Back to BloGGing ...

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*BACK AT IT*

I'm back to blogging again with this post, since my last entry it's been a uninspiring few months and this is mainly due to the closure of our local track, prior to the closure me and the guys had talked about returning back to where rc drifting all started from, AUBURN OFFICE WORKS CARPARK, SYDNEY PARRAMATTA RD, its not the same as having a permanent track but it does allow us to to get our drift blood flowing. Lately the need for enjoyment in rc drift has once again come down to a not so FLASHY BLING chassis, the DP has always been my go-to and i'll always have one in my arsenal i've had numerous conversions in my time but the need to have a blinged out chassis has had turning point on me and i've resorted back the TUB, lesser the funds spent!! lesser the headaches!! BUT its got all the fun and enjoyment and more, but this year YOKOMO has once again stolen my heart with there recently release RWD chassis.

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*OG vs NEWBIE*

Around mid this yearish saw the release of YOKOMO's new rwd purpose drift chassis, the YD-2, if you can't see it or haven't noticed they have taken inspiration from there off-road YZ series. Released in 2 models a plastic one just like the DP tub and the PLUS which includes carbon fibre upper and lower decks and alloy dampers.

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*YD-2+*

I chose the PLUS, but at the time of receiving my package i had send my lower decks to be custom machined because as you can see it truly does look like an off-road chassis with a wide lower deck.

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*SPL MADE*

Voi-la!! ... and this was the outcome when i had my friend NGHTLURKR do some custom work for me, a skinny and NOT so wide looking lower plate.

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*FOR APPEARANCES*

The stock battery holder was super ugly so NGHTLURKR added some mounting holes for me to install the DRB short battery holder, and appearances do look great.

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*YAY or NAH*

Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder .. many love the yd2 and many dislike the yd2 or even many more drink the coolaid but for me simplicity is a thing of beauty and she stays as is at this point, performance is a little getting use to but i have yet to pull the potential from this machine, but for me so far so good.

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*LOOK*

The front end of her isn't all that ravishing to look at, an open style front bulkhead thats all plastic, a-arms, LCA's and steering system, knuckles(now alloy) are all plastic, except for some beautiful Yokomo BIG BORE alloy shocks that come with the YD-2+.

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*BACKSIDE*

This rear is probably the most interesting end of the chassis, the gear case design is familiar to that of the off-road YZ series chassis and adapted to the drift chassis, but honestly same!! same!! .. when you drive it feels quite different to that of a DP as all the gears are churning all inline with the position of the motor, an amazing feeling to what i'm used to you either way.

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*PERFORMANCE*

As i mentioned above the motor and gear box are all inline powering the rear of this machine and this thing is quick on-throttle and its a speedy little thing and the source of its speed is all in the design of this rear end gearbox, now a majority of this build is box setting but i've made some personal changes to some of these, the rear toe setting was one of them, box settings 3-3.5deg i've made it 2deg(extra toe suspension blocks needed), the changes were based off my experience with driving a few of the other guys YD-2s before i was able to complete my YD-2.

  

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*GEOMETRY*

The front end box setting undoubtably had some pretty decent lock, but again this setting had to be changed according to my liking, i did drive for awhile in box setting but it was time to fix some things, massive scrub was a problem so i added the yokomo rwd alloy knuckles and made use of the KPI and decreased the size of the stock 8mm hex hub to a 4.5 hex hub with 1.5mm spacers using 5mm offset rims this allowed the centre of the wheel to be closer to the turning axis of the knuckle therefore decreasing the scrub radius, at the moment my ackerman is looking slightly parallel with a touch of positive through the turning radius from a 0 - 1deg toe-out at centre. 

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*PRO-SQUAT*

2mm spacer was added under the rear suspension block which increases more weight to be shifted to the rear on-throttle when accelerating and decreases the rear pitching off-throttle, just another added change to the box setting.

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*POWER*

Racing Performer gear powers my machine, compared to my experiences with Sanwa and Accuvance systems the RPX series from yokomo are a winner in my books .. BOOOOST AND TURBOO .. not a problem!!