Of Travel and Failures

Went to Sim Lim Tower and Sim Lim Square to look for parts yesterday, looking for a SMD 1K Ohm resistor and a 2.4 GHz antenna with an IPX plug to fit onto my TX. The search was terrible. Let it be said that it is not a good idea to go without a sample of what you want to get. 

I asked for the items by their given names, nick names, shortened names, and still no fish. The shop keepers kept asking what it looked like. HOW THE HELL ELSE AM I SUPPOSED TO DESCRIBE IT TO YOU!? ITS FREAKING TINY!! So I spent an hour going shop to shop at 3 different levels asking for the items with varied responses. Some treated me as if I didn't know what I was talking about, some didn't bother answering my question when I asked if they knew which shop sold the item I was looking for. I mean, it doesn't ruin your business cause you don't even stick the freaking thing, so at least show some courtesy and answer my question dammit!! There were the random few shops where the shop attendant were very courteous and helpful. Kudos to them cos they made my search that much faster by narrowing down the floor level of the shop. So after an hour, only then did I find the SMD resistor. 

Searching for the antenna was another kind of hell. Went to Sim Lim Tower to search for that. after 2 hours scouring the place, not even one shop had what I needed. I guess it's because IPX style connectors are normally connected to the motherboard and antenna replacements for these types of antennas are done by the manufacturer. 

So off I went again to Sim Lim Tower to look for an IPX to the more common RP-TNC or RP-SMA adapter. Found one on my first try but my budget would not allow for this.... So, taking note of the shop location, I headed towards the MRT station. Do take note that it had been 3 hours since the first shop I visited and only as I was about to board the train did I realise that I had left my shoe bag containing my counter-steered HB Cyclone TC somewhere, god knows where. PANIC BUTTON!!! I ran all the way to Sim Lim Square and re-looked at all the shops I visited with no luck. I was freaking pale by the time I reached Sim Lim Tower. scoured every damned floor. Guess where I found it? Leaning against a shutter gate where I put it to tighten my loosening belt. LUCKY!!! Damn drama moment. I can be reeeeally careless sometimes....

Going Under The Knife

Been very very busy (read as lazy) these past few days. So much has happened to my stable of cars. First, My Sparrowhawk is being tuned for touring. Gonna fit on a mod class motor on there soon. The shocks were hell to rebuild, but I managed and they're now silky smooth. My cyclone has also been modded for counter-steer. At 78% counter-steer coupled with a front and center one way makes the car seem unpredictable to me. Will practice more to see how this comes along. Sad to say, I won't be testing them out any time soon due to a broken antenna which only gives me less than a 1 meter range. Tried replacing it with a PSP Wi-Fi antenna but yet to be tested if it works. Interestingly enough, I found a way to give my dying DX2.0 transmitter new life. I managed to hack it to a DX3.0 and now have 4 model memory , steering and throttle exponential function and also 3 channels to play with. THIS IS FUCKING AWESOME!! Will give an extensive report when I actually get round to testing everything.

Minor changes

Been very busy, so I apologize for the lack of posts these past few days. Went to warehouse yesterday to test my new set up. Only when I arrived then I realized that my rear camber was off on one side. the car did not handle as well as I expected, so I re-neutral-ed the rear tyres and reduced the front camber just to see how it feels. So far, front camber doesn't really do much, so I left it alone. I do wonder though, What is the difference in effect between cambering and changing to softer springs?

Anyways, my set up for now:
Make: Yokomo
Model: Drift Package

Date: July 21, 2010
Track surface: Concrete
Tire: Drifter Street F2
Motor & ESC: Team Powers 10.5R, Novak XBR 120A

Front
Camber: -3 deg
Toe: 0 deg
Kick up: 0mm
Caster hubs: 4 deg
Ride height: 7mm
Springs: Tamiya Medium Short
Bumper weight: 10g
Trailing Steering Block: ??
Sway-Bar: None
Shock Oil: 25 wt
Other:


Rear
Camber: 0deg
Toe: 1 deg toe in
Kick up: 0mm
Ride height: 7
Springs: Tamiya Medium Short
Sway-Bar: None
Shock Oil: 25 wt
Other:

Drive Train
Gearing: (39/16)/(27/17)
Front: Ball Differential
Center: Alu. shaft
Rear: Yokomo 1.5 CS Spool
Spur: 70T
Pinion: 27T

Yi Hao just passed me the Bluebird BMS-706MG which I ordered from him last week! It's a low profile, high speed, metal gear digital servo. A bit on the large-ish side but it fit in the chassis after some filing. At SGD 40, it's a good deal.

BMS-706MG
(High-Speed)
Weight: 32g
Torque @ 4.8V: 4.6kg/cm
Speed @ 4.8V: 0.13sec/60deg(no load)
Size(mm): 42 x 21.5 x 22
Metal gears: Yes
Ball bearings: Dual/M9 x 7

So far, its tested out to be very speedy and sensitive to input. AWESOME!
Btw, those are randy's Yokie rims. Sooo tempting!!

Anywaes, Had the night drift event on Saturday. Was pretty cool, but turnout was not as big as I would like, Still, a huge thanks to all my brothas who came down. Peace y'all

CS diaries

Went to play at the Tae Kwon Do area today. No track. Just practiced donuts using the stripey cone you normally see during road constructions. After a few minutes of playing, then I understood what Taufik meant when he said that the throttle should not be continuous. Tweaked the set up again and got 7 consecutive donuts until I was interrupted by a flurry of nice legs passing by. Lost my concentration and banged the car against a metal wall. Nice. And for those who have the time, do drop by NP at the sports hall as we have a night drift event from 6 to 9. details can be found on RCTECH under the thread ':!:ATTENTION DRIFTERS:!:'. Well, short update today. will try to post pictures and maybe a video of Saturday's event.

Setup Much?

Quite free today. Did some set up on the DP. I think I will borrow my neighbour's printer and get the steering mod over with. Current problem is that the car likes to auto straighten itself out despite having only 1 degree toe in. Otherwise, it drifts awesome, very controllable.
So here's my set up:

Make: Yokomo
Model: Drift Package

Date: July 13, 2010
Track surface: Concrete
Tire: Drifter Street F2
Motor & ESC: Team Powers 10.5R, Novak XBR 120A

Front
Camber: -5 deg
Toe: 0 deg
Kick up: 0mm
Caster hubs: 4 deg
Ride height: 7mm
Springs: Tamiya Medium Short
Bumper weight: 10g
Trailing Steering Block: ??
Sway-Bar: None
Shock Oil: 25 wt
Other:


Rear
Camber: -2 deg
Toe: 1 deg toe in
Kick up: 0mm
Ride height: 7
Springs: Tamiya Medium Short
Sway-Bar: None
Shock Oil: 25 wt
Other:

Drive Train
Gearing: (39/16)/(27/17)
Front: Ball Differential
Center: Alu. shaft
Rear: Yokomo 1.5 CS Spool
Spur: 70T/72T (Can't remember)
Pinion: 27T

Some pics(Sorry about the glare):






As you can see, all my shocks are set totally upright. It works for me I guess. Do wonder wether softer rear spring will tame the car or make it more 'counter-steer-ey'...

Yokomo 1.5 CS

Today was good. Had a 2 hr slack period(a.k.a Economics Class), Had dinner at SP, then went to Ulu Pandan CC and started tuning my car. the drift meet today was pretty fun, almost lost a ball bearing but it miraculously dropped from the sky into Zhi Rong's lap. It went something like this.
-Cue flashback-
Zhi Rong: "You still want this bevel gear anot? If you don't want then I will be rough."
Me: "Anything ah. I going CS(Counter-Steer) anyways."
Zhi Rong then walks to his van to get his long nosed pliers and pulls out the gear. It goes flying off into the unknown.
Zhi Rong:"KNN, I pull the thing out then it fly and disappear"
Me: "Never mind lah"
I then go ahead and fit the counter-steer kit into my car. I did this while talking to Zhi Rong about meshing the gear of the CS kit. Zhi Rong prepares to stand up.
-Cue gear dropping from oblivion-
Both: "WTF?! KNN! Where it come from?!"
-End flashback-
People started gathering and Zhi Rong started saying "Chao turban!" every now and then. End of the day and I got my whole car freaking white. The dust at Ulu Pandan is crazy. The flooring is worse but the fun is drifting with many people and complaining together I guess.

Here's some pics of my wonderfully powdered car.(The pictures don't do it justice, trust me. My fingers got white just touching it.)


I managed to fit in my spare set of TRF dampers on the DP

Been feeling too lazy to mod the steering so I'm considering the Team Suzuki bellcrank but its gonna bust my bank considering the $50 for the CS kit is used already. Anyone wanna donate $68? Its for a good cause XP