Stiletto Race Prep

[Darin Jordan]

Oh man - his picture is on the box - look out guys you are gonna have to make the doors to the meeting hall bigger!!!!! Just to get his head inside!

Just kidding Darin!

Very funny...

Going to take much more than just a picture on a box... vainity really isn't my thing... I screw up too much to think that much of myself, and I can't drive!!

If people LOVE it, however, and start winning races with it and really enjoying owning it, well... then we'll see...

Right now, I'm in that nervous state of "I sure hope this works out the way I had planned it to" mode...

In the meantime, I'm keeping myself busy with a couple of other little projects...

After this weekend, however, I'm fairly optimistic that most will find this to be a very nice RTR platform. It can definitely be taken out of the box, and with almost no additional prep work, go out and be a strong performer in the class. I didn't have any data on it, but I'm pretty sure I was getting all of at least 40-mph with the stock prop... which is essentially a Prather 215. It's not super sharp, but is stainless and should be easy to fully sharpen.

I'm hoping that, with a little additional prep work, it can be a front-runner, but that remains to be seen. Those Cobras, and VS-1s, are really fast...

[Brushless55]

Question..
are these still coming out this month?

[Deserthobbies]

Another Question,

Will the proboat programming card work on the 60 amp esc?

[Darin Jordan]

Another Question,

Will the proboat programming card work on the 60 amp esc?

I can ask. According to the ProBoat site, the 60A ESC comes pre-programmed for Lipos.

According to the ProBoat site, there is a seperate part number for the 60A programmer, so I can't say for sure if the 45A card works. I'll ask.

[Darin Jordan]

I decided to tinker a little in preparation for my next race...

First, I believe that the hole in the motor cover for the wires needs to be opened up. They can cut into the wires otherwise.

While I was at it, I opened a hole in the top of the cover so I can access the top of the motor with my temp guage. This isn't necessary, but since I'm on the leading end of racing these things, I thought keeping closer track of temps might be a good idea.

There are two small grub screws in the lower unit... one on either side near the stub shaft. Take these out. They are drain holes and I tested running without them and it works great. Any water getting into the unit is drawn out of these holes at speed.

While you are removing these, take one of them and add it to the steering arm. These come with two threaded holes, but only one set screw. The extra screw helps assure it stays set in place. You can grind a small flat if you feel it's needed.

[Darin Jordan]

I also wanted to add the ability to oil the flex shaft without taking it out. So, I pulled the lower unit apart, and replaced the teflon with a new stuffing tube made of brass.

To bend the brass, which is right at .187ID, I slid in a .187 flex shaft, which JUST fits, and carefully and slowly bent it around a mandrel to shape. I had lightly anealed the brass first.

Once I had it bent to fit, I drilled a small hole near the back of the top, and soldered on a 5/32" tube for a fitting. I will simply attached some larger sized water tubing to this, which will allow me to use a syringe to inject oil into the flex shaft. I'm going to exit the tubing out the back of the outboard so I can service it without taking the cover off.

Once you have the stuffing tube built, mark the placement of the oil tube on both halves of the outboard and grind/file the material away at this point.

[Darin Jordan]

I decided, while I was in here, to make a water exit port IN the outboard, so I took an extra water exit fitting I had laying around and placed it into the back of the unit.

The last shot shows the water exit, and where I'll place the oiling fitting. Have to find a suitable fitting for the oiler first. May just use a piece of 5/32 brass tubing for now.

[Darin Jordan]

One piece of advice... The unit works fine as it comes, but I decided that it would be a good idea to double check the fitment of the flexshaft. If you take the unit apart, you can assemble just half of it, as shown here, and really dial in the fitment of the flex.

I made the flat on the motor output shaft a little longer (toward the motor face) to allow the coupler to be slid up the shaft some. This will allow more adjustment for aftermarket or other than stock flexshafts.

I'm going to fit mine with a Lawless flexshaft, which are a tad longer. I'm using this version because they have a shorter flat section which won't extend into the stuffing tube. Some others have a longer flat section, which prevents the shaft from being able to bend in that section of the shaft, sometimes causing binding.

I'll get some pics of the different shafts tomorrow to show you the difference.

[JimClark]

Both call for the same programmer PRB3311

Jim

Another Question,

Will the proboat programming card work on the 60 amp esc?

[Deserthobbies]

I can ask. According to the ProBoat site, the 60A ESC comes pre-programmed for Lipos.

According to the ProBoat site, there is a seperate part number for the 60A programmer, so I can't say for sure if the 45A card works. I'll ask.

ok i was just wondering because sometimes the esc in my fastech gets out of wack all by itself and it needs to be reprogramed with the card, can i possibly have a defective esc in my fastech, and as mentioned above are they stll going to be out this month, thats a Beautiful boat you done a fantastic job on it, bet proboat sells the crap out of them.

[Doby]

Darin;

Anymore updates on how its running and holding up?

[Darin Jordan]

Darin;

Anymore updates on how its running and holding up?

Actually... I have some more pics to post of some tweaks I did, but just haven't gotten to it yet.

Basically, after doing the outboard tweaks recently, it's really running GREAT! Almost no friction in the lower unit and it's nice and quiet (especially with the motor cover on). Handling is great now that I've blueprinted the bottom. Just a little block sanding to get it nice and flat.

I'll post a full update here in the next few days.

[Doby]

Cool..............

[Flying Scotsman]

Well done Darin, from the pics it looks well designed, great looking motor. I will pick one up, if there are no hull issues on the production models.

Douggie

[Darin Jordan]

Well done Darin, from the pics it looks well designed, great looking motor. I will pick one up, if there are no hull issues on the production models.

Douggie

I think you will find that is is a VERY solid hull. I'll be interested to see what people think once they have them and start really beating on it.

The only thing thus far that I'm really not completely jazzed about is the battery cover. The whole "tupperware" thing really wasn't implemented as well as it could have been, and it still needs to be taped. Maybe one of you out there can come up with a better solution. I think I might actually just make myself a flat cover out of G10 or something, since it has to be taped on if you want to keep water out anyhow.

The ESC, however, is water proof, so if you are going to flip it in stock trim, you just have your cells that will get wet. The ESC will be fine.

I have some additional water proofing and setup tips to post, just have to get time to do it.

[Flying Scotsman]

Darin, another point I think it was really smart to not include a radio...spend more money on the whole boat and bring it in still at an attractive price point and sell some Spectrum radios...result more cash to the LHS and a quality radio to the end user and for seasoned boaters let them use their own radio.

Douggie

[Darin Jordan]

Hey guys... I FINALLY got some video of my boat in action. Did some testing after the race this weekend, and had my buddy, Byron Pimms, film a few laps.

Boat here is setup with an Octura X440/3, backcut about .030" and pitched up slightly. Batteries are ThunderPower 45C 4400mah 4S1P placed all the way forward. I added an additional 1oz of lead up in the nose of the cowl.

After this run, the motor temp was 108-degrees, as were the batteries. Used about 2200mah.

http://www.banzaihydrosports.com/vid...ug_29_2010.wmv

Boat is still running a little nose-high for my taste, so I'm working on slowly getting the setup where I like it.

[Deserthobbies]

Nice vid Darin, That looked like quite a few laps to only use 2200mah of your battery but thats a good thing lol. when you get it setup can you give us some top speed readings. thanks again for the vid sweet looking boat.

Nice to see it stayed right side up in the first lap spinout,

[Flying Scotsman]

Darin, I have a Y537/3 and thought of sticking that puppy on....any comments?

Douggie

[Darin Jordan]

Darin, I have a Y537/3 and thought of sticking that puppy on....any comments?

Douggie

Douggie,

I have the same prop, both stock, and one that is radically tweaked, that I was going to try. Might be interesting. I'm worried that the diameter will be getting a little too small, but I would certainly try it. I'm going to.

We've been running 2-blades for a couple of years now. I just thought it was time to go back to playing with 3-blades again. Seemed to help in the turns, which is an important part of the race with a tunnel...

[monarch]

Hi
Being a newbie am very interested in all the great work you have done on this boat and thanks for sharing it all with us.
Can someone please tell me the OD of the new brass tube fitted or the wall thickness.
Keep up all the great work, will be ordering One soon.
Monarch

[Darin Jordan]

Hi
Being a newbie am very interested in all the great work you have done on this boat and thanks for sharing it all with us.
Can someone please tell me the OD of the new brass tube fitted or the wall thickness.
Keep up all the great work, will be ordering One soon.
Monarch

I can't recall exactly, but will look when I get home. That modification has made a VERY positive difference in the lower unit. WAY easier to keep lubed, and about as friction free as it gets. Seems to be holding up well too...

[ron1950]

darin what kind of speeds are u getting now that u have had some time to do your thing? looks like strightaway speeds are really fast

[JimClark]

Clearly looks faster than the time I saw it in July

[Flying Scotsman]

I just picked mine up, for an almost RTR boat well done Darin. I will do the mods you suggest. The hull looks rock solid and I love the scale motor look. Also very well packaged

A happy Douggie

[simo71]

How many Poles does the motor have? 4? 6?

[vasy]

How many Poles does the motor have? 4? 6?

I though it was 2.

[Darin Jordan]

I though it was 2.

It's a 6-pole motor... The KV actually measures around 1880KV, as opposed to 1800. More RPMs, less torque, than a Geico motor = needs smaller prop with less pitch.

[GP73]

Hey Darin,

Could you elaborate on "smaller'? Smaller than a X440? Or a X640/X642? Have you done any more testing by any chance?

I was running with a X438 and X440, just B&S (and not the best job), I didn't see any noticeable difference between the 2, probably because of the very small difference in diameter.

But it did seem to me that the X438 runs a little hotter.

I've tried the stock prop as well and it looks slightly quicker than the above, I might try to de-tongue it and see what happens.


So many things to do and never enough time.

[Darin Jordan]

I mean smaller as in both diameter, and pitch, compared to the BJ26 motors.

Too small, however, and it may cause the boat to not have enough lift/thrust, etc., and might not run as freely.

Like I've said before, I've had good luck with the 440/3 and with the 42x55. Still lots of playing around to do before I figure out exactly what I like on her... The 440/3 had been pitched up slightly as well...