RE: "OFFICIAL" Redcat Racing 1/8th BUGGY thread (not truck thread)
 

thats pretty interesting about the duratrax parts! As I have mentioned many times before, the redcat is almost an exact clone of the Kyosho Inferno MP7.5. The only difference is the front suspension on the inferno has a c-hub whereas the Redcat, the steering knuckle is held onto the arms via just a kingpin. If you swapped out the front arms for kyosho arms, its virtually indentical.

Yeah the stock tyres are really not suitable for on-road use. The will wear quickly thats for sure. They are more a grass or dirt tyre mostly. Not sure what size wheels/tyres you are using but I would stick to the standard buggy wheels/tyres with 17mm hexes. If you use bigger wheels, like truggy or MT tyres, it will throw the gearing out & you willmost likely need to change your clucthbellto compensate for the larger diameter wheels. I'd stick to proline buggy tyres & wheels.The best you can get. They are the same size front & rear & therefore can be more widely used. But thats just a minor thing. Obviously you like experimenting & there aint anything wrong with that I suppose. I am however extremely unconvinced that making your own gasket will do your engine any good. I'd seriously watch that hey. I would even take the head off & look for the original gasket. You didn't say why you made the gasket in the first place so I'm guessing that its just going to give you incredible amounts of grief because you've altered the compression.

But at least you're having a ball!! Plus you'll learn heaps from your experiments thats for sure.
cheers

RE: "OFFICIAL" Redcat Racing 1/8th BUGGY thread (not truck thread)
 

well i made the gasket cause i thought the head was leaking (fluid all over) when i pulled the head i discovered it was loose and the cheezy lil metal gasket wasnt really doing the trick so i made the manilla gasket. the only change the gasket made was a few thousandths (like less than .005)in the combustion chamber. As far as getting something in the combustion chamber Im pretty confident that any micro fibers of paper would burn and be expelled;). In fact ive heard of articals where RCU gives step by step instructions on how to form a gasket:D

RE: "OFFICIAL" Redcat Racing 1/8th BUGGY thread (not truck thread)
 

Problem with that is its 1/8...Ive got the 1/10 tornado:(

RE: "OFFICIAL" Redcat Racing 1/8th BUGGY thread (not truck thread)
 

ok sounds like you got its sorted! Those "cheesy" gaskets look cheesey but I can assure you they are there & they work! I would have thought the leakage was only because the head wasn't screw down tightly. Anyway I was a little concerned because I know how sensitive these engines are. When I had my infinity .27, I once put a glow plug in without the washer. BIG MISTAKE. You'd think it wouldn;t matter but that fraction longer caused too much compression and the whole motor overheated in about 30 seconds, spilling smoke out from beneath the head. That's why I wouls use caution. I recently got an Axe LSK & it came with another gasket just in case you use 30% nitro. This gasket looks just as cheesy as ones in cheaper engines. But Axe Rossi produce top line engines so figure that one out!
But anyhow sounds like you expermenting is working. Just be aware if you have idle, tuning, overheating or blown plugs as constant problems I'd say it may have something to do with the compression. But then again you may be only using a low % nitro? I'd be really careful though if you were using 20% or higher.

And so the duratrax parts is from a 1/10 is it? That why I was supprised! I thought we were talking about the Hurricane!

Actually I just rebuilt my buggy that I crashed heavily the otherday. Its now a Inferno/Himoto hybrid! The front gearbox I found had smashed so I used a spare kyosho gearbox. I have to get some new shock shafts so the back half is from an inferno as well. One could call it an Infernocane!! haha...

RE: "OFFICIAL" Redcat Racing 1/8th BUGGY thread (not truck thread)
 

I can see how running W/O the glow gasket would be a HUGE problem, Mostly because the gasket is probably .025 or more causing the plug to be too close to the piston, possibly colliding with it. That and there would be too much heat at the top of the piston. But I dont see how a .005 gasket could do very much harm other than lowering the compression ratio a fraction (say for instance 10.5:1 to 10.48:1) It runs/idles fine and I havent had a problem[8D] As far as fuel, I use 15% heli fuel;)
...Now on to "Frankencar"... The front is a mixture of Traxxas A arms (rear arms off a truck) C hubs off a Duratrax, and hubs off the duratrax. Misc parts include slide/king pins, bushings/bearings, and hardware. So I guess its a "duratraxxascat". Im really starting to think the less Redcat parts that are on this thing the better I'll be. Of course NOTHING just clipped/slid in. There was "modification" galore, but I got it all together:D got it running and it started acting up[:@]. Seems like my battieries are weak but they are pretty new. I know after the reciever box got wet (wow that puddle was deeper than I thought, glad I didnt try to go thru the middle lol) it was acting the same way and after I swapped the crystals it was fine. It hasnt gotten wet since then but its doing it again. Im pretty sure the battieries are OK but I wanna know wazzup b4 I go to runnin it again. The last thing I need is another run-away car full speed into a curb, rocketing off the curb and slamming into a guardrail upside-down, then laying there wheels flying engine screaming, waiting for me to shut it down[sm=cry_smile.gif] That lil episode was painful. So far I think I've put about what I spent on the car, into repairing the front end[:@] maybe I'll put it on a shelf for a parts car and get something a lil harder to break lol

RE: "OFFICIAL" Redcat Racing 1/8th BUGGY thread (not truck thread)
 

Yeah I can so how you're becoming dispondent with the redcat hey. I have not run the 1/10 so I can't really comment specifically on that buggy but I'll comment in general I suppose. First off most of your problems aren't issolated incidents as I have experienced all the ones that have happened to you. Also the fact that you've also started your own engine mods, like the gasket you made. You may not think those small increments would matter but nitro engines are made within the smallest possible tolerances. And in most cases, if you smash ANY nitro into the curb you are going to do it severe damage to it. They simply aren;t designed to smack into solid objects at high speeds regardless of brands. I really don;t think you could blame the brand in gereral for of those instances you discribed. It goes without saying that 99% of all RC comes out of the same factorys in china. Thyat said there are obviosuly differences on design though. If you wanted something more robust, I'd say a MT or truggy is going to be the better option in 1/10. 1/10 Truggys & MTs are really very large & quite comparable to a 1/8 buggy. Going up to a 1/8 buggy could be another option. One thing that would have prevented those run-aways In 99% of cases, would have been a faildafe unit, which would have saved you a lot of grief. I have looked at the 1/10 in the shops and I'd have to say most 1/10's are no where near as robustly built as a 1/8 buggy. The otherthing is that you shouln't really run these on wet surfaces. If you have to I'd recommend putting your receiver/battery in a balloon, which will help prevent moisture getting too it. I fried a receiver the otherday when I was cleaning the buggy. I somehow got metholated spirits overspray into it, despite it being safely enclosed in the battery box. Figure that one out. I didn;t even have it on. It shorted out merely because the battery was connected(as it ususally is) to the receiver. I didn;t find out until i switched it on only to be greeted a 'dead' buggy. So basically the slightest bit a moisture will undoubtly fry your radio or batteries.

But yeah all in all just trying to spread my experience to other's to help elliminate the problems I encountred. I don;t want come off sounding like I'm telling you what's right or wrong hey. Can you indulge me in one last "hint"? Umm..I have it on good authority that you should not be using these engines on Heli or Plane fuel. You should be using good quality purpose fuel for nitro cars. Its got to do with the formulas being different for each of those applications. Again not saying that you're going to do any damage but again it made me wonder about the problems you had earlier with your motor.

RE: "OFFICIAL" Redcat Racing 1/8th BUGGY thread (not truck thread)
 

Hey what's up? I would also say don't run your car on heli fuel, I have it on good word right from the guys at SH engine's they say ten% nitro car fuel I run wild cat never one motor problem. As for 1/10 scale vs 1/8 scale if you are hard on A buggy or car and you race then 1/8 all the way, You can look at my gallery and see the 1/10 vs 1/8 I still race my 1/10 scale buggy for fun and to get some most needed practice, then when you jump on the 1/8 their alot faster but you will already have learned how to drive and get youself out of sticky scenes. I drive my 1/10 like ther is no tommrow and the parts are cheaper and the 1/8 are just more buff[sm=punching.gif] So you make up you own mind and just have fun[:-] Seeya in the dust

RE: "OFFICIAL" Redcat Racing 1/8th BUGGY thread (not truck thread)
 

To be honest I had no idea what kind of fuel to use but the ooold bugger at the LHS suggested I use the 15% heli for the first gallon (Im 3/4 or more thru it now) then switch to the 30% car fuel if I wished to break in the motor really well. Seems to be workin pretty good so far. I run it on the rich side and I've only had it at the top of the RPM range a dozen or so times (the one time being upside down, that scared me). It really screams up there and I wanted to be sure it was fully thru a gallon b4 I really put the lil engine thru hell. As I said thu it will idle thru a full tank if I let it, accelerates fine (thu I would like a lil more off the line) and if I thinned it out Im sure Id get the performance boost Im looking for[8D]
....And now back to the radio problem.... Any one have any idea what kind of P O S radio this thing came with?? Within 4 days the antenna fell apart, and now when I start it, it runs fine for about a minute or so then acts like the batts are dead in the controller. But I know they are not. The last time this happened it was suggested that I switch the crystals, so I did and that cured the problem. Not this time[:o] Does any one know what the 2 LED lites are for on the remote??? Theres a red and a green. At first I thought it might be for the throttle/steering reverse switches but no.

RE: "OFFICIAL" Redcat Racing 1/8th BUGGY thread (not truck thread)
 

They are for the battery indicator. I suggest you upgrade to a Futaba 2ph. You can pick one up at Towerhobbies.com for about $43 and it is about 500% better than the stock system. Also pick up a failsafe. This will put the car back at idle if you lose batterys or signal.

RE: "OFFICIAL" Redcat Racing 1/8th BUGGY thread (not truck thread)
 

ditto on the above. Actually the radio that came with my 1/8 is a rebranded 2ch futaba would you believe? it was still sh1tty though. Bought an ofna one on ebay for about $30. Thats what I'd recommend.

RE: "OFFICIAL" Redcat Racing 1/8th BUGGY thread (not truck thread)
 

I spent a lot of time going over my buggy putting loctite on everything and checking it out.

I had a terrible first experience trying to get it to turn over for break in but thanks to everyone’s help I finally finished my break in period and gave the buggy a little run up and down the street. :)

I cannot wait to get this thing to the track. I can tell it is going to be fun.

I had my volcano and tornado out at the track last weekend and it was a lot of fun. The volcano handled the jumps pretty good but the tires were terrible for the track. My tornado had much better grip but I’m still working out my suspension set up. I bent a rod for one of my shocks but that was it. Not bad for all the mistakes I made. :)

RE: "OFFICIAL" Redcat Racing 1/8th BUGGY thread (not truck thread)
 

haha well it sound like you're getting a lot of use out of it hey! So how many cars you got now? Yeah the break in is usually a very painful experience. I've done a few engines now & no engine's the same. Some you'll want to sing its praises but others you'll want to smash against the wall! haha but I have found that in most cases, using a starter box really makes the run-in process so much easier. Using a pullstarter is difficult at the best of times & most of the frustration is just getting the dam things to start! but on a box, they start up in seconds in most cases.

I still haven't got to a proper track yet so I don;t know what its really like on a loose track but I have found though that you do need to spend some time tweaking the suspension as it can change the way a car handles dramatically. Same with tires. Too much grip & you'll be flipping but if there's not enough grip, you'll just be spinning your wheels.
Goes the same with suspension. Too soft & you'll flip, too hard & you flip too! well thats what I've noticed so far.

Its taken me several months to tune my buggys but I am at a stage where I am very happy with the way they handle. It just takes time and patience.

RE: "OFFICIAL" Redcat Racing 1/8th BUGGY thread (not truck thread)
 

Hey Mozz, Just wanted to let you know I'm still in one peice! Things have been going well and have had a couple of successful runs at the track. Another guy was there(first time ever) and he had the OFNA version w/ a .26 stamped on top. Is that what it is a .26? Might be a stupid ques. but I dont know OFNA. Anyways I was rushing to set up being anxious to race somebody only to hear what sounded like his exhaust system dropping out. Maybe next time.....I recently lowered the collars located at the top of my shocks too increase spring tension and raise overall heigth ans ability too rebound. It worked great and has allowed much more control on bumpy corners and jumps,thats right, I'm jumping.....On a seperate note,whats a whippersnipper, like a string trimmer or what we call a "weedeater" in the States?

Hey Joker, I noticed the same thing with the radios although mine hasnt given me any trouble. I could feel it was light and didnt strike me as very durable so I protect it as best I can. I intend to upgrade as I get better. It sounds like your a pretty aggressive driver with puddles and bald tires so early but thats what it s there for. I have had enough accidents/repairs to slow me down for awhile, until I get it tuned where I want and learn to drive on varying conditions better. And pro line tires have worked great for me, a little pricey I think but I got them from LHS on an impulse buy.

BASH -N- ROLL.......M2

RE: "OFFICIAL" Redcat Racing 1/8th BUGGY thread (not truck thread)
 

Whippersnapper=weedeater
Aggressive=Joker:D
Well it was just the front that were bald so yesterday I thought it would be fun to pull the front dogbones and see how she was in RWD...WOW:D Besides being close to impossible to keep in a straight line it really drifts like a ****..of course the rear tires were bald within 1 tank HEHEHE..so now Ive got a real street racer equipped with real slicks on all 4 corners lol. So Im off on a lil weekend get-away to PA and I know alot of places that I can take her out in tha dirt there so Thats where Im headed...LATER KIDS!!!

RE: "OFFICIAL" Redcat Racing 1/8th BUGGY thread (not truck thread)
 

haha yeah whippersnipper? Yep that would be a weedeater for sure! but I like wippersnipper better! That new HPI baja basically is a whippersnipper one wheels! haha. Geez they move out those bajas hey! anyways great to hear everyone's having such a blast.
That ofna is a force .26. Not bad but I reckon the SH or Infinity are better engines. The redcats should give those a run for their money thats for sure!
After I had that run away the otherday where I completely took out my himoto at full speed into a clump of trees, I now have put it all back together again. The damage was better and worse than I expected. I thought I had snapped a shock shaft but its just bent. Bent back it works fine(let's hope..) I did discover that the front gearbox had a crack running all the way through it but the diff was ok. I had a spare inferno gearbox that I just swapped everything over to and now its basically fixed. Having said that though I have also noticed the the front cvds and front drivetrain dogbone are all slightly bent to some degree. Doesn;t look much but its enough to bind the front diff up because of the whole thing being slightly out of line now even though it all screws up ok. So I understand M2 how much troube you had fixing yours up after you smashed it up.
Anyway I'm pretty impressed how robust the buggy really was in this crash. I mean this thing was flying. Covered a couple of hundred metres in seconds. I have yet to race mine but I reckon these buggys will some serious "damage" to their more expensive cousins.
Hey thats pretty funny about the 2WD! When I was repairing my buggy and I couldn't get the front diff to work moothly, I thought to myself "what if it was 2WD?? hmmm...." and I pondered with the idea for while but pressed on to fix it completely. One thing that interests me is how powerful you say it was? I was thinking that you would loose the drive that normally would go to the front & by that I thought that you would only get 50% of the power? Did that make sense? Is that not how it is? I'm guessing that the engine puts all its power in the back thus causing it to be one hell of a drifter!?? Hahaha sounds good. May have to do that at some stage.
Anyway guys have a good one!

RE: "OFFICIAL" Redcat Racing 1/8th BUGGY thread (not truck thread)
 

Hey Mozzy,

I've got 5 cars now. One I have yet to start though so I’ve basically been running 3 up till last night when I finished the break in for the buggy. That break in was the worst of any of my cars by far mostly because I didn’t know what to expect out of the engine. I still have a blister healing. :)

I already modified the suspension a little, I moved the collars down on the shocks to put more tension on the springs and I put some 50wt in them. I’ll be testing it out soon. They already seem better than my tornado. The back end of the tornado seems to springy, I put volcano shocks on the rear and I’m running 50wt but I’ll figure it out. I’m playing around with to collar position right now.

RE: "OFFICIAL" Redcat Racing 1/8th BUGGY thread (not truck thread)
 

I'd rather have a Force 26 than the Infinity engine. Sure, less power, but easier to tune and more reliable.

RE: "OFFICIAL" Redcat Racing 1/8th BUGGY thread (not truck thread)
 

ya reckon? I have about engines going at the moment & Id have to say that the team infinity .27 is probably the most reliable engine of the whole bunch! I see from your shear volume of forum posts you are probably speaking from experience? In that case I aint going to argue but I have spoken to several people lately that they all say it sh#ts all over the force. But I guess its a personal choice but I have not heard anyone having problems with the infinity .27 compared to any of the Ofna engines. I heard about a dozen people in the last couple of weeks who all have had major problems with ofna engines, ususally the force or the hyper. Maybe why Ofna ceased making those & "quietly" released the new Mach series without any of the fanfare that surrounded the Hyper's release. I have run a hyper without any probs though so I am presuming it may be a production fault in certain batches perhaps?

A besides dissing any engine due to tuning is unfair as its usually the user thats the one at fault. Not saying you can;t tune but I biught one of my buggys purely because the previous owner thought it was sh$t to tune. I found pretty quickly that this was not the case with me as I found it to be very easy to tune. Everyone is different I suppose.

But yeah in my case, my .27 rips! Done about 1.5gallons and still going strong, still lots of compression. So no complaints from me. I presuming you had trouble with an infinity .27, thunderbird? I'd hate to hear someone dishing the brand without actually running one??

Hey fahaka your garage sounds like its coming along! yeah its a fine line between oil wt & spring tension. You don;t want the springs to be too springy but not too soft either. You want it so the car keeps it ride height level when the springs bounce back but you don;t want it so that the slightest bump will make the car too bouncy. Its a personal preference thing again but generally you want slight lighter oil in the front shocks. The ideal way to jump is landing front wheels first so you want the front to land softly & be a little "forgiving", whilst when the rear touches down its a much smoother landing. So if you kept 50 in the rear, you probably put 40wt in the front. I have 45 & 35 in mine at the moment & I am very happy with the way it handles. You'll also notice that the shock pistons ahev holes in them. You can get shock pistons with different hole configurations which gives you different dampening effects. If you go too thick a shock oil, you can loose the effectiveness of dampening because the piston can;t flow smoothly.

Anyway it all comes to down experimentation & the sort of track conditions you plan to run on. A setup for grass, for instance, is not suitable for on-road applications & vice versa. Above all, its about fun!!

RE: "OFFICIAL" Redcat Racing 1/8th BUGGY thread (not truck thread)
 

Odd, I've never met a Hyper that I liked. And don't mistake post count for ACTUAL experiance, LOL. I just know what my experiances have been. a lot of people have liked the Infinity big blocks a lot, but I never really did like 'em. the Force built engines never treated me wrong, even though they're typically very underpowered compared to their competition. I'll take an STS or SH engine over just about anything else right now.

I never really had any TROUBLE with the infinity .27, it's just that for longevity and overall reliability I prefer a Force or SH engine (I haven't had an STS long enough to speak on longevity...but boy do they rip!)...of course, almost ANY big block engine will be enough for a 1/8 buggy to be balls-out fun:D

Fahaka, what engine were you breaking in? the SH engines can be BRUTAL during breakin

RE: "OFFICIAL" Redcat Racing 1/8th BUGGY thread (not truck thread)
 

yeah true, regardless, these big blocks are a handful! I guess every engine's different and they all have their own quirks I suppose. Talking of break in, that infinity was a complete b#tch! Snapped the cord twice in 2 days! haha almost became a permanent fixture on the wall!! Can't stand pullstarters anymore. Starter box all the way now. Makes the break in that much easier its stupid not have one.

Anyway there's a big bash here tomorrow so hopefully I'll have some video for people to take a look at. Should be good. Hoping for about 20 MTs & buggys. Just praying I don;t bust anything to early in the day!

RE: "OFFICIAL" Redcat Racing 1/8th BUGGY thread (not truck thread)
 

well my buggy bash today came & went rather quickly! I think I spoke to soon because after about 30 minutes I was out of action all of a sudden. Not sure what was wrong but the diff locked up for non apparant reason. After taking it apart & putting back togther It's working fine, so I have no idea why it happened. I seem to go through cycles where everything goes well for several weeks at a time, and then I go through periods where things break & things fall off.

Oh well, better luck next time I hope!

RE: "OFFICIAL" Redcat Racing 1/8th BUGGY thread (not truck thread)
 

Hey it sounds like you are using A left handed screw driver[sm=lol.gif] Just joking have fun and before you know it you will be A master car builder[sm=thumbup.gif]

RE: "OFFICIAL" Redcat Racing 1/8th BUGGY thread (not truck thread)
 

haha yeah i felt like a real "amatuer" among some of these guys! The jumps some of these guys were doing were insane! There were a few 1/5 Baja 5Bs there too. Never seen these running. Totally awesome. And very very expensive!!

RE: "OFFICIAL" Redcat Racing 1/8th BUGGY thread (not truck thread)
 

Yea I heard they were very costly. What do they cost in aus maybe cheaper to buy one here and have it shipped to you.

RE: "OFFICIAL" Redcat Racing 1/8th BUGGY thread (not truck thread)
 

Yeah I think you're right. They are around $1500AUS ($1125US) here in Oz. What do they retail in US$?? But none the less these are dam fast and they cut up the sand dunes with ease! and leaves my "little" buggy stuck in the sand! [:@]