XRAY - Model racing cars

Hi, longshot here but are there any UK drivers that have used ECS drives at Aldershot?

Having used the ECS drives non-stop for about 2 years I had to swap them out at the BTCC on Sunday because we had a total of 4 pins go during practice and qualies and they were too dangerous to use for the finals. The weird thing is that we ran ECS drives there at the Nats last year without problem but I accept we had a different setup last weekend, not that I have thought of why this might have had the effect.

It was always the lefthand side that went and after the first two pins went I fitted a spare ECS drive but we lost two pins on that one too.

Trust me, with two years experience of running the drives I know how to put them together so they stay together (although it would now appear I don't )

For those who do not know Aldershot it has a long straight (10.5 speeds up to about 60mph) onto a 180 degree right handed banked sweeper and I am guessing it was the sweeper that did the ECS drives.

Due to running a Spec-R geardiff at the back I have ECS sriveshafts front and rear (52mm front and 50mm rear) and haven't had any problems at all for a while, just the pins and the centre case section wearing out.

This is with 4 or 5 meetings at Aldershot (5 rounds of quali and 2 finals each)

Skiddins

Couple of things,

Not sure about you but I have only broken the 1.5x9mm pins. I use to break them quite often until I changed the way that I built the ECS shafts. I now only tighten the setscrew until I feel the slightest bit of resistance when the screw comes in contact with the flatspot. I use a small amount of threadlock on the setscrew. I then use heatshrink tubing to cover the case and both pins. This will allow you to finish a race even if the pins break. I assume you do the same, since you have been building them for a while.

I keep the couplings in the ECS greased regularly. I use a hobby knife, dip the tip into some grease and then fit the tip into the small openings where the pin sits. This keeps breakage due to binding to a minumum.

I now use the "newer" pins. They are blue/black in color and appear to be hard anodized. I have not broken one of these yet.

http://www.teamxray.com/teamxray/produc ... 09%20%20(2)

I ran ECS shafts at the BTCC at Aldershot also, without any problems at all. The straight isn't quite as large as the one at Halifax imo, but still fast enough entering the bumpy sweeper though.
I think ive only ever broken a pin 2 to 3 times in around 8-9months and two of them was a learning curve of how tight to set the setscrews, and im running the standard ones.

Thanks guys. To be clear when I said "4 pins go" they did not break they just came loose and detached themselves. Also it was always the outside pin attaching the axle, on the left hand wheel. And as a I said I swapped in another driveshaft after I lost the first two pins.
Maybe I was unlucky and had a a centre case section wear out and just happened to replace the driveshaft with another one that had a worn centre case section (I need to have a close look at them). But I have never had a problem before at Aldershot and I did have a substantially different front end setup last weekend so I was interested in what others had experienced.

The setup was great so I will be sticking with the standard driveshafts for the Nats next weekend

[Hi Bytestream, yup I am the same as you (apart from using a toothpick rather than a hobbyknife ) but I do not use shrinkwrap. I tried it a long time ago and it just did not work for me. To be fair since I have become very fastidious and clean in the way I rebuild the ECS drives I have never had problems with the pins and so have never been tempted to give the shrink wrap another go - maybe I will now! Having 4 dump on me was a real shock.

Hi Bytestream, I used to do that but now I have dispensed with the hobby knife and spray the trunnion thread with Loctite 7063 cleaner and then screw in a new grub screw to check all the old threadlock has gone. Job done in about 20secs

Sorry I should have added that if threadlock is still there(not normal after the spray) it attaches to the grubscrew so you will see it on the thread of the new grubscrew when you take it out and can use the knife to remove it form the screw - or if you have 4 mins to race start use another new screw to assemble

I've had a pin break and shoot out piercing a hole in the heatshrink, i've also worn one shaft out completely......but the pins stayed in place.