XV-01 Lancia Delta Build

[Raman36 1655]

On 3/3/2021 at 1:31 AM, Cuiken said:

I'm not quite sure what you mean (not familiar with re-clocking)? If you're suggesting rotating the bell housing to reposition the motor tabs that would not have changed anything. I could have rotated the whole motor by using one of the other pairs of mounting holes. The issue is that the motor tabs themseves only fit in the space I've highlighted in the photos (albeit very close to the suspension mount).

The tabs extend too far down the can (as below) so foul against the curved brace that runs over the top of the motor:

 

 

Alternatives to solve the issue would be:

1. Remove some of each motor tab

2. Shim the whole motor back from the motor mount

3. Remove some of the motor brace

4. Buy a 1410 motor. Because it's longer, the motor tabs won't foul against the brace.

On balance it was far easier to quickly grind down the aluminium suspension mount. 2 minute job once I'd figured out what I wanted to do.

IMO it would have been more prudent to trim the motor brace than grind away the pretty blue suspension mount.  The contacts being that low also leave the motor open to shorting out easier if you come into contact with water.

As I mentioned in prior thread, there is a carbon motor brace that Tamiya released with the FF-04 Evo, which uses the same gear box 

https://www.tamiyausa.com/shop/7-digit-spare-parts/rc-motor-stay-84394/

 

[Raman36 1655]

On 3/3/2021 at 8:03 AM, Nicadraus said:

Remember that the front diff has more differential movement/action than the rear. The slipper won't help the diff in any case. They are totally different sections of movement. I have my XV-01 with steel gears in front and stock plastic for the rear. 30k oil in front and 10k oil at the back. No slipper clutch. I run 21t currently and go 17t  once in a while. So slipper has no use for my set up.

Similar set up to mine.. I’ve run my XV01 for a decade now with a 17.5T that has 30° of timing and boost.  Front I used to run the spool but after a late night rebuild, it went missing 🤦🏻.. I believe it got wrapped up in paper tissue and went into the rubbish! 

Currently, my front diff I almost has 1 million silicone, so it’s nearly locked. Also still on original derlin gears 👍

I’ve never felt the need for slipper on this car. I feel it’s no necessary at all.

[Cuiken 225]

Next job was to add an undertray. I've seen a ocuple of examples of these online and figured I'd try it out:

 

Initially I figured this would be a simple 'outline of the body', cut out the wheel wells and job done! But it seems that the Lancia body is a bit trickier to work with. While the Subaru body hangs quite low at the sides, the Lancia sits higher. Additionally, the front and rear bumpers on the Lancia are angled up slightly so a flat undertray doesn't hug their lower profile.

Not to be defeated though I started working on a 3D template:

 

 

 

Next job was simply to cut it out in my sheet of 1mm Lexan and add the profiles required to meet the body work. FYI, If I did it again I might use 1.5mm Lexan instead. I later backed this tray with tape but I htink 1.5mm would possibly be a better starting point.

The bending was tricky until I figured it out. Sorry, failed to take pics but the process was like this:

I clamp the sheet of lexan between two long bits of wood in my vice along the line where I want the bend. I then use a set of 'jumbo clothes pegs' to clamp another two bits of wood just above the bend. Apply heat carefully with a heat gun and wait until it goes soft. apply the bend, remove the heat and hey presto. Quite a neat job, I messed up on one corner where you can see a bit of bubling (overheated the plastic), but otherwise I'me happy with it.

 

 

 

The front and rear are bent to sit beneath the bumpers while I folded the sides to sit inside the bodywork:

 

Coat of paint because, 'why not?'. Painted on 'inside'.

Missed  taking pics again but I then backed the hole thing in black duck tape which I think really increased the robustness.

Fitted with screws through to the aluminium suspension mounts. I also used some sticky backed velcro to get a good attachment to the bottom of the front bumper. Now, be careful here. I used threadlock on the screws since they screw into threaded aluminium. Turns out the threadlock reacts witht he Lexan and has caused some deformation and cracking. Worst case this will get split the tray around the screws and I'll probably just attach the whole thing with velcro (which may be a better idea generally).

 

Wheels down:

I really like it, give a 'solidity' to the chassis. Bit of extrta weight down low too.

 

And, lastly with the body mounted. I hadn't anticipated how good it might look. Looks like a set of splitters front and rear. I'm really pleased with it. The full tray also means you can't see 'through' the wheel arch any more which, I think, adds realism.

 

 

 

I can't yet comment on durability but I'll be giving it a proper test run next weekend and will report back then.

[ewant81 33]

Thats a nice idea on the undertray. How easy is it to pick up lexan sheets?

 

[Cuiken 225]

This easy!

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1-mm-A3-Clear-Solid-Polycarbonate-sheet-420-mm-x-297-mm-Visors-face-guards-etc/360296149467

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/5-Pack-A3-1-5-mm-Solid-Polycarbonate-sheet-420-mm-x-297-mm-Virtually-unbreakable/360518209372?hash=item53f08f4f5c:g:l8cAAOSwzgRW0Xfr

Like I say, I'd maybe opt for 1.5mm next time.

[Aerobert 2136]

Nice idea, nicely done. I like the look with the body attached. How do you remove the battery? 

[Cuiken 225]

13 minutes ago, Aerobert said:

Nice idea, nicely done. I like the look with the body attached. How do you remove the battery? 

You don't . At least not in this version.

I've stuck in a 4000mah battery and routed power out through the top (see previous posts). Should be good for ~40 mins of play and easily connected/disconnected/charged by taking the body off. I figured that would be enough for me.

As I mentioned though, I'm not sold on the screw-thru attachement method and might move over to velcro. In that case it could be fairly easily removed to swap batteries if 40 mins were not enough.The downside would be that the velcro would effectively increase the thickness of the tray and so reduce ground clearance a little. Since I'm using the 5mm longer rode ends on the shocks though, I think I might get away with that.

 

 

[Cuiken 225]

Been a wee while but a few more updates.

Swapped the screw mounting of my undertray for velcro. Basically, the screw locations I'd chosen went through the chassis into the aluminium suspension mounts. So two things:

1. The required threadlock melted the lexan tray.

2. I could not tighten the screws enough without damaging the lexan

Top tip, use the low profile stuff you can buy on eBay/amazon etc. Otherwise the tray sits quite far below the chassis. I also added two screws through the front bumper to prevent the tray being pulled down/off when it caught rocks etc while running.

 

 

In my hunt for sway bars I was given a good tip that the TA06 bars might fit. Thanks again @ThunderDragonCy More details here: 

 

With these installed (and limitations on outdoor gatherings slightly relaxed) me and a friend set up a rally in a dissused gravel car park to try the XV01 against his hopped up TT02. How'd I do? Terrible! I learned a few things:

1. I need to practice driving this ting on loose surfaces

2. The XV01 is oversteer happy

3. The non rally block tyres I was using are not great on loose gravel

4. Despite the tray, a load of debris finds its way into the car

5. The suspension on the XV01 is incredible. The thing just floats across rough terrain.

 

In order to address point 2, I swapped the medium sway bar on the back for the soft one and swapped over to the rally block tyres. This seems to have helped but I also plan to increase the weight of the oil in the front diff. I'll see how I do in the next 'rally'. I'll settle for not being lapped in a 5 lap race frankly.

To further improve the chassis/body protection, I added some dead simple gaffa tape extensions to the mudguards:

 

They look a bit daft but they really do help reduce the aount of gravel and water that spray round the inside of the car.

All told, despite my abismal race performance, I'm loving the car. If I can tame the oversteer a bit more and get in some practice, I think this car will be incredible

 

 

[njmlondon 570]

Have loved this thread. 
I will be using some of your ideas and learning.

Does it get much action and have you made any more tweaks?

[HBZ-3 2]

@Cuiken a year or more has passed, I think. How're you getting on with the car?

Great write up BTW.

[kontemax 1725]

License plate TO45703S.

TO stands for Torino (my city).

With only 8 € I could know the story of the real Delta with that license plate... owners, registration day, if it is still alive...

Max

[Cuiken 225]

Sorry, been offline for a bit. Yes, still have the car. Still loving it.

What have I learned?

1. Power. The Castle motor I used has probably got too much power. I've had to upgrade the belt and pulleys as it was always skipping. The crashes are also spectacular at full speed. Miraculously no chassis damage but the shell has talken a beating. no cracks as yet but the imapcts have blown the paint clean off the inside on most corners

2. Handling. In the absensce of any proper sway bars I bought some bars from another chassis and modded them in. Soft on the back and a bit harder on the front. This really helped the oversteer. I also rebuilt the front diff with much heavier oil (50k maybe?) to help it pull out of corners better. The handling is now really well balanced. Massive improvement.

3. Durability. Aside from the new belt and pulleys, it's all held up really well. I think the undertray helped with the bigger crashes and cartwheels. In the end I modded that so it is installed with bolts through the front bumper and low profile velcro everywhere else. Works a treat. Despite a lot of crashing, the tray is still the original one I made a year ago.

Rallying generally? I have to say that it's probably the category of RC that leaves the biggest smile on my face. We don't have too many great multisurface spots around here so mainly drive on run down car parks so you get a bit of loose gravel on the surface. To that end I decided to build up an LC Racing PTG-2. It's also a great car. Buggy derived chassis so very different to drive. In some ways easier as it's handling is less scale and more forgiving. Perhaps less magical than the XV01 with it's uncanny turn in but, on the other hand, who doesn't love endless power slides  

As an indicator as to how much I love this type of RC I just posted a thread about a silver can budget rally build idea for the winter: