Taken for a RIDE --twice !

In 2001, Thomas Tan told me to try RIDE tyres for touring. Suffice to say it did not grip well at all. Fast forward 2012. The new RIDE re36 compound tyres are out and met a few drivers/ racers who swear by them. The new tyres are also cheaper than sorex. So i tried a set, and glued them to HUDY rims with RIDE yellow inserts. The tyres do look kinda odd in that they are thicker than sorex. I was kind of in doubt if they could grip. They also lack the shiny sticky look on them. They are also 2.5g heavier than sorex tyres.
I tried them on Kota Raja track ,and my friend Ong with his HB cyclone was using new Sorex 36r. The first run the tyres felt kinda ok. But i cant quite place like wrong with it. Firstly i couldnt catch up to Ongs car at ALL. Even though i had boost and turbo i was left far behind. Also the car seemed easier to flip in the corners. After a few minutes , every time i jab the gas coming out from a slow corner, the car's rear end spun out. It never went exactly where i wanted it to go. I thought maybe my mazda 6 body was too low so i raised it for the 2nd pack. It was the same thing again. So Ong borrowed me his tyres and he used my RIDEs. The results were stunning, now he couldnt catch up to my Kawada at ALL. he was left far behind. With the SOREX i was able to put the power down 100%. Every slow corner i punched on the gas the car shot off where i wanted it to go. No more RIDE tyres for me. Being taken for a RIDE twice is enough.
Here are some pics before i tumbled the car with the new RIDE tyres.

Running at 1400gms - Shorty Packs !

I finally got to test the shorty packs yesterday. Went up against my friends 2006 HB cyclone, who also had a 4000mah ORCA pack that was 3 years old. He had some turbo on his ORCA Vritra ESC, and my VX had zero timing. But it was obvious my new batteries gave me an advantage over him as my top speed was faster than his. However the car was twitchy , and tended to slide the rear end around if i braked hard or let go of the throttle. The funny thing is the kawada seems to be faster this way, by drifting a little bit in the turns, i was able to outcorner my pals Cyclone. However it was rather risky to drive and i would think it would be very difficult to drive when the wather is very hot. So after the pack is finished, i checked the car and found the front diff a little too smooth, the tightness seem to be same as the rear diffs. I was thinking like "shit i drove 45 km from Kuala Lumpur to klang and now i have to change springgs and setup again". I thought perhaps the springs i used were too soft and i over compensated. I decided to tighten the front diff much more, and tested with another shorty pack. The car now is on rails. Phew, no need to change springs. It felt completely locked on but i did lose a bit of steering, but its ok becuase i can place it very precisely. I was still easily hounding my pals Cyclone. I can see why the car is so good now.
1. The car now weighs 100g less than its previous 1500g weight. So now it changes directions quicker, accelerates quicker and has more top speed and uses less batteries. All thanks to the shorty packs !
I do not feel a accelration lag like before, and its up to par and even able to out accelrate my pals Cyclone !
2. The ORCA VX ESC is really better too, i guess it must given me a bit more speed. it certainly felt better than my Speed Passion GT1.1 ESC.

Afetr about 6 packs, i borrowed 1 of my new shorty packs to my friend, and he placed it in his cyclone. We ran with the same batteries, and this time he had a noticably higher top speed than my Kawada, becuase his ESC had a little turbo. However, in the corners, my  Alcyon still cornered better and i was always able to hit the Cyclone in the corners, and if the oppurtunity arises, over take it, only in the corners though. If i had my ORCA program card, and could on the turbo, then i would be able to over take the cyclone everywhere.
The shorty packs do dump earlier, but since racing is only for 5 mins, they definitely are able to power the car beyond that time limit at high speeds. So i will be sticking with shorty packs from now onwards !

Overall view of SV-10 Alcyon II Ultimate

See how narow the shorty pack is

The space between the battery and the servo is big

Receiver had to be placed next to the new ORCA VX ESC to balance the car properly. The VX is smaller and ligter (78g) than most turbo ESC on the market.

Look how narrow is the battery



Front shock Yokomo Whites from Y2000 for the MR-4TC. Shock oil 50WT, 2 hole pistons .Shock length 64.5mm. Outer most hole on shock tower.Antiroll bar medium. Notice the transponder at the front, its mounted on a 3 5g block of weights.



Rear , springs Tamiya M chassis Yellow, Oil 30WT, Piston 2 holes. Upper mount in middle hole, mounted on inner hole on arm. Antiroll bar medium.

The space between the top of the shorty pack and the top deck.

NEW ESC and shorty packs !

I received three 4000mah shorty packs from gn-fusion, a battery maker from china, for a cheap price.
I also recently bought the new ORCA VX ESC becuase my hobbywing has died for 6 months now.
Its nice to get back into boosted, however i have not tested the car or the ESC yet.
The ORCA VX ESC is very light and only 78g with wires and fan ! Thats a whopping 31g lighter than my old V2.1 ESC. When i did the wheel weights balancing, i found that the left side was too light, so i had to move the reciver to the left, right next to the ESC. Its actually possible now becuase the shorty packs free up a LOT of space on the chassis, and also the small VX ESC too. Now with everything in place (including PT), i had to add 10g to left side of the chassis on the rear next to the motor to balance out the car. The wheel weights are now as follows:
Rear wheels : 333g each
front wheels : 313g each.
That means L-R balance is  50-50, cross weight 50-50 and rear front 51.5 - 48.5. the rears are 41g heavier than the front. Total weight with body is 1396g, which is underweight. By adding 20g at the bumper, and placing the PT on top of the weights, the total weight is 1413g, and the F-R balance is 331+331=662g, front weight 326+325 = 651g. a difference of only 11g rear. I decide to add only 15g to the bumper and the total weight is now 1408g. Just nice for competition. I figured the little weight bias to the rear isnt detrimental to the car's handling. The car should eat up wayy less tyres and also accelerate faster becuase its lost 100g of weight. Becuase of that i surmise that springs must be softer to compensate for the lighter weight. i now shift the yokomo white springs to the front and use tamiya m chassis yellow springs at the rear. Only track testing will tell if this springs are too soft or not.

Met Up with a fellow Kawada Alcyon fan from Australia

Finally mety up with Mr Wang who has lived in australia for many years now. I have been in contact with him since 2006.
Met up with him at Sunway Giza on the 11th Apr - 2012 at 10.30 in the morning.

Need Belts Alcyon Fans?

So you stripped your belts for your Kawada Alcyon. Don't fret. There are current car belts that will fit.

1. Front belt - S3M 516, which means 3mm pitch 172 tooth. You can use the Yokomo BD-5 front belt which is also 516mm long. Make sure you buy the low friction version. Do not use the TRF416 front belt. Its marked 516 also, but seems like a tooth longer. The HPI RS4 Pro2 front belt is a direct fit also, if you can find one.

2. Rear belt S3M - 171 which means 3mm pitch 57 tooth. Use Sakura Zero rear belt, also 171mm. Part number SAK-12, which is low friction.

How to reduce maintenance on your Kawada Alcyon or other touring cars

Everytime you run your car especially outdoors, there is a lot of tyre dust generated and sand will also stick on  your moving parts especially the rear.
You rear ball diff will get gritty by the second or third pack, and your rear shocks will have its oil contaminated. Just have a look at your rear shocks shafts after every run. Notice all the black tyre dust sticking to it? Here are a few tips to extend our time of maintenace so that you dont have to take apart the car so often.
1. Use ceramic diff balls. Buy ACER racing ones, they are really good. The Alcyon uses 1/8" diff balls. I use schumacher diff grease as they are better than associateds.
2. Cover your diffs. Kawada makes foam covers for your ball diffs. if you can get them, buy them. I think the part number is SK-27? If you cant get them , buy some thin sticker sheets from car acccesory shops. then cut into a circle to fit on your ball diff pulley sides. a middle hole must be cut to allow the diff outdrives to go through. Now you have stopped dirt from getting into your main diff balls.
3. Get some dishwashing sponge. Cut a small block piece, and stuff it into the hole where the thrust bearings is housed. if the sponge is too big, trim it some more. Ideally it should cover the access for the thrust bearing screw. This will seal off your thrust bearings from dirt and keep your diff feeling smooth for at least 10 packs. so far i have run my car 3 packs and they are still as smooth as the day i cleaned them. Compare this when it was withouth this sponge, after 2 packs the diff is gritty.
4. Coat you shock shaft with associateds green slime. Do not place them on your o rings as this will cause your shocks to stick and jam up. When rebuilding your shocks, put very little green slime on the shcok shaft then slide them into the oring. They should move smoothly. Next put in your shock oil. Tyr moving your shock shaft again. if they are smooth, continue with the rest of the process. If not drain the oil and remove the green slime. try putting less green slime or put then only on the outside of the shock shaft, after you pushed them through the o ring.
5. Buy ceramic bearings for your car. i use ROCHE ceramic bearings that were for the Tamiya TRF416. they fit perfectly and are cheaper than other brands. They remain smooth longer and the teflon seal keeps out dirt much better than metal seal.
Just buy doing these few simple steps, you have cut down your maintenace time tremendously.

Shorty Packs a way to reduce weight

As it is My Alcyon II weighs in about 1490g with a PT and IP saddle packs. The IP Saddle packs weigh at 280g. The turnigy saddle packs weigh at 260g. I just discovered shorty packs which are 97mm long, 47mm wide and 25mm high. that means they are the same dimensions as one saddle pack except they are longer They also weigh at 200g only. Last night i did a mock up shorty pack placement on the car and checked the balance. It was enlightening, i still get good 50-50 LR balance, and the FR balance is only biased towards the rear by 31g. And the cars running weight is brought down to 1383g  even with PT at the front ! That is amazing ! The less Mah on the batts shouldnt affect performance much, but the weight decrease should help the car use up less tires and also use less turbo. I am in the process of negotiating a 3 shorty pack lipo deal and if it goes through, i will have them to test on my kawada. i will probably have to use much softer springs to compensate for the weight loss. I can actaully place some weights at the front bumper to bring the car up to legal wight of 1400g and laso bring the weight bias FR to perfectly 50-50 !