XRAY XB8 Top secret MOD!?

Written on February 6, 2007 – 5:31 pm | by arghh x men | 576 views

I just found out this XRay XB8 brace MOD by someone nick wheelnut(rctech). But it was arghh that shown it to our rc community in Malaysia. Here i quote:

WheelNut
Tech Master
1,522 Posts Since Jan 2003

After seeing this new option part for the S204 Impreza STI. There is on that goes in the trunk and one that goes on the front lower subframe. It is basically a super stiff damper that smooths out flex movements in the chassis of the car. Supposedly makes the car easier to drive and more stable.
http://us.st11.yimg.com/us.st.yimg….5_1934_10084482

So I figured why not try this on my XB8? After all chassis flex is a tuning option that is often messed with and has a large effect on the way a car handles I think this may make a difference in the way the car feels. Many people run the XB8 with no rear chassis brace at all (Yannick for one) I think the car will be relatively safe on a normal track, for supercross tracks I’ll add the plastic brace. Since the chassis is basically a big spring after all, but there is no damping at all for it, so any oscillations go unchecked. I doubt there is much going on in the way of spring back motion, you never know since after all you can’t see that kind of detail while driving.

The damper is RC10GT shock body with a Savage shock shaft, #3 pistons and 30k oil (currently). From hand testing I’ve measured a full centimeter of travel from full compression to full extension. The shock doesnt really interfere with anything on the car besides the throttle link, which is easy enough to remedy. I will also try out some thicker oils as 30k seems a tad soft, mabye some 100k, or some #1 pistons w/30k oil.

I won’t be able to test this setup until March 1st though, so it will be a while before I can see what it does.

It was quite easy to install this as well, just drilled a hole in the rear body mount (highest point, so the damper will receive maximum travel) and flipped the centre diff brace front to rear then used the hole for the fuel filter to mount the ball stud. I also weighed this setup, its about 20g heaveir than the stock aluminum brace w/screws.

My 2 cents on this:
Its a very innovative and its really simple. I just bang my head of why i didn’t think this before. But if you think it more… there’s one think that you may want to consider before applying this. YOU HAVE TO USE THE OPTIONAL ENGINE MOUNT(for example like the X1CR “Z Brace”) WITH THE EXTRA LENGTH OF THE MOUNT. If not, when the chassis flex, compressed, the clutch bell and spur will be in trouble. but whatever it is. I still salute WheelNut for thinking of it. Cool stuff!!!