Kawada SV10 Alcyon III vs Yokomo BD-7!

Since January, there is this guy at the track with a Yok BD7 who kept beating the heck out of me and OSA. He used the latest 7200mah batteries while ours were shorties. Week after week he left us eating dust. Then since march i stopped tc because i snapped my layshaft. While getting the layshaft done i concentrated on my optima mid.
when i got back my layshaft i bought a vbc floating servo mount and modified my ver 1 chassis to fit it. I couldnt drill the holes straight so i kind of tweaked the chassis while tightening the mount. The car did not handle well. It was frustrating..is my kawada headed for retirement ? So i took another 2 months rest and then had are look at the car. I noticed the rear diff was noisy. I was  using ta06 steel bevel gears. I decided to take it apart and change the side gears to plastic and kept the 4 middle gears steel. The diff was then super smooth ! Then i installed my new chassis designed for the vbc floating mount. I tried the car last night with old tyres and the car was twitchy. Mr bd7 again was quicker. The next round i installed a set of new rides re32s. My god what a diffrrence it made. The car worked the way it should. It was on rails ! Mr bd7 didnt know what hit him. I hounded his bd7 then overtook it then proceed to leave it eating dust..eventhough he had far better equipment.
suffice to say he wasnt happy and he kept gluing his tyres thinking there was something wrong with them. The irony was everytime he saw us he would keep implying that we were slow because we drove such old cars. After i beat him he just kept silent and he seemed to think there was something wrong with his car. He kept regluing his tyres. What he did not realize was there was nothing wrong with his car. Its just that finally there is nothing wrong with my kawada anymore..thats why i beat him good. The way the car handled was superb. It neither understeered nor oversteered. The balance was just right it had nuetral steering and drove on rails. Mr bd7 said his battery failed. Well lets see nexy week if he can beat me back.

Lates update for the SV-10 II

I have gone back to the original plastic suspension blocks instead of aluminium because after a while, the suspension pins will stick with the aluminium pieces and will be almost impossible to remove them, so its back to short camber links. I also re designed a version 2 chassis to fix the problems the first version had.
I also reduced the chassis width from 90mm to 70mm, increased thickness from 2.1mm to 2.4mm, and changed the battery mounting. The result is a narrower, stiffer chassis, with VBC modern floating servo mount, to allow the chassis to flex evenly both ways. I also finally figured out what was wrong with my rear TRF 417 gear diff with steel gears. The steel gears were beginning to grind each other, so I tried putting plastic gears for the outdrives and using steel for the small gears, it worked like a charm, the diff is now super smooth. Tested the car yesterday, and with all this new innovations added, the car handled like a dream yet again.
Probably the biggest difference was the flex characteristics. So how does it drive really?
The front ride height is 5.5, and the rear at 6, with the rear having more droop than front. Front springs harder than rears. I found that the car is very stable and transitions very quickly in sudden turns, sometimes it feels unstable in one particular turn, but however my worries are unfounded as the car still held its line well even with the old tyres. At certain corners the car understeered off power but this is probably the track surface which gave a lot of traction at that area. In a nutshell, the faster I nailed the throttle, the more it understeered, the slower I went the more the steering. This is how I like my car to handle, stable and easy to drive. The flex is now even on the left and the right, and this design has really paid off. I studied this layout against some other centralized designs by ds24, daleburr and a german guy who centralized his HB TCX , and found that they made fundamental mistake in the motor mount. In order to centralize the motor, they mounted the motor mount on the right side. This limits the flex on the right side, and also the middle belt would tweak the chassis under acceleration and braking, that's why most of these designs dont work so well.


Top view

The VBC floating servo mount, notice it overhanging from the narrow chassis.

The belts and diff had to be flipped because the servo and esc had to change sides.

at the track before testing

Just before I scratched the chassis. Look at all the screws position, notice they are completely symmetrical. This ensures the flex of the chassis is symmetrical and even.

Its always satisfying to get a great result out of one's own design. This car drives like a dream.








 

New Lipo Chassis for The Alcyon II

I decided for about a year back to have a new shorty lipo chassis designed for the Ultimate, but just only recently got off my lazy butt to design one. It was completed 2 weeks ago and i asked fibre lyte to make one for me. The design intent is to :
1. Make the chassis narrower, so that it will scrape less in hard corners. I managed to shave 9mm from each side compared to the original Alcyon II chassis, saving a total of 18mm. The chassis is 90mm at its widest part, previously it was 108mm.
2. Remove the saddle pack holes, add openings under the diffs to let accumulated dirt drop off, and add mountings for the shorty lipos with graphite bars to reduce strapping tape usage.
3.  To reduce the weight even more. On this point , i have failed, seems like this new chassis is slightly heavier than the old one. It could be becuase of the material density.

Chassis in its original packing

Chassis itself

Superimpose of new chassis over old one, notice the difference

With battery bar installed and with shorty pack in

Completed car top view

Close Up

Another close up

Under View

Front close up

Middle close up

Rear close up

The Return of the SV-10 Alcyon

Allright, i know i have been neglecting old faithful these past few years since discovering the awesomeness of the Alcyon II Ultimate. My friend OSA has resurrected his Old X Ray T1 Evo2 with a EZrun 9T brushless combo, and my friend EK is using that same combo in his standard SV-10 II. So now i joined the club with a EZrun 9T sensorless combo. Its dirt cheap, reliable and respectably fast for little money. It also is very light and balances my old Sv-10 perfectly left to right.
Did some in house testing and the drive train is super smooth as always. I can't wait to get this SV-10 in a battle against the T1. This was the car that netted me four no1. wins in cost controlled racing in 2001, and in late 2004 a first place finish in a 23T race on the rooftop of the now demolished Atria, against a field of T1 FK, barracuda R2's TB Evo II's and yokomo SD's.
tested the car a week ago, Jan 13, and found the car to be very quick and efficient, and also corners very well without losing control. It is faster and more nimble than my friends Xray T1 with front gear diff.

Clear View of the EZrun 9T sensorless ESC + Motor Combo

Rear suspension with Alcyon II limited shock tower, and Alcyon II rear hub

Front suspension with Alcyon II limited shock tower, and 5 degree alloy C hub, and Alcyon II arm.

Spur side, somehow i always like the look of the pulleys on the layshaft above the motor.

Overall View

 

Alcyon II New Layshaft pulleys

I have now installed new 17T pulleys as opposed to the original 16T pulleys. This is to bring the internal ratio down closer to today's cars. The original ratio was 36/16 = 2.25.
Now its 37/17 = 2.1764. Next time after the belts and small pulleys wear out, i will change to 18T pulleys to give a ratio of 37/18=2.0555.
For now the front and rear belt remains at S3M 519 and S3M174 respectively. Both belts are a little tighter than before especially the rear, so i removed the rear belt tensioner.
The ratio now can go lower which is better for 10.5T and higher turn motors.
I surmise i will have to add 1 tooth to the front and rear belts if i were to change to 18T layshaft pulleys.
Tested the car, and the ratio works great, no durability issues. The SV-10 II handled well again.

Rear belt, 17T Eagle Racing alloy pulley for the StreetJam OTA-R31, and front belt, 17T generic 3racing pulley with grub screw.  I had to machine step on the shaft to fit the 3racing pulleys for tightening the grub screw.

Alcyon II + TRF417 = ?

I had some problem with my front ball diff performing inconsistently this past month causing my rear end to swing upon corner entry. Rather than change the diff balls to new ones with new rings i decided to try the new school route--gear diffs. I did a lot of research and found the only car with a 36T gear diff is the Schumacher Mi4 and the Ta06. However the Mi4 diff bearing spacing is too narrow and will cause other problems. After a lot of fact finding and study i found that the TRF417 37T gear diffs can fit into the kawada bulkheads without any problems.
However becuase th pulley is 37T opposed to original 36T, the belts are now too tight. So for the rear i had to add a tooth longer. Rear belt is now S3M 174 and front belt S3M 519.
With this mod, i still use the 16T top pulleys, and the ratio is now 37/16 = 2.3125 as opposed to the original 36/16=2.25. Also, becuase the TRF417 gear diffs have very long outdrives, you have to change the dog bones from 46mm to 44mm, and use the blades that are given with the gear diff.
In the future i plan to change the top pulley to 17T. As for now the belts are a little loose but with the tensioner adusted all the slack in the belt has been taken up-mostly. Cant wait to test the car tommorow. I have placed #200,000 oil in the front diff and stuck with #900 in the rear. I feel that the #200,000 is too hard for the Kawada it feels almost like a spool. With the SV-10s good balance a #100,000 should be enough. Latest Update, i found that the #200000 oil sags rather soon, so the diff will feel softer after a while. i Changed to #300000, and the performance is much moire long lasting and consistent.

The TRF417 Gear diff at the rear. Cool Eh..white diffs 1

The front diff inside the bulkhead

New Front belt, added one tooth to the original, now its S3M 519 173T.

New Rear Belt added 1 tooth, is now S3M 174 58T, belt must be tensioned.

Rear View of the Diff, notice the new outdrive and blades, coupled to 44mm dog bones.
True TRF parts mated to the SV-10 II.

                     Well tested the car friday night, and i am glad to report it was awesome !!!
It handled like a dream and seems the #200,000 oil for the front diff was spot on. The first run i had some problems with the car feeling sluggish, i found out that the oil from the rear diff leaked out in between the diff housing, spraying #900 oil on the rear belts and all around the rear diff area. So i removed the diff and cleaned all the belts and the contaminated areas. I then refilled the diff with less oil and tighthened it up really tight. After that the car ran great without sluggishness. My SV-10 actually had more steering than before, and seem to go into corners a bit better. It also changed direction quicker but also more consistently and with a lot of traction, even with my sorex 40R's nearing tear point at the front ! Looks like the gear diff was a good choice. I will be sticking with them. Acceleration was also quick off the mark. Mid corner steering was especially good.
I gave my pal Ong to try out my car and he was amazed how locked on it felt, it was precise. He then decided he wasnt gonna use one ways at the front anymore and go for a ball diff and is now also buying a gear diff for his HB Cyclone.
Here is a tip to prevent leaking on your rear gear diff. Put a little amount of clear silicon sealant on the area where the o ring will sit on, press the o ring in. Wipe off excess silicone, and ensure there are none in the area where the o ring touches the outdrive. Let it cure for 24 hours, then build your diff. Put green slime on the area where the outdrive contacts the o ring. Dont push the outdrive in too hard or it may disclodge the o ring, if you have to use a small end of a box wrench to press against the o ring then push the outdrive in. When you spin the outdrive, the o ring should not turn. Then only will your diff be leakproof, even with #900 oil.
I wanted to stick the new TRF stickers i got from the gear diffs so i bought a new body cause my old one had a cracked wing and crack front wheel arch.

Look its a TRF sticker at the side ,its from the gear diff label which i cut off.

Front view

Close up of the TRF sticker at the front, its a 414 M2 !

What the competition will always see..

LiPo Fire in the SV-10

Last friday night..no not that katy perry song..i had a session with ONg and his HB cyclone, plus a few other yokomo BD-5 and X Ray T3.. The Kawada was running well. Unforturnately Ong's LRP Pulsar charger gave way that night. So i had to charge my batteries at higher rate to charge them quicker and then i can charge Ongs Batteries. So i charge my 4000mah shorty packs at 8A instead of 4. What was supposed to be the second last pack became the last one. On the first lap, Ongs car didnt have traction and slid and his front end hit my car hard at the side..right at the battery. There wasnt any apparent damage and we continued for a few more laps. Suddenly at one corner there were sparks from under my car, and the car kind of skidded, like some screws came off the chassis. So i stopped the car, about a second or two later, to my horror, there was heavy smoke coming from within the body shell. I quickly ran down the drivers stand to my car. The initial thought that entered my mind was a toasted motor or ESC. I quickly removed the body and saw the cause, the lipo had puffed and the chemicals in it was ignited somehow, the fire was not very big but the smoke was unbeleivable. There was nothing much i could do, and Ong brought a screwdriver to me, i proceed to push the battery out of the car with the screwdriver and then Ong took the still burning battery and therw it out of the track. The smell was horrible. The next morning i did a post mortem on the car and removed all the electronics. The fan was a goner, but everything else worked. Luckily. Also the transponder wires burned off, but by adding new connectors, it now works again. i Also cleaned off the melted residue of the lipo from the chassis, but not all of it can come off.

Burn residue on the transponder and chassis.

The fan is melted.

I still dont what is the cause, but i beleive it was the combination of charging at 2C and the hard hit on the battery. I think it should not happen again..hopefully.