so get this everyone. despite how much i loved my carbon fiber chassis i knew that it had to do with why my RC8T wasnt jumping right. so i took some 1/8" alum 7075 plate and made another chassis with the exact same layout. this time i put the kickup in the front. i didnt change any settings whatsoever on the truck at all. as expected the truck jumps amaxing now. no more nose dives. it handles the same as the CF chassis but jumps much better. also, the truck is a lot louder now with the alum chassis. i have some theories about the resulting changes though.
so first, i dont think that it jumps better now because of the kickup. i think it jumps better due to chassis flex. when i had the 5mm cf chassis off i tried to bend it. the thing will not even bend 1mm when trying to break it over my knee. the 3mm 7075 alum however i can bend with my hands at least 5-7mm of flex. i think this is what makes all the difference. because there is no flex in the cf chassis the rear wheels are launched harder up when coming off the jump. the flex of the alum tends to absorb some of this force resulting in a more balanced flight. i think if i had gone with a 3mm cf it would have some flex to it and work out better. may try that down the road.
secondly, why is the alum more noisy? i had never thought about it before but obviously the entire chassis of the truck vibrates when running. hence why we use threadlock. this vibration is audible. the 5mm cf has a much greater sound dampening quality over any kind of metal. you guys should have heard it. it was the coolest sounding truggy you have ever heard. it was like a silent 60mph stealth. the alum chassis now just sounds like any other truggy i have driven. kinda disappointing but it is more important that it jumps right. anyway, the alum chassis is not realy pretty. just a temporary until Mikes RC8T conversion kit gets here. i bought it a few days. so i will use that chassis when it arrives. cant wait.
sucks that i spent all that time and money on that 5mm cf chassis only for it to not work as well as i had hoped. i thought about getting 3 or 4mm but i didnt want to take any chances of the chassis breaking on a huge jump. seeing the quality of the cf from dagraphite now i know that it would not break. in fact, i am more concerned that even if i went with 3mm there would still not be enough flex for it to perform right. they make some super strong carbon.
i should have the new RCM RC8T kit tomorrow and i will be sure to post the build when finished.