Time to Fire it Up!!!

I have been waiting over a month for the weather to improve and the time to break in the Mad Force. Finally this weekend, January 19th, I was able to do just that.

My Carb settings where a little different since I have the optional larger 8mm carb verses the stock 7mm carb. Once I had the settings dialed in the engine roared to life. The sound of a .21 still impresses me verses a .12.

I turned on my on-board Venom temperature monitor, primed the fuel line, attached the glow igniter, grabbed the pull cord and gave it a few tugs… The motor came to life. After making a few adjustments with the idle screw I set it on the ground and started the breaking.

Mad Times with the Mad Force

Running the engine so rich that some raw fuel was being spewed out but the keeping the engine running without pre-detonation I gave her some throttle and she took off. Once every minute I brought it in to check the engine temp and I could not believe that it was running only 231°. Not only was it running cooler than my .15's and .12's it was smooth and had enough power, as rich as I had it set, to pull the front wheel from the ground with only moderate throttle.

The gear changes were smooth and the speed was absolutely amazing! The brakes worked perfectly and brought the truck to a controlled stop every time.

On my third tank, (after every tank I would let the engine cool and tweak the high speed needle a tad), I decided that with so much power at low to mid throttle I would see how the truck handles.

Whether on cement, grass, or dirt the truck handled very well. Currently I am running 8 shocks with 8 soft yellow springs… The truck was a little bouncy and I am sure that 4 shocks are plenty… But 8 of them just looks too cool.

I took the truck off several jumps ranging from 3" to 4' and never had any problems landing it. The Mad Force is surprisingly stable… More so than some Clods and TXT's I have raced. What was most fun was pulling a wheelie and keeping it going for a block… Oh yes this is my most favorite truck.

Problems

As with most of my models when first built and tested I did run in to a few bugs. All, but one, were related to the New Era parts.

The only issue I had with the Kyosho stock parts was with the nuts, which secured the 2-link system to the chassis. Even with thread-lock two of the nuts vibrated off. So I simply replaced them with lock-nuts.

The New Era bumpers and servo mounts were a disaster though… They looked great and operated very well. Steering was tight and there was no play. However, the bumpers and servo mounts came pre-assembled, and I did check the screw to see that they were tight. But after my second run the steering got real sloppy, much like when you strip a servo horn.

I brought the truck in and saw that one screw that secured the servo mount to the bumper had backed all the way out and fell off and the other was soon to follow. And to add insult to injury, the 4 screws holding the mounting plate to the bumper tubes had backed out with one of them falling off somewhere. What really gets me is that the screws are all very short.

So I found a few extras, thread-Loc'd them, and cranked them down… That did the trick.

I ran a couple more tanks through the truck and had some more fun, now that I was getting a feel for the truck.

I did notice that the truck can launch off of a 2 inch bump with a 45° incline and if not careful it will do a backwards flip… Yes, I landed right on the pretty orange cooling head and not only shaved off my protective zip-ties… I shaved off some orange aluminum.

My Crystal Ball…

Soon I will be adding the New Era extended side frames, as well as removing the rear New Era bumper since I have decided against 4-wheel steering. I drove the Mad Force through one tank with the 4WS and it was just too unstable for the torque and speed for my tasted. However, the turning radius and donuts on dry pavement were tight.

After the New Era extended side plates, I will also try the Kippster Racing Maxx wheel adapters and some Imex Jumbo Chrome Sayville rims with the aggressive treaded Swamp Dawg tires. They may not be the best tread for certain applications, but they are filthy… as my son would say.

Pursuant to the truck's ability to go shiny side up if the pilot is not paying attention, a full cage is definitely in this truck's future.

Lastly I will search high and low for a rear exhaust system that delivers the same if not better performance than the New Era header and pipe. I hate having all that oily exhaust covering my rear wheel and the looks of having a long tube redirecting it from the stinger are not an option.

Likes/Dislikes

On the Mad Force… I love the feel, handling characteristics, and ominous look that the truck has. Even the cost is reasonable.

I dislike the stock steering set-up as well as the flexing in the 2-link arms. They should have addressed that before distribution. However, with several different fixes available this issue can be corrected.

I also hate the fact that I have to have a wheelie bar. It is ugly; no matter which one you buy, and destroys the aggressive lines that the chassis does have. As I said before… Wheelie bars are for drag strips not monster trucks.

Lastly, as far as Kyosho parts and design go, the route of the exhaust has to be changed. No matter which deflector I use the exhaust gets all over the rear tire. Hopefully, CVEC will come out with a rear exhaust system as they did with the T-Maxx.

Regarding New Era parts… While I like most of New Era's products, their quality control has never been very impressive. I strongly urge you to THREAD-LOC everything. If a part comes to you assembled… disassemble it and put it together correctly with THREAD-LOC.

More to come in the following months as I try different things from parts to settings…

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