49400 934 RSR 30th Anniversary Rebuild Runner

[Juhunio 1173]

I'm building this with the Hop Up Stabilizer bars (53842) and Rod Stoppers (53827) that came with

Interestingly the Hop Up instructions don't require the rod stoppers, but the instructions at the back of the 49400 manual do. The manual also asks for a different 4mm adjuster (51111) for the front bar than those that come with the Hop Up stabilizer set, but again they were in the box too. I'll count myself lucky that they are there

So I've skipped to the 'Options' page at the back of the manual as now seems like a good time to build and connect the rear stabilizer.

I'm going to go with Yellow / Medium initially. Most parts are included in the Hop Up packaging, but the process also requires some small plastic connectors from the kit's K Parts sprue, which were also thankfully present and correct

 

[Juhunio 1173]

An additional ball connector is added to the leading edge of the rear arms, ready for the built connector rods and the bar itself, with rod stoppers slid loosely into the bar and sabilizer ends secured with grub screws

When it comes to attaching the bar to the car, the manual is lacking a bit of detail...

In the left hand image, it shows the rod stoppers being slid onto the rod, but not tightened. It then shows the stabilizer end being secured with a grub screw, with the rod itself running all the way through the stabilizer end. So far, so good.

 

But in the right hand image, the rod stoppers have disappeared. It doesn't show you what do with them or where to secure them...

So I took a guess and secured them either side of the bulkheads, which provided almost complete lateral stability

Is that correct? Have I secured the rod stoppers in the correct position, or are they better off inside the bulkheads?

Help or advice would be appreciated, as always 

 

[svenb 1715]

Looking smart👍

The rod stoppers go inbetween the bulkheads. 

[Juhunio 1173]

31 minutes ago, svenb said:

Looking smart👍

 

Cheers!

32 minutes ago, svenb said:

The rod stoppers go inbetween the bulkheads. 

Cheers again!

[Juhunio 1173]

Rear axles are pretty standard universals other than the shiny blue 48mm aluminium swing shafts, with the upper arms built out of blue turnbuckles and 5mm adjusters

Then the rear uprights are 0deg aluminium, I guess the toe-in comes from the angle created by the suspension blocks rather than the upright itself (which is more familiar to me from building a couple of TT02s)

Here they are all built up and ready to attach to the chassis, again using titanium coated shafts (53917) that I've added as a cheeky little extra

[Juhunio 1173]

Uprights and upper arms attached, and the stabilizer bar rod stoppers moved inside the bulkheads (thanks @svenb) and that completes work on the rear section...for now...

[Juhunio 1173]

So I made a start on the front end, and when laying out and photographing the parts for the front suspension, I realised I had made a mistake with the rear

The instructions show that the mounting points for the ball connectors in the leading and trailing edges are offset, with the holes in the leading edge at a wider position than those in the trailing

This is then obvious when you line the parts up; it becomes particularly obvious that if you line them up the same WAY up, then the offsets are wrong. See below, the D1 part on the right is correct, but the D1 part on the left isn't, and would need to be flipped the other way up in order for the mounting point offsets to line up with the manual

So, essentially, if you use the front / rear lower arms the same way up both sides, one of them will have the ball connectors in the wrong place. I knew full well I had done that on the rear arms, so next step was to dismantle the rear nearside (for UK drivers!!) and flip the arm over. 

Thankfully, it wasn't that big a job at this stage. Glad I spotted it now! In my defence, I think it is more visibly obvious on the fronts than the rears and that's why I missed it. That's my excuse, and I'm sticking to it 

 

 

[Juhunio 1173]

I skipped forwards a little bit to build the dampers, to give them time to sit and allow any air to settle out before it's time to attach them

It also gave me my first chance to try out my new damper pliers 

[Juhunio 1173]

The dampers are basically the 42102 set, but broken up across the parts bags (much the same as the M07R kit)

But there is one significant difference. For some reason the 49400 kit is supplied with the more standard piston rod (53575) rather than the titanium coated rods (53850) that come in the 42102 set (and are supplied in the M07R kit). These are them below, with the parts bag from a 42102 set above for comparison. 

It didn't feel right to not give this build a full dose of titanium-coated shafts and rods  So I broke the piston rods and pistons out of the M07R kit to use in here instead 

And here they are, built and resting. The damper pliers were excellent for gripping the piston rod when attaching the bottom damper mount without resorting to long nosed pliers and protective paper. 

[Juhunio 1173]

With the dampers resting I was able to get back to building up the front end, starting with attaching the front lower arms using the titanium coated suspension shafts and the final suspension block

[Juhunio 1173]

The front universals are made up of 46mm swing shafts in black steel, shorter than the 48mm aluminium rear shafts

I guess steel for the front because it's more durable than aluminium in case of front end impact. But if that's the case, why all these soft aluminium turnbuckles? Surely they would bend first? 

Then build up the front uprights, with another set of blue turnbuckles for the upper arms

[Juhunio 1173]

Then it's onto the front hub carriers, and the kit comes with a choice of 4deg or 2deg to create different camber angles

 

I've gone with 4L/4R as they are the 'standard' setting according to the manual, but it would be great to understand what benefit the 'optional' 2deg pair carriers would hold?

[Juhunio 1173]

The hub carriers need drilling to enable the grub screw to secure the suspension shaft that attaches them to the lower arms, so gave me a chance to crack out the hand drill and 3mm tap

The assembly was very straightforward, and now they're ready to attach to the chassis 

[Juhunio 1173]

[Juhunio 1173]

While I was down there, I decided to build and attach the front stabilizer rod which uses a combination of the 5mm adjusters that come in the set and the additional 4mm adjusters (51111) required by the kit manual

This is because the lower end of the connector rod fits onto one the small ball connectors moulded into the middle of the lower arm (I was wondering what they were there for ), rather than onto an additional 5mm ball connector attached to the outer edge.

And that's the front end complete, ready for damper stays and dampers

 

[Juhunio 1173]

One last overhead view for today 

[mtbkym01 2252]

Pure art 

[Juhunio 1173]

Nearing the end now  Gotta make these last few steps count, not sure I'll ever build anything like this again...

I've used springs from a colourful 53440 set that I had in mind for a different build, but it will suit the white ones that came with this. And I think the colours go well here , ready to be mounted along with the shock towers

All very straightforward front and rear

[Juhunio 1173]

So I skipped the electronics briefly, and attached the body mounts and front bumper

Turns out there's a carbon fibre option for that upper bumper support (54089) so I've just popped one in my RC Mart basket. I always seem to have one open and live, waiting for the right moment to press CHECKOUT 

[Juhunio 1173]

The reason for jumping ahead is I am desperate to do a test fit of the wheels under the shell...did I mention I had already painted and decorated the shell??

So, the kit originally came with 5mm hex hubs and 24mm wheels with +2mm offset up front and +5mm offset at the rear

I'm going to be using 26mm wheels, and initially had in mind some HPI Orange wheels...but they only came in +6 or +9mm offset, so wasn't sure if they would fit the front

So as an insurance policy I bought some generic Far East rims from eBay with the same design as the original kit wheels, but in black

I conducted the test and results are in!!

The HPIs fit!!! 6mm on the front, 9mm on the rear, both comfortably under the shell when the suspension is compressed

And here are the black eBay numbers, same offsets...

I think they both look AWESOME! So now I'm torn...which one?

Anyone want to throw an entirely subjective opinion into the ring??

[Butler 290]

At the moment orange wheels. The black ones look like they have painted over a set of these. They need detailing IMHO

 

Edited November 26, 2020 by Butler
PS. Outstanding build.. I enjoyed it.

[Juhunio 1173]

3 hours ago, Butler said:

At the moment orange wheels. The black ones look like they have painted over a set of these. They need detailing IMHO

 

The pic seems to have gone AWOL buddy?

[Juhunio 1173]

Ah, I see it now I've looked on my mobile @Butler Still not visible on desktop though, which is a bit odd. Anyways....

Yup, they’re nice. I’ve got a set similar to that too, but I kinda like the all-black look. They’re moulded rather than painted, and as this is gonna be driven i don’t think detailing is going to be worth it.

But then I am a sucker for black rims, got them on my 1:1 Audi and love ‘em!

[mtbkym01 2252]

Orange on the shelf, Black on the tarmac? Both look great, whole thing looks great, inspiring me to crack my 84431 out, Don't have a Porsche on my shelf yet

[Juhunio 1173]

Having 'skipped to the end' for the successful wheel fit test, I rolled back and installed the electronics

Based on the fact I simply CANNOT solder, it's brushed set ups for me. I love the Tamiya Super Stock motors, and thought I would give this TZ a try in this build, alongside the usual Hobbywing ESC

I bought a few different pinion options to enable different gearing and motor trials over time, based on the handy FDR table in the manual

The TZ motor has an FDR range of 6.5-8.1, so I have initially opted for the 33T pinion to achieve something in the middle of that range

It's a wee bit fiddly to hold the motor steady and get the mounting screws in around the drive belt, but is a nice solid fit once it's in