So I had my first race with my newly built EC this weekend. I started it with JB's starter setup, other than the diffs were 7 5 5. I got to the track nice and early to give it a test. The first thing I noticed was the 48t spur was way to much for me. The EC was not even like driving and Xray with this setup. The turnin was incredible, it jumped much much better, but was really really twitchy. With the V-spec I was all over the place, just way to much low end, so the first change was going back to the 46t, and changing the diff fluid, which was prolly good since the diffs should have been fully broke in. I also put the shim under the knuckle to try to call down the steering.
Out to the track again, and I just could not keep the backend from being loose. Back to the pits to put on the 38t bevel gear and change the front diff fluid. This helped a little, but not the change I was looking for. I was really suprised at how much preload I was having to run to keep the dogbones level. 15 in the rear and 11 in the front. The shocks seemed to have loosened up a bit by this time and I was able to go down to 13 rear and 9 front, which still seems like alot. The shocks seemed to be real stiff, just slow action up and down which I did not think would be good with the track already starting to get rutted, so I decided to make a big change. I went with light blue springs front and rear and 50 wt front and 35 weight rear.
I went out on the track and things were going much better, but I was still getting just a bit out of shape at different parts of the track so I put on the +2 hubs on the front. I definately lost some steering, but made a real nice difference on the stability. So this is the setup I used the rest of the day. The track got extremely blow out. Ruts everywhere and really loose. Everyone was fighting for traction. I still felt that I was looser than most in the rear, but maybe it was my driving.
I almost feel like there is something wrong with my shocks. My daughter buggy have 60f 50r with the same springs, and her rebound is quicker than mine with 50f 35r. Like I said before, they did loosen up during the day. They have been apart 3 times now, they are put together correctly, the run smoothly with no oil in them, I dont have the nut too tight, just tight enough so they spin a bit. The arms all seem to be real nice and free, with no binding. The only thing I could possibly think of is that since I started with the the dark blue springs which were used, I put the new springs on my daughters XB8, so when I switched back to the light blues they were the ones off her buggy that have 12-13 gallons on them. Not sure if that matters much or not.
One a side note, I am not trying to tell anyone there setup is wrong here. I am not the greatest driver and still new buggy since coming over from MT's, but my kids have been racing XB8 for over a year now. There is kinda a running joke at my local track that I never break the Xrays. 3 Xray buggies now, around 20 gallons, and never a broken part. They were all joking with me about the track conditions and long main that maybe this was the day I would break something. Once again I had the last laugh again