sorry, I should've been more specific. You guys were discussing shock springs and colors. It seemed like you guys figured out that the hard springs are silver colored.

All the springs are white, though. Or at least the first batch of them were.

Some updated pictures of my Z-Car conversion. Added the MMM, rx box, battery tray and some Proline Revolver tires. Took it out for a test run and found that the stock springs are way too soft even with max preload, until I can get some stiffer springs I may replace the shocks with some Kyosho Big Bores.

Metaman, what's the situation on the stiff springs? HobbyPeople.net shows the stiff front springs on backorder.

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...P1010021-1.jpg

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...P1010026-2.jpg

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...3/P1010028.jpg
Here is the buggy the Z-Car is competing agains't, my brushless Kyosho 777 sp2.

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...3/P1010030.jpg
Side-by-side

MrZ, thanks.

The rx box is from the associated RC10GT2, here is the link http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXNYU3&P=7

It's not water proof like the newer Traxxas rx boxes but it is small and works for me.

I don't know what the situation is with the warehouse's stock, but I can check if the store has the stiffest springs in stock.

MetalMan, thanks, let me know what you find out about the springs. The Z-Car shocks action feels pretty good, it's just that the springs are too soft. I think with stiffer springs they will be good shocks.

Ugh, this spring situation is quite confusing. I don't remember for sure what springs were the stiffest, and the labeling is extremely confusing. IE, one package of springs on its label shows "Medium" but then when you look up the part number in the Hobby People computer it comes up as "Stiff Pro Kit". For the life of me I cannot recall if the package label is correct or if the computer is correct. On Monday I can dig into this more, today there just wasn't enough time.

Thanks MetalMan, I may wait a while for HobbyPeople to get things settled regarding the Z-Car stock. I bolted on my Kyosho Big Bore shocks with the Blue stiff springs and now the buggy feels just right. I definetly want to try out the Z-Car shocks, they seem to be very well made and the action is very smooth. Also, for some reason I didn't have enough camber adjustment on the right front, so I had to add a thin 14mm spacer (in addition to the stock spacer) under the pivot ball, now it is perfect.

MetalMan, one more question.

The valve (thin metal flap) in the Z-Car shock has holes that line up with the holes in the shock piston. So what is the purpose of the valve, when it looks like the oil just flows right thru the holes in the valve and piston? The valve in my Revo PE shocks are solid (no holes), so on the down stroke the valve is basically closed and restricts the flow, going the other way the valve bends slightly allowing more oil to flow, giving quicker rebound. I assume thats how the Z-Car shocks are supposed to work, but I don't see how it can with holes in both the valve and piston.

Those Kyosho shocks should work a lot better than the Z-Car shocks, no doubt.

I haven't completely understood the purpose of the valve either. But from what I have concluded they should increase dampening slightly on the upstroke (compression) because they make the flow of oil more turbulent. Or something like that.

Got my Z car on saturday, finished putting it together last night. like other have said. The stock springs do feel soft. What weight oil did you guys put in the shocks? I used the big tube (forgot the weight#) to fill them up. I may put some 40 weight in them for the time being.

The rear brake is pretty cool, once I get everything fitted, I'll have to make a servo mount to use the rear brake.

I should get my Rc-Monster parts in the next day or so. I just might be able to get it running by this weekend. I'm excited to get my first 1/8 buggy running on BL.

With valves you can tune suspension to progressive (allowing it to be stiff over small bumps, but get relatively softer over larger bumps) or regressive, similar to conical holes in pistons. But conical holes work only in narrow zone. But valves work on full lenght of shock travel. I like idea of valves in Z-car. But dont know realy how well shocks works

tom255, I understand how the valves work, I have them in my Revo PE, the thing is the Z-Car valves have holes in them that line up with the holes in the piston, so they really don't act as a valve, as the oil just flows right thru the holes. I may experiment with the Z-Car valves and either make some new ones with no holes, or redrill the mounting hole so the valve is moved over slightly so it blocks the piston hole (at least partically).

I had a chance to take it out on the track this weekend and I must say it performed very well. I have been wheeling Kyosho buggies (Kanai III and 777 SP2) for a while and the Z-Car seems to handle better, I don't have it setup 100% yet and I had some issues dialing in the rear suspension (I changed out the shocks with Kyosho Big Bores) but it corners and jumps really well. I took a couple of big hits and it came out with any breakage. The lighter weight overall and especially the drivetrain (thin driveshafts, smaller diffs, milled outdrives, etc.) seemed to allow it to spool up faster.

Also, Amain Hobbies use to carry the Z-Car but stopped because of lack of sales and that they were not impressed with the buggy. I started a post on the Amain forum and MadRussian and I have been trying to get them to carry them again, especially the parts so we can get some better pricing. Please go over there and post your opinions.
http://forums.amainhobbies.com/index...ic,1746.0.html

The noise you are hearing is a direct result of the Medusa motor being slotted, where the windings of the motor are arranged around a stator similar to what you would find on a brushed motor (notice a brushed motor has detents in its rotation too).
My Z-Car is actually one of the quietest of the conversions at the local track, even with a Neu (slotted) motor and steel pinion and spur.

I think my center diff is filled with 10-15k right now, but I haven't messed with any of the diffs since I built the buggy... As for shock oil, I think I have 50-55 front and 40-45 rear.

I got my parts in yesterday, I'm just about done. Waiting for the M11 and DS1313 servo to show up. I just briefly fired it up with 3s and a FM radio I had laying around. I can tell this thing is going to rock :intello:

Here's some pics

http://turborocco.com/gallery2/d/757-2/IMG_3850.jpg

http://turborocco.com/gallery2/d/706-2/IMG_3838.jpg

http://turborocco.com/gallery2/d/694-2/IMG_3842.jpg

Very nice! By the way, are those shocks big bore?

Sower, these are the stock shocks from the Z-car kit.

Mrz, I'm using a 15t pinion and I got it from here at Rc-monster. The motor is a medusa 36-60-1600. Going to run 6s. I went with Metalman's suggestion for
this setup.

I'm really curious what kind of runtimes I'll get off a 3300Mah 6s. Anybody have any guesses?

I'm thinking about getting a receiver box, but not sure which one to get yet.

Sweet, are you liking the medusa?

I hope the battery fits in the tray! according to the site, the 6s battery dimensions are 145x45x39mm. I ordered the 45x168 tray.

After I tidy'ed up a bit last night, I put the 3s back on to play with while i'm waiting for the 6s. heh. I've never had a buggy pop a wheelie before. I jammed the throttle for a split second and the front end lifted off the ground. :surprised: Cant wait till I feed it with a 6s.

yeah, I'll get some pics up when i'm all done. I've never painted a body before, so I'm not expecting it to turn out good or anything. But i'm picking up an airbrush today and using my 20lb co2 tank to power it. I'm going to try and keep it simple. Probably two colors, A platinum gray on the body and pearl blue on the top center canopy. I'll try to tint the windows too. It might end up becoming one color if I screw it up. :P

Thanks for the tips! I might lay down the first color today.

I got the 6s pack yesterday, and it fits the tray. the width of the pack near the wires fits snugly in the tray and there's plenty of room length wise. Once I get a few cycles through them, I'll probably order some more.

One thing I am worried about is the shocks. I have all the preloads added onto them, but the rear seems awfully soft and is sagging slightly compared to the front. I don't want to bang up the chassis too much when I take it out for its first drive. I was thinking of removing some of the preloads from the front and moving it to the rear. Anybody have any suggestions?

I did a weigh in without the body and steering servo. Currently I'm at 7lb 6oz with the 6s pack.

Trike, the stock Z-Car springs are way to soft and will adversely impact the handling of the buggy. Adding preload does not fix the issue, preload spacers are for adjusting ride height. You need to get the Z-Car stiff springs. Around here, Hobbypeople is out of stock, so I removed the stock shocks and added some spare Kyosho shocks I had. The buggy handles like a dream now.

Until the stiffer springs came out I was in the same boat. Even the stiff springs aren't all that stiff, and my buggy I feel would benefit from stiffer springs.

Thanks guys, I'll wait till hobby people gets the front back in stock. they have the rears in stock at the moment. I noticed the Zcar is $199 again!

I guess I wont be doing any jumps until I get the springs sorted out.

I took it out for a quick test drive late last night, I couldn't wait for the ds1313 to show up, so i slapped in a s3003 :P

All I have to say is, WOW... :gasp: there is gobs of torque. I was scared to go full throttle since it was dark and I'm not used to the increase in power. This is by far the fastest r/c car i've ever owned.

I've never raced before, so I don't really know how to tune the suspension. But even with the soft springs, it turns really nice. Hopefully I'll start learning about tweaking the suspension. But I need to get the spring issue sorted out first.

Just wanted to say thanks to MetalMan for guiding me with the BL setup, and everyone else that has tolerated my n00bish questions. I'm definitely grinning ear to ear after two mins of driving it in the street last night. I can tell it's a beast! Hopefully I'll be able to cycle the battery a few times this weekend to get an idea of what the runtime is like on 6S.

When the K5.9 dies on my XL, I'm seriously going to consider converting it to BL.

Hey Shark,
Do you know if the kyosho springs would fit the z-car shocks? Just seeing if maybe I can get a set of kyosho springs and mod them to fit.

Trike, when I first noticed the stock springs were too soft and the optional stiff springs were out of stock, I tried to see if anything else would fit. I had some CEN, Mugen, Kyosho springs laying around that were the right length. The problem is that the Z-Car spring is bigger at one end than the other. The CEN and Mugen springs fit over the shock body, but the Z-Car spring retainer was too small. What I did was changed out the Z-Car shock ballend and use a Mugen ballend and retainer and everything fit, but I had a set of Kyosho Big Bores shocks and I have been very happy with them on my Inferno 777 so I just bolted them on and that is what I am currently using. But yes, if you want to use the Z-Car shocks with other springs you will probably need to change the shock ballend and spring retainer. Kyosho standard springs are too small, and the Kyosho Big Bore springs are too big for the Z-Car shocks.

I finished building mine sometime last week, and Its just waiting for its bl setup and my RC-M parts to come in. Im debating dying the wheels and yellaaa wing black, the tires are unglued also.
http://hybr1d.net/uploader/files/21/new stuff/zcar1.jpg
http://hybr1d.net/uploader/files/21/new stuff/zcar2.jpg
http://hybr1d.net/uploader/files/21/new stuff/zcar3.jpg
I love how the zcar matches my soldering iron, thanks again noah!
http://hybr1d.net/uploader/files/21/new stuff/zcar4.jpg
(damn i love my gf's baller SLR digital camera, too bad no macro lens)

The Zcar is on sale again for 199.99$! There is another sale going on at hobbypeople! Regular price is now 379.99(100 less)

edit:I didn't check in the mail today, but the parts were in there. I installed my battery tray and countersunk the mounting screws, and Im just waiting till I get to work to change my diff fluid to like 10K or 15k then Ill install my center diff/motor mount.

interesting thread. May be looking to do a different vehicle here, and for the price of 199.99 not bad. Anyway, for this vehicle, few questions I am hoping you guys can answer:

1. can you mount the kyosho 46T plastic spur?
2. Assuming a 46T spur mounted, what is the smallest pinion you can run using a neu 1512 sized finned motor?
3. Is there room with the conversion on to mount the Mamba monster ESC to the chassis and then mount the receiver on the center diff plate?

thanks for any info you can provide.

Cain,

1. I lined up a steel Kyosho spur with the stock Z-Car spur and the holes are slightly different, So I would say it is not an exact match (bolt pattern). Also, the Z-Car diff is shorter (ala Kyosho M9) so most other diffs won't fit.

2. Using the stock Z-Car 44T spur and a finned 1512, the smallest pinion I could fit was a 16T, which really gears the buggy way up. That is why I moved the rear chassis brace over to the otherside (see my post on page 5). Now I can go down to a 12T pinion if necessary. You use a smaller diameter motor, like a non-finned Neu or 60mm Medusa to get more clearence.

3. If your not going to use the mech brakes the ESC and RX can be fitted on a custom extended center diff plate. Because the MMM is so big there are not a lot places it can be mounted.

At work today i test fitted the MMM 2200kv mamba motor and it fit fine with the stock rear brace. :yipi:
I put a 15T RRP mod 1 pinion and it meshs fine, with room to spare, so you could mount a 14T as well.(not pictured) Im really happy that it fit!
http://hybr1d.net/uploader/files/21/IMG00216.jpg
http://hybr1d.net/uploader/files/21/IMG00217.jpg
http://hybr1d.net/uploader/files/21/IMG00218.jpg

the z car went back down to 199.99$ we are having a clearance sale right now.