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I never use soapy water TBH, heat gun, and lots of test fitting and patience, ill get to it someday.

lee

I did not use soapy water for my Avante bodies either, but I have tried it before and it does help.

Yet another thing to note about the Avante, if you want to use it as a runner - the front kingpings which connect the steering knuckle to the C-hub. These will come loose and pop out, since the C-hub is metal and you're using a metal screw. I lost a few this way. Be sure to use "soft" (e.g., loctite blue) threadlock on the kingpin threads. This also applies to the rear hub carriers if you have aftermarket units. My 2011 runner has Yeah Racing aluminum rear hub carriers (and front knuckles). Some threadlock there will keep things in place.

Going further still, the rear inner camber link mount screw (in stock form it's a screw, but I upgraded mine to a threaded ballstud which I pass a screw through) can pop out of the threads under hard landings. You **could** use soft threadlock here, but that will prevent you from making quick roll center/camber gain adjustments. I'd recommend it, though, just to keep it from stripping.

What else...hmmm...

The center diff/slipper unit is very cool, but you'll basically have to run it at full lock or near full lock if you put a mod motor in there. I ran a 7.5 in there with moderate tightness on the center diff/slipper and it came loose pretty quickly. I currently have it at full lock with a 10.5.

One of the things I really like about the Avante is that the diff balls are completely sealed from the environment - much unlike Associated diffs which need to be cleaned on a regular basis. The only issue (which I mentioned previously) is that the diff outdrive cups can pop out if the CVD dogbones are not far enough in at full suspension droop. Again, I have downtravel limiters in the shocks presently, because when the arms droop fully, the wheels actually get pulled inward a bit and this leads to some wonky landing behavior. Very small design space for ride height trade-off, though...wider arms would really help this car.

In terms of driving, I had mentioned earlier that it is difficult to drive. I should probably clarify and say that this car is more of a "point and shoot" car. In other words, at least with the stock, or stock-like, settings, you can't really slide this chassis around turns like you could with a modern 4wd buggy. That's probably due to a number of things, not the least of which being a rear weight bias. I'm still playing with mine to see how much of this I can tune in, but I do not get many opportunities to run it at my track, since full-day open practice are not common on the days I go. Fun car to play with and figure out, though...

at this price i couldnt even find a used one . cant wait to get mine

Just a tip. If you intend to run the Tamiya hi torque servo saver, its a bit of a pain, if you also want to run a driver figure i found.
The hi torque saver, doesn't have the "kink" in the servo horn the kit one does, thus it throws off the angle of the pushrod a tad.
I swapped the servo mounts to the facia side of the servo, but then had to use a low pro servo, so it would clear the undertray side......as i said, bit of a pain, but its the way i opted to do it, does work like a charm though, and the steering is a lot more solid.

lee

Good point. The stock servo saver is also very sloppy. Even if you have the racing steering set (which reduces slop), the stock saver undermines it.

I use a Kimbrough medium servo saver. In order to clear the upper deck, I shaved off a small wedge of the saver facing the backside of the chassis.

Received my Avante today- thank you Bill. Turned up well protected inside a sturdy box and all the contents were kept safe.
Very excited to begin this build when I can spare some more time away from work and family commitments.
Happy dayz

Soooo, is it built yet Stop slacking Jason....family life can wait, i want so see another of your killer videos, with the Avante this time

lee

Mine came too, great packing job!

I'll be taking my time, no need to rush in. I just ordered aluminum front and rear hubs and aluminum wheels for mine which I will also get anodized for a yet to be determined color scheme.

I will probably order the diff upgrades, are there part numbers I should search for to get mine to black special spec? And the upgraded steering?

Thanks

Great news MrWils.
I am in no great hurry neither. I have opened the lid of the box and had a quick look through. I will get to it in the near future. The ball diff set and steering set both spark my interest also.
Cheers-Jason

stickboy007 wrote:I have a 2011 and a Black Special...and an Egress All very pretty and I love them to bits. The Black Special comes with the racing steering rack and the torque splitter set (ball diffs front and rear, plus a center one-way bearing). Mechanically, that's the only difference.

So for the 2011 model, I bought the racing steering set and torque splitter units for it. Also got the re-released hi-cap dampers and did some other swizzles (titanium turnbuckles, aluminum ball studs, etc.).

Can you post up some pictures and more detail and pics on the parts you swapped like the turnbuckles and ball studs including where you sourced them? There is an aftermarket screw kit for the sand scorcher that a guy sells on fleecebay claiming they are superior to the factory stuff, do you know if they make something similar for the Avante?

I have several YouTube videos on my Avante builds that you can check. Most or all of the information you're looking for should be in there. In terms of where I got the hop-ups, I got them mostly off of eBay.

Part 1 of the 2011 build is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqMBx67QH4I (the other parts should show up on the sidebar).

I made two tuning videos for the 2011:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Efy5AXh9XIs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITUGwOjtZGY

My current setup is a bit different from what I ended on the second video, but I'm pretty sure I outlined all the parts I'm using in there anyway.

Thanks, just watched the first vid, very helpful.

A small suggestion is to do the video with better lighting which could help with the camera focus. It was a bit hard on my eyes, straining to see toward the end of part 1 especially.

flipwils11 wrote:Thanks, just watched the first vid, very helpful.

A small suggestion is to do the video with better lighting which could help with the camera focus. It was a bit hard on my eyes, straining to see toward the end of part 1 especially.

Yeah, sorry about that. My setup is not exactly great when it comes to lighting. I have tried putting more light in that area, but my camera has a hard time making a good image with it.

Ok I have a nice list of hop ups that are on the way to complement this build.

Torque splitter Tamiya (#84257)
High torque servo saver, Tamiya (#51000)
Titanium screw set, Tamiya (#84199)
Racing steering set, Tamiya (#84256)
Yeah Racing aluminum rear hubs
Yeah racing aluminum front knuckles
Aluminum cam cover wheels (rc_loverr on fleecebay)
Aluminum cam covers (rc_loverr on fleecebay)
Aluminum dark impact bonus wheels (rc_loverr on fleecebay)
High capacity damper front, Tamiya (#84300)
High capacity damper rear, Tamiya (#84301)

I still need guidance on turnbuckles and any other bling like ball ends.

flipwils11 wrote:I still need guidance on turnbuckles and any other bling like ball ends.

I use 4.8mm balls/studs/cups almost exclusively with my builds, I prefer that to the open-ended ball ends, which loosen too easily as dust & dirt gets inside to speed up the wear & tear. I just bought these; the seller has more available:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/380527077557?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649
http://www.ebay.com/itm/380147765787?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

You'll also need an assortment of ball cups:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/3Racing-4-8mm-Ball-End-Set-For-Tamiya-TT-01-TT01-22-/130846236580?pt=US_Radio_Control_Control_Line&hash=item1e770b1fa4

I also recommend a good assortment of spacers with 3mm I.D.:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/251038019726?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649