Traxxas Bandit Racing Build, Project ODB - Part 2

When we left off last time, we were in the middle of assembling the car, using new control arms, and the Mayor R/C Stainless Screw Kit. This kit includes all of the fasteners needed to replace the stock Phillips head screws. The Phillips head screws are nice, as almost every household has a Phillips screw driver, however, for rust prevention and longevity, we went with the stainless kit. Using a set of Ofna hex wrenches, we installed our kit.

 

Here you can see the difference between the Stainless Screws (Left) and Stock (Right)

 

 

After the stainless kit was installed, I began to re-assemble the car. Using the Nitro Sport front shock tower gives us much more tuning options for the front, as well as stiffens up the whole nose of the car. The stock shock tower is great, as there's a lot of give when the car lands harsh or upside down, however, for racing, I wanted the shocks to do all of the work, not the shock tower.

 

In order to make the shock tower work, I had to cut the nose off of the body. Similar to an 1/8th scale buggy, the nose piece clips to the stock front body post, and stays on regardless if the body is on or not. To get the front portion of the body to stay on, we used Mayor R/C Hook and Loop Tape along the edges of the chassis. 

 

The Nitro Sport shock tower adds adjustability to the front of the bandit, and looks AWESOME!

 

In our intro, I spoke about how cutting holes in the chassis is a BAD idea. The whole idea behind lightening a chassis is to lower the center of gravity, which increases handing and corner speed. By cutting away material from the LOWEST part of the chassis, you're simply RAISING the center of gravity.

I often get asked, what's the best way to lower the center of gravity in my Bandit/Rustler? Take a look in the battery tray. See the large battery holders on the sides of the tray? Simply shave those down! Doing this will lower your battery around 3mm, and since the battery is the heaviest component inside of the car, lowering it will improve the handling of your car immensely!

 

Removing the "cups" to hold the NiMH batteries is one of the best ways to lower the center of gravity on your bandit!

 

Now it was time to build the shocks. Installing fresh shock seals is always a smart thing to do. Traxxas makes it easy with their shock rebuild kits. Surprisingly, the traxxas shock kits use X-rings, the same shock O-rings that make the Kyosho shocks so smooth.

We installed the new shock O-rings, then put associated shock pistons (#2) in each shock. After that, each shock got brand new Associated 37.5wt shock fluid. Topping each shock off, we used red Traxxas shock caps, for an added touch of style and durability!

 

Next, we complete phase 1 of the build by installing electronics, and taking the bandit to the track!