RS4 Rally Conversion: Build Session 2

Ok so having built the shocks it was time to start the chassis work. The most major part of this is chopping the front off the main chassis plate. So it was off with the front end.

Having only one internet picture to go by it was a bit of guess work exactly where I had to make the cut. I marked a rough line where I thought I should be aiming for...

...and then deployed the dremel...

The front mounting screws are no longer needed as the bumper now mounts onto the plastic kick up skid plate giving a much greater ground clearance and also allowing the car to bounce up and over rough terrain rather than grinding to a halt.

It turned out that I took a couple of mm too much off... oops! Nothing major though and it won't cause any issues with the running of the car.

I still needed to give it a smooth off and attempt to round off the corners.

To say this wasn't my neatest work would be an understatement. Still so far all cock ups have been cosmetic annoyances rather than anything that will effect the running of the car once complete so I won't beat myself up too much... yet!

That was it for tonight. I hit a problem when trying to take apart the front suspension... and by problem I mean I couldn't work out how to get the pins out! They are threaded on one end and just a round plastic cap on the other. Rather than mess up yet another thing tonight I decided to call it a night and get the instruction manual out for another day.

Nitro low fuel warning experiment!

One of the things that bugs me slightly with my nitro cars is the very limited warning you get when they are about to run out of fuel. As it starts to suck air into the tank you get the surge of power as it runs lean but that only  gives you a few seconds to point it back in your direction and come off the throttle before the fuel is used up completely.

What I want is some way of knowing 30 seconds or so before the tank is dry to give me time to bring the car fully back to where I am standing or give me the option of a quick splash and dash with the fuel while the engine is still running.

For my work I have used some simple PIC circuits to monitor the levels of liquids and so I thought... why not try one in my RC car!

Previously I have been using the circuits to monitor water levels using two probes. For this application the system would be looking for a small current flow between the probes. The probes themselves will be positioned with one touching the bottom of the tank, the other around 5mm from the bottom. The idea being that once the fuel drops below this 5mm level the current flow will be lost and the circuit will flash some LEDs and sound a buzzer. All well and good in theory but will it work?

To find out I setup a simple test circuit using an 18-pin PIC circuit board. I don't need all of the functions of the 18-pin but decided that I wanted as many LEDs flashing as possible for the test.

Here is the board I used-

and here it is populated with the test components...

I still need to add on a suitable power source, which currently I'm thinking will be a 3 cell AAA NiMh pack or 2 cell lithium, and the probes themselves which for the purpose of the test will simply be 2 lengths of wire with the ends stripped bare.

I'll run the circuit as it is simply placed in either my RS4 or Hyper 12 and if it works I'll look at making it a more permanent solution with a case and off board LEDs, maybe even integrate them into the shell in some way. What I would like to do with the RS4 eventually is add some rally spot lights which are illuminated but then flash when the fuel level drops.

Anyway, lets see if it works first!

RS4 Rally Conversion: Build Session 1

Some time last week the second pair of rally springs turned up which meant that I had all the parts I needed to start my RS4 rally conversion project, well... apart from a set of wheels to mount my rally block tyres on but that is a minor detail! Here are the pieces I'll be using-

The chassis will need modifying before I can fit the front and rear suspension bits so I thought I'd start with the more straight forward task of putting the shocks together.

Even a pair of shocks has a fair few components though...

Not all of these are needed and as long as you are methodical about putting them together they aren't too tricky. After about an hour all four were assembled.

Next job... modifying the front of the chassis and assembling the front end.

Proline upgraded rear shock tower for the Slash

A few days ago my replacement shock tower arrived.

My concerns were unfounded and it was a rear shock tower as the stated it would be... Modelsport, you need to update your photos!

First impressions are that it looks a lot chunkier and more durable than the stock Traxxas item. The weak point where my previous two broken certainly won't be an issue as the load is spread in a different way.

Here it is on the truck.

Hopefully I'll get a chance over the weekend to test it out!

Micro drifter lighting project

While waiting for my JConcepts Overtray to dry after painting (more on that once it is fitted!) I started to play about with my cheap micro drift car. Here it is in all its glory.

It looks quite cool but in reality it is a bit crap! Anyway, crap or not it does have clear light lenses which got me thinking... wouldn't it be good if I stuck some LEDs in there.

So I stuck a torch under the front to get an idea of how it might look.

I think that will work quite nicely! I've got some other things on the go but watch this space!