Darwins theory of Xevo-lution – Driving the Xevo.
Seen the photos? Wondered just what the deal was? Ponder no more,for rc-mini.net have the first full test of the astonishing new Mchassis conversion from Xevo. It's an adventure and a half as rc-minisown Tim K gives you the run-down on what we think is probably the mostinteresting M chassis for years. Over to you Tim….
See this car below? It's a Yokomo YRF2. Most of you have probablynever heard of one, and you've almost certainly never seen one. Wayback when the legend himself Masami only had to turn up to a racemeeting to win it, Yokomo came out with this amazing FWD beauty. Legendhas it that it was so good that it was pretty much banned instantly.Remember, we're talking around about the time that Tamiya's onlycompetition was the FF01 (TA02 FWD).Anyway…as it happens, the rc-minicrew is very fond of the Yokomo. To us it represented what the ultimateincarnation of a FWD rc car should be. Indeed many hours have beenspent discussing building a 'Mini' version of that car. We neverthought anyone would ever build anything like it, then we saw the Xevo…
The official name for this kit is: the X evolution Chariot Proconversion kit. A bit of a mouthful right? We'll dispense with that andcall it simply the Xevo. Now it's NOT a complete car in itself. This isa conversion kit that utilises bits from your M03 or M05 to make into athoroughbred full-on FWD M chassis racer.
When I first saw the pictures of the Xevo I was impressed, lots ofblue alloy bits, servo low down, battery down the centre, lay downshocks. Where can I get one? How soon? And why isn't it here taking upspace on my desk now?
No studio shots this time - we're at the track and covered in dust...
Tony G did some asking around and the rc-mini network soon came upwith the goods, and our mate Ismail from Malaysia helped us out with 3of these conversion kits. Sure we could have waited, but that's not theway we do things. We want it, and we want it NOW.
Are we not men? We are Xevo! Lean, mean, M chassis machine
When Tony dropped the Xevo around I was very impressed with thequality and finish of the parts. The FRP chassis and blue alloybulkheads really look the business. I half expected some slightly dodgybackyard effort with this kit but to be honest the quality of thecomponents is not far off that which Tamiya themselves provide. It allcomes very simply packaged, just an unassuming clear plastic bag withall the parts individually bagged and then taped to the main chassisplate. And a couple of what appear to be photocopied instructionsheets. The instructions do however, leave a lot to be desired. TheBlack and white photos are handy, but it’s hard to make out the detailson the poor quality reproduction. There are also some exploded CADdrawings, but they list screws which are the wrong size and some of theinstructions are very vague. I wouldn’t want to be building this if itwas my first ever kit. But this is rc-mini, and I can almost build anM03 in my sleep (Sometimes I suspect you DO just that Tim – Tony G) sogetting my head around the Xevo wasn't too hard.
If you happen to have one of these kits and it just didn’t turn outright, we've got some tips later on in the story to help ease your pain.
Tamiya-wise, there actually aren't a whole lot of genuine parts thatyou need to complete the Xevo. A quick roll call shows up with –transmission, diff, complete suspension front and rear, and that'sabout it. To be honest a lot of people would have most of this asspares. They do add a list of some extra parts as well.These are SP797– 5mm adjuster, OP640 – 5mm Aluminium ball nut, and OP642 – 5mmAluminium ball connector. If you're like me, you'll have some thingslying around that will do the job of these extra parts, but they aren'texpensive to buy so you might want to factor these in if you want touse all new parts.
One thing that really had me worried was something that Tony G hadbrought to my attention very early on – Bodyshells. He'd done somemeasuring off photos and worked out that the Xevo chassis requiredanother 20+mm extra room in front of the furthest point of a standardM03 bumper. And he'd also pointed out that you also needed a bit ofheight too in order to clear the upper edges of the motor mount.Theofficial body list for this car is: HPI Civic 225mm, Tamiya Swift225mm, Atlas Civic Type R 210mm and the Xevo Type R (coming soon).Well, the Atlas is really hard to get hold of and I'm not really a bigfan of either of the others anyway. So, what to do? Xevo even specifythat SWB Mini Cooper shells will not fit at all and they're right.You'd have nearly an inch of chassis sticking out the front!
That's a LOT of overhang Yeah, we were worried about the gears too
A quick glance around the available bodies in the garage and my eyehit the LWB New Mini. Hmmm, I already knew that it had a fairlysubstantial front overhang because we actually use TL01 bumpers onthem, maybe that would work if I could make a 239mm chassis? In theend, it turned out easier than I thought.
For those of you who would like to run an M03L New mini Cooper bodyor Cooper S body, here's how I did it. First off you need to build thecar as per the 225mm wheelbase instructions. When you put the rearlower arms on you need to flip them 180 degrees (see photo). You alsoneed to move the upper camber link ball stud 180 degrees as well (seephoto).
No shock mount now, so how do I mount my shock to the lower arm?Easy, take the long screw and spacers from an M03 sway bar kit and usethat as your mount. You won’t be able to clip your shocks on and off ina hurry, but then you don’t want to run anything other than a mini body– right? And that's the whole point of this for me. It's an M chassiscar so I want to be able to run a MINI body shell. It would be great ifI could run a classic mini body, but it would require a major redesign… I’m happy that I can at least run the new mini.
Drilling new holes for the M03L body is easy too as the Xevo bodyposts have the same spacing width as the M03L, you just need to movethe holes forward. The rear holes will now be drilled 20mm forward, andthe front holes will be drilled 32.5mm forward.So, the unofficial listof usable bodies sees the New Mini Cooper and New Mini Cooper S addedon as well. There could be more bodies that fit but I don’t have everybody hanging around at the moment.
OK then, we're building the car in its 'official' 225mm guise, andin this configuration there is enough room to run the battery packstraight down the middle of the car (In 210mm form the battery runsACROSS the chassis just like normal) And here comes one of the things Idon’t like about this kit, the lack of a battery holder. I’m sure Ihave enough old parts to make up something but in the meantime, if youmount your ESC one side and your receiver the other, you can use them(and the servo) as a battery location device. Then you only need totape the pack at the rear of the chassis. Considering the time andthought that obviously went into the rest of the cars design, you'dthink someone could have stayed back to do an hours overtime to finishoff something to hold the battery in?On the plus side of the equation,the freedom of this configuration means that pretty much any batterypack can be adapted to fit. You could probably glue in a 5000 mah Lipoand run for an hour each time and only have to charge once a week!
Ever seen a Mini that looks like THIS from underneath? The rear end is so clean, hardly anything there.
With the assembled rolling chassis now done I could sit back andadmire my handywork. You know how some things look 'right? Somehow thisdid. There were some questions about it for sure. The front suspensionseemed to be a dodgy setup for a start with none of the silky smoothaction that we all prefer.And I couldn’t help but be concerned aboutthe fact that ALL the gears were exposed. How long would they last?
The first test drive
After the strangeness of the whole M05 saga I was worried that theXevo might also suffer from some strange handling problems as well,thankfully I was wrong.I tested the Xevo at the dusty Keilor track withthe standard M03 20 tooth pinion and the Hobbywing 13 turn brushlessmotor and ESC combo. I used my standard tyre setup of Spice 36 frontand Spice 28 rear.I was amazed. With very little setup this car wasalready dialed! On some corners there was a very controllable littlerear end slide, similar to how the M03 used to be on X-Patterns. And onother corners there was a hint of understeer. I’d say for most people(including me) this setup would be ideal but for some you might wantfor a little more steering. This could be achieved by running adifferent tyre combination or a little more toe out on the front (I hadzero degrees toe).
I also tested another favourite tyre choice of mine – S-Grips upfront and Spice 32 rear. This provides a very stable car, with a bitmore understeer, but this felt better to me than the 36/28 combo. Soout of the box this kit felt as good as my best M03R to drive. I’mamazed it was so good. I ran 2 packs through it (30 minutes worth) anddidn’t have any problems at all. No unexpected steering adventures(like the M05), no traction rolls, no chassis hopping, it was almostperfect. And remember this was straight out of the box with noattention paid to set-up on any level.
The Xevo should definitely be faster than the M03 with the differentgear ratio options you can use, anything from a 19 tooth to a 26 tooth,you will have superior top speed. But who will be faster out of theXevo on a 20 tooth versus the M03 on a 20 tooth versus an M05 on a 20tooth? Stay tuned for more in depth testing and lap time comparisonsfrom various tracks. Incidentally, the M03 has a final drive ratio of5.8:1 with a 20 tooth pinion, the Xevo with a 26 tooth will give you awhopping 4.46:1 !!!
So just how good is this kit? Good enough that I stayed up pastmidnight to finish it, and then take it to the track the next day andthen write this report the same night … the M05 took me 2 months to doall that. This kit just had something special about it, this kit iseverything the M05 should have been, but wasn't … I’d go so far as tosay that this is the only worthy successor to the M03.
So, in the great scheme of things, just where does the Xevo fit? Forthose of us running to Tamiya Cup rules this kit will not be eligible.If your local rules only allow M03 or M05 chassis, then again this kitwill not be for you. If you’re a big fan of Front Wheel Drive cars, oryou just like to have something a bit different, then this definitelyis for you.
Can it run against M05/05? Sure it can, but based on what we've seenso far they may not have a chance. The Xevo is a purpose designed racecar, the Tamiya M chassis cars are fun cars that we choose to race –and there's a big difference. So what do we do with them? Well, I can'thelp thinking that it would fit better against the 4WD Minis maybe? Ithas better grip than an M03/05, variable gearing, and the light weightas well would almost make it a perfect fit against an A210 or Genetic.Food for thought indeed.
Either way the people at Xevo have to be commended for thinkingoutside the square. They've come up with something truly unique and itshall remain a firm favourite with the rc-mini crew.
Things to watch out for....
Instruction No.1: the M3x6 going into the bulkhead attachingthe spur gear shaft should be a countersunk screw. The M3x10 screwsthat hold the blocks for the lower arms should be M3x6, there isn’tenough thread in the blocks for the M3x10 to actually tighten up.
Instruction No.2: again, the M3x10 screws that hold theblocks for the lower arms should be M3x6. Also, refer to the otherinstruction sheet with the plan (overhead) view of the chassis. Thisshows you that there are 3 holes on the rear bulkheads, you usedifferent holes depending on the wheelbase you require. If you want torun this as an M03L chassis then use the holes for the 225mm.
Instruction No.3: The 2 alloy tubes shown screwing to thechassis, these are only needed if you plan to mount your steering servovertical (like an M05 servo mount). If you want to mount your servohorizontal like on the M03 or various touring cars then you don’t needthese tubes. Instruction No.7: This is about the time you should beputting in 2x 1150 bearings and a diff of your choice – I used the TA03ball diff.
Instruction No.8: See the alloy shaft that holds the longidler gear? Well there is a spacer (supplied) that needs to go on thatshaft between the idler gear and the blue alloy bulkhead, otherwiseyour idler gear will have 5mm of side to side movement.
Instructions No.9 & 10: It can be difficult to hold thebody posts while screwing them, put a body clip (body pin) into one ofthe holes in the body posts, then grip that and the post with yourpliers, it makes it much easier.
Instruction No.11: WTF? This is a view from overhead lookingonto the top of the C-hub (the C-hub holds the knuckle). If you don’ttrim this off then the right angle FRP plates in step 12 won’t sitnicely against the C-hub.
Instruction No.12: There is nothing wrong with this picture.But, the right angle FRP plates need to have the edges trimmed down ifyou plan on using 4mm thick wheel hexes to narrow your front track,otherwise the inside edges of your tyre will rub on these FRP plateswhen you use full steering lock. You can always just assemble your carfirst then check if the tyres rub, if they do - get sanding!
Instruction No.13: Okay, I ignored this altogether. Instead Itook a pair of TRF- M chassis shocks with short yellow springs and lotsof preload and whacked them on there. For the rears I used TRF touringcar shocks with no internal spacers and long yellow springs … it workedfor me.
Instruction No.14: Shouldn’t this be part of instruction No.2? it would have made more sense.
Instruction No.15: I used the rear adjustable arms from anM03R, but I had to shave the inner edge of the ball cup by 1 or 2mm soI could get the 19mm dimension.For the 26mm, I ignored this and tookanother set of arms from an M03R and adjusted them until I had 2degrees of negative camber … for those of you who don’t have a cambergauge the measurement is 22.5mm from centre of hole to centre of hole.
Source: rc-mini.net
where to buy?
http://www.rcmart.com/catalog/rc-tl01ff01ff02m03-xevo-pid29808-conversion-m03m04m05-p-29808.html |
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