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Hey all. So I have had this laying around for awhile and decide to make a dragster out of it. gomachv Hooked me up with a parts lot as my Drive shaft was toast on my chassis and he sent me some chassis parts as well.

I also have some new rear wheels from LTO_Dave on the way as well. I like the look of the wheels Jeff sent me with the parts lot but but are pretty worn out.


So this weekend I started throwing parts together and trying to get the rear pod stiffened up. I took some Traxxas carbon links I had laying around and made a brace. I also picked up some drag wheels and bearings for the front and made some custom links for the steering. My only issue now is the front spindle carries are worn and will need to be replaced. The one side wobbles a bit. Not good if I want this to go straight.

I was also playing around with some spare bodies i have and think the 66'Mustang looks pretty cool, but I am going to get a all out drag body for it.

Here are the progress pictures so far. This has been fun so far. Hope you like.

Those rubber caps are the bomb! Too bad the guy before me butchered the wheels they are on. I was hoping they would work for a runner but I don't do runners I bet they work pretty good

Thanks Jeff and I appreciate you sending them my way I think the are cool looking too, but I can live with the wheels. I hope to get the rest of the electronics in it tonight and try it out.

YES!
I have got to build me one of those...

Diggley wrote:YES!
I have got to build me one of those...

LOL!

Here it is all done up with some electronics I scrounged up. I took it for a quick trip around the kitchen and it has some serious power like it is. Tires unfortunately have no grip and left tire tracks all over the floor... One thing I noticed is it always wanted to kick out on the diff side, not ideal for trying it out. Took it out to the garage and same thing happened. I am going to blame it on the tires for now.

I also need to figure out a way to put steering stops on it. The servo will turn the tires way past a 90 degree angle to the chassis. The TX I was using does not have a way to limit steering unfortunately.

Tweak is probably off a bit, try lifting with a xacto knife at the dead center of the rear chassis under the axle and see if one tire lifts first. Ideally both should lift equally. Gotta get the balance right by adjusting the rear plate or by moving electronics

As far as the steering, not sure if you can but move the ball ends in as far as possible on the servo side and if nothing else maybe make
Some extensions for the spindle to mechanically turn the rate down.

Thanks for the advice. I will try that in the morning. After you saying that and looking at the way I have everything laid out, a lot of weight on the diff side compared to the other. Good info!

I'm only "book smart" with onroad stuff, so if you get others chiming in I'd take their advise especially with those caps, I have no idea how to prep/maintain a cap tire.

SFC K wrote:

Diggley wrote:YES!
I have got to build me one of those...

LOL!

Here it is all done up with some electronics I scrounged up. I took it for a quick trip around the kitchen and it has some serious power like it is. Tires unfortunately have no grip and left tire tracks all over the floor... One thing I noticed is it always wanted to kick out on the diff side, not ideal for trying it out. Took it out to the garage and same thing happened. I am going to blame it on the tires for now.

I also need to figure out a way to put steering stops on it. The servo will turn the tires way past a 90 degree angle to the chassis. The TX I was using does not have a way to limit steering unfortunately.

Have you tried locking the diff yet? I'd lock it so both tires will have no choice but to turn at the same time.

It won't corner so well, but it should want to hook up and go straight pretty well.

That should solve part of the problem.

Also, (If it were mine) I'd try to swap places with the speed control and battery...or get as much weight as possible near the rear axle.

If it's drag-only, try tweeking the front caster back towards the rear as much as you can...that'll help with handling and take some of the nervousness out of it..


It looks like a blast!

For your steering problem you may try moving those links as far up to center of the servo saver as possible. That may limit the throw enough to help.

As for the tires, I think just regular tire compound will condition them and help with traction. When you go out to run it try to find a dust free surface and spray down some sugar water or Mountain Dew and let it dry a little. It will create a nice sticky patch to launch from. Looks killer!

Thanks for the suggestions guys!

@ Diggley I tried to mount the battery underneath the plate but my battery is way to thick. I wanted it to go there but it will work where it is at for now until testing. I did move the ESC over to the non diff side though.

@ THEYTOOKMYTHUMB That is an intersting way to get more traction. Good thing MTDEW is my favorite drink! For the steering I am going to put some steering stops on the plate. I tried moving the ball ends around but not much help.

So far I changed the layout for the electronics, locked the diff and replaced the bearing in the rear pod. I am going to run back to the LHS and get some new front spindle carriers. I did get my wheels in the mail From LTO_Dave and should help get it off the line a bit. I still need to work on body mounting too.

Update: I picked up some new front spindles and have them installed now and new bearings installed as well in the rear. I also picked up some new body mounts and a new RJ Speed '70 Super Bird body for it which has the right width in the rear. I had a plastic blower laying around too that I am going to add to the hood.

I think this is going to look really cool when it is done.


Picture time:

Superbird body

Sweet! I had no idea that was still available...your car is going to look great with that on it.

I just painted one of my old Bolink ones orange

Look forward to seeing yours!

Thanks, it may be a bit before I can paint it. We are experiencing a Blizzard right now. Not ideal for painting.

I saw this over on Clodtalk, Nice build. That body is a very good match, I have not seen one of those for some time.

We got a boat load of snow here as well, Was out snow boating and I was wishing the roads were clear to run a few of the speed demons.

How do you think it will run?