SH Z-Car ZMXB-8 1/8 Buggy - Perfect for conversion?

[Shark413]

Here is my Z-car and I also got a box full of spare parts.

[Cain]

is it being discontinued at hobbypeople?

[Cain]

dumb question, but when you moved the chassis brace, did you need to drill a new location or just use different holes, and, could you use the stock chassis brace or did you need to use a tubed brace?

[MetalMan]

Originally Posted by Shark413

Here is my Z-car and I also got a box full of spare parts.

You won't be needing them. I have not broken a single part on mine, aside from two bent shock shafts and a front CVD shaft is slightly bent.

Originally Posted by Cain

is it being discontinued at hobbypeople?

nope not being discontinued. no one ever bought them at $360 or $460

[Cain]

ok. Very tempted. Does this vehicle try to centralize the engine like the eight and other cars? curious how the battery pack placement would go.

[MetalMan]

This buggy does centralize the engine, by tilting it inwards. Thus the rear brake has to be mounted on the rear diff.

Battery placement is cake with this buggy.

[MrZ]

As per your question CAIN, my connections tall me that the Z-car is not going to be discontinued, only that they are trying to get rid of some of there old 2008 stock and by getting more Z-cars out there, people will be apt to buy parts from them. Which I might add, they carry a large number of parts that they H.P. doesn't want to get stuck with. The Z-car has been proven to be an excellent buggy and this has been proven time after time on the track. What the retailers are suffered from is the result of poor advertisement, someone definitely dropped the ball on this one, which resulted in poor sales. So what does H.P. do, they drop it to $199 again. That has to be a red flag as to their marketing strategy.I would keep an eye out with H.P. more then likely parts might be the next thing to drop.

[Shark413]

Originally Posted by Cain

dumb question, but when you moved the chassis brace, did you need to drill a new location or just use different holes, and, could you use the stock chassis brace or did you need to use a tubed brace?

Cain, I had to move the chassis brace over because I needed more room for my TeknoNeu 1515 brushless motor. I could not move it over enough to use the smaller pinions, it would hit the chassis brace. To move the brace you need to cut a small slot on the bulkhead brace for the top mount. I used the tubular Kyosho rear buggy brace because it lined up with the existing hole in the chassis. The stock brace when moved over did not line up with any of the existing holes. If your going nitro you want to leave the stock brace where it is.

[SeanZ0r]

dyed those ugly stock yellow wheels and wing to black for 1.39$ thank you Rid dye
(disregard crappy glue job, and writing on tires)

[Trike]

Just an update. I ended up picking up some associated brown (stiff) springs and used ofna spring retainers to hold them in. The stock upper retainer fits the springs fine, and the ofna ballend retainer fit the stock ballend fine. The buggy is alot stiffer and does handle alot better. I filled the front with 50wt and rear with 40wt. I haven't gotten my body painted yet, but I took it out and did some very small jumps on a 1080 ramp into some grass. The buggy does jump really nice and feels like it has alot of control in-flight.

I managed to flip it couple times, scuffed up the front shocks and wing a bit, but nothing broke. Popping wheelies is definitely cool, but i'll probably be tuning the ESC a bit to tone it down. I'm not going to play with it hard until I get the body on. I don't want to break any of the electronics, if I flip it.

How do you guys land huge jumps with buggy's? I want to hit the jumps at a faster speed to get more air, but I'm afraid of bottoming out and banging up the chassis.

I found a small indoor track near my work, I'm going to see If I can race it there.

[SeanZ0r]

thats some nice info there trike about those springs...I need to get a stiffer pair myself as well. I got an email back about those one springs that look like the Z-car ones that are flared in the center that A main sells, these ones http://www.amainhobbies.com/product_...ducts_id/12695 and the dimensions are Inner diameter is 17mm both top and bottom, front and back. They are 71mm long (front) - 90mm long ( rear) Can anyone confirm these dimensions might work? Ill be checking my buggy tomorrow.

[Trike]

I forgot to take some pics comparing them, I'll to get some later. but here's what they look like on the buggy.

[Shark413]

Early I mentioned that the shock valve on the stock Z-Car didn't look very effective, because it had holes in it. I have been using shock valves in my Kyosho and Revo PE for a while and decided to mod the Z-Car shocks to incorparate a true valve. I took some Traxxas variable damping valves and added them to the stock Z-Car shocks. The Traxxas valves are solid and block most of the oil flow for true valve action. The small screw used for the stock valve keeps the valve flap from rotating away from the holes. I had to drill out the uncovered hole to adjust the main flow rate (since the two other holes are now covered I needed to increase the main flow) I started by drilling it to 2mm. I can now definetly feel the valve action on the rebound stroke. I like to have more compression damping, and a faster rebound damping, with no valve the damping is basically the same both ways, with a true valve you can adjust the compression damping to suit your needs. As soon as I can find some stiffer springs I will test it out on the track.


Stock Z-Car shock pistons with Traxxas variable valve added. You can see the stock Z-Car valve with holes in it.


Valve, stop screw and a new 2mm hole.




Hard to see but I am checking the valve action with a small pin. Valve open.


Valve closed.

Have 1 of these. Don't plan on using mech brakes so i didn't install them will that be a problem seeing that u installed them, although i see ur not using them. (no brake servo or linkage)