Newbie needs help

fishburgr · 07-11-2009, 06:27 PM

Hi there,
Ive only just last week bought my first serious RC car. I got a Traxxas Nitro V-Tec 3.3. Now after a few teething problems Ive got this thing flying, well at least I think its flying I dont really have anything to compare it with. I am having a serious issue with braking tho.

Can someone please tell me how to adjust the brakes. Basically the car only slows down steadily. At high speed it takes a good 15 meters to stop with me applying the brakes full. Im only on the 7th tank of fuel and the brakes have never been great but so far Ive just been adjusting the little hex key thats attached to the rubber tube that pushes up against the peice of metel with the hook that I beleive is called the brake cam. With this peice of rubber pushed hard up against the hook it still only just gently applies the brakes.

I think what I need to do is make it so that when the little hook bit is pushed by the rubber hose it engages sooner. At the moment its not engaging til the hook bar is at about a 30deg angle to the main bar so it cant move far enough to pull the brakes on. I beleive if I can adjust it to engage when its at a 90deg angle to the main bar then it will work fine.

Is it possible to adjust this so it engages earlier??

I hope this is decipherable to someone as I really am a newb to this and any help would be rally appreciated.

One last thing, if I have used the car today and plan on using it tomorrow do i need to empty the tank and do the whole after run procedure? Or is that only necesary if the car is not going to be used for a few days or more.

Thanks.

towie964 · 07-11-2009, 06:57 PM

It is a good idea at the end of each days running to empty the fuel tank, run all the remaining fuel in the lines out and add after run oil to it, remove and clean the air filter, re-oil and refit, check/charge the batteries in receiver and transmitter, and give the car a general clean and inspect for any damage.
If you get into this habit from the start it will become second nature and may save you some dollars along the way, leaving unused fuel in the motor is not a good practice to get into

With your brake set up, you should set all trims to neutral, and then set your throttle and brake arms to suit, if you take a look in the manual that came with the car, it should have all the factory settings illustrated for you to compare to.

If you are still having prolems let us know.

What area are you in, maybe one of the members who lives close by you could take a quick look at it for you

towie964 · 07-11-2009, 07:08 PM

Pages 14 and 16 of your owners manual gives you some good info on the set up for your 4tec, check your transmitter bias switch also, make sure you have it set on 50/50 not 70/30, 50/50 gives you the most braking settings.

fishburgr · 07-11-2009, 07:22 PM

Hi Towie,
Thanks for your reply. I have the transmitter setup at 50/50. With my very limited experience I beleive I have the brake arms set right.

What I did was, the metal bar with the hook in it, Ive bent it to a 45deg angle and now the brakes are very strong. So is it ok to leave it like this now that it is working good? Or does this suggest what the problem may be.

I am in capalaba in the redland shire in brisbane.

Oh also does anyone know any good carparks or big smooth open areas for speed runs around brissie??

The way I got the 4-tec was because I wanted to buy a nitro car with my tax return so I jumped on ebay and knowing absolutely nothing about the cars I bought the one with the biggest motor that looked the best, a Seben street force car with a 3.0 motor. So once I bought it and realized that it was going to take 4 weeks to get to me I got itchy and went and bought this 4-tec from the local hobby store. So im gonna have the Seben here soon, does anyone know if these things are any good or have I done my dough. I cant find much about them on the web which isnt a good thing.

Thanks again for your help Towie and Im sure Ill have plenty of questions in the weeks to come.