Mardave issues .....

[lordnikon]

Guys, first time 1/12th today. Supastox dialled and on the money. Mardave on the other hand ..... crap basically.

So ideas anyone, problems i can see obviously ..

1. Inside front wheel lifting on cornering (oval) = put harder springs on back
2. The above means the back has now lost traction
3. Getting the thing lower ?? The front wishbones are flipped and has a couple of washers under the front to give it some castor but it is still too high
4. Grip roll - glued the outside edge of the front outside tyre and its still grip rolling horrendously.

Really really frustrated with this tbh, do i just knock it on the head and get a second supastox .....

[mark christopher]

Originally Posted by lordnikon

Guys, first time 1/12th today. Supastox dialled and on the money. Mardave on the other hand ..... crap basically.

do i just knock it on the head and get a second supastox .....

yup

[jasond43]

damper tube on the dave with 30k diff oil or higher med springs
true your fonts down to 45mm or use a harder shore
to lower the rear use the ally pod or put washers under the ball joint and washers under the wishbones to lower the front

[lordnikon]

Cheers jason, I'm already running 50sh on the front which i thought was pretty hard already.

I've got washers under the ball joint and 2 under the front of the flipped front wishbones. Seems to be around 2mm too high which has to be part of the problem.

Originally Posted by jasond43

damper tube on the dave with 30k diff oil or higher med springs
true your fonts down to 45mm or use a harder shore
to lower the rear use the ally pod or put washers under the ball joint and washers under the wishbones to lower the front

[PaulUpton]

what wishbones are you running? the new F1 style ones or standard ones?

are they mounted direct to chassis or are you running the plate?

im running 46mm fronts, f1 style wishbones with plate, low pro nuts under plate with .5mm spacer and its about 4mm ride height

if your wishbones are direct on chassis this will make it run higher, i would say you need to raise the wishbones up a fair bit to get the ride height down

Paul

[SLEENAD]

When I first ran my Mardave, it was fun but complete rubbish.

Modded it substantially and finally had it setup so it had steering and rear grip without griprolling ( had to use 42mm fronts though).

Then switched to the GRP chassis, and really wished I hadn't!

Got so fed up with it, bought a supa, and like the name says it's super.

Again you have to put some time in it, but I don't think I'll ever look back!

[MrTross]

From my few years of experiance with Mardave when you put it together and try it for the first time it's not allot of good, so don't be dis heartend or put off by this, but once you've spoken to a few people and seen the Lil adjustments to make to get it spot on your soon love it, theirs plenty of people at clubs that will be more than happy to help you out and get the car handling/driving how you want mate

[Simion Wabs]

I'm suffering with the same issues as the opening poster. I have resorted to placing soft foam under the rear pod. Fingers crossed this will work. I'm one week away from buying a Supastox! I enjoy the Mardave but now the Supastox is available it's lightyears ahead in terms of performance. I have also balanced the car left to right and added a motor pod spacer to aid chassis balance. I'll report back next week.

[MrTross]

From what I've herd the superstox is a quick car down to its weight but can break easily

[Allan1875]

Soft springs on the rear of a mardave always, anything else and they are utterly useless.

Pink mediums on the back trued to 50mm.
I use 46's on front but i like a pointy car, I would suggest 48 or 50's trued to 46mm.

You want 2 x 1mm washed under wishbone for caster.

Take 2 soft front springs, compress in a vice about 1mm and heat with a lighter until they drop out then pop them back on the car.

The above is the setup than won me the saloon national points series last year.

[lordnikon]

Allan, this is the frustration. I have the 2 washers for the castor, I had the soft springs and it kept lifting the inside front wheel. Setup wise its fairly close

[Allan1875]

Originally Posted by lordnikon

Allan, this is the frustration. I have the 2 washers for the castor, I had the soft springs and it kept lifting the inside front wheel. Setup wise its fairly close

They can be prone to this at times. I had a home made corner weight board and setting the car on this used to stop the wheel lifting.

[jasond43]

the wheel lifts as there is nothing on the dave to stop this other than the damper tube which slows down the roll on the rear i raced yesturday on a tight track against supastox and was on the pace og them and sometimes alittle faster ill take pics of me car and put them on here

[jasond43]

Med springs wide 163mm diff 1.5mm pod droop

Rear ride height ajusters 30k diff oil in damper tube

Carbon front plate with 2mm nuts under the front of the plate to give castor and ride height ajusters from mardave gold tamiya rm-01 springs these are med springs from tamiya ie 12th side springs as the new wide diff give loads of grip 0 toe 1.5 camber no bumpsteer and a little ackerman

Blue sss o rings to stop the pod hitting the chassis and little springs at the front of the pod to stop the roll and lifting the front wheel this works better than foam cheers ps sorry for the dust havent cleaned it from racing lol

[RogerM]

Nothing wrong with the Mardave CEC, mine is really good and if anything hass too much rear grip with the hardest rear springs on!

I'm running 50/35 contact tires (thinking of 37 or even 40s to free up the rear end), straight out of the packet. Rear ride height set as high as it can on the pod and 1mm under pod ball to insure I have some anti-squat in at all times.
30k oil in the damper
Front I have 1mm in for some castor +1mm extra under all points to get the car a little lower, achieving 4mm ride height easily like that.
Hard springs both front and rear (looking for something harder for the rear).

I run the steering links from the centre height holes on the servo saver to the knuckles with 2mm of spacing under those balls to give a straight link when viewed from the front.
I have the tie-rods swept slightly when viewed from above, believe there to be 1mm between the servo and mounting posts.
All that is with a 1s setup

It will just require a little bit of setup work like any new cars does! Post up pictures and a good decription of what it is doing early/mid/late corner and how you would prefer it to be different and I will try to help you

[oakey4]

My mardave carbon is spot on also, our club racers on gt carpet, my set up is, 50 sh fronts 46mm, medium springs, 2.5mm caster, wishbones straight onto the chassis, rear end, 50k in damper tube, 40 sh rears 48mm, medium springs, 1.5mm droop. Small bit on sponge under the front corners of the bottom plate, ride heights, 4 mm all round, on the photo above you need to put wheel on the car then put it on a flat board is wind the nuts up to give you a droop, you need the weight on the sprins to set it. For me I wouldn't have the blue washers at th rear, think it might bind up when cornering fast, I use cs high gripper 20 mins on wheels, full rear, just over 3/4 fronts, I've going to use 2/3 sets of wheels Per night as they tent to get claggy and to grippy, ascari shell, tried the Aston Martin shell last night, go very well the wings about 1" up on posts, wights cut down to around 12-15mm ( of the top of my head )

Hope this helps...

[JimboJames1972]

LordNikon,

A few suggestions for your setup.

First off, tires on any GT12 seem to be about 90% of the handling. However, it is not just the compound you need to worry about but also the diameter and what additive (if any) you are running. After you have sorted the tires, play with damper gloop, ride height and weight distribution (in that order) and then play with springs, castor and camber.

Tires. Usual rule of soft tires giving more grip and harder tires giving less applies. However, softer tires also give a more relaxed, gentle steering effect (because the side walls can flex more) while harder tires give a more aggressive, pointy feel. Tall sidewalls also give more grip since the tire can deform more, but are more prone to chunking. General setup for tires is Pink Medium or Contact 32/35 rears matched to JAP Medium/JAP44 or Contact 42/45 fronts. Obviously, suitable tires vary from club to club but a 10' shore difference front to rear is about right. Going too hard on the front (to stop oversteering or grip roll for example) can actually make things worse becasue the stiffer sidewalls make the car too aggressive - weight is transfered more violently and you either oversteer or roll. When you true your tires, make sure the outer edges are VERY WELL rounded off, this will help stop the side wall from digging in and grip rolling/peeling off.

Damper. 30,000 oil is about right for most clubs, few I know of use anything lighter. Be aware though that 30,000cst and 30,000wt will NOT be the same! With the bottle I use (30,000cst I think - the label came off!) it takes a good 30sec for the air bubble to reach the other end if I turn it upside down. Refill your tube every three runs. If you are lifting an inside front wheel (too much pitching at the rear, not the front) this is the BEST way to cure it, leave tires and springs alone!

Ride height. 3.0mm is your minimum. Most drivers find that much over 4.0mm is too high. Run yours between 3.2 and 3.5mm and see how this goes.

Additive. If you are allowed to run additive try adding a wider width to the fronts but leave it for a shorter time. Eg, very, very light wipe of 2/3 width, leave for 2 mins, wipe off and race imediately.

If you are grip rolling, the first thing to check is that your tires are not coming off the rim, have not chunked and that the side walls are well rounded. If that is all ok, try SOFTER tires and SOFTER springs on the front (bear with me on this...) and set your handset to a lower steering throw (lower EPA adjustment). Run your fronts at a smaller diameter (45mm or less) and the thinner sidewall will offer less flex so steering will be calmer. However, softer compounds will still give you the turning raduis/arc you need. In mega-high grip conditions I run Pink Medium on the front as well as the back (!) but I half my truning radius on my handset. If you are still suffering, try the optional thicker wishbone plate or an additional wishbome brace.

My basic setup is:
Front - JAP 44 tires (45mm diameter, 2/3 additive for 1 min), kit soft springs, 1mm castor, 3.5mm ride height.
Rear - Pink Medium tires (47-49mm diameter, full additive), kit soft springs, no washers under the ball, 3.5mm ride height, 30,000 oil.

Hope this helps,

James

[jasond43]

they are o rings and just provide a damper to stop the chassis hitting the pod

[Simion Wabs]

report back after placing foam under the rear pod...

For me it has worked very well. I no longer suffer with a lifting inside front wheel. Which means in terms of lifting off the throttle/braking is required less during the lap.

I'll try and download some photos later if anyone wants to see it

Si