Friday, May 29, 2015

T5m Diet!

So. I weighed the truck when it was race ready and it came in at heavy 1905g!  A hefty 204g over the minimum weight of 1701g. I didn't care much for mod, but since I switched to 13.5 motor for the upcoming summer series at SDRC, I decided to put this pig on a diet!  

With the recommended gearing in the manual, the motor was running hot and hit the max temp I have programmed in my telemetry (180F) several times during practice runs, at about the 10 minute mark. Which is ok, but I'd rather not have it get that high during a practice run. During racing the motor normally reaches about 160F, which is fine.  But with summer coming I'd rather have it be lower, thus I want to lighten the truck. 

First up were aluminum locknuts for the shock mounts and aluminum wheel nuts, as I have extras of these for my buggy. 

Next were shorter ball cups and titanium turnbuckles. I originally used T4 titanium turnbuckles as I had an extra set and the T5m version was on backorder. The T4 ones are about 4mm longer than the T5m ones. 

Next were titanium ball studs and aluminum M3 locknuts.

Then came the titanium screws. I replaced everything that was easy to access on the top of the chassis for now, and will change over the rest when I install my milled chassis and puck system.

The last titanium parts to install will be some front axles, as these are still on backorder. 

I'll get a new weight after I install my lighter servo. The one I have in the truck now is overkill, but bad ass!  Core less motor, titanium gears, aluminum case, 306 oz-in @ 0.06 seconds!  My lighter servo has a brushless motor, metal gears, plastic case, 192 oz-in @ 0.07 seconds, and is 15g lighter:)

Update 6/3/15
The truck was at 1886g race ready for last weekend. This was with some of the titanium screws, titanium ball studs, shorter titanium turnbuckles, various aluminum nuts, lighter servo, but no pucks or milled chassis. 

Stock chassis 142g

V3 milled chassis, shallower pockets, more milling in the center, less under the motor, 110g, 32g lighter than stock :)

Update 6/4/15
New race weight with my milled chassis. Still 144g over minimum weight :(

Thursday, May 28, 2015

2nd trip to Motörhead

I decided to race at Motörhead RC Raceway in San Jacinto near Hemet, on Sunday, 5/24/15, since I haven't been there since last summer. I would race my T5m again since I'm still working on the setup.

The layout was fast and fun to drive. Lap times were quick!  Mostly in the 13's with the fastest laps in the low 12's. 

I tried my gold pressure points at first, but did my fastest laps and runs on my balding mc ions.

I managed to finish 2nd in the closing laps of the main after qualifying 3rd. A new layout is going in this weekend, so I'm going to try and make it back the 1st Sunday in June. 

Race results



Layout

Fred and Riley getting ready to race

Our pit tables in the corner

My T5m 

IERC, Mod Truck, Saturday 5/23/15

Our group headed up to IERC for some club racing, since the JBRL was visiting our home track.  I brought my buggy and truck, but decided to only race truck, as I'm still working on finding a setup I like and needed to break in some new tires. 

During practice the motor actually reached my high temp alarm for my telemetry sensor!  180F!  So I geared my truck down again, going to an 81:23 ratio.

In the 1st qualifier I broke the plastic rear camber link mount again. Maybe I should use the aluminum version?  In the second qualifier I broke a rod end for one of the front shocks. That was a failure I've rarely seen. 

For the 2nd qualifier switched to a lighter rear spring (white-2.1 to green-2.0)  as I was still searching for some side bite. I also added another ball stud washer for the link while I was changing out the broken ball stub mount.

The truck felt a lot better and I was able to push much harder min fact I was in 2nd place when the front shock broke. I want to try some black-1.9 rear springs for the main, but the shop didn't have any, so I added another rear ball stud washer instead, for a total of 3mm. The same as I've been running on my buggy. 

I started 6th and finished 5th in the main. Not the best showing, but at least I moved up and my truck is starting to handle better :) 

I plan to lighten it up and get it closer to the minimum weight, as its 204g over weight!  I want a light truck mostly to get the motor temp down so I can gear back up. Maybe I should look into a fan also



Tuesday, May 19, 2015

JBRL Practice, Saturday 5/16/15

Another big crowd showed up to learn the layout for the JBRL race next Saturday.  A bunch of out of towners showed up, filling 3 heats of stock buggy and 2 of mod truck, which were the classes I was racing. 

I didn't do well in round 1 of stock buggy,  finishing 8th.  I got novice marshaled and crashed way too many times. In round 2 I drove a bit more conservative and put in a run which qualified me 5th overall. 

In the main I followed my brother around for few laps, but he was holding me up some so I asked him to go faster. He made a mistake which allowed me to get by for 3rd, where I remained until the end of the race. 




Mod truck wasn't as much fun as buggy. I was still tuning my esc settings for the 13.5, but I can't tell how they worked as I was struggling for rear grip. My new tires had no grip and my older sets were loose. The only combination of tires which felt ok were old rears with new fronts, as those pushed a little. I did manage a 20.0 lap, but it was hard to drive. 




Monday, May 18, 2015

Summer Series Prep

I decided to race 2 classes Friday night, 5/15/15, to prepare for the upcoming SDRC Summer Series. I'm planning to race stock buggy and 13.5 truck. My buggy is working well, but the truck needs some help. 

In stock buggy some guys I used to race with from OCRC came down to practice for the JBRL next weekend. I wanted to have a good showing against them and pushed during qualifying. I managed to qualify 3rd behind one guy and ahead of the other.  I led most of the race, but stuffed a pipe and crashed a few more times on the last lap and dropped to 3rd. Oh well. 




In truck I would be running my 13.5 for the 1st time and need to figure out the gearing and esc setting for this motor. It was running on the hot side (165F), probably due to the weight (1905g!). Between that and trying break in a pair of tires, my truck either pushed or was loose. I still managed to qualify and finish 3rd, but didn't like the way the truck handled. 




Thursday, May 14, 2015

SDRC Summer Series!

the Finally!  Another club series at SDRC!  I am also the defending series champion for stock short course and stock truck, from the last club race series. Lol!

I've decided to run 13.5 truck and either stock or 13.5 buggy.  I'll decide once more details about the series is released. 

The series race dates are:
June 13th
June 20th
June 27th

2 week break

July 18th

1 week off

August 1st
August 8th

Once the series starts I'll race only my series classes until the series is over. 


Rules:
-Blinky mode only for spec motor classes (17.5, 13.5)
-2s Lipo 8.44V max 
-ROAR minimum weight by class

That's it!  Looks like D3.5's are legal :)

T5 Maiden Race

Saturday 5/9/15 was the first day out at the track for my T5m with telemetry and data logging capability.  I have telemetry and data logging of the motor temp in my radio and data logging in my esc. It was fairly easy to use but I needed to remember to turn data logging on and off in the radio and clear the memory in the esc for each run I wanted I capture data. FYI, my max motor temp was about 150F and the max esc temp was about 120F. 

I would end up racing stock buggy, since I blew out Friday night, and mod truck. My buggy was hooked up on MC Electron rears and gold Barcode fronts!  I was turning some of the fastest laps, but only qualified 3rd due to crashing too much. I blew out in the main again, finishing 4th. 





Mod truck started off well enough and I would qualify 3rd, but by the main I was either over driving or my rear tires were going away. I ended up finishing last in the main. 



Wednesday, May 13, 2015

SDRC's 3rd Layout

I decided to race on the 3rd layout at the new location on the 1st Friday race night for it. Because it would be my 1st night on it with limited practice, I raced my trusty stock buggy instead of my mod truck, which I've been racing the last few trips to the track. 

Something new was we were now allowed to use tire sauce!  No Liquid Wrench or diesel fuel and tires must be dry before going on the track. With this and more consistent misting, grip was really good right away!

The layout was flows and drives fast making it fun to drive. There is a double triple before coming onto the straight which is not easy to land consistently and stock buggy can just make with the right line up and speed. 

By the 2nd round I was turning some of the fastest laps (19.2), but I kept crashing at least a few times during the run, slowing down my race time. I managed to qualify 3rd and in the main moved up to 2nd early, but after getting caught in a pile up and over driving, I ended up finishing 6th. 





Thursday, May 7, 2015

Tekin data logging

So I messed around with the data logging feature of the RSX installed in my T5m. It can log the throttle position, battery voltage, bec voltage, esc temperature, rpm, and motor temperature (if the motor has a sensor). I chose to log the battery and bec voltage, esc temps, and rpm.  I will probably check the bec voltage and esc temp at first.   Want to make sure the bec is actually outputting high voltage and that the esc doesn't get too hot since I didn't install the fan. Below is an example of what the data looks like. 




Wednesday, May 6, 2015

T5m ready to race!

I finished building my T5m last night and it's all set to race. I just need to break in the diff, set the ride height, and dial in the camber. I have a loaner body to run until my custom painted bodies are back from my painter in a couple of weeks. 

Some electronics install notes:

I had to raise the servo slightly using some thin M3 washers in order to not crush the transponder wire which runs under the servo.  I also had to add a 1mm ball stud washer and the bellcrank ball stud so the link wouldn't rub on the servo case. I don't remember doing this on the B5m. 

I had to shorten my esc wires as the initial lengths were too long. 

At first I had a normal sensor wire routing over the battery on its way to the motor. It was way too long and kept rubbing on the wire to the temp sensor on the motor. I swaped it out for a shorter flat sensor wire, which required me to remove the speedo from the chassis, which is why I don't like the sensor port located under the solder posts for the main wires.  On the flip side this location works great with a flat sensor wire routing under the battery on its way to the motor :). The flat wire didn't rub on the temp sensor wire like the normal one did. 

I mounted the temp sensor on the upper backside portion of the motor in about the same spot as where I take readings with my temp gun. The wire runs to the controller mounted in the right side pod, then the lead routes from there to the receiver.  In the truck I can mount the controller face up so I can see the status light. In a buggy it would need to mount on its side or maybe on top of the battery brace. 




Tuesday, May 5, 2015

4px temp sensor

One of the cool things you can do with the 4px is use telemetry data. I picked up the temp sensor for electric motors shortly after I got the radio and installed it in the new T5m I'm building.  If I like how it works I'll probably pick up another RF304SBe receiver and temp sensor to put in my B5m when I rebuild it. 

Temp sensor stuck to the motor with the provided aluminum tape. 

Telemetry menu in the 4px showing the current receiver voltage and temperature. I haven't found a way to show the temp on the main display :(

Temp sensor menu showing minimum, maximum, and current temp. I have the alarm set to go off at 180F. 

Looking forward to trying it out this weekend!  I'm a few clicks away on the radio from checking my motor temp :). No more carrying my temp gun and trying to put it on the motor to get a reading. Oh, and the radio will save the temp reading after the car is turned off until the radio is turned off :). So no need to temp right after the run.  Just check it before the radio is turned off. 

I also recently figured out how to assign the voice data to a switch such that when you press it, the radio tell you the current temp. If I hit the switch on the way off the stand after a run, I can find ou the temp that way without using the menu system!

Another option is to log the temp data and save it in a micro ad card so I can copy it to my netbook so I can look at it later. 


Monday, May 4, 2015

T5m chassis completed!

I finally got around to building the shocks for my T5m!  For the shock package I installed tapered 2x1.6 / 2x 1.7 pistons, 2  / 2 limiters, 32.5 / 27.5 oil, and blue 3.6 / white 2.1 springs.  The chassis is now a roller and I the electronics need to be installed. 

I decided to use my shorty packs instead of saddles or a square pack for now. This will allow me to mount the electronics in-line. I also need to figure out a nice way to mount the controller for the temp sensor for the motor. So far the best location will be in the side pod. Unfortunately, this location won't work as well in my buggy. 


Next up is soldering wires onto the speedo and cutting them to length. 

Saturday, May 2, 2015

Mod truck podium!

I finally made the podium in mod truck!  I finished 2nd after starting 6th!

During practice I was running at 90% power and broke a caster block, bent another rear axle, and broke a rear a-arm.  So I turned the power back down to 80% for racing. Hahaha!

During qualifying I was running pressure points but I didn't have the grip I wanted and was pushing in the sweeper and 180's. So for the main I switched over to my barcodes and was able to turn my fastest race lap, a 20.5. 




More Truck racing with the T4

I raced mod truck again with my T4. This time I turned the power down to 80% down from 100%?!  I only added drag brake to get more turn is steering and also tried MC Ions and gold pressure points. The Ions produced my fastest lap so far, a 20.3, but the pressure point felt more consistent. 




  
For next weekend I'll try some softer front springs and maybe turn up the power to 90%!

Friday, May 1, 2015

SC10 turnbuckles work on the T5m!

Since my T5m turnbuckles are on back order with no delivery date, I dug out an extra set of SC10/T4 turnbuckles that I had planned to install on my SC10 before I sold it. They are about 2mm too long on each end, but should work fine as long as I don't use the shortest link position possible. 





When my T5m turnbuckles finally show up I'll probably install them and keep this set as spares.