Why modify The Kawada Alcyon II? What Plus points does it have compared to other Touring Cars of it's time ?

 I was studying and looking closely at the rivals of the SV10 Alcyon II , like the TRF414 M and the X Ray T1, and some things really stood out, and made me thankful I chose the Kawada.

So here are those reasons.

1. Ease of removing the differentials from the car . have you guys tried on that on T1 or a 414? On those cars you need to remove the bulkheads from the chassis to remove the diff. On the Alcyon, remove 4 screws holding the shock tower from above and you can slide the diff upwards and out.

2. For its time it had very big 36T pulleys, compared to the 414  which had 32t pulleys. Because of that fitting a TRF417, 418,419 and 420 , 37T gear diff is not a problem.  There is still plenty of space around the bulkhead, mounts and chassis for clearance of the diff. You can't fit a 37T gear diff on a 414.

3.  The servo placement is close to modern touring cars. The angle of the servo horn is placed perpendicular to the chassis front to back, instead of inline  like on the xray T1 and TRF 414, because of that it is easy to adapt a modern floating servo mount to fit on the chassis. The positioning of the belt from center of chassis is also conducive to this.

4.  There is enough space on the front plastic C hubs to fit a double cardan joint. 

 5. The motor on the Alcyon II slides up and down for ratio adjustment, meaning with careful spur and pinion selection you can get the motor very low in the chassis.

 

Shortening the shocks and lowering the shock towers by 6mm

 So when  I came back to this hobby in 2026, I realized that after 2020, a new type of swept forward touring car body shell was invented that complements the ultra modern super short shocks cars. These new cars have very short shocks and springs and the towers are very very low, hence they could fit these modern bodies.

I bought a Blitz RS5 modern body and sure enough especially at the front, this body is a problem on the Alcyon. the Sloping front hood cannot go down as low as it is supposed to be because it hits the top of shock mounts . 

So I designed my own short towers, I lowered the front and rears down by 6mm. 

 

I also had to use short rod ends to shorten the overall length of the shocks. I use Tamiya parts for the front and 3 Racing for the rear. the front shocks are now end to end 62.1mm, and rear shocks 65.5mm. The rear shocks I use 3racing ball cups.

 

It is a success, but while the body clears the shocks now, the front anti roll bar linkage is a problem, if i go any much lower than 5mm, it touches the linkages, but anyway this is already an improvement.

 

So now its time to re setup the suspension and go for test run in a few weeks time.

 

 Kawada Catalog 2003 and 2002.

 

The Ultimate on super high traction outdoors track

 Ran my Ultimate yesterday at SACC track for the very first time. Was amazed at the level of grip available. The car was stuck to the surface. It felt locked on, and understeered . Not very badly but it was obvious I had trouble matching the corner speed of my friend Sakura Cero Ultra.

Hargberg himself said that older touring cars were made for low grip, and  modern cars made for high grip.  So should I give up on this car. Not yet. I am going to try a rear roll center adjustment. Right now the rear roll center is very very low. So I plan to change the rear anti roll bar from soft 1.4mm to medium 1.6mm. That should add a bit more steering. 

I also tried a more aggressive cornering technique and the car felt faster.  I think I know why I drove too mildly . Because I have driven on low traction tracks for too long, I was afraid of making sudden changes in direction, on low grip surfaces that could mean a spin out. But high traction that is not so. You make a direction change and it goes there, without spin out. And that is where those drivers that are used to high traction excel. By the last pack, I realized this and changed my driving style accordingly and I did feel faster.

 But its not like I had a smooth sailing day, with no mechanical issues.The wooden barriers were killer. I broke two 3D printed bumpers, and bent one rear 32mm aluminium camber link, from clipping the apex and flying into the barriers. But given all that knocks, the car was pretty tough, no broken arms, knuckles, c hubs or shock towers. 

There were instances where the car felt wonky  and wouldn't track straight. Turned out the rear shocks came loose from the rear tower. This seems to happen because of the huge amount of grip on the tyres which transfers a lot of force to the suspension, causing the shock mounting screws to come loose. Then I also had a problem on the straights with any small corrections the back end rolls and darts left and right. Turns out, it was the tyre sidewalls unglued. Glued the sidewalls and problem cured.

 

Next was modern body vs old school body. I tried the Blitz RS5 again . It does feel fast, but the rear end is just a tad loose. For maximum cornering prowess, modern bodies are the way to go. However there is a trade off. It cannot sit low as it is designed to as the front end hits the shock tower. So you cannot really use its full potential. I designed my own 6mm lower shock towers. I need to use shorter rod ends on the shocks to bring the overall length down by 6mm. Then the Modern Blitz RS5 body could be used to its full potential. hopefully the towers will arrive by 13th June.

On the other hand, the 2016 Blitz GSF II  , I could slam it low and no interference with the shock towers. So I am able to use the full potential. I couldn't really feel a difference , perhaps it had a tad less steering, but overall it felt really good. lots of steering and locked on rear. It is a compromise I can live with. I will be sticking to the GSF II and changing setup only.