Modifications and Upgrades

As previously mentioned I have my concerns about the spur gear housing and the smoothness of the front and rear gearboxes / differentials. I have already bought a ready-built 2-speed spur gear housing to replace the existing one when I have to take the drivetrain apart for the inevitable repair of the front and rear gearboxes. I bought the 2-speed on a whim after seeing a video on youtube of a condor-pro and hearing the gear change. Hopefully there will also be a better gear mesh with the clutch gear.

I have also bought steel gearbox spur gears and have yet to buy steel pinion gears. At this stage I'm not sure if I'll have to replace the differential gears as well. These felt much smoother during construction and I don't know if these will experience the same level of wear.

For ease of starting and for protection of the engine I have bought a fuel filter, with priming pump, as it is quite difficult to pull the starter with your finger over the exhaust.

Fuel Filter Components

Something that is mentioned in the kit instructions but not actually included in the kit is a failsafe. This device should move a servo to a pre-defined position if reception between the transmitter and receiver is lost, i.e. apply the brakes. A typical complication is that the fail safe I bought has a different colour code to the ACME servos in the kit. After a bit of Internet research it appears RED goes to RED, BROWN to BLACK and ORANGE to WHITE.

Failsafe Installed: The failsafe is connected to the throttle servo via a joint in the battery box. It is stuck to the on/off switch with a sticky pad but it do not hold securely so I have used cable ties as well. Do not use UHU Power glue as it melts the plastic of the switch (guess how I found that out?) in hind sight it would also make the switch difficult to replace should the need arise.