Darkstar's U4RC Tuber Build

[Jayson Medovitch]

Ya way easier to work with bro! You can bend the radius alot easier especially if you don't have a roller! Ur mentioned doing a wrap on the body panels maybe polish the dash! Just a thought! You could even polish the roof and cut the wrap so you could incorporate a polished stripe as part of the paint scheme and that would tie it in with the dash! I'm just throwin shit up in the air bro!

KrzyWhtBoy

 

[darkstar]

A buddy of mine dropped off some 0.32 aluminum sheet, so now I get the joy of working with that. It will be my first time cutting and bending aluminum.... Should be fun!

 

[darkstar]

Finally an update. Made the final templates for the new 0.32 aluminum panels.

Up next will be to transfer to the aluminum, and began cutting/bending/drilling

 

[Wilspeed]

You'll enjoy using the aluminum, I been gathering up .025 aluminum from work to start making panels with myself


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Jayson Medovitch]

Cool man! Can't wait to see it completed! Take your time and it will come out Sick!

KrzyWhtBoy

 

[darkstar]

Latest update.

Got the panels cut and the first one bent, drilled and mounted.

Other than the fact that I suck at bending aluminum, and marking spots to drill... I think it looks good.

Keep in mind the panels will be wrapped, so the small issues I had bending, and the marks from the pliers I used won't show.

Also will likely not utilize all the prefabed nuts on the chassis for body mounting.

On to the pics!

 

[Jayson Medovitch]

Looking good bro! It just takes time and practice!

KrzyWhtBoy

 

[darkstar]

Another update.

Got the other side bent up and mounted. This side went a little easier since I knew what I had to do.

Still suck at marking holes to drill though, but oh well.

 

[darkstar]

Two updates on the same day.. Watch out!

Got the hood and RX panel mounted up, since I already cut those 2 from sheet metal, I decided to keep it that way. I ended up having to make a small bracket to hold the hood to the RX panel, so it didn't move around, after its all said and done with the wrap, I think it will hardly be noticeable.

I also got the roof cut, bent and mounted. This was pretty straightforward, since it was a easy bend.

Here is the chassis all paneled up!

Only thing I'm undecided about right now is how I'm going to mount the front most part of be hood, there are no nuts to mount it to, so I might just use some zip ties.

Up next will be mounting the Wraith skid plate, it does have to be modified to fit, which includes shaving it to make it a little less wide. I'll be sure to get some before and after pics.

 

[Jayson Medovitch]

Hey you said you have access to a brake? If you bend an X in the square in the front of the hood you don't need any mounting nutts! Believe it or not bending that in the hood keeps the hood from flexing and stiffens the whole integrity of the hood! Plus its my Logo! Lol. I use a body post and clip where it sits on the Rx panel! Anyways bro any ? Feel free to contact me! I will help you out as much as I can! It looks sweet so far!

KrzyWhtBoy

 

[darkstar]

Here we go. Big update from this past weekend.

First off I had to modify the wraith skid plate to fit the chassis, that included shaving down the sides of it to fit inside the mounting plates. Took all of ~5m with a dremel and a sanding tool.

After getting the skid plate mounted up, I decided to mock up the rear axle, and move the trailing arms more inline with the yeti. This required being mounted to the skid plate, and placed on the outside.

I did this because the chassis assumes your shocks will be mounted on the axle, and not inward like the Wraith is when using trailing arms. This will give me a more refined shock location.

I ended up marking the location the skid plate and keeping the pinion angle correct and drilled the holes I needed. Since the plate is thick, I ended up taping it with a M3x0.5 tap. This allowed me to thread the screw and be able to use some blue loktite. I'm hoping the screws won't back out, but if they do I will end up having to notch the skid and use a lock nut.

Up next will be mocking up the sway bar, there is a mounting location on the rear of the chassis, so I'll try that first. My other option is trying to see if the sway bar can be mounted on the chassis, and mount to the trailing arm as well, instead of mounting to the axle.

 

[Jayson Medovitch]

Woop Woop!

KrzyWhtBoy

 

[darkstar]

Another update... this time we have a full slider! I got the shocks mocked up, and did some test fitting on shock location. Shocks I'm using at the Proline Power Stroke Slash Rears, which are roughly 100mm I believe.

In the pics I used the front most shock location, but later changed it to the shock hole right above it's current location.

Front shocks were next, I use the same shocks up front, as I do the rears. Location was the second upper most hole. This location was a little difficult to use, because on the inside of the chassis, is the hood mounting holes.

Full shot with all shocks in place.

After getting the shocks installed and sitting under no weight I decided to install the rear sway bar and make new connecting rods, since the previous ones were too short. I also decided to beef up the connecting rod, and went with 8-32 all thread, and revo ends. Decided to go this route because of how much longer the connecting rod is, as opposed to the previous setup.

Everything is currently in mock up stage, once I get everything in place, final bolt up will take place.

Up next will be mounting the trans/motor/driveshafts, then mock up for the electronics placement, and I'll probably end up making a firewall for the front to help keep some dirt out of there.

 

[Sevastra]

When the rear suspension bottoms out are the sway bars going to hit your spare tire? Might have to shorten the connecting rods a bit more.

 

[darkstar]

When the rear suspension bottoms out are the sway bars going to hit your spare tire? Might have to shorten the connecting rods a bit more.

If my calculations are correct.. which they probably aren't, it should barely hit the rubber. I guess I could have pulled one of my Yeti tires out of the box, and test fit it...

 

[darkstar]

Damn, got a lot of updates this week. As time is winding down for the next U4RC race, it's crunch time!

Installed the trans and driveshafts, it's a tight fit for sure, with the way the trans sits and battery bar in the back. I did have to relocate the way I soldered the wires on the motor though.

I also mocked up some electronics plates, to mount on the side of the tuber.

As you can see, it's a very tight fit with the monster Tekin RX8 GEN2.

Up next I need to find a way to mount the battery in the rear, and get the new interior, then do final mock up and get it ready to beat on!

I was also able to get the U4 Voodoo's mounted up on the Method 105s.

 

[dirty_coyle]

RX8 = Beast Mode
Looking awesome bud, can't wait to see this thing rip

 

[darkstar]

Just a few updates left and this thing should be wrapped up...

Got the servo wires ran along the upper link, cycled the suspension and there are no binding issues or pinching at all! "thumbsup"

Also decided to throw down some flat black on the panels, still undecided on a wrap at this point, and I might not even use one, so who knows.

Electronics are mounted in their final locations, and all the wires tucked away nice, and zip tied together. Battery is also mounted, the 2 velcro strips are from the Wraith battery tray, so now I have 2 parts from my old Wraith "thumbsup" Only thing I need to do with the electronics is find a way to mount the antenna wire and keep it out of the way. I'm also a little unsure if I like the battery there, the idea is to keep it out of the way, and sitting where it does helps with the overall balance of the rig.

And this is where it sits as of lastnight.

I still need to mount the RX Panel & Hood, but I'm going a different direction with that, and I'm waiting on some body posts to show up, after that I will lay down a flat black paint job on those 2 pieces. I also need to fit the new interior, which is on it's way with the body posts from RPP.

After changing the rear shock location again (this time, it's close to sitting on it's full weight), I feel I might need to run stiffer springs in the rear. I'm currently running the softest springs. Shake down run will happen this weekend at some point!

 

[DzrtRyd]

Looks great! Hope the shakedown run goes well. Looking forward to seeing the final product.

 

[Jayson Medovitch]

Looks good bro!