Improving the car

The Spec R S1 is great out of the box, but like any other car, can be improved.  Here are some of the improvements which I have made to the car.

 

Shocks

 

I have replaced the kit shocks with Tamiya TRF shocks in both cars.  These are reputed to be the best in the business, and so far have provided great, reliable performance.  The front shocks have Kyosho 350wt oil in, which is equivalent to 35wt for other manufacturers, and the rear shocks have Kyosho 250wt, which is 25wt.

 

Springs

 

The kit springs have been replaced by XRay springs, using silver on the front, and gold on the rear.  The suspension needs to be quite soft for a low grip carpet surface using rubber tyres.  My current set up can be viewed here

 

Gear Diff

 

Both myself and my son found difficulty with the front spool.  Our club has a small, technical track with tight turns and corners, therefore a gear diff is a better option.  We also found that front UJ's were breaking on small impacts.  We believe that the lack of "give" in the spool can be quite unforgiving, but as soon as we installed a gear diff, we have had no more breakages.  The car also handles a lot better with the gear diff.  The diff has 300,000 diff oil which is quite stiff, but allows a small amount of diff movement.

Wheel hexes

Kit plastic ones need to be replaced by aluminium clamping ones which are available from Spec R or other manufacturers. The aluminium is more solid and gives better support to the wheel.

Shims

Replace plastic shims with metal ones from Spec R or other manufacturers.  The plastic ones aren't as solid as the metal ones and may not stay solid and keep their shape.

Servo Saver

The kit one is quite poor and has been replaced with a Kimbrough one.
 

That's pretty much it, set up tips have been found on RcTech.net, and I've settled on my own set up which I've posted here.  I've used roll bars on both front and rear, and up front on its own, but removed them and now run without.