My Rex-X

Introduction

Due to the many hours put in by myself and some colleagues at work, we were rewarded with a small gift to show the companies appreciation. Well instead of mine just getting swallowed up in my current account, I thought I'd do something useful with it, so I bought myself a Thunder Tiger DT-10 Nitro powered RC car. This came with a yellow VW Beetle body that I soon discarded and replaced with a Lotus Elise shell, not such a good fit, but far less embarrassing to be seen out in! I was a little worried what my friend Steve was going to say as he is a big Elise fan, but when he saw it he said it was a MK1 so I could do what I liked to that. I soon got fed-up with this car and moved on....

This diary has the most recent entries at the top, so if you want the full story you need to start at the bottom of the page.

Easter Bank Holiday Weekend, April 2004

On Friday I went to my sister's and took the cars to a local park with my nephew Ryan. Both cars seemed to run OK, but the diff on the DT-10 is starting to give-up and it's making some horible noises. I've ordered a spare but it's not here yet. The Rex blew another glow-pug, which is a real pain! There were no local model shops so I went to Frome Model Center. They suggested I run with an R3 plug instead of the R4, since this change I haven't blown another. Here's Ryan removing the wheels so we can put the Rex back in the box.

Saturday I went on to my brothers and we went to a local wood with my other nephew George. After racing the DT-10 for about 5 min the diff finally gave up and there was no further fun to be had there. So our attention turned to the Re-X. Here's George giving his dad a driving lesson.

I also need to be more careful of stones, this one is about the size of half a house brick and was well buried, until the Rex hit it!

There are a number of ramps to try, some little ones and some a bit bigger. I was still being gentle with the Rex's engine so stuck to the smaller ones. Due to some bad driving on my part there were a number of heavy landings and some other quite spectacular crashes. Every few minutes I was checking the enigine tempertaure and as I bent down to check the temperature I noticed the body shell was badly distorted near the rear shock tower. After taking the body off I could see the damage! There has been a lot of talk about the rear diff case failures and I had even made a bracket to strengthen it, although I never new where the weakness was, well now I did! The trouble is I had only made the front bracket, which was all that was now holding the car together, if I had made the rear one as well I may have been OK. Also I noticed the rear prop was bent, perhaps I should also implement "Nightmares" braces as well.

Here is a photo of the broken gear case. You can see where the two lugs have broken off, I've laid them on top of the gear case in the photo.

2nd April 2004

Well after a lot of hassle an misunderstandings I finally received a set of bearings to fit my new Rex-X clutch. I got the car back togethe and set of to Weaver racing to have a go round their track.

Great place Waver, but I never seem to race their fo very long...

I tried the car on the track first, it was very twitchy and there seemed to be a lot of over-steer, after about 3 laps I opened it up down the main straight and spun-off at bend 1, the engine also stalled.

I tried to restart the engine but it was jammed solid, "that doesn't look good" I thought to myself. I took the car back to the pits and stripped the engine down. Sure enough the piston was stusk solid and the con-rod had broken free of the piston.

So I put all the bits back in the tool-box and brought out the DT-10 (old faithfull). I ran this round the off-road track for a while with Alex, we had a bit of a laugh over some of the jumps, but was pretty fed-up about the Rex, so after about half an hour I headed home.

28th March 2004

Well after giving ModelSport such a good write-up, they let me down today; the new clutch and bearings arrived, but the bearings didn't fit the clutch! They said they'd send some more bearings, but these didn't arrive by Saturday, so when I got a call from Gary to say they were racing this w/e, I had no Rex-X to race :-(
So I took the DT-10 instead.

At the meet there was a big mix of 1/8th, 1/10th and 1/5th buggies, monster trucks and cars. I was very impressed with the 1/5th buggies they are really awsome machines, but they still crash and when they do, they make a mess. This one did 3 cartwheels before it came to rest

This is Gary's 1/5th (old) truck (He's got a new buggy and another for sale! ) and Jeremy's 1/8th truck. Guy (?) and Sam were also there with thier 1/5th buggies, but I didn't get any pictures. Sam is about 12(?) and left the others standing, until he hit a tyre barrier and ripped off his front wheel. Great driving until then though, to rub salt into the wound, his dad went on ti win the heat! I managed 1 race but didn't complete many laps before the DT10 stalled and wouldn't restart. Great afternoon out, I can't wait till next time and by then the Rex may be back on the road:-)

23rd March 2004

Tried the car in the works car park today, with the help of my mate Tim. We tweaked the tuning a little (I think I was trying to set the tick over too slow, too much time spent with my diesel Land Rover), but it still seems to die going from high revs down to idle? Tim was more concerned with the mechanical noises! I had noticed a change in the sound it made but wasn't too worried. We took the car into the lab and stripped off the engine. It turns out the rear clutch bearing has disintegrated!

This brings me to the "spares" question. After looking round the web I came across ModelSport. Brilliant site, not all the parts have pictures and some pictures are a little poor, but I ordered 10 parts (drive shafts, clutch pads, wheel nuts etc) and 5 of them were on my desk 2 days later, fantastic! I phoned them about the clutch bearing and was told they had sold a few, but there was a new clutch bell with bigger more reliable bearings, so I bought that and they said it would go out 1st class mail today, so I should be up and running by the w/e.

My local model shop is still waiting for a delivery from J.Perkins, it's now 3 weeks for a bumper and 2wks for a CVD repair kit :-(

Buggy racing at my nearest club was abandoned on Saturday due to rain, (I couldn't go as I was recording a CD www.brixhamtownband.co.uk) so they may race next weekend . . .

14th March 2004

I've been buggy bashing at a couple of local spots, lots of fun My daughter took some video with my digital camera (video on this camera is not high quality), when I move the website I may put some clips up.

7th March 2004

I drove up to Culumpton today to visit Weaver racing as they had a 1/8th buggy event advertised. When I got there no one had turned up. Fortunately, I'd taken the Rex so I decided to give it a spin.

I started off by having a quick bash around an open field next to the track. Still couldn't get the tuning right but fortunately I met a guy who could help. Once tuned up we were off, but after about 10 minutes and a few big jumps the Rex just sat there, engine revving, but no drive. A closer inspection revealed a broken pin in the front drive shaft, so that was the end of my playtime.

They've got a 1st class setup there, just a shame it takes an hour to get there :-(

Ordered a "CVD repair kit" from my local model shop, but it will be a while before it arrives. I still haven't got the bumper yet!

The pin looks like Silver Steel and is 2.5mm dia. We had some 2.36mm in stock at work, so I cut-off 14mm and made my own pin. Seems to be OK.

4th March 2004

WI've been looking round for something to carry the car in instead of the cardboard box! It's not just the car, there are wheels, radio, fuel, tools etc. Whhile in my local DIY stor I came across a large toolbox with wheels and a handle. The Rex won't go in directly but if you remove the wheels it will fit in snuggly at a 45deg angle and there is room for all the other bits :-)

This weekend I may got to a local race, well it's about 45min away. There is a 1/8th off-road race at www.werace.co.uk, I dont think I'll get there in time to register as I'll be at church but it will be interesting to see what goes on.

3rd March 2004

Today Tim and I ran both cars in the work's car park over lunch, it was very wet and the cars slid all over the place. It was difficult to use much more than half throttle without loosing control.

In the end I did loose it, Big Time! I hit the kurb around the edge of the carpark, I was trying to brake but the car just kept going. As I hit the kurb something went flying in the air. I closer inspection showed that it was the front bumper. When the car stopped the exhaust didn't and pulled itself away from the down-pipe. The exhaust was easy to fit, but I'll have to wait a week to get a new bumper.

I found a great site for spares www.jperkinsdistribution.co.uk (goto "Spare parts->Car spare - GV"), but they only sell to local shops, so that adds another few days to the order time. Where can you get Rex-X mail order, in a couple of days?

1st March 2004

Went in to AMC today and bought two new rear road tyres for the DT-10 (this new hobby is getting expensive).

While I was there Wym checked out the Rex, the glow plug provided was the correct one, I was just being too much of a 'woose' screwing it in! He started it and had a fiddle with the mixture and it now runs fine. Ithink it was running a bit lean which is why the glow plug burnt out and it was difficult to start.

29th February 2004

After church today we took the Rex out into the car-park for a little play, but it wouldn't start? The glow plug was OK, but it just would not start?

I packed up and went home, after a little fiddling it bust into life, but what had I done?

I had decided to go with some friends to a local beach car-park to have a run, so Loaded the car and off I went. The Rex started OK and off I went, but it stalled quite quickly. It did this several times but then it was away (perhaps it had not warmed up?). I managed a couple of jumps up a mud bank which I was quite pleased with, especially with my ability to steer it straight enough to hit the ramp! But then it died. It took some time to get going and then after a short run died again? I started again and away we went.

Just as I was getting going again, a rather official looking man started to walk towards me :-( He informed me there was a local 'by-law' prohibiting the use of any radio controlled cars in this car-park :-((

By this time I had been joined by a friend and we decided to go back to the works car park, it's a bit small but at least I could race. Again the Rex was difficult to start and died soon after driving off. It did this several times before it settled down and I had quite a long run. Finally it stalled again and this time I noticed the air filter had come off. I took it back to the car and refitted the air-filter but now the car wouldn't start. I tried for several minutes but it was no good, finally I took the glow-plug out and it had blow. I had bought a spare but when I tried to fit it, it felt as if it was going to cross-thread, so rather than mess it up I decided to take it home.

While all this was going on a friend of mine was racing the T-10, after a couple of bumps, it ended upside down and I noticed something on the rear wheel. On closer inspection I noticed it was the foam sticking out of the tyre! Well that's what you get for running off-road tyres and the road, now I need to buy some new tyres and a couple of wheels.

After getting home I took the head off the Rex to check the glow-plug thread, all seemed OK and the old plug went in without a problem, Phewww! But the new plug wouldn't fit, the thread pitch seemed OK, but it just would not go in. Back to AMC on Monday!

AMC is a great place, it's a tiny shop (you can only really get 2 customers and 2 staff in there), but it is PACKED with planes, boats, cars and rockets. Also there are Scalextric and Die-cast bits everywhere. It's the sort of place you'd want to go when you die (if there wasn't a heaven). If I was still in my first childhood it's where I'd want my dad to take me EVERY week, fortunately I'm in my second childhood and I don't need my dad to take me :-)

One other mod I did when I first got the car was to cut away the body shell to allow access to the pull-cord. I lined the edge with a piece of old fuel hose as I had caught myself on the body of the T-10 previously. I hasten to add the fuel hose was not my idea, but I read it on a website somewhere, it may have been Graham's?

28th February 2004

Spent most of the day tiling the kitchen and helping some friends move house, but had about half and hour free at 5:00 so I took the Rex to the firms car-park. Things went really well, although I do seem to have trouble picking up fuel when the tank is about 2/3 empty?

I've now used 2 tanks of fuel so started to open her up a little, WOW! I had been warned that the wheel nuts could come un-done and thought I'd tightened them, but after a few circuits one of the rear nuts came undone. Fortunately I found it again and put the wheel back on. I checked the other nuts and two were loose.

Just then the security guard arrived to see what was going on, I didn't have my works pass, so he was not too happy. After that I couldn't get the car started again, but thinking it was a dead battery in the starter I went home.

27th February 2004

Today I took both cars into work to run in the half-empty car-park at lunch time. The Rex ran really well and I was very impressed with the turning circle and handling compared to the T-10. I ran round the car-park for about half an hour being chased by my mate Tim in the DT-10, not much of a contest really as I was still running in the Rex, it was on off-road tyres and they had not been glued!

I went over to AMC after work to get some road tyres and I hope to run it tomorrow, although I have promised to help a friend move so I may not get to run it till Sunday.

There are no clubs locally, although a few guys have an informal get together which I was going to go to, but the next race day is the 20th March and the Band is recording a CD that weekend so I shall miss the last race of the winter season :-(

26th February 2004

Well it wasn't long before I got bored of the DT-10 and I wanted something a little faster and better off-road. I had a look round the net and visited my local model shop, Action Model Centre, they suggested an Enigma GS or a GV Rex-X.

Another look on the web provided two great sites one by Stephen (Nightmare) and the other by Graham, both are well worth a read and I suggest you go there and have a look round. After visiting these to sites and looking at some of Nightmare's video clips I was sold! Rex-X it was to be.

I agreed with AMC to pick my Rex-X up on Friday, but by Thursday I could wait no longer and I went down to pick it up. I bought a 40 MHz radio set, high-powered servos and Fail-safe unit at the same time. That night I got home and spent from 5:30 till 10:30 working on the car.

As you may have guessed from the dining room table, I'm not married so can make as much mess as I like (until my daughters start on at me).

By the end of that night 27th Feb. 2004, The car was ready to run, it started after about 4 pulls, which was quite impressive. I let it idle for about 15 min before shutting it down. I wasn't sure how long the neighbours would put up with the noise!

After reading Stephen and Graham's site I did implement Nightmare's front tower mod, I'll put a link to Steve's site soon, but this mod protects the shock tower when the car skids along the road upside down. I guessed this would be a good mod for me as my driving is still a little shaky. Thanks to Paul in our IT department for the "raw materials".