Axel height from front to rear
- Thread starter OTO Racing
- Start date
Very good question, I am starting to wonder. I have tried all kinds of setups and I am not sure it has made any difference. I will let the pros chime in here.
I drill all of mine at the same height. I have tried different heights for the DFW, but I see no speed tip there... I know there was a speed tip given out some years back about drilling your DFW lower than your rears to give the rears toe out or something, but I don't think it matters that much. If you drill your block right and have the right wheels, axles and process I think you can tune any car to be fast.
I drill all my blocks with the front lower but I dont think it really matters its just how I like to do it.
I think it is really a personal preference and style.... You rears are canted negative which lowers the body and your front is positive which raises the front. Depending on how much you cant the rears or bend the front you will move your body up and down. I suspect that every one of us has to tune different depending on these differences.
Really if you are just starting out, pick one drilling set-up and stick with it until you find speed. 1/32" height up or down on a drilled hole is not the smoking gun. I would bet that most of the top racers are copying the same set-up they used when they first found speed... and they keep repeating that set-up. They didn't find speed because they stumbled upon the perfect drilled hole locations, they found speed because they figured out how to build and tune for that set-up.
Really if you are just starting out, pick one drilling set-up and stick with it until you find speed. 1/32" height up or down on a drilled hole is not the smoking gun. I would bet that most of the top racers are copying the same set-up they used when they first found speed... and they keep repeating that set-up. They didn't find speed because they stumbled upon the perfect drilled hole locations, they found speed because they figured out how to build and tune for that set-up.
Chief brings up a great point, if you are just beginning and even if you are dead set on doing as much as possible yourself. Start by buying a DD4H drilled block.... get that car fast and then start working in your own drilled bodies until you can match those results. That's what I did....
I have done a lot of designing in AutoCAD and testing to determine what I think is the best front axle height, but not sure I have found it. I will tell you that the amount of rear wheel cant, the amount of DFW bend angle, wheel base, axle diameter and wheel bore diameter all come into play in determining the best height. I still am not saying I have figured it out yet, but I just know that it all works together. I have found some speed with it, but still not as fast as most on here. I still have some figuring out to do. I do know that too high on the front will cause the rear wheels to toe out and to low on the front will cause toe in. To me toe in would be worse than toe out, but both cause drag. For you new guys the rear wheels have to be parallel and not moving in or out when rolling the car forwards or backwards. To me this has to happen with the Bent DFW axle in place.
I agree with 5 KIDS logic. !!!! This is all very sound information for the many new guys starting out . I think way too much time can be spent thinking about axle hole height. THERE ARE MANY MORE IMPORTANT THINGS TO PUT YOUR EFFORTS IN TO FIND MORE SPEED. !!!!!!.....SPIRIT..........
I end up with a DFW drilled approx 3/32" below the rears - but this is because I do not move my fence when using the block. I think the horizontal difference with the pin under the block (for rears) and the pin not under the block (for DFW) is approx 3/32". I just go with that and it seems to work fine for me.
DerbyDad4Hire said:I find if I turn my hat around backwards when I am drilling it goes faster.
can I borrow that hat?
I have not tried this, but I have often wondered. If the front of the car were to be slightly higher than the back, that would mean slightly more air would go beneath the car body. So I am wondering if there would not be a slight amount of lift as the car runs down the track. IF (BIG IF) that were so, I thinks physics would say that the car would not lose any momentum caused by the cars downhill weight, but that the air flow would cause the car to be slightly lighter, reduding friction overall, thus a faster time. I lot of big time race cars use the wings to force the weight down to the track. One of these days, I am going to design a wing to go on the rear of a Pinewood car to cause uplift instead, and see if it makes a difference. It might just work so long that the wing and struts were very aireodynamic. Perhaps the wing could be constructed using balsa as struts with a monokote covering. MAYBE??????
OPARENNEN said:One of these days, I am going to design a wing to go on the rear of a Pinewood car to cause uplift instead, and see if it makes a difference.
Then they would really "fly". Wait, we could all build airplanes instead ...LOL
Talk to your cars while buiding them...sweet things.Thats what I do,seems to work for me.In fact I swear by it!
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