A800X ProBuild Tips

Removing play in LA arms and P03

Awesomatix Setup Procedure

1. Set your ride height with your tires on the car, to make sure the chassis is at the correct level for when you will be adjusting the wheel alignment.
2. Remove the wheels and ensure the chassis is flat by placing the car directly onto a flat board. Undo the topdeck and use RC MAKER Tweak Stick to pin down the bulkheads whilst re-tightening the topdeck
3. Check your droop on droop blocks and ensure each corner is set correctly (I do this with the dampers attached)
4. Remove droop blocks from underneath the car and attach a setup station, along with your choice of caster gauges. Our new RC MAKER Digital Caster Gauge is a really cool and accurate way of adjusting your caster whilst on the setup station. The old “pointer” method also does the job, so install them on whatever end of the car you will be working on first. Make sure you have a battery installed in your car from here on in, this will effect your results massively!
5. I generally start with the rear. First of all adjust your camber and caster so that you achieve your desired camber and caster. Some people like to set caster first and then turn both turnbuckles the same way and by the same amount to do camber. Personally I do it all at once, but this can take a bit of practise. To keep it simple, set caster first, and then camber by adjusting both turnbuckles the same is a fool proof way of doing it.
6. Once you have set your camber and caster on the rear, you can set your rear toe. DO NOT set rear toe until camber and caster are perfect. Rear toe is often set at ride height, but you can also set rear toe under compression or “gain”. This is personal preference, and also depends on what shims you are using under ART link if you want to try this method. When setting your rear toe, it is a cool idea to compress the suspension and monitor the toe change as the suspension compresses. This is your “Active Rear Toe” at work, which can be adjusted via the shims under the outer pivot of the toe link. Less shims here = greater toe increase, more shims = lesser toe increase.
7. Repeat the same procedure for the front, however I like to set toe out differently to most people. Instead of setting toe, I actually set the amount of degrees lock I want left and right. Turn your wheels one way and you can slide the gauge to check the lock angle on inside and outside. Match these the same both sides by adjusting the inner wheel turnbuckle. You should also try to aim for “overall” 2 degrees of total toe out with the steering lock you have set. For instance, if you set each side to 30 degrees inside lock, but you have 4 degrees toe out overall in the centre, you may want to bring the inside lock down to 29 degrees both sides, in order to reduce toe out to a more normal setting. Then just use trim on radio to ensure the car is going straight. This method gives a super balanced feeling left and right! Note; if you cannot get the lock you want with the desired 2 degrees toe out, you may want to consider using RC MAKER Bellcrank Limiters to limit or increase the throw. This can help to give both desired lock and toe out! This is all done manually without your transmitter, just by manually moving your steering left and right. 
8. Lastly, remove the setup station and install setup wheels. From here we will check the tweak. You can see how we adjust the suspension tweak on the Awesomatix here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFNbTVIbkrc
9. Install the tires you will be running, and double check your ride height. Ensure that you are adjusting both ride height screws by the same amount as not to effect the tweak we have just set.
10. Turn on your radio and ensure the front wheels are pointing as straight as possible by eye - if not you can adjust it with sub trim to get it close. We can trim it on track to ensure the car tracks perfectly straight. Ensure your steering lock is set to bottom out each way, while leaving a very small amount of play before it bottoms out, to ensure no binding or tweaking. I set mine maximum and then back them off 1 click each way to allow a very small amount of play.

Your car is now perfectly set up and ready to go!

Say goodbye to moving servos!

Every servo and servo mount these days is secured by screws only in the centre of the chassis. If your car's servo mount has locating lugs on the bottom, then you don't need to worry! 

The Awesomatix A800X servo mount and direct mount servo (AS-701L) have 3 screws but no locating lugs. Often, if we just screw together as per the manual, the shiny surfaces of the servo mount/servo and chassis will not create a strong joint. A small shunt, regardless of how tight your screws are will pivot the mount, throwing out your trim and endpoints during a race.

To solve this, we can score the bottom of the servo or mount with a hobby knife in a cross hatch pattern. These lines will create small burs and edges which will bite down into your alloy or carbon chassis and leave you with a much sturdier servo. This does not effect the performance of the car in any way, it will only make your steering alignment more consistent and durable! This is particularly helpful if you are running on small boarded tracks where the racing line is 1cm from the board!

A800X PRO Build Tips

1. When you are assembling the C04M1 arms onto the P03 Pivot balls, ensure there is no binding once you install the P07 clip. Sometimes the P07 clip can compress It all, and cause the ball to bind causing your C04M1/0.5 arm to bind. If the P03 is tight on the ball, try to squeeze P03 lightly with pliers. If the arm is causing P03 to bind up on the ball, use a knife or large drill bit to increase the size of the chamfer on the bottom of the arm. Keep doing this until the arm drops perfectly under its own weight with both P07 clips installed on the arm. P03 is most common to bind on AM21-0.5S, as the steel ball's tolerenaces are slightly tighter than the alloy AT21. Note: Dropping the arm with the hub attached doesn’t count, you want them to drop under their own light weight.
2. If you are using the AT21-0.5S in the wide position on the FF for arm sweep, you will need to grind some material off the P12X Sway bar holders. The sweep on the arm will push the carbon back into the sway bar holder and cause it to bind. Remove the P12X off the chassis to do this.
3. The P13-4 Ball cups can sometimes be a little tight on the ST24 balls. If this is the case, you can repeatedly pop them on and off and they will free up. You can also use pliers to lightly squeeze them, this often works! This is really not such a bad thing, as you are custom fitting your cups to their balls so there is absolutely minimal slop! Once they are fitted on the car as a camber link (along with P01/P02 installed), ensure the “camber link” is dropping free on the ball sunder its own weight.
4. P02 can sometimes be tight on ST03 ball. If this is the case, repeatedly pop as per previous instruction. These will free up with driving, but it’s better to get them custom fitted straight away! When the camber links are connected they should drop perfectly free with the arms.
5. Purchase and install AT15 Crush washers in the hubs – these will increase the life of your bearings and also reduce slop in your car. These are great!
6. When assembling your anti-roll bars, check each bar on glass to ensure the two tips are touching the glass and that the wire is flat. If it isn’t lightly bend it until it becomes straight. You want the two tips of the sway bar touching the glass. Install the sway bar inside the P12X mounts without the P05 installed. You want to make sure the sway bar drops free without these attached. Use a knife or sand paper to lightly sand the plastic mould line on the P05, this ensures that when it’s popped into P04 that it won’t bind! With droop set, ensure they are lifting up the same amount each side. If they aren’t, either something is binding or your bar is not flat – if everything is correct, these will be in tweak. Don’t use the up-stop screws in P12X, they are unnecessary in my opinion.
7. Ensure your SPR01/SPR01S leaf springs are flat. Sometimes they can be ever so slightly bent, it’s really easy to straighten them up, put them on flat glass and gently bend them so they are straight! Also check the ends of your springs are bent to 90deg. You can check this with any right angle. If you intend on bending them to alter the progressiveness of the spring, then ensure they are done equally!
8. With everything except dampers connected, ensure the suspension drops freely with no binding, ensure your sway bars are lifting the same amount, and you’re set! Install dampers and follow my suspension tweak guide and you will be ready to go.
9. For video tutorials on diff, damper builds and suspension setup, check the support page on my website here