DarkSoul's new MCD Rally X

[DarkSoul Racing]

It arrived today, and I spent a good part of the afternoon starting to get it ll set up and ready to run.

The Unboxing -

The car itself with all the assorted bits and pieces that come with it, front bumper foam, throttle linkage, wing, air filter, misc. screws and such etc.-

My CC Racing Beast Engine that will be installed, along with the 3 Hitech 5755 servos-

The very beefy drive gears, all steel, very nicely made bits-

As you can see by this pic, since I am using my own billet case, and also a CY clutch housing, I had to space the gear block from the clutch housing with two washers (right side is spaced, left side is not). I seem to recall that I had to do this on my MCD's I had a while back, hopefully someone that is a little more up to date on these can chime in here on this -

Here is a shot with the servos in place, but no linkage hooked up, or anything plugged in yet. I am a real stickler for clean wiring, so this took me a while to do up.

All the electronics are installed, and all wiring is in place in the radio box. They give you a nice big radio box to work with, so there is really no problem getting everything in there. I installed a 3000mah 5 cell NiMH pack (until I order another 5000mah from DDM), a Killer RC battery monitor (the green LED strip) and as you can maybe see, there is the Tamiya plug for charging, and there is a small Rx plug for plugging in a transponder.

Last up for today is the fuel line clunk, its recommended that you replace the stock clunk with an HPI Baja clunk for better fuel pickup. So out came the rubber tank plug, and on went the new HPI clunk. That was reinstalled, and then the fuel line is routed through a few 3/8 cable hold dons to keep them safely away from hot and or sharp bits-

So that was it for today. I hope to get it up and running tomorrow, will probably give this one a very simple paint job, and then send another shell out for pro paint.

I am really liking this car so far. There have been what appear to be some nice changes to design and upgrades to certain parts of the car since I last owned an MCD, so I am very anxious to see how it drives.

I will say that I am a little weary of the steering turnbuckles, they are kind of just the wrong size for use with these servos, what I mean, is that the 5755's have the huge output teeth, so when you adjust the arm, its like 10-15º increments, so with that, I suspect that as far out as I had to open up the steering buckles, there aint a whole lot grabbing on anymore, so I think I see my first upgrade I am going to make. Its a pretty minor thing really, but that makes it an easy upgrade.

Ill report back with more.

[LOST IN MN]

Nice looking car Ted. That thing will scream with ur CC beast in there. Are you guys gonna run these on dirt mostly or tarmac?
Dang it now I want one lol!

[dpdsurf]

Looks good! You guys are killing me. I want one of these so bad.

Let me know if you want me to help break yours in like a did for badger. It's a free service I offer.

[wookiee528]

Nice Ted! Did you think the MCD was easier to work on than the Baja? I know I did, when I opened my RRv4.

[DarkSoul Racing]

Originally Posted by wookiee528

Nice Ted! Did you think the MCD was easier to work on than the Baja? I know I did, when I opened my RRv4.

Yea, it's a more open chassis, so pretty much all the parts are much more accessible. The engine comes out with just 5 bolts, and then pretty much everything is exposed, so that really nice.

Both cars of course have their pros and cons, but I have been at it with the Bajas for so long........ It's sort of cool to start messing with a new platform. I was so slammed with Baja stuff way back when I had my first MCDs that I never got to make parts for these, I am really actually looking forward to coming up with some stuff.

[socalk61000]

Nice new ride Ted

I wish there was a place to race close enough to me to justify buying one

[CraftWerks-RC]

Killer new toy Ted..... If a few locals buy into these, I'm in! ( TC, You listening?... LOL) We just need a track to run them on!

[338lapua]

whoa whoa did I hear new stuff in the future...as If anyone needs another reason to get one already..now DS is stepping in..yeah ..

Will be good to see were you take the inovations too..cant wait...

4wd rally cross action...I am telling you thats were it's at and I dont like those little cars but they look cool in 1:1 trashing them...lol

[DarkSoul Racing]

Originally Posted by socalk61000

Nice new ride Ted

I wish there was a place to race close enough to me to justify buying one

Originally Posted by CraftWerks-RC

Killer new toy Ted..... If a few locals buy into these, I'm in! ( TC, You listening?... LOL) We just need a track to run them on!

Just gotta find some big open parking lots. Also, Ill have to get the info for you guys, but there is a large scale on road club in LA, they are putting the nats on again this year, and I am sure they would add a class, or just let you run with sedans or something, I know here, we get about 15+ Bajas for the Autocross, and the sedans and F1 number about....5, so I am sure they wouldl ove to add anything.

Originally Posted by 338lapua

whoa whoa did I hear new stuff in the future...as If anyone needs another reason to get one already..now DS is stepping in..yeah ..

Will be good to see were you take the inovations too..cant wait...

4wd rally cross action...I am telling you thats were it's at and I dont like those little cars but they look cool in 1:1 trashing them...lol

Yea, I have some ideas, I don't kniow how innovative, but there is some stuff I would like to see, so I will probably start with some basic easy stuff first, may take a while, though, but I will get something going.

[highwaystar]

That Beast should push that thing pretty well. MCD has come a long way, haven't they? I still haven't ruled out getting an RRV4.

[dpdsurf]

Originally Posted by DarkSoul Racing

Yea, I have some ideas, I don't kniow how innovative, but there is some stuff I would like to see, so I will probably start with some basic easy stuff first, may take a while, though, but I will get something going.

Shock shafts might be a good easy start.

[badger]

Originally Posted by DarkSoul Racing

I will say that I am a little weary of the steering turnbuckles, they are kind of just the wrong size for use with these servos, what I mean, is that the 5755's have the huge output teeth, so when you adjust the arm, its like 10-15º increments, so with that, I suspect that as far out as I had to open up the steering buckles, there aint a whole lot grabbing on anymore, so I think I see my first upgrade I am going to make. Its a pretty minor thing really, but that makes it an easy upgrade.

I didn't have to adjust the steering turnbuckles on mine, I am using the stock Hitec aluminum servo horn's though. Instead of making the steering turnbuckles longer, why not make them shorter and adjust your sub trim if needed?

[highwaystar]

Badgers turnbuckles are all at 90 degree angles. That looks like all of the MCDs I have seen.

[highwaystar]

Originally Posted by dpdsurf

Shock shafts might be a good easy start.

Cutting down HPI shocks so you can run 6mm shafts would be a killer set up.
The off road guys would love these.

[DarkSoul Racing]

It is all done and running. Thing is awesome, was getting the drifting down in about 5-10 minutes, definitely takes a lot of attention, you even blink, hiccup, whatever, and the car spins out, but when you have a nice drift going.... awwww man, kick ass.

Ill bust out the paint tomorrow, and get the body painted up, and be running this weekend out at Rams.

[Hammerhead Racing]

The car looks great Ted, congrats!

[wookiee528]

The car looks great Ted! That can is going to make a mess all over the inside of the shell...unless you put on a tube extension. Yes, shock shafts might be in order. the dogbones are pretty robust straight away, but I am sure there are other items that could be thought of as upgrades.

[DarkSoul Racing]

Originally Posted by wookiee528

The car looks great Ted! That can is going to make a mess all over the inside of the shell...unless you put on a tube extension.

Yea, I thought I had some of that silicone tubing somewhere, but I can't find it, maybe Ill bend up some form of a rigid tube extension of some form for it for the time being.

I still need to paint it asap as well, so gotta go pick up a gallon or 2 of paint

[vito]

nice car there Ted can i get a link to see it and site that has them ty

[DarkSoul Racing]

Originally Posted by vito

nice car there Ted can i get a link to see it and site that has them ty

Sure thing-

http://www.largescalerc.com/

http://www.largescalerc.com/MCD00730...26ccMotor.aspx

And the promo video-

YouTube - ‪MCD X4 Rally Intro‬‏

YouTube - ‪MCD X4 Rally Intro‬‏