MCD owners, need some input

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DarkSoul

DarkSoul

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77
Location
San Jose, CA
So we have been throwing around the idea of making a few MCD parts since it would appear that there really is not a whole lot out there in the way of aftermarket pieces, or at least very limited.

What would you the owners like to see? I have a Baja 1000 on the way and will be beating it up, I am sure I will find a bunch of stuff to make, but as I said, I would like to see what you guys that have been using them for a while want.
 
If you guys arent familiar with DarkSoul hes serious about his parts. They produce some of the finest quality Baja parts on the market. With a full machine shop and a top mechanical engineer at their disposal they don't just copy parts, they engineer them to out preform the factory parts.

Toss out your ideas Ted listens and learns from other users as to what they want and how they want it. You guys are lucky that a company like DarkSoul has taken an interest in your platform.
 
This is indeed exciting news! MCD's are very well engineered which is not so good for the aftermarket but no doubt there are heaps of potential ideas which just need to be thought of:)
Maybe a DS front bumper to suit MCD.
 
I agree, this is excellent news.

Apart from an alloy gear carrier plate, centre diff holder and alloy servo tray from MCD, the only MCD bling options available at the moment are made by King Cobra Racing: http://www.kingcobra.co.uk/news/products.php?category=Bling&sub=MCD

One popular (actually essential) upgrade is the alloy gear plate - it not only helps with engine cooling but also frees up the transmission. To be honest this is probably the only upgrade that is installed on the cars being raced here in europe. The bling options are only seen on the Monster Trucks.

I would like to see a lightweight CNC chassis, alloy upper/lower gearbox cases, alloy servo tray, steel transmission gears (replacing the poorly moulded plastic ones) and a bling upper shock mount for the long-travel suspension on the Race Runner.

Clive
 
Cheers DS. So glad to hear your interested jumping on board. As you say the after market scene is pretty thin for us MCD owners.

My top recommendations would be.

1. A decent bumper. The stock alloy piece just doesn't cut it im afraid (even the new plastic one on the latest Evo3 models looks like a POS) It does bugger all in terms of absorbing an impact and is too small to protect the arms. That said im not sure I would want a steel replacement either as metal bumpers are not allowed in in competitive racing and would only absorb 1 impact before having to be bent back where as one made from flexible plastic would withstand multiple impacts and would also be race legal. Remember there are a lot of people who buy MCD's to race and not just bash so anything that could cater for the two groups would be ideal.

2. Carbon Radio, brake and front brace plate's. Everyone knows the stock plastic one has way too much flex and there are already a few alloy ones on the market so why not one made from carbon fiber?

3. Alloy transmission plate. Although there are already a few manufactures producing these I still think theres room in the market for one more especially if you could put a DarkSoul twist to the design.

4. How about a lightened DS race chassis? No one has touched the chassis market yet and seeing that its a fair slab of alloy I reckon you could make a nice lightweight version to help trim some of the fat from these vehicles.

5. While on the theme of lightening maybe think about some alloy wheel, brake and transmission hexes as these weigh a ton and I think replacing them with alloy equivalents would shed nearly as much weight as a full titanium bolt upgrade at a fraction of the price not to mention reducing rotational mass.

6. Upgraded "U" roll bar. I have busted one and bent another two. They are made from some of the thinnest walled alloy tubing I have ever seen and just don't hold up to repeated roof landings.

6. And last but not least some of your new shocks. Although these don't bend like the Bajas I just don't like the design of them so would welcome some of your hardcore versions.

Anyway thats all i can think of right now but will let you know if anything else pops into my head.

[runs away like an excited schoolgirl knowing DarkSoul might be making some cool parts for our MCD's]
 
Anything from Dark Soul would be sweet. Some of the piggy back shocks please! Once you get your Baja, just try and find any way to make it lighter. Maybe even longer suspension arms than the evo 2 and 3 to get a long travel setup with the DS shocks so you might actually be able to jump this thing like a HPI Baja with out it breaking. Light weight cnc alloy transmission brace, titanium driveshafts, anything from carbon fiber, cnc diff gear boxes, lightened cnc chassis and anything else you can come up with.
 
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I would like to see some updates for the rally car too.
I would like to see hub front and rear in alloy with mounts to fit disk brakes.
I would like to see some cheaper shocks, becouse 50€ for one shock is way too much.

The best thing to do is make all parts in alloy/carbon, and add some small things that are missing,and other manufactures have on their cars.
 
I thought you guys where having rose joint problems? Is that something that could be upgraded? I know my Fg's get sloppy being plastic - Actually just changed them out.
 
In all honesty, I am unsure if I got the Evo 2 or 3, I assume the 2, but it will be here Friday. I believe, and correct me if I am wrong, that the Evo 3 no longer uses the rose joints, and switched to hinge pins, is this correct?

As for the rest of the suggestions, I will definitely look closely at all this stuff as soon as mine comes in. The transmission blocks, and shock towers are probably what I will really look at first as well as maybe some light weight aluminum arms and the see what the potential of a long travel kit would entail. Bumpers I will have to take a look at, I have an idea for that, I will need to make a call and or two on that, but I am thinking Kydex for that, its a pretty tough plastic, and can be hea formed to an extent once the design is done.

Thanks for all the help you guys, any other recommendations are of course welcome, and I will announce here first when we start cutting.

Ted
 
doggy said:
Will you be able to ship worldwide?Are prices going to be cheaper than kingcobras?
Click to expand...

We will definitely ship worldwide, but I would assume there will be some dealers that may want to carry the product in certain global areas.

As for price, that is hard to say since we have really just started to look into this stuff. One advantage is that since the Euro and the BPS is so much stronger than the US dollar, I think you guys will see some savings there, but a huge factor is what sort of quantity we produce in, and what the industry will support quantity wise.

If the demand is there, we will keep making parts, and do it on a decent size volume, if not, then we will have to do it in smaller batches, and unfortunately that will effect the price.

We have the RCX tradeshow coming up in 2 months, although we will be working on some items in the interim, I would not look for anything to be available until after the show.

Ted
 
Bigger the Better said:
I thought you guys where having rose joint problems? Is that something that could be upgraded? I know my Fg's get sloppy being plastic - Actually just changed them out.
Click to expand...

That is correct but I specifically left that out due to the fact the latest Evo3 cars no longer use them to attach the arms to the chassis. If DS was going to dip a toe into the MCD market then it would be better to release a part that anyone could potentially use irrespective of the model.

BTW, im liking the sound of that Kydex bumper :cool2:
 
Correct, the Evo III cars no longer use rose joints. It is awesome that you would consider a long travel kit because I think it would turn these cars into the ultimate 1/5-1/6 scale RC imo. Thank you for helping out the MCD owners, maybe if there is good aftermarket products they will catch on here in the states.
 
I agree, until another company, be it HPI, Associated, Losi, whomever comes out with a solid 4wd chassis, I think MCD's will be the way to go. Troy over at largescalerc has been immensely helpful, and it appears that they are doing their best to get these cars in and the word out that they are a good alternative to whats available here in the US.

I just cannot see myself working on the FG's, they just seem to be very much behind the times in the 4wd arena, and the Elcon Cleon, holy crap, talk about expensive. I think that the MCDs will be the way to go for a while. I think the key is to get people educated on MCD's, people will balk at the price, $1800 RTR, but I easily sunk twice that into a Baja without even blinking, and my Baja isn't nearly as pimped out as most.

Thanks to all those that have hasd some feedback on this, It is an immense help.

Ted
 
I know if you made some badazz parts for the Baja 1000 and posted it in the Hpi Baja forums built up it would attract a lot of intrest to these vehicles and should produce some sales. IMO the MCD's are far more advanced than other cars in many aspects - shaft driven AWD, the weight is near 50:50, three diffs, just to point out some of them. I think it would be cool if the cars could take a little bit more of a beating suspension wise like the HPI. I like to really drive my cars not drive on the flatland with some mini jumps and berms. Look what real trophy trucks can do. I don't know if you have posted this at themadbaja.com but that could help to get more intrest in aftermarket products. Here is the link.

http://www.themadbaja.com
 
I agree, as soon as I have the 1000 I will most likely start posting up over there under my own forum sub header, and I think you are right, it will atract some more folks.


I think I am going to order an Evo 3 race runner when they become available here in the states as well, and see what I can do with it, I know they are pretty darn close to the 1000 chassis, but there are always little things to do.
 
Can't wait to see what you come up with! I think it would be a wise decision to base the parts of the Evo III. It seems like Largescalerc gets the new models in fairly quickly so it shouldn't be long. Hopefully I can have billet long travel suspension on my MCD someday.:cool2::cool2::cool2:
 
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