Information

[DA_cookie_monstA]

Hello everyone, right, now I am a proud owner of a spanklingly gorgeous RCLab 7-7 Club, and, being that I been out of the game for a little while (since 1997). I could do with some pointers.

Right, is there anything I should look out for when building the kit, or any little tips to get the car nice a free, as I will be running stock motors!!!

Also, this may be one for James Stewart, I Could do with a base setting for the car, to run on Carpet, reasonable grip using Carpter Dragons (what wheels and inserts if thats poss too).

Thanks in advance for any sensible answers and a :P for the silly ones...

Steve, a.k.a. DCM

[James_Stewart]

Sorry Steve, I don't have a setup for carpet dragons, although feedback from others suggests the base setup that i've emailed you works with pretty much anything.

You may need to shorten the top links slightly though, the tyres that i've been using are all square shouldered, you may want a bit more camber change with the rounder profile of the dragons.

It's a good idea to seal the chassis with superglue to help prevent delamination, and make sure you get the centres of the ballstuds on the draglink between the steering bellcranks to the same distance as the steering posts to give the correct Ackermann.

I'm sure others will have some useful info for you as well....

[Craig]

Try james setup works quiet well with muppet lizards.

Do the usual things with the bearings. Also found if you add a 2mm spacer on each of the four screws that hold the motor mount toghether it pushes it apart and makes it spin more freely.

run sorex dish wheels with schumacher grey inserts they are about the best.

But some useful mods for racing in the wrca are spikes, plenty of bumpers and a gun is useful to.

[James_Stewart]

Also found if you add a 2mm spacer on each of the four screws that hold the motor mount toghether it pushes it apart and makes it spin more freely.

:o Surely if you space the motor bridge bulkheads apart then the holes on the chassis for the motor mount will be in the wrong place, and also the top decks won't fit properly as far as I can see. Or are you talking about something else?

[mark Fuller]

also when you mean put 2mm under each 4 screwa of the motor mount you do mean the car runs freer

mark

[Craig]

The holes fit in perfect with the washers. I think it was me puttin the car back toghether and i had forgot something as the motor mount was not matching up to the holes on the chassis. So i put the washers then and it works. But car is in its native state so when its back toghether ill see if it still happens if not it was my fault.

[John Davie]

Having just built a 7-7 club for a mates 7 year old lad i am happy to say it went together without a single problem, just built purely to the instructions. The only thing i did notice was the servo savers seemed to have alittle play on the splines of the servo, cheap after market servo of the same size has sorted out this minor problem.

One tip i do have is it may be better to use a soldiering iron to melt 4 or 8 spots on the diff body to the diff ring instead of just glueing it on as the rear diff ring on my 7-7/GT3 did come off when i ran the rear belt slightly too loose.

One thing i did not expect was that the club chassis with its plastic motor and diff housings feels just as stiff as the pro with its alloy parts.

Now i must get back to building my mates 7-7/GT3 as it has to be ready for christmas day as his lad thinks they are getting unbuilt kits which his dad has no time to build and not almost ready to race cars for the next outdoor meeting at Ashby on Jan 4th

[James_Stewart]

You better hope his son isn't reading this John - You've just blown the suprpise ;D

I forgot to mention the servo saver - I haven't felt the need to run one, but if you do use the kit one, glue one half to the spring to stiffen it up a bit, or use an aftermarket one.

[John Davie]

;D No problem as he is not allowed on the net just yet.

Will be interesting to hear everyones thoughts on the cars once the better weather comes for racing outdoors.

Forgot to say get a good strong 1.5mm driver as the droop screws do take alittle effort to screw in, may be worth trying to get a 2mm drill bit and drill down half way through the wishbone but do so with great care.

[DA_cookie_monstA]

James, could you email me a base setup please ;D

Order decent drivers of Mike at the same time today, was like Christmas Day today, CHEERS MIKE!!!!

And I ALWAYS like to run a servo saver, as it is that little thing that stops you stripping servo gears, and I got a nice little Kimbrough one in the shed.....

And I got another Christmas day tomorrow, thanks to DOOM ;D

[James_Stewart]

Setup emailed to the address in your profile.....

The plastic for the wishbones is quite tough, but the droop screws have an M3 thread on them, so you can use a tap to make life easier.

[FTD RACING]

My tips are fit the actetal lay shaft bearing mount and file the bottom of the droop screws flat as they wear a hole in the chassis. Apart from that the only other mod I have made to the 3 degree castor blocks is to drill a hole in the same place as it is on the 5 and 7 degree blocks.

Tony

[NOKIA]

Just something I found when assembling my 7.7 Club.

When bolting the Motor Bridge Assy. together and screwing it to the chassis be very carefull not to overtighten the screws and to keep checking for chassis flatness. If you overtighten the screws into the plastic bits you can distort things.

Even though I was carefull, I found when fitting the top decks that the chassis was "tweeked". I backed all the screws off and then systematically tightened them up (only a bit at a time). This solved any "tweek" issues. I check the car regularly to make sure the chassis is flat.

Cheers
Bryan

[Remo]

DCM

FTD is right... cos I done the mods for him ;)

Really the acetol layshaft bearing top hats are a must... and instead of putitng shims here and there , just file the 2 facing spacers moulded to the inner face of the layshaft pully down and you will get more float and hence a freeer drive chain.

[James_Stewart]

Good point about the caster blocks, but i've always preferred the long top link even on the 5 and 7 degree hubs.

The only other thing that I sometimes change is the draglink between the bellcranks - Using some Corally parts available from Mike it's possible to mount the link further forward and get more steering throw. It's not needed on the GT3 though, that has plenty of steering as it is.

[Remo]

If you are staying with 0 degrees kicck-antisquat blocks, one thing I would recommend is to get an extra rear hindge pin brace and file the rear arms down a bit at the rear to accomodate the extra brace. This will make the whole thing much stronger and consistant after a few knocks... from behind...

[James_Stewart]

Good Idea Remo, but i'd be tempted to get some new hingepins about 2 - 3mm longer than the standard ones to use. The hingepins are 3mm diameter, so finding some of the right length shouldn't be too difficult.

[DA_cookie_monstA]

Is it worth while in getting titaniun hinge pins and turnbuckles for the Lab then, or are the hinge pins ok?

[James_Stewart]

I wouldn't say it desperately needs either. I have managed to push a turnbuckle into a ballend with a good hefty tap into the boards at Southend, and I have bent a hingepin at Snetterton (In the same accident I also broke a wishbone and an upper shock eyelet ;D), but other than that I haven't had any problems with anything breaking.

[DA_cookie_monstA]

Sounds like a very rpbust car then to me, and I guess, the turnbuckle links are short enough that they don't need to be titanium either....

[James_Stewart]

It's not a bad idea to carry some spares though. A pair of front and a pair of rear wishbones would be good, along with some hubs.

You've probably noticed by now that all 4 hubs are the same part, so you only need a pair.

[Remo]

I would replace the ball ends and rear turn buckles to something stronger if your track is hard on cars... the ball ends I have changed to are RPM ones and the turn buckles were Tamiya cos I had some... I have snapped a few in the past (rear camber link) and poped few ball ends...

I must say I have bent two hindge pins with the 7.7 in a from rear collision but never on the 7.6 cos I think the previous model had grounded pins which are much harder... but those needs a grub screw to retain... the new ones has a groove for the circlip to retain the brace... thats why I say file a bit off the arm in order to use the same hindge pins..... loads easier ;D

I agree wit James... couple of front and rear arms a couple of steering blocks... but I would add kick up blocks cos without the rear brace they get distorted in rear collisions.... so have a set of those also... they are dirt cheap...

Stu...

[mark Fuller]

The hinge pins that come with it bend easyly so i get the stronge ones off mike and have not bent one sinse i bent every one before i also have broken the plastic pit that hold the bearing on the rear diff i asked Remo but he didn't have one he will remember from west london

The car is very strong me and my dad are very suprised that anything else has broken some of the knocks iv had.


i went to tuesday night racing at southend indoors my car had a bad connection so it stopped in the middle of the track in the worse posible place in 19turn then ricky copsey come storming down the straight hit me side on to the rear wheel and ended under the computer which is outside the track and still did not break a thing ::)




mark fuller

[Remo]

Guess Ricky must try harder then eh ;D

[mark Fuller]

you know rick dont you? (REMO)

[John Lindsay]

Before my 7.7 was a GT3 I managed to bend a kit hinge pin on the Off Side rear, but it was quite a hard hit off a door post. The hinge pin straightened up tho and it was fine. It will be difficult if not impossible to bend a hinge pin in the GT3 as they are fixed at both ends.

Always run a servo saver, as first time out with my first RC-LAB 7.6 I wasted a KO servo and had to change cars. So I would definatly say to get an aftermarket one because the kit one has a tendency to pop the spring ring off and then you lose all steering!


John

[DA_cookie_monstA]

I got a trusty Kimbrough just for the job, thanks.

[B3buggy]

hi guys,
tried many different servo savers and arms, the best ones i found were the tc3 ones. no need for a saver if you have a metal gear servo, found it stops some of the backlash/slop in the steering. and was the right height for the job, some servo savers are just too big.


ross

[James_Stewart]

The reinforced KO servo arms are very good, and they are long enough that you can replicate the mounting position of the kit servo saver.

I've had one on my car for over a year now with no problems.

[B3buggy]

hi james,
that is one I did not try. Are these optional ones or the ones that come with KO servos?
Found that many of the servo savers actually slipped, dont know why.anybody else had this problem?

ross

[mark Fuller]

The servo saver that comes with the kit kept on slipping when i crashed
and now i have my RC-LAB i have used a big heavy duty one that mike sells

mark

[B3buggy]

hi mark,
put the kit one on the car, then decided against using it after some reports ::), this was the 7.6 though, how does the 7.7 kit compare?is it the same case


ross

[DA_cookie_monstA]

The one with mine I think you use a tie-wrap to hold it all together, I think....

[James_Stewart]

hi james,
that is one I did not try. Are these optional ones or the ones that come with KO servos?
Found that many of the servo savers actually slipped, dont know why.anybody else had this problem?

ross


Yes Ross, it's the optional KO one. If you really want a servo saver, then Mike sells one that was originally intended for 1/8th Buggies!