Lunar Wolf

Well a nice little package arrived from Vertigo Performance.

Amoung other things was included the new vented clutchbell, a pre-production one peice spur gear carrier and the final prototype clutchbell carrier/cover/engine mount.



The first thing that struck me about the new CoverCarrier was its imposing presence, the finish to this peice in natural light looks quite awesome, it really is a shame its going to be completely hidden during normal use since it really is a master crafted peice of work.



Looking on the inside again is the same story, the recess where the CB sits is real smooth with light machining marks in a uniform spiralling pattern. The fit of the bearings is exact but as ever i'd advise using some green threadlock to prevent the bearings outer race rotating against the aluminium - over time this could wreck it, but as it is its quite a tight fit.



And again with the new vented bell fitted -




The breather hole is wisely positioned at the rear of the Carrier/cover to ensure sufficient air exchange to help keep temperatures under control and with the vented bell fitted you can see how well this will function -




Something i really liked was the decision to machine cooling ridges into the outside of the peice, this should help keep the bearings cool and extend their life as well as shed some weight.

On the issue of weight, the carrier minus bearings sits at about 100g, i'm not sure how that compares to a seperate old style Carrier, mount and CB cover but i'm sure someone can fill in the blank there. Those that know me, know i don't like to add weight to my vehicle, as ever its a case of judging each peice on its merrits and in the case of this its well worth its weight and every penny spent on it.


Installation went well, apart from slipping at the beginning with a blunt flat blade screwdriver while pulling the e-clip to rmove the spurgear and ripping half my thumb nail off...

I wasn't intending to say allot about the spur gear mount since its pretty obvious what it does but there is an extra benefit to this for anyone running a side mount pipe like the GBE i have which sits over the two long screws that secure the brake caliper & SG mount -



As you can see getting the long screws out is a PITA! Even trimmed down as mine are they're not easy to pull, the new SG mount is tapped and only requires M4x18mm bolts (included), which mean its now allot easier. I initially asked about about the weight of the new mount, being all alloy I expected it to weigh more, but was assured it didn't, both the stock piece with its long steel bolts & nuts and the new alloy SG mount with its short bolts weigh 23g which I've verified. There's still room for a little bit more material to be drilled away if one so desires but would probably only net another gram or two...

Something else i noticed which was kinda odd, is that the alloy SG mount is slightly shorter then the stock mount - if you look at these pics you'll get what i mean -





Now keep in mind these shots were taken with all the surrounding bolts removed. Initially i thought the new mount had been cut a little too small and even went as far as to file some washers down to about 0.7mm to compensate.



But at the end of the installation I decided to tighten up all the bolts apart from the two M4x18mm ones that secure the SG mount, and that gap closed to about 0.1mm. It would seem that the stock piece is slightly too large which may stress the bearings, and in fact the Vertigo mount is perfect - so there you go, what I initially thought was an imperfect mount was actually some innovative thinking from VP and a fitting improvement over the stock peice - sweet!

After pulling the stock clutch bell carrier i decided to pop it on the scales too see how much weight i'd gained, the stock carrier with its alloy cone washers, spacer & steel nuts comes to about 50g, as mentioned earlier the CoverCarrier is 100g, which considering its size compared to the stock piece is nothing short of a miracle in my book. Also with both the new SG mount and the CB carrier cover being tapped, a much shorter M5x10mm screws can be used as they no longer have to reach a steel nut, I'll be changing out all my screws to Ti in the near future so i can opt for shorter screws there and reduce the weight to less then half the stock bolts so thats another plus.

And there we go - all done.

[/QUOTE]

sheograth

Thanks for all the great info. That cover/carrier chunk really does look nice.

splcrazy

so i guess you had alot of fun installing this lol , by that i mean you maybe had to remove the entire side mount pipe to get the two long screws off the brake assembly .

that one piece assembly does look really good and it is a shame that it gets covered by the spur gear protector cover , someone should make a solid good quality see through lexan cover for these when running an application like this , and yeah from this new design one peice i see that it takes alot more work to put on and take off , before you would of just had to remove the spur then undo the two long brake bolts then only three main bolts for the clutch bell carrier and it would all be off in about ten minutes , now its just alot more hard work for nothing lol i dont think i would be buying this setup you got , i would just get the same shape setup that it comes as stock but in a billet form

MONAROMAN

So do you have to remove the SG carrier or any additional parts to get the CB carrier/cover off or is there clearance to just remove the carrier/cover only? (like the stock setup has) I like the idea but at the end of the day if it makes a lot of work to disassemble while out there bashing thats not the greatest setup - if say you need to throw some new shoes in or bust a clutch spring, also that baja looks way too clean!!! Does it actually see any runtime?

Lunar Wolf

Actually didn't have to touch the pipe, i cheated when pulling the old long bolts out and just cut the stupid things off with the dremel, never going to use those again anyway lol. Now that i'm using shorter bolts its never going to be an issue again.

Yep the new CB cover does look sweet but its looks are secondary to function, all those radiator ridges are for cooling - its basically a big heatsink to keep the bearings cool, the fact that its well finished is a bonus. It really isn't much extra work to get it off, you have to pull most of that area apart anyway to get the stock one off, this one is just an extra 5 bolts or so to loosen the rear deck, which are easy to get at anyway.

If i had one of the earlier CB carriers i probably wouldn't get the new one either, except for the fact they have an upgrade program where you send them your old alloy carrier, dosn't even have to be a Vertigo one, they send you the new type for half price, so your looking at about $60 including worldwide shipping to upgrade.

wan6176

looks nice but heavy...add weight..[8D]

Lunar Wolf

100g vs the stock 50g plastic one, and probably no heavier then the 3 peice alloy equivilant. You can't use the stock plastic ones for long before they overheat and fry your spurgear and/or toast your clutch so sticking with stock really isn't much of an opion.

Also as a racer advised me, a little extra weight on that side can actually be a good thing for bringing the Baja's weight distribution into balance, since engine is mounted off to the left, some extra weight on the right will improve handeling. Although in my case the GBE sidemount makes mine heavier on the right, but for you rearmount guy its all good.

badz

My Feedback: (1)

Looks good and is a different option than whats currently available, I agree that the weight doesn't mean much since most of us got pipes tossing added weight to the side anyhow and I've never seem to have much problem with a little added weight on the baja, nothing a few clicks of shock adjustment can't take care of anyhow.
Does the clutch bell have 3 holes cut in it or only two and does it seem balanced well?
My only concern with the part is if you're running in sand with that 1 hole in the cover it can keep the sand trapped in and chew the clutch up little faster.

Lunar Wolf

The vented bell has 3 slits cut in it, its alot like the ofna vented bells for 1/8 nitro. Its well balanced and runs true, its also milled from a single peice of steel so no welds.

The hole in the cover is right at the back and well sheilded from any incomming sand or dust, a sizable breather hole is needed imo otherwise a cover will trap heat and contribute to clutch spring and bearing failure, as it is it protects the clutch perfectly and allows plenty of fresh air exchange. I've had it out in the dust & mud with no issues and everythings clean in there.

Vertigo reportedly did a lot of testing in the sand, i'll post the pics up, i'm sure they won't mind.




edit:

Here you go, i was asked on another forum for a photo of the rear vent so they could see where it sat in relation to eveything else. As you can see even after some fun in the mud & dust that side of the cover is completely clean. The only line of sight i could get on it was from behind and under the vehicle, and got some sand in my eye for the trouble.

mradlin

Looks really nice Lunar!! Let us all know how it works.

hndaman1

My Feedback: (6)

Looking good Lunar, I cannot wait too get mine

badz

My Feedback: (1)

Cool, thanks for more pics on it Lunar...it is the best looking clutch carrier out there, should sell good

revopqrs

thats hawt...

mradlin

Has anyone heard when these are going to be available?

vertigo performance

A couple more weeks.

It is important to Vertigo Performance that when putting an originally designed product on the market it be done correctly.

The brake clearance hole had to allow adequate air flow and access to blow the brake dust out with an air nozzle without letting dirt in during running.
Once we had the covers tested in several terrains including California sand dunes (Testing done by John Schultz of Rock concepts/HPI Racing) we felt confident to move forward with production.

MONAROMAN

Why not just say "bump" - I'm pretty sure thats what you really meant, oh well someone else beat you guys to it. Python now have an enclosed bell holder and it looks the goods so it will be interesting to see which one is better.

Lunar Wolf

I've done my own testing:



lots of sand outside the carrier/cover but not one grain inside. The only thing in there was a little clutch dust, a normal amount for ragging it around the beach the way i do. I like the tip on blowing the dust out with an air nozzle/compressed air, that'll make maintence of that part real quick - guess that rear vent hole is good for something other then just cooling.

edit: probably best to wear a dust mask when i do though, don't want to breath in any of that stuff, who knows what its made of...

hndaman1

My Feedback: (6)

This product is going to be the first one on the top of my list when it come out I cannot wait...Great "REAL WORLD" testing for them LUNAR.....I can see how this will benefit everyone and hopefully save on some clutches..

Lunar Wolf

Its a great item, i'm sure sooner or later someone will try and copy it - it'd be hard to resist. Vertigo was the first to bring out an alloy clutch bell carrier now every tom, dick & harry has done the same, but even then Vertigo's came with an alloy engine mount as well (its called going the extra mile), infact if you look at the Baja lineup you see alot of innovative thinking and dual purpose products, not just a case of fixing one problem but also making improvements on other parts of the vehicle at the same time - why make a product to fix one problem when with a bit of extra planning you can make one that fixes several - that to me is value for money.

And thanks for the kind words bro, i don't often show dirty pics of my RC's because i normally dive straight into wrenching & cleaning, when i do get round to taking a photo it looks like a shelf queen and people naively think thats all i do with my RC's - keep them on the shelf.

hndaman1

My Feedback: (6)

+1 to what you you said......BTW someone ALREADY TRIED TO COPY IT But I will not post any more info on that [>:]

FastEddy

My Feedback: (1)

I believe that Python already has one on the market.
Never the less the V product LOOKS nice I like the fins.

Lunar Wolf

*beep*

No problem VP. FYI, the Vertigo design with prototypes was made public on 11-09-2007 and 3D CAD pictures on the front page of a particular 5thScale forum, its a no brainer who had the idea first but decided to thoroughly test the product before launch (thats called looking after your customers and not selling them a lemon), i guess its easy to lift an idea and be the first to market if you skip product testing. Thanks for news Eddy, that someone has already chosen to rip off the idea, but lets keep this thread on track - its just about the VP cover/carrier.

vertigo performance

Lunar, Thanks for the comments, please don't get caught up in Eddys redoric. VP spent many months developing a product. If Eddy wants to have the consumer believe another company was first please let him.

This thread could be pulled if an disagreement ensues and we all know the truth about the products, development and one particular mans agenda.

Have a good day and let them do what they must.

Thanks,

C

FastEddy

My Feedback: (1)

No Roderick here,
I was commenting to the fact that I like your fins and that what LW posted about other designs were already in play.

Its a big world and there are many companies working on like products. Some will be good and others wont.
As I count there are 4 like products on the market or close to being on the market. There are plenty of users out there and they will purchase what is attractive to them.

Modifier, Python, Vertigo, and RamTech all have products either on the market or in testing. All of them offer a slightly different design and im sure all will be well built. Each will attract their own set of buyers that are attracted to the particular feature set that each offers.


Edit:
LW,
In this photo is that a CF inlay on aluminum, a sticker, or what?
Its cool but hard to make out in the photo.

vertigo performance

Vertigo Performance first to market with HPI Baja aftermarket.

Rear extenders with O ring retainers that offer multiple features
Front extenders that are adjustable for width
Billet Clutch Bell Carrier
Billet right rear engine mount
Enclosed clutch bell carrier, cover, engine mount 1pc unit
Carbon brakes
Properly Vented steel clutch bell.
Differential Locker