Managed to get a bit more of the car built in between racing over the weekend, and now just have the shocks left to do this evening. It's pretty impressive how close they've managed to get things on the chassis.
The front end fully built up with the turnbuckles installed. Notice the new XT8 style outer turnbuckles.
Pretty standard centre diff mount components. The top plate is moulded composite and is actually fairly stiff, although I have to say I think this should be carbon fiber/ graphite. One thing you will notice is that nearly all aluminium parts are hard anodised (bar the engine mounts) and all steel components are finished in the lovely bronze Hudy finish.
Remember to sand one side of the brake pad plates with emery cloth to provide a key for the pads.
XRAY have at last changed the shape to give more room of the brake mechanism.
The centre diff installed. As you can see, the rear drive shaft is damn long!
The chassis side guards are exactly the same size as the previous ones, just the radio tray side one has been changed to make room for the protruding servos. The one and only thing that I've come across so far that seems slightly cheap is this side guard, as it's clear they've just modded the old mould as you can see just half of the XRAY logo at the front of it. Nothing major I know, just feels slightly not perfect and bodged. They are also just very slightly too short for the chassis.
At this point I chose to install the electrics instead of the engine. The radio tray components. Nice bit of machining the radio plate, and notice they removed some material from the battery cover to make room for the carb slide!
The electrics I'm using...
Everything assembled and ready to be mounted to the chassis. Couldn't install my pt as I needed it on Sunday.
The electrics installed.
You've gotta love how the drive shafts perfectly follow the line of the battery box and steering servo!
These are the second components I feel XRAY have slightly scrimped on (as they did with the XT8). Although they are nicely machined underneath to remove a considerable amount of weight, they are not hard coated as everything else on the car is. I know it's nothing major, just feels a bit cheap.
The clutch assembly/ bell and mounts installed on the engine. The mounts are really long, so even though there's not going to be an extension on the 3 piece mount, the overall length of the mounts will add some rigidity to the centre of the chassis.
Notice the new size of the bearings; I've still yet to get any decent sized washers to secure the clutch bell/ bearings, but they now supply you with a 2.5mm CAP SCREW!
The engine and pipe installed. Everything is very tightly packed together; the engine couldn't get much closer to the rear drive shaft! It's also quite clear the centre diff and engine are not perpendicular, although you can reduce the angle by moving the rear of the engine towards the centre drive shaft.
Bring on the shocks at last!
|