Hi:
We have received some requests to monitor this forum and re are happy to do so. Over the next week or so we will be posting some of the tips and setup help that we have come up with in the development of this platform. We do ask that if you have a specific question please email us directly as checking PMs on different forums is hard to do with a packed schedule and Icannot promise a timely response. Also if there is a posting on here that needs a rapid response please let us know via email or our 800 number.
There is asimple trick for picking a pinion and spur for the E4s that doesn't take a lot of trial and error. Ifyou add the number of teeth onthe pinion to the number of teeth on the spur youshould end up with 140 -150. If you do then you will have plenty of room forfine tuning or setting your final drive with yourtemp gun. For example ifyou are looking for a 5.0 FDR and you have a 2.0 internal ratio then you need a pinion / spur ratio of 2.5:1 (2.5 X 2= 5) Starting with a100 tooth spur that wouldmean a 40 tooth pinion gear. Add up the teeth and it is 140 teeth. Thatputs you at the lower endof the adjustment range.If you have a 106 spur and a 43 tooth pinion that would add up to 149 teeth.That would put you near the top of the range. Either one would work and still leave you some room to make adjustments.
Another big question is which car is best for which conditions. The following is a post from another forum that you might find helpful:
Good questions. The answer is based not just on my experience but also feedback from almost all of the team and sponsored drivers. This is not intended to spark a debate but is our opinion based on experience and tons feedback. The general feeling is that because of the suspension geometry and the centerline mass the car is more responsive with the thicker chassis used on the FS. Other cars go through such massive changes in center of gravity during cornering because of the battery mass hanging out in space. Turning in one direction the center of gravity goes down as the car leans and in the other direction it raises. This makes most cars inherently unstable and they have to resort to stiffer springs and sway bars to counter the imbalance problem. With the stiff springs and sway bars the cars rely on chassis flex to maintain tire contact with the ground. Since the E4 does not have that problem it is possible to go with softer springs and shock oil. In this situation the stiffer chassis makes the car more consistent and responsive. In full size race-cars the challenge is to make the chassis as stiff as possible and make the suspension do the work. The reason is that suspension reaction can be dampened with the shock absorbers whereas chassis flex cannot be dampened and leads to oscillation. We have tried every combination of chassis top deck and stiffener posts and have come to the conclusion that the fastest combination of parts on carpet regardless of tires is the FS upper and lower deck with the front spacers installed. For asphalt we also found that the FS chassis has an edge over the thinner RS chassis for most drivers. Whether the front spacers are used or not depends on tires, track surface and driver preference. FYI: at the Reedy race we experimented with several chassis (some custom made for the event) and we all ended up using the stock FS upper and lower decks (In the spirit of full disclosure, the upper decks we used were the Wolf Hobbies decks which have the same dimensions as the stock decks but use countersunk flat head screws to better keep things lined up in the event of a crash). The bottom line is that it is always easier to make a stiff car compliant than it is to make a soft car stiffer. I have a carpet and asphalt car. They are both FSs.
As for the steering systems we have found that the single arm is better on carpet. On asphalt there is a split. I hate the single arm on asphalt because it is too responsive (being over 50 I don't have the benefit of years of video game "training" that most of you have.) so I use the double arm. My son (and Dave) on the other hand find the car too "mellow" with the double arm and use the single exclusively. All in all we find about a70 - 30 split favoring the dual arm steering for drivers that race on asphalt exclusively. The single arm has issues with bump steer that requires about 7mm of spacers but we have a really slick solution but just haven’t had time to put it on the web site yet.
At the risk of sounding silly I have to say that Jaco blues seem like they were made for this car. Whenever I have a test day and get frustrated that I cannot get the car to do what I want (like when I test with a tire that is going to be a spec tire at an event) I slap a set of blues on the car, it just flies and I get me confidence back. I always look forward to going to an event that uses the blues because I know that my car is pretty much set up as soon as I put it on the track (purple springs in front, pinks in the rear and 30 or 35 shock oil depending on whether it is asphalt or carpet)
Why is there a price difference between the FS and RS? Because we bought all the E4FSs that TM produced. We got a better deal from the manufacturer and can pass on the savings to you. We pulled out all the stops on our Christmas sale. Times are tough for us all and we really want everyone to have the best season ever so we even dropped the price on the RS to match the FS to level the field and make it possible for everyone to get whatever they want. In fact we only have a few of the special edition cars left. If you email me and ask nicely I will give you $75.00 off on the remaining stock of those cars. (this also helps us see how many of our customers follow this thread and lets us know how much we should spend on advertising here)
We really appreciate all the support and kind words we have received over the past two years. We consider all of our E4 customers special. You all could have followed the herd and bought what everyone else bought but you blazed your own trail. In our opinion this makes you ALL special. This sale is our way of saying thank you and to help you to show everyone else the quick way around the track.