skinso

Well done mate, im finding turning circle isn't the greatest is there anyway to improve this?

nitro-rob

I had a durango and losi at one time and they did turn easier and tighter, I do think that this is a weak area of the storm. I cut the front knuckles out a bit to give more throw. The next thing to do is play with the ride height weight bias to front and rear, try starting level and then tilting it forward. It doesn't increase the turning radius but it will help it turn tighter.

jcb68

Hi I am getting back into Rc and very interested in the Firestorm 10T. This post is a little overwhelming. So I am sorry if already asked. I would like to know how the storm would do as a track racer? I do not know too much about racing and would love as much info on that as I can.
Is the storm the right truck to race against like a SC10 rock star or not even in that class?

nitro-rob

The SC10 is in the short truck class and the firestorm is in the stadium truck class. It is an okay racer, not bred and made for it by any means, but it will do okay at club races. Stadium truck is a much less popular class than short course, however, if you are looking to race.

jcb68

Thanks for the reply. That will get me started.

skinso

Was running on 3s today with standard gearing and no problems

wanna_be_racer

Hola amigos!

Long time no see. Since getting a new job workin evening shift 3:30-midnight (blegh), I've had almost zero time for RC. Buuuuuttttt, I've managed to wrangle my way back in it on the weekends. Picked up a Dominus 10TR for Christmas, and that was it; the bug bit again.
Unfortunately....My storm is still in a million pieces from where I took it apart last winter for cleaning and maintenance. Literally, it's completely apart, and I have a wide array of parts I need to pick up. Drive cups, those stupid little flange things that go in the C-hubs and steering rack that I seem to have lost 2 of, a screw set, etc etc. The list is getting longer everytime I open the tacklebox the parts currently occupy. And now my MMp +5700 set up is now in my 10TR since the storm isn't using it. I couldn't just let such a beautiful power system just sit there in the box... So I've been having a ton of fun with that and some 3s. Interestingly, the 4wd doesn't seem to bother the 5700 on 3s. Max temps of 135~.



Anyhow...just thought I'd stop by, see what's new and exciting and say hey to everyone. Hope your holidays went well. I'll try to get the Storm up and going again soon. Now it's killing me that it's just sitting there.

nitro-rob

Not much new in firestorm land. The truck has been around for a while now and the initial burst of interest in it is well over now. I am racing my storm for the heck of it and because there isn't a good selection of race trucks on the market right right now. I think the blitz has lost most of its interest and the special ESE kit isn't available anymore.

Here is a brief summary of what I've learned about setting up the firestorm:

Use the associated springs (blue/gold on the front and green on the rear), 30/35 or so weight oils and 1 or 2 oz of weight on the very front. Ball differential is preferred, MIP makes the only one available now. Obviously get good tires and link positions depend on preference and the track too much to generalize.

I never heard of the Dominus so I looked it up - I wonder if at some time the evolution in RC could have gone to 4x4 stadium truck style vehicles instead of 8th scale buggies. Losi seemed to cover both areas with the 8ight and ten-t.

>moto<

My Firestorm is still going well, I have RPM front wishbones still waiting to go on as I haven't managed to break the stockers yet, they seem surprisingly durable.

I've just ordered a new stock body, tyres and wheels from Tower. I finally ripped the stockers running 3S. Question though: how does everyone stick their tyres to the wheels? I bought some tyre glue and just put a couple of spots of glue on them but they rip off and balloon heaps. They stay on now I've fully glued the tyres but I'll never get them off the wheels again. Do I really need to buy new wheels each time I buy tyres?

nitro-rob

Look up youtube videos on how to glue tires. Use crazy glue (cyanoacrylate) and apply along the tire. Its good to clean the wheels and tires with alcohol or soap and water. I also use a dremel and wire wheel to roughen the wheel and tires before glueing. It helps them stick a lot better.

I reuse wheels all the time...I am likely still using my original wheels and I've been through over a dozen sets of tires. To recycle wheels or reglue tires you can wrap them in aluminum foil and put in the oven at 120C (or so) for ten minutes and try to remove the tires while everything is hot. You may have to do it a few times to get them off. Closed cell inserts do not like the oven but you are likely using open cell inserts and they are okay with heat.

Squirrelod on youtube had a video on glueing and removal via the oven.

Another way (I think its the best) is to use acetone. I assume its available in hardware stores in Australia. I have a bucket I can close (1 gallon) and put about .5cm or acetone in it and place the tires on their end. Ensure the acetone doesn't go into the tire or wheel or find a way to suspend them over the solvent so they sit in the vapours. Leave in the acetone overnight and the tires usually pull right off. You can then remove the foams and put the tires and wheels in acetone directly to dissolve the glue (usually 1 hour on each side of the wheel is enough). Clean the tires with good soap (simple green is the best for rubber) and you get perfectly clean tires.

>moto<

Cheers rob, I didn't even think of YouTube, I shall go and have a look now. At least I have a few sets of wheels now

nitro-rob

Good luck.

This last friday we had 75 entries at a club race and there were 15 stadium trucks! Two full heats. We also had two heats on the weekend at another club race at another track. Stadium truck is getting popular here.

I've been running okay at the races so I will stick with the truck for the winter. That being said, I am considering proline powerstroke big bore shocks. The big bore shocks are compatible with my buggy springs and should hopefully provide a performance advantage.

wanna_be_racer

I was looking the other day was very upset to find the 8ight-T has disappeared from Losi's lineup...I've always wanted an 8ight-T with the Tekno conversion...Maybe ebay.

Anyhow. Rob is pretty much on the dot. AE springs work great and are cheap. I run 40 in the rear, and 35 up front though. It really depends on how hard you drive it. I don't use the ball diff either. Kept loosing the adjustment on it and got tired of having to take the rear end apart. But that's mainly associated with the fact that I'm insane and hardheaded and use 3s all the time. So I just used RTB silicon on my diff and filled it with 6k oil. Seemed to work nicely for my purposes. When I finally get to rebuild, I'll probably adjust to 7k or maybe 8k just to see if it really makes a difference.

I like the look of 2.8'' tires apposed to standard 2.2's. But your tire options are limited there. Again, it comes down to personal preference and going out and trying different things to see what you like. Take a Saturday or something, take your tool kit, some shock oil, different springs, stuff like that and just go play. While a battery is charging or the motor/esc are cooling, make a minor tweak. There's really no "perfect universal setup." It comes down to driver and his vehicle. Just like with Nascar, F1, IRL. No two drivers will like their cars exactly the same. In my opinion (for what it's worth), that's easily applied here.

Just my $0.02

nitro-rob

I still see the 2.0 kit available on the TLR website? I don't recommend the tekno and keeping it losi using the race roller flex chassis. A friend and I had ours set up with tekno chassis and I converted mine back to the losi setup and he wishes to do the same thing (mine is a nitro now).

There isn't a universal setup but there are obvious ranges that things need to be set within. The HPI spring sets are a great example - they were just in a range way above what was needed. I like the look of 2.8 inch tires but the performance tires all come in 2.2 - the sidewall flex seems to be helping me get traction, though. I've been playing with it for four months now and its about as set up as its going to be minus the minor changes that are made as conditions change. I don't think there is a freak set of settings hiding in the dark at this point that are going to make a huge difference. My oils are a little light, I am going to move them up to 32.5/30 wt from the 27.5 I was running.

RCUSEE

Hey there everybody,

havent been on the forum for a while because i had no time for my rc anymore.
So now that i got some time on my hands i bought a firestorm flux and have some questions.

1.)

Will run the car with my DSX2.0 + I want to swap the steering servo for a servöx 1257tg + adding a BEC. I thought about the castle BEC but not sure which one to pick

http://www.graysonhobby.com/catalog/...ECCBEC-450.jpg
http://www.rctoys.com/images/products/CC-BEC_1.jpg

any difference between these two ?

I will run the car on 2s and 3s Lipo if that somehow matters

2.)

I want to buy some blitz arms for the front and back to might change the look to a SCT.

Will the shocks still fit ?

edit: arent the arms on both trucks the same ?

thx in advance

nitro-rob

My friend has been having problems with that servo in a short course truck. Savox servos are known for drawing a lot of current. I would try to avoid that servo but if you have it already or really want to use it then see if you need the BEC first before buying it. You should be able to get the same specs elsewhere without a BEC, though. A servo requiring a BEC is overkill for a stadium truck.

If you do need a BEC I would get the blue one, its packaged better. I use a few of those for a couple years now without issues.

The arms for the blitz and firestorm are the same and the shocks are the same. My firestorm is a blitz ESE kit with the firestorm steering rack and chassis tub and bumpers.

RCUSEE

I havent bought any option parts for the firestorm yet since im still checking.Just bought the truck, a 2s gens ace 5000 and a junsi charger combo.

Thanks on the servo advice rob. Just did a little research an ended up stuck between these two:

Spektrum S6040 (.08s 12kg)
Ace DS1015 (.108s 14,5kg)

Price is similar. The ace has the better servobody from what i can see.

Anyone yet tried sct wheels and tires on their stadium truck?

Edit:
just ordered some cheap genuine mt2 hpi option shocks.
Next thing will be the mip balldiff + st-racing rear hubs + st-racing cvds (blitz)

Will the st-racing blitz cvds fit the firestorm?

nitro-rob

SCT tires are quite a bit narrower and they are taller. The truck will become much more twitchy compared to the stock tire sizes. The blitz CVDs will fit the firestorm but they aren't ideal and you will have difficulties with the rear wheels because they take different hubs. There are genuine firestorm CVDs made by HPI that are nice, I just bought a set after running the blitz versions unhappily for a few years.

Running a ball diff is really just for racing and it won't do anything for you but cause headaches and a lot more maintenance if you are playing with the truck only. It also won't take 3s very well at all but that is probably not a problem. Gear differentials are also preferred on carpet or turf which is very popular and the majority of 10th scale racing in Europe.

Have you looked at the hitec 5625mg, 7960 or 985mg?

RCUSEE

The SCT wheels is just for the looks and running the car in the park. Maybe ill just get me a cheap used ones off ebay to try them out.

I was really satisfied with the handling of the ball diff on my x-cellerator and the maintance was alright. Maybe i should really try the gear diff first before buying the MIP one.

Im not really sure about the cvds i just know that i need some.
this is the combo i thought about:

http://www.teamstrc.com/index.php?ro...product_id=513
http://www.teamstrc.com/index.php?ro...product_id=736

Are the blitz and firestorm hubs interchangeable ?
those rear hubs look like the blitz ones now that i compared to pictures.

will these two parts fit the storm?:

http://www.teamstrc.com/index.php?ro...product_id=500
http://www.teamstrc.com/index.php?ro...product_id=610

These Hitec servos look alright too but dont look as good specwise as the ones i posted first.
Spektrum would fit the DSX2.0 radio. Any need of that metal servobody on the ACE other than the looks ?

nitro-rob

The blitz CVDs will require you to use blitz hubs which won't accommodate the firestorm wheels without drilling them out - you have to get it right because if you don't do a perfectly centred job the tire will wobble. You can't run firestorm wheels on blitz hubs without drilling the wheel. It can be done but its a pain and there is an easy solution- buy the firestorm CVDs and be done with it.

The blitz steering rack is not the same as the firestorms and it won't fit but it may with some milling. The blitz rack mounts on the top brace of the steering while it mounts on the chassis beneath on the firestorm.

An aluminum servo case will dissipate heat better. Considering this is 10th scale 2wd I wouldn't bother with the heavier servo unless you want the extra weight (I just put 2oz on the front of the servo on mine...)

Have you seen the RPM hubs? They are quite strong, have a warranty and aren't as heavy as aluminum.

RCUSEE

Jup, been checking on the rpm parts and will order some of them.
(The RPM Rear Hubs are the same design as the Blitz ones though...)
but as far as the rear hubs go id like to get some aluminum ones.

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...P?I=LXRMP2&P=8

what about these ?, not sure why they changed the design here

Is there any al replacement for the firestorm steering rack ?, read some times that the stock rack isnt too solid.

+adding some weight to the front sounds good

nitro-rob

The vertical ball stud placement allows for the roll centre to be tuned by changing the height of the ball stud with washers. Its a fine tuning option. You can't do that with the horizontal ball studs on the stock or RPM hubs. The HPI part is much higher quality than STRC. I had the STRC all around on mine for a while.

There is an integy aluminum steering rack. I don't know if they still make it but I picked some up on ebay. The stock one isn't bad, I broke a few but the integy one didn't last any longer and it gets sloppy quickly.

RCUSEE

I dont see the RPM hubs on the storm + st wheels since its the same shape as the blitz' hub.
Is there another part i havent seen yet or did you just drill/cut it ?

Not a fan of integy though... had some parts and they were cheap crap.
I just thought strc would have some better parts but if they dont i need to think about something else on the storm.

nitro-rob

Let me clarify. I meant the actual hex that goes on the wheels needs to be cut. The output shaft of the blitz and firestorm are different from the axle pin (that holds the hex) outward) and the hexes are different. The bearing holders (I accidentally called hubs earlier) are the same for the firestorm and blitz.

RCUSEE

Ok got you good input and good to know the right words in english.

I thought about the firestorm once again and dont think i gonna spend hundrets of cash on the optionparts.
Guess i will focus on the good but less expensive parts then and get me a t4.2, 22t or rt6 for the high end needs. Guess that will be cheaper in the end.

Maybe you can help me out on the parts, i thought about these:

http://www.amainhobbies.com/product_...aring-Carriers
http://www.amainhobbies.com/product_...ms-Black-Blitz
http://www.amainhobbies.com/product_...ad-Black-Blitz
http://www.amainhobbies.com/product_...ks-Black-Blitz
http://www.amainhobbies.com/product_...-Firestorm-10T

http://www.amainhobbies.com/product_...b-Set-Purple-4 (not really needed but it fits the shocks )

Already got the shocks and ordered a good steering servo

any other parts that are highly recommended ?