gordy p
03-02-2010, 11:15 PM
Hi guys,
As some of you know I'll be running the FTX at the Nationals this year, so I thought I'd tell you whats been happening with the car. Been doing a lot of testing with the car.
Out of the box the car handled extremely well and I was impressed with it, however it was extremely slow on acceleration. I initially put this down to it being a 23cc engine, but then I remembered what we used to do to the original Baja exhausts - so got my thin nosed pliers and pulled all the wadding out, and I didn't think it would make much difference - how wrong can you be. It totally transformed the performance of the car.
If you are thinking of buying one, I'd recommend doing this before even taking it out. The 23cc seems to perform better in this car than it ever did in the HPI. Exhaust wise I've since put on a heavily modified FG touring car side pipe, until a decent aftermarket side pipe comes on the market (which it will.)
So on to what I've done changes wise. I've had the diffs out of the car more times than I want to remember, trying to find out what diff oil combination worked the best, and I ended up with 30k front, 100k centre and 1k rear. This seems to work very well for me, but if you want a little more drive out of the corners put heavier oil in the front. But just remember the heavier you go on the front the less off power steering you get and the looser the back end of the car feels.
I've also fitted an 8000rpm clutch spring and HPI air filter, which makes it much quicker off the mark.
I've drilled a small hole in the front and rear diff case and fitted a rubber grommet, this means I can spray chain wax directly onto the crown wheel and pinion gear without stripping the cases. Possibly the biggest mod so far is a wide suspension arm set, which with Horman soft line wheels puts the width out to 490mm. Which is maximum width allowed in EU rules.
The car now handles even better, and it handled great out the box!
There's still loads to come e.g. anti roll bars, 3degree tow-in block, mod engine, very special shell and loads more....... (and my first race is at the end of the month, I need to pull my finger out!)
http://i824.photobucket.com/albums/zz166/gordonandjulie/Picture027.jpg
As some of you know I'll be running the FTX at the Nationals this year, so I thought I'd tell you whats been happening with the car. Been doing a lot of testing with the car.
Out of the box the car handled extremely well and I was impressed with it, however it was extremely slow on acceleration. I initially put this down to it being a 23cc engine, but then I remembered what we used to do to the original Baja exhausts - so got my thin nosed pliers and pulled all the wadding out, and I didn't think it would make much difference - how wrong can you be. It totally transformed the performance of the car.
If you are thinking of buying one, I'd recommend doing this before even taking it out. The 23cc seems to perform better in this car than it ever did in the HPI. Exhaust wise I've since put on a heavily modified FG touring car side pipe, until a decent aftermarket side pipe comes on the market (which it will.)
So on to what I've done changes wise. I've had the diffs out of the car more times than I want to remember, trying to find out what diff oil combination worked the best, and I ended up with 30k front, 100k centre and 1k rear. This seems to work very well for me, but if you want a little more drive out of the corners put heavier oil in the front. But just remember the heavier you go on the front the less off power steering you get and the looser the back end of the car feels.
I've also fitted an 8000rpm clutch spring and HPI air filter, which makes it much quicker off the mark.
I've drilled a small hole in the front and rear diff case and fitted a rubber grommet, this means I can spray chain wax directly onto the crown wheel and pinion gear without stripping the cases. Possibly the biggest mod so far is a wide suspension arm set, which with Horman soft line wheels puts the width out to 490mm. Which is maximum width allowed in EU rules.
The car now handles even better, and it handled great out the box!
There's still loads to come e.g. anti roll bars, 3degree tow-in block, mod engine, very special shell and loads more....... (and my first race is at the end of the month, I need to pull my finger out!)
http://i824.photobucket.com/albums/zz166/gordonandjulie/Picture027.jpg