XV-01 Very Slow Build

[skom25 2218]

Hi,

I already found Topic "XV-01 slow build", so I decided to add "very" to mine. Why? Plan is to not hurry, because I just want to have something to do during winter. Probably I will have to wait to paint body till spring, so there is no reason to go fast.

First impression:

I am really happy that I decided to buy XV-01. I had plan to buy TT-01E/ TT-02/ TT-02S which are basic kits with few upgrades in case of TT-02S. XV-01 really feels like next step in quality. All plastics feel really good and rigid. There is no that strange plastic from low end kits, which is almost like rubber.

There are two things which surprised me, unfortunately in negative way:

- Wheel arches are pre cut but not to the end. About 80% is cut.

- My kit does not have pre cut stickers. I read in few places, that people had them pre cut, which is great with so complicated shapes.

Hop Ups:

I will not go into details with small ones, like o-rings etc.

- NN4 aluminium spacers

- High Torque Servo Saver

- Carbon Shock Towers

- CVDs on front

- Steel pinion

Maybe I will go for small blue bits but nothing serious. Kit already was quite expensive, so I do not want to fall into Hop Ups hole like I did with DT-03 and TT-02B. 

NN4 aluminium spacers are ordered but I have to wait for about month. Without this parts, there is no sense to start build.

Plan:

- Model will be run only on asphalt and pavement

- Probably I will not use stickers and paint body as civil version

Questions:

- High Torque Servo Saver. Basic kit is enough or should I really go for that XV-01 aluminium horn with single hole? Will TT-02 horn work the same? It is bit different but hard to say, because it has two holes.

- CVDs. I heard about some issues with kit dog bones which can fall off. Is this true? Are CVDs necessary?

- Motor. Probably I will not go for Super Stock motor. I am somewhere between Torque Tuned and Sport Tuned. Not sure which will be better.

[BuggyDad 6022]

For me I think CVDs are worth having. Dog bones popping out probably won't be a big issue for your use but if you do lose one that's annoying. IIRC, CVDs enable you to increase steering throw too. But either way this is not an upgrade you need to build in from the start, so why not just try without? 

I'm not sure the advantage of carbon towers in this case. What are they going to do for you? Just stiffen it up a little? 

I fitted the normal high torque servo saver. It's probably worth having a saver over a horn, if nothing else it might save another steering part in a crash. Maybe even help avoid losing a dogbone? 

[skom25 2218]

@BuggyDad

Carbon Shock Towers: It is super easy to remove shocks with that towers. Just unscrew from tower and pop out shock from bottom ball connector. I see that it can be done the same with stock part on front but not on rear. On rear I can always use grub screw and ball nut but it is not super comfortable. I have Carbon Towers on DT-03 and TT-02B and I really like that feature.

Servo Horn: I mean special servo horn for High Torque Servo Saver

[Honza 1171]

16 hours ago, skom25 said:

CVDs. I heard about some issues with kit dog bones which can fall off. Is this true? Are CVDs necessary?

XV-01 has steering limiting screws that should help against front dogbones falling out. But CVDs will allow for.larger steering lock, which might be helpful. Also, dogbones tend to wear out fast on the front axle.

[bavee 1182]

The XV-01 is a lovely build. Enjoy!

Do you own a M3 thread forming tap? Really usefull for this build.

16 hours ago, skom25 said:

Questions:

- High Torque Servo Saver. Basic kit is enough or should I really go for that XV-01 aluminium horn with single hole? Will TT-02 horn work the same? It is bit different but hard to say, because it has two holes.

- CVDs. I heard about some issues with kit dog bones which can fall off. Is this true? Are CVDs necessary?

- Motor. Probably I will not go for Super Stock motor. I am somewhere between Torque Tuned and Sport Tuned. Not sure which will be better.

For the high torque servo saver I would order this (aluminium horn included): Tamiya 54799 High-Torque Servo Saver & Alu Horn (tamico.de)
The aluminium horn is a pre because space is a bit tight.

I'm running kit dogbones on mine. Hit a curb twice. Not lost a dogbone yet.

[skom25 2218]

On 10/25/2023 at 11:26 AM, bavee said:

The XV-01 is a lovely build. Enjoy!

Do you own a M3 thread forming tap? Really usefull for this build.

Yes, I do!

First order arrived. Nothing spectacular but nice to have.

- High Torque Servo Saver

- Servo Saver Cap

- TRF Diff O-rings

- Carson 22T Steel Pinion

- Square Red Wheel Nuts

- Ball Nuts 10 pcs

- 3x23 Aluminium Turnbuckles

- Spare Diff Gaskets

- 3mm Tap

- Hard Hex Ball Connectors 5mm

- Low Friction Suspension Balls

- TT-02 High Speed Gear Set

Last one is for TT-02 but maybe it will be possible to use aluminium spur mount in this build. If not, I have also TT-02B so will just use it there.

Next step:

- Order Hex stainless screws

When screws will arrive, maybe I will start work on chassis and arms. I do not have replacement for NN4, so I cannot start from beginning.

[skom25 2218]

I decided to buy Carbon Shock Towers. They really make work with shocks much more comfortable.

I also wanted 3x42 aluminium turnbuckles. Unfortunately they are not available, so I bought set visible on right. It was more expensive but contains ball connectors and low friction rod ends, so it was not bad deal.

Someone wrote that front dogbones wear quickly. They were very cheap so just bought them to have in spares. It is interesting, that front dogbones which are longer, were very cheap ( 28 PLN, so around 6 Euros). Shorter, rear dogbones costs more than twice ( 65 PLN, around 14 Euros). Good job Tamiya...

Box on the photo is full of stainless hex screws. I paid around 10 Euros for set for XV-01 and many, many spares. Probably this is quantity for at least two kits.

Next step? Maybe today I will start with chassis from bag B. I still do not have replacement for NN4 part and to be honest, I do not know when it will arrive. Probably around month. Maybe it is even better, because I still have not decided which oil use in diffs.

 

[skom25 2218]

Yesterday I sold few quite expensive bike parts, so decided to go for little shopping. It is not anything "extra" I did not have plan to buy. I just bought this earlier.

- Threads locker

- Another set of 3x42 Turnbucklea

- Damper Retairners 1 mm Up

- TRF TiN shocks shafts

- 5mm Wheel Hexes

and...

Hard 1:10 Box.

When I was driving home, I realised that box is probably too low for Rally Car 🙄🙄🙄 At least I will have nice box to store chassis during build...

I chosen 1 mm Up Damper Retairners from two simple reasons:

- They look nice ( of course...)

- 1 mm Up let me to use soft springs with bit additional ride height

Using also TiN shafts, red orings and TRF pistons, I will have really nice CVAs for about 1/3 or even less price of TRF shocks.

Despite I have blue Loctite, I bought thread locker from Tamiya. Liquid locker has tendency to make a lot of mess, so gel type is safer.

[Pylon80 3779]

Word of caution on the TRF shock shafts: I have had issues in the past whereby the TRF shafts were not compatible with the CVA o-rings (the cheap red ones that come with the CVA sets); the diameter is not quite right and the result is extremely tight. I had to go to the TRF blue o-ring. The result was smooth and is still going strong after many years. Now I feel a bit silly with my CVA dampers that sport TRF shafts, o-rings and pistons, plus hop-ups springs! But they work quite nicely.

[skom25 2218]

First steps done. I had a plan to do more, unfortunately after whole week I am just tired...

I prepared front suspension parts and washed them. Parts straight from box are covered with something slick. I do not like that.

As I wrote in previous posts, I used hex stainless screws and TRF shaft balls #54747. Surprisingly, they are just a bit longer than stock ones, so maybe there will be less slope in suspension arms. I checked compatibility list and they are fine for XV-01.

On photo there are no spacers which are between suspension mounts and arms. I forgot to cut them from sprue. Maybe I will be able to replace them with aluminium. I have quite a lot of 3x5.5 spacers.

I am surprised with used plastic. Chassis it super hard but e.g. whole sprues NN and JJ are rather quite soft.

Question:

As you know, I have plan to use it only on asphalt and pavement. I see that in arms there are holes, which can be used probably to adjust droop. It is not mentioned in manual of Rally version but I see this in TC. However, TC has different arms.

What do you think?

[Pylon80 3779]

47 minutes ago, skom25 said:

I see that in arms there are holes, which can be used probably to adjust droop. It is not mentioned in manual of Rally version but I see this in TC

You can absolutely use a 3mm grub screw in these holes which will make it very convenient to set droop. Be mindful when building your shocks that they are a little longer than what they will measure at full droop, to make sure the shocks are not the limiting factor.

[skom25 2218]

Anger. That is the only word I have in my mind now.

Yesterday I decided to build front hubs. I checked manual 10 times, dry fitted everything to be sure that I will not make any mistake. As previously, tapped all holes and even sanded a bit surfaces, to have totally smooth movement.

I built first hub: everything was great. Smooth with just a bit of play. I was happy in 110%.

Then I prepared second one: pff...

Something was wrong. It was tight after assembly. I disassembled and assembled it few times, trying everything. I even went to shop, to buy new uprights and king pins, because I thought that they are bent.

It did not help. I found, that for some reason, ball connector on the top is probably not perfectly straight and it is binding. I really do not have an idea, how it happened. At the end I tried to go one again with Tap and by mistake, I went almost through caster block...

However, I am not 100% sure that it is caused by issue I described above. When I unscrew King Pin by about 1.5 mm, everything is fine. I have no idea...

So it seems that I need to replace caster block, which is...

... not available.

I see that I can use 6' caster block from XV-02. They are not available in LHS but there is a chance, that they will order it for me. I will call them today. If not, I will need to find way how to order parts from shops abroad.

Summarizing: I destroyed part and for now, do not have possibility to buy it.

Even more irritating is fact, that I had exactly the same issue with TT-02B. One hub was totally smooth, second one was tight...

[Kowalski86 4318]

10 hours ago, skom25 said:

It did not help. I found, that for some reason, ball connector on the top is probably not perfectly straight and it is binding. I really do not have an idea, how it happened. At the end I tried to go one again with Tap and by mistake, I went almost through caster block...

However, I am not 100% sure that it is caused by issue I described above. When I unscrew King Pin by about 1.5 mm, everything is fine. I have no idea...

So it seems that I need to replace caster block, which is...

... not available.

I see that I can use 6' caster block from XV-02. They are not available in LHS but there is a chance, that they will order it for me. I will call them today. If not, I will need to find way how to order parts from shops abroad.

Part number 51698?

You could use some super glue in the hole hole, then re-thread the ball connector into it. This is a bit of a "hack" but it should get everything together for now, and it beats waiting weeks for one little part.

[skom25 2218]

No worries. I was in LHS and they will have XV-02 Caster Blocks in two weeks! It is nice info, that XV-02 parts can be used in XV-01.

Uprights can be added to car even at the end of the build, so no issue with waiting two weeks.

Anyway, thank you for advice.

[Pylon80 3779]

13 hours ago, skom25 said:

Anger. That is the only word I have in my mind now.

Yesterday I decided to build front hubs. I checked manual 10 times, dry fitted everything to be sure that I will not make any mistake. As previously, tapped all holes and even sanded a bit surfaces, to have totally smooth movement.

I built first hub: everything was great. Smooth with just a bit of play. I was happy in 110%.

Then I prepared second one: pff...

Something was wrong. It was tight after assembly. I disassembled and assembled it few times, trying everything. I even went to shop, to buy new uprights and king pins, because I thought that they are bent.

It did not help. I found, that for some reason, ball connector on the top is probably not perfectly straight and it is binding. I really do not have an idea, how it happened. At the end I tried to go one again with Tap and by mistake, I went almost through caster block...

However, I am not 100% sure that it is caused by issue I described above. When I unscrew King Pin by about 1.5 mm, everything is fine. I have no idea...

So it seems that I need to replace caster block, which is...

... not available.

I see that I can use 6' caster block from XV-02. They are not available in LHS but there is a chance, that they will order it for me. I will call them today. If not, I will need to find way how to order parts from shops abroad.

Summarizing: I destroyed part and for now, do not have possibility to buy it.

Even more irritating is fact, that I had exactly the same issue with TT-02B. One hub was totally smooth, second one was tight...

You probably threaded the kingpin and ball studs in parts C1 and D1 not perfectly straight  It is best to put the parts on a flat surface and turn them again and again by 90deg as you thread them slowly to confirm that the tap is dead straight; in doubt, back off a turn and try again. Now that it is done: if you could identify which one isn't straight (bottom king pin or top ball stud?) I am pretty sure you do have another shot at rethreading things. Don't use the tap the second time around. The plastic on the XV is really resilient and you can thread a second time.

[skom25 2218]

9 hours ago, Pylon80 said:

You probably threaded the kingpin and ball studs in parts C1 and D1 not perfectly straight  It is best to put the parts on a flat surface and turn them again and again by 90deg as you thread them slowly to confirm that the tap is dead straight; in doubt, back off a turn and try again. Now that it is done: if you could identify which one isn't straight (bottom king pin or top ball stud?) I am pretty sure you do have another shot at rethreading things. Don't use the tap the second time around. The plastic on the XV is really resilient and you can thread a second time.

I am almost 100% sure that something is wrong with ball connector. I replaced upright and it was the same. I just do not understand, why it was totally fine when I unscrewed King Pin just a bit. As I wrote, first set worked fine. When I use Tap, I always check if everything goes straight. I have feeling, that maybe something was wrong with part. Both parts looked weird, not smooth as I expected. E.g. hole for shaft in one Caster Block was bit deformed.

Nevermind. I will buy new set ( and spare...) and try agin. Only downside is fact, that XV-02 Caster Blocks have different angle, so I have to build them once again.

Waiting for parts, I built steering. I used Carbon Reinforced set. I thought that stock plastic is hard. No, it feels like butter compared to upgraded parts. 

I used Hex Ball Connectors with 1 mm spacers, to have exactly the same geometry as in stock setup. On ball nut I used just a small dot of thread locker and added 0.1 mm shim. I just do not like, when ball nut touches part directly.

I am impressed how good is steering straight from the box. Next thing I like is chassis. I found that there are holes below steering, so screws can be tightened without removing parts. Very clever!

Unfortunately, something is wrong again. Above I wrote that I have doubt about Tamiya quality. Well, look at this...

Stock part:

Gap between that bridge and chassis is minimal. If I put finger on it, it will sit flush on chassis. I believe it should be like that.

Carbon Reinforced part:

Gap is huge! If I push it to chassis, I think that screws which hold part in chassis, will be under constant pressure. Part looks almost like bend a bit.

What do you think? I have not found any info about problems with this part, so maybe it is better to leave stock version.

To be honest, I am stressed duting this build. Cheap kits are... cheap. Even if something will go wrong, in worst scenario you can just buy second kit. More expensive kits are much more precise etc. and there is a lot less room for mistakes.

[skom25 2218]

Finally some progress. I used 3x42 Aluminium Turnbuckles and Low Friction adjusters. Low Friction version does not change anything, because dust covers make everything stiff.

I used "bridge" from kit, not Carbon version, because of reason mentioned above.

[skom25 2218]

Rear hubs done. Quick and easy. As before, stainless screws and 0.1 mm shim under ball nut.

I used different ball nuts than in kit. Long story, does not matter, just for information.

I still cannot decide which spacers use in arms ( first world problems...). I am also not sure, if I should remove slope from front arms. Currently it is around 0,25 mm, I think about leaving around 0,1 or 0,15 mm.

[skom25 2218]

Some progess:

I read somewhere that arms has some play with standard mounts. I found that with TRF suspension balls, which are longer than stock ones, there is almost no play. It is like 0.1 mm on two arms, one arm has like 0,05 mm of slope and one has no play at all. It does not bind but there is absolutely minimal friction. Nothing to worry about.

Previously I wrote about aluminium spacers in arms. At the end, I used plastic from kit.

Together with ball connectors, I use 0.5 mm aluminium spacers. I did not use 1 mm because:

- I want to have as much as possible thread in arms

- I do not have enough spacers

I think 0.5 mm will not change anything.

Next steps?

I do not know... I am bit blocked because I am waiting for NN4 replacement and Caster Blocks.

[skom25 2218]

Because I still do not have replacement for NN4 and Caster Blocks, I cannot go much further with build. I am also bit demotivated after I tried to find correct servo. 

Savox servos are "power hungry" so I am bit afraid about Brown Outs. Additionally standard servos do not fit, so I need to look for low profile which are expensive...

Today I cut diff gears from sprues. To remove any cut marks, I just sanded them with few moves on 600/ 800/ 1000 grit papers. Not enough to change dimensions of parts, but enough to remove cut edges. Then I used abrasive part of sponge, to remove residue from edges.

They are not perfect but experience tells me that it is better to stop bit too early, than try to be perfect and damage parts.

If I decide which oil to use, maybe I will build diffs as a next step.

I consider 1000 oil, because I have it from shock oil pack. On the other hand, I have feeling that maybe it is better to lock diffs a bit more. Maybe 2k or 3k oil? I have some experience with TT-02B but it uses AW grease instead of oil. Hard to compare both.

[one_hit 1127]

I don’t know where you got that info but standard size servos do fit and the manual even shows you how to fit them (using spacers depending on the servo). I have a standard size servo on mine  (Futaba S9451)

[Grumpy pants 5511]

Fantastic write up 👏

[skom25 2218]

30 minutes ago, one_hit said:

I don’t know where you got that info but standard size servos do fit and the manual even shows you how to fit them (using spacers depending on the servo). I have a standard size servo on mine  (Futaba S9451)

I was not precise. Standard servos will fit but it seems, that not all standard are "standard".

Look e.g. for SRT DL3017 which I used in my previous builds. It just does not fit. I pushed it into chassis and with Servo Saver, there was like 1 mm of space, even less. Using mount probably it would not fit.

[DaveBuildsRC 219]

1 hour ago, skom25 said:

I was not precise. Standard servos will fit but it seems, that not all standard are "standard".

Look e.g. for SRT DL3017 which I used in my previous builds. It just does not fit. I pushed it into chassis and with Servo Saver, there was like 1 mm of space, even less. Using mount probably it would not fit.

looks to be a little taller than say a futaba s3004 but the dl3017 is a standard servo so should fit. hopefully you work it out. great build so far keep at it man!

[Pylon80 3779]

1 hour ago, skom25 said:

I was not precise. Standard servos will fit but it seems, that not all standard are "standard".

Look e.g. for SRT DL3017 which I used in my previous builds. It just does not fit. I pushed it into chassis and with Servo Saver, there was like 1 mm of space, even less. Using mount probably it would not fit.

I did check and the Hitec 625 (for sake of example) indeed does not fit although a servo doesn't get more standard than this. I think the XV-01 needs a servo that has a low profile upper section (above the mounting tabs).

You could always buy a Tamiya servo I have never owned one but the general opinions on them is not encouraging.