno.

Clean your brake disks just as you would on a real car to get rid of the left over residue from factory. Glue the pads onto the shoes. I prefer Zap glue.

If you have never done this before, the spur always line up with the opening on the chassis.

Eman77

Nice updates! I see many similarities to the 801xt, but a few differences too. Especially the chassis plate material, and you have the nice blue steering hubs.

I see you like triflow a lot - I've never used (or even heard) of it. Is that the grease type compound that's not supposed to attract dirt?

secretsg

Triflow is a teflon based dry lube. The idea is the joint is lubricated but it won’t attract more dirt than a non lubed surface. If you have other type of dry lube (graphite etc) it would work too.
Unfortunately Triflow is mainly found in bike stores. (Road biking is a cult activity of the devil imo.)

Eman77

Does it work as advertised? Do you have a lot of experience using it?

secretsg

It certainly moves a lot freely. I haven't noticed excess dirt either.

secretsg

Brake assembly is next. I sealed the carbon pieces with a Q-tip and thin CA. You can also use the drip method if you feel more comfortable. I like the tips for thicker carbon pieces.

Triflow the step screws, and put the assembled brake pads onto it. Screw the entire thing on part A1.

Now caliper the pad distance. You want to make sure the pads don't bind against the disk, but can close properly.

secretsg

The cams + assembled calipers are attached to the center diff case next. Note the brake cam position on each picture. Do not forget the collar. You can also use shims to increase the collar height.

The original picture I took of the center deck was not on macro mode, so I had to do a "retro" pic. The flat heads have to go in first, but the key here is to tighten all eight screws evenly.

secretsg

Now we come to the linkages. I used a bit of AW grease on the 3mm nut and the pin.

Don't forget the red threadlock in the brake cams. Try to not get it on the plastic ends. The linkage stock leaves a 4mm gap. This linkage is so small that I wasn't sure a ti piece was going to save much weight...

The linkage is different than traditional F/R brake setup. Bias is adjusted more easily. One of the more unique features of the car.

secretsg

The manual tells you to attach the rear and bulk heads here. I would recommend not completely tighten the screws, and leave a little room at this point. (Kind of hard to see in the photos, but there is maybe one turn left in the screws.)

People have reported the stock screws tend to get loose in the bulkhead. I find it ok until you take the bulkhead off a few times. Recommended fix is longer screws, or a piece of plastic in the screw hole before tightening.

I also used the joint grease here as a test.

secretsg

Steering assembly is is slightly complicated. Assembled the servo linkage first. The top/bottom pieces go on the post next. I used some AW grease between the saver pieces and post.

Don't forget the shims here, I find the steering too sloppy with the stock shimming ,and had to add more shims later. Insert the spring and tighten with adjuster. Stock setting is 1mm.

Triflow the collar and bolt, attach the ackerman plate, and you are done the main assembly. I didn't know which side is suppose to face up when I first assembled the kit. The correct orientation is flat side up. I think this ackerman plate is good candidate for upgrade in the future.

secretsg

The turnbuckles go on next. Follow all steps as we did for the camber links. The scale show the difference between stock and lunsford parts. Triflow the ball collar as always.

secretsg

The upper deck + front brace goes next. Don't forget to put the body post on the upper deck. You will need red locktite for inside the steering post.

This is where I tighten all the screws attaching the front/back rear bulkheads to the chassis. The idea is the brace+ bulkhead gets tightened at the same time. As well as the front + rear sections. This helps to minimize any uneven force on the chassis from the screws.

I also added a rear skid plate here for protection.

secretsg

The manual assembles dampers at point. I always do the dampers last so we will skip to the radio tray.

The steering servo goes on first. You can adjust the servo height by using the 4mm shims. The throttle servo is next, notice the angled mounts to accommodate for the angled motor design.

Route your wires now, and attach the bottom of the radiobox.

secretsg

The switch is next. (A lot of racers will skip this step and using direct plug in instead)

I used the switch that came with the 4pk. You need to remove the original mount plate first. Add the rubber boot and supplied mount plate. The whole thing then slides into the radiobox bottom.

Take the top piece and measure out a good location for your Rx. Servo tape the Rx inside, and screw the top piece on. Route the antenna wire and snap in the radio/battery cover and we are done.

You can also mount a flat battery pack to the front to help steering if needed. All the parts are supplied in the kit. I found opening the battery box once engine was mounted is a pain on this car. (Due to the angled position, the cooling head leaves you very little space to work with.)

Now you can attach the entire assembly on the radio tray posts. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of this step.

secretsg

I attached the fuel bleed here. If you followed the manual to a tee you would have done this at an earlier stage.

Put the O-ring on the screws, attach tank bushing, line up the bleeder, and tighten the tank into place. You want it secure enough so it doesn't swing wildly, but not tight enough to crush the o-rings. If the tank is too tight it will crack easily.

Big boo for a non clunk design.... however the tank does have a lot of internal splash guards to minimize fuel movement.

sheograth

Awesome thread, keep up the good work

secretsg

Thanks. I have no excuse to slack on the posting now that first snow just arrived. [&o]

Onward to the throttle/steering linkage. The throttle linkage is assembled first. It is bend at 90 degrees for the angled mount. If you have Z bend (Airplane guy tool.) You can make your own out of threaded rods. The nice 1:1 diagrams comes into play here.

For the brake linkage you have to cut the tube down to 30mm. Attach both rods on the throttle arm. The stock screw is only 2mm so you might not have to drill the arm. Leave the brake rod in stock position. However you might have to move the throttle rod and/or change the ball link on your carb to achieve a perfect straight line.

secretsg

You definitely have to drill the arm for the steering servo. You might have to cut a piece off too if you only have a double arm like I did.

I had a 38mm Tamiya Ti turbuckle on hand for the steering link. Triflow the ball links and assembled everything together.

The brake rod requires two rubber stoppers. The stock setup is rod 7mm out past the rod stopper. Put the arms on the servo only have turning the radio on, and the servo is at neutral position. You have to make sure servo travel direction is correct right now. If the arm is not perfectly straight use subtrim to dial it out. For futaba servos the screw is 2.6mm, HPI sells 2.6x8 hex screws if you prefer hexheads like I do.

You will want red threadlock on the grubs once you find a good setup. I personal found the adjuster (C3) tends to rub on the servo case when full throttle is applied. I'll have to fix it when I have a chance.

secretsg

The exiting part! Engine + Clutch. I will be using a werks pro centax type clutch. This will be different than the stock assembly.

The first thing to do is install the engine mount. The tension is provided by the spring washers. However I like to use some threadlock as well. There are two ways of installing the mount with your hex driver. Remove the engine head which I did here, or a nice long ball hex driver. A normal hex driver will be blocked or operates at angle and strip the hex head.

I removed the head because it's always a good idea to check if the factory installed the correct shim. You might need to add/remove shim depending on your location, nitro %, plug choice. The factory recommendation is based on sea level and the stock recommended plug.

The collet is also an important step. They wlil have different length/taper. You will have to use the correct collet + shims to obtain the optimal setup for your car. In this case I went with the stock kit collet, and had to switch it out for the one supplied with the engine later.

secretsg

Slide the collet on first. The flywheel goes on next. This would be a good time to mark the flywheel on top to indicate that this is the bottom dead center (BDC) position for your piston. I just used the big "W" as a reference point. (Of course make sure your piston is actually at BDC before marking..)

Put a little threadlock on the crank and crank down the pilot nut with a 10mm deep socket. You will need to keep the flywheel still. It's worth while to invest in a flywheel wrench. Makes things much easier. Notice the werks flywheel has a lip to prevent dirt gathering on the front bearing. The stock Tamiya flywheel also has this feature.

Install the shoes and pressure plate. The spring and retaining nut goes on next wit ha 10mm socket. What spring you use and how much you crank down on the nut changes how the clutch engages on this setup. (I prefer 3 thread out + gold spring.) The new retaining nut has an o-ring to prevent it from moving, but I like to still use a bit of threadlock.

secretsg

I'm trying something new with clutch bearings. Usually you would clean out the stock grease and use some light oil. However I used some AW grease here. The idea is the clutchbell heats up quickly and thus the grease will lose viscosity once it gets going and helps the bearing to last longer.

You want to use the shims to adjust the clutchbell to ideally cover all of the clutch shoes. It should have just a bit of play, and spins freely when the screw is tightened into the crank shaft. The clutchbell should also completely meet the spur gear. This last point can be also adjusted by using shims behind the collet. If you need more/different shims, Ofna sells an excellent shim kit.

In my case here the inital setup wasn't ideal and I had to go back to to re-adjust.

secretsg

Now we come to the sealing. You don't have to do this if there are no air leaks. Especially with a quality carb. You can use high temp gasket material from autoshop. Racer's edge makes a good sealant that also works on carb boot for cheap.

Remove the carb by removing the cinch bolt. Seal the boot, carb body joining, and a little bit on the neck. If you do this on the neck make sure you use very little and nothing falls in the engine! After reattaching the carb I sealed the cinch bolt.

I also put a little bit on the back plate. Some people put it on the inside o-ring but I think this tends to cause more problems if anything falls off. The o-ring should do its job properly. IMPORTANT: If you are used to RTR engines, make sure your race engine back plate is a full open type before pulling it out at BDC. Nova type engines only cut a slight opening for the piston and requires the piston to be at MC before you can pull out the back plate. Failing to do so will damage the piston.

secretsg

Put a little red threadlock and attach the engine to the chassis. Tighten only enough so you can slide the the engine to adjust mesh. Use a piece of paper if you are not used to tell how the mesh is. Basically you want the paper to be pinched enough to make zigzag pattern, and not tight enough to break thru the paper. Once mesh is set, tighten the bolts completely.

You'll notice I just barely have full spur contact with the initial setup.

A time lapse shot of the final setup. I'm going to try a Losi bell next, since it was designed with taller clutches in mind. If you go with an non stock clutch/flywheel. You probably will have to shim and/or use a different bell at some point. Different manufacturers will have different bell depth and length. The pitch will all be the same on 1/8th scale.

secretsg

The pipe is next. There are two gaskets, one for the engine and one for the header. These have to work or you will having weird tuning problems.

There are usually 3-6 holes on the header/pipe to adjust the angle. You want the tip to point at angle to the ground. This is usually not a problem on buggy/truggies since it's what the pipes are deigned for. Line the holes up and test fit which setup works best. Then attach the 3 springs. You can use a spring tool or a lockable wrench.