It's been a while...

[breetie]

So...I've been away a while. Not necessarily for any reason other than Life getting in the way. But anyway, a couple years ago I bought a 1/5 scale FG Sportline...not sure of the vintage on it, but it wasn't the newest one, for sure. I spent some time replacing the old-and-busted on it, and it turned into a 'Comportline'. Now, another couple years later, and now it's...well, now I don't know what to call it:













It has a fair number of upgrades...the latest additions were the Lauterbacher 4-chamber pipe and the new tires/rims. I have some unknown brand of hydraulic brakes on the front, I bought them for a fair price but I can't be certain if they will do the job. I bought two sets, but the rear set doesn't fit the hubs I have in the rear for some reason. From what I understand, they're designed for the MT, thought they'd fit...

But no. Only the front fit. The rear still has the tuning cable brakes. I want the Mecatech double-piston sets, but I feel I'm being raped at ~$400 set. I just can't give them that much money, even if they're nice.

Anyway, the car has various parts, mostly from older Evo cars (Evo 03, 04), so it's a mish-mash of various cars all combined into...whatever it is. A 'Comportvo 030407'? I've completely dismantled this car about four times in that three-to-four-year time frame, I'll find some nifty little part on eBay, and then I gotta tear it down again to put the new part in, and well, since it's apart I might as well clean it so might as well completely tear it down...

Yeah, it's like that. This was the fourth teardown. I just finished putting her back together, I need a front bumper set, another body, and that carbon-fiber intake I saw on fgsupply.com didn't look too shabby...

I think I'm going with the McLaren F1 body this time around, but I'm worried the Lauterbacher pipe won't fit inside. Anyone have experience with these pipes? Before I had the FG competition pipe on it, which laid pretty low on the chassis. Also, the Mecatech shocks were probably the best investment I purchased...they are amazing. I recommend them to anyone willing to spend the money. I'll update with more pics once I decide what to do about my hydraulic brakes...do I leave them as-is, and go with the half-n'-half set up, or do I find a set that works for front and rear?

 

[renbar]

very nice mate good to see another comp/spec pre evo im in the same boat mate and don't really know what to call mine either

as for the f1 maclaren shell cant see it fitting with the pipe and if you go with the carbon filter set up its never going to fit it will only just fit with the filter you have we just had the same issue with my mates evo 8 maclaren

heres the brake you have cant see why the rears don't fit though wagons evo came with a set of these and although he never used them they did fit his car all round

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FG-BAJA-M...sGames_RadioControlled_JN&hash=item3380af4efa

 

[atom3624]

I used that pipe with my Macca shell.
I DID have to cut the outlet/manifold down a bit from the motor, but IT DOES FIT - JUST.

Al.

 

[breetie]

very nice mate good to see another comp/spec pre evo im in the same boat mate and don't really know what to call mine either

as for the f1 maclaren shell cant see it fitting with the pipe and if you go with the carbon filter set up its never going to fit it will only just fit with the filter you have we just had the same issue with my mates evo 8 maclaren

heres the brake you have cant see why the rears don't fit though wagons evo came with a set of these and although he never used them they did fit his car all round

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FG-BAJA-M...sGames_RadioControlled_JN&hash=item3380af4efa

Yeah, those are them. The calipers in the rear don't sit right, the angle is wrong and the caliper hits the inside of the wheel when it's mounted. I considered grinding down the caliper mating surface but that won't work with how much material needs to be milled off them to make them work. The front fit great, I had no issues with them there.

The only thing I can think of is that the rear hubs are different somehow. Perhaps they're hubs made only to fit the cable brakes? I've considered buying an alternate set of rear hubs to see if that fixes it, but I can't be sure which ones would be correct.

 

[breetie]

I used that pipe with my Macca shell.
I DID have to cut the outlet/manifold down a bit from the motor, but IT DOES FIT - JUST.

Al.

Macca? Sorry, I'm not familiar with that term...is that short for McLaren? When you say you had to cut the manifold down, you mean you shortened it?

 

[renbar]

to be honest them brakes look ok but ok don't stop a 10+kg £1-2000 fg doing 45-55 mph which was the main reason my mate wagon never used the ones that came with the evo 8

he soon changed them for mecatech ones which are just great,,i agree the cost of the double piston ones is just crazy the single piston ones are bad enough but are so much better than cables and still look the part

 

[breetie]

I have these on my car now:

http://rc-car-online.de/shop/en/pro...loy-upright-for-1:5-and-1:6-models-2pcs-.html

These seem to be what is used on some other cars and the off-road models:

http://rc-car-online.de/shop/en/products/y6479-ht-rear-alloy-uprights-y6479-set.html

Does anyone know if there are differences between these as far as where the calipers mount? They look identical in the brake caliper seat. I can't imagine they'd be different, but does anyone have any information about it? After looking at these hydraulic brakes in the eBay listings, it appears that they are designed for the FG MT and Marder, they make no mention of the onroads.

 

[renbar]

im using the top rear hubs on mine and im 90% sure that the evo 8 of wagons is using them as well so don't under stand why they wont fit

they do make a taller version to use with ball drive so the rubber boots fit but i thought they were more for marders

whats catching is it the caliper or the hydro fitting i know with mine the calipers very close and does touch the wheel were the wheel flexes in use

 

[breetie]

im using the top rear hubs on mine and im 90% sure that the evo 8 of wagons is using them as well so don't under stand why they wont fit

they do make a taller version to use with ball drive so the rubber boots fit but i thought they were more for marders

whats catching is it the caliper or the hydro fitting i know with mine the calipers very close and does touch the wheel were the wheel flexes in use

The caliper itself hits the inside of the wheel. The calipers seem taller than normal, because the disk size is much larger than the disks that come with the cable brakes or even the Collari-style hydraulic brakes.

This is an older car, most of it is circa Evo/Competition 04. The hubs came with the original Sportline I purchased several years ago, so I suppose it is possible they may have some differences that have since disappeared with the current generation of parts. At any rate, I'm looking at buying a set of hydraulic brakes, just not sure where yet...

Hobbythek has both the "Expert" Mecatech set on sale (139.90 Euro) and the Mecatech double-piston (249.90 Euro). That's still a lot of money, no way I could buy two sets right now. Why the hell are they so expensive, just because?

Anyway, I know Lauterbacher sells a double-piston set for the FG, they are also 245.00 Euro. I heard on another forum, that the RS5 hydraulic brakes are the best there is, and they're the same price. Anyone have experience with RS5 hydraulic brakes, are they that good and any issues fitting them to FG hubs?

 

[breetie]

Okay, so I decided that I wanted a more positive brake solution for my rig. The front off-brand/knock-off hydraulic brakes in the front might have been fine, but I'm picky about my car and I don't like having different brands/types on the car. Besides, it'll make it that much harder to tune.

So I found two sets of Genius brakes (I think they came off an XR) on eBay...not perfect shape, but good enough they could be re-purposed.



The rotors that came with the brakes were not the right ones for one set of them, so I bought disks from the Mecatech kits which are a perfect fit.





One of the calipers had a fitting that wouldn't seal properly, so I had to replace it. As mentioned earlier, the disks that came with them were okay, but two of them were the wrong type/size, so I went ahead and replaced all four with the Mecatech rotors. I have to do a fuel cell conversion on the car to the later-model design, since the tank that's on the car prevents me from mounting the master cylinders in the right place. Also, the car sits low...or seems to. Does anyone else think it sits too low?



Admittedly, the Mecatech shocks are not designed for this particular car, they're meant for the late-model EVOs and their FW 01. It seems stiff enough, but I am curious as to how low it seems to sit at rest. Where do you guys have your ride height at?



If any of you have any suggestions for it, let me know. In addition, I now have a complete EVO '04 rear-end, most of it fits right but I've had to make adjustments. Anyone have experience with the Genius hydraulic brakes? Everything I've read say they're as good as the Mecatech twin-piston, but if any of you have experience with them please feel free to chime in..

 

[atom3624]

Macca? Sorry, I'm not familiar with that term...is that short for McLaren? When you say you had to cut the manifold down, you mean you shortened it?

Sorry, missed this one.
'Macca' = McLaren - yes.
I shortened the outlet pipe / manifold from the motor to get the pipe to fit. Not much. Just enough to have free air and not be touching.
Al.

 

[renbar]

dude I love this car looks great but the underside of the chassis is far to clean lol mines trashed

how do you rate the mecatech big bores ive just fitted a set to mine and the quality is just spot on there so easy to fill and feel much better than the fg one's damping wise and I noticed how low yours is sitting its soon going to mark your chassis if you run it that low I see that you can get a bit more by adjusting the threaded spring adjusters,,,

ive fitted the blue 2.6mm spring on the rear and red 2.7's on the front and it sits just right

have you looked into fitting the evo gear carrier honestly one of my best mods was this so much smoother than the old set up it just runs so much better plus its a cheap mod if you out the engine mount and gear carrier you've got its nearly a free upgrade