Yokomo YZ-2 CAL3.1 Build

Yokomo YZ-2 CAL3.1 Build

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squareflops

Original Poster:

1,820 posts

183 months

Saturday 7th October 2023
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I've been into crawlers/crawling for a few years now and have a pretty nicely built Axial Gladiator. Haven't done much recently with the hobby but recently for my sons birthday I picked him up a relatively cheap WLToys 104002





whilst prepping it in the evenings the week before his (3rd) birthday I found I got a huge amount of satisfaction from adjusting the turnbuckles for camber and toe, setting the correct gap between the spur and pinion, rebuilding and oiling the shocks, removing and greasing the diffs correctly and making a few tweaks to the electronics by fitting a Flysky BS6 receiver and mating it to my FS GT5 transmitter.

This got me to thinking about taking this a step further and giving myself an autumn / winter hobby while the nights draw in and my evenings are (sort of) free.

I started watching videos on YT surrounding 1/10th scale 2wd buggy racing and thought this could about right for a project / new interest. A look on FB found COBRA; a race club in Cardiff which isn't too far away and a quick message to them confirmed they have a 10th 2wd class (of course). Now I had to start researching which buggy would be the one for me. It seems there isn't a huge amount of choice which is good as the popular models tend to be used often which translates in to parts / knowledge support.

The choices were the Team Associated RC10B, the Schumacher LD2/3, TLR 22 and the Yokomo YZ-2 CAL3.1. I looked at LC Racing but they don't do anything in the 10th 2wd class that I could see.

I settled on the Yokomo for a few reasons

1. It looks super cool (as most of them do)
2. I like the fact that it's Japanese designed / made
3. Good parts support in the UK predominantly it seems from MB Models in Leeds.
4. A known quantity and raced at the local club (this is important as I DO NOT HAVE A CLUE on how to set the thing up)

The above coupled with MB Models knocking the price down just as I was looking from £350 to £199.99 made it too tempting to pass up so put an order in.

I was initially going to purchase the much cheaper RO (Rookie) 1.0 kit with majority plastic parts and a more simple chassis etc which is RRP @ £199.99 but when the far more advanced YZ-2 came in at the same price I couldn't ignore it. Would I have been better off with the RO 1.0 for my introduction to carpet racing? Yes. In my opinion the pre built nature of the RO buggy and the lower performance would have got me racing with far less work involved to get there as well as lower expectations as it's more a 'newb' entry and therefore the stakes would be lower. What I've effectively done is started my first race season ever in F1 rather than go-karts. I'm now in the leagues of Mr All the gear no idea showing up with my 17 times world champion winning buggy and not being able to make the first turn. It is what it is in regard to this, I have no illusions of TQs or A finals and am doing this simply for fun. The build is going to be a challenge though as is all aspects of this hobby I think until I get on my feet with it!

So the kit itself











The box is lovely, the parts bags (stick with me here) feel premium, the chassis is a work of art that I've held and wondered at for at least 10 minutes. The manual, stickers and hop ups brochure are all beautiful in bilingual Japanese / English. It's a mesmerising and daunting kit for me in equal measure.

of course the kit is only 40% of the story. I still need motor & esc, servo, lipos, wheels and tyres, mylaps transponder, paint and a host of tools and accessories to actually build the thing.

Now from this strong start of - buying the bare bones this won't be a quick fire / tour de force of build updates and look at my new shiny thing! posts. This thing could potentially take me a few months to build as I don't have the time/ resources to go and spend another £500 odd on bits to make it work etc at the moment. I'll update when I can but even having a space to build it where I can leave it out without fear of a 3 year old coming along and casting 1mm washers and tiny hardware to the 4 corners of the known universe isn't guaranteed yet.

What motor & esc combo do I go for? I don't know. What pinion do I run? I don't know. Which holes do all the shocks, camber, toe, roll centre, bump steer bobbins go into? I don't know. Thankfully there are people on the internet and in COBRA that do seem to know so I'll be relying on those resources throughout the build.

That's all I've got to say about that at the moment. I'm popping down to COBRA as they're racing tomorrow to have a first chat and get some steer on the build. I'll update when I know a little more

Edited by squareflops on Tuesday 17th October 10:45

squareflops

Original Poster:

1,820 posts

183 months

Sunday 8th October 2023
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So popped along to the meet this morning. I came away and on reflection with mixed feelings about the sport and me diving into it.

The people I spoke to there were very pleasant, welcoming and knowledgable first off. Great bunch and even grabbed one blokes number who was at his first ever event there, he’d just smashed up the front end of his LD2 so had a bit of time to talk hehe

My mixed feeling are as follows, i’ll split into

pros:

welcoming bunch
the track and racing looks good

cons: (not cons but the not ideal points)

limited access to the track (1 sunday fortnightly)
no real opportunity to practice, it’s turn up and race
prep / gear required
travelling to Cardiff (35 mins) and giving up a Sunday

To expand on the above, it overall looks like fun, Im not massively competitive but it seemed there were all skill levels there and the vibe was relatively chilled so i’m happy to get up there and start getting in people’s way.

The downsides generally for me would be the lack of practice time. Id like to throw the buggy down and rip around for a few packs worth of time getting used to the buggy and making changes etc. The race director noted that doesn’t really happen and experienced or new it’s qualify out the gates then race.

The fortnightly schedule doesn’t allow for much actual carpet time. What id like ideally is a carpet track 5 mins away that was 24 hour and I could whizz around until i was bored and then race when i’m happy with the setup of the car. Obviously that’s not very likely to happen for anyone but this seems to be at the other end of the scale. No one’s fault i’m sure it’s just venue restraints etc, so doubt that hall is cheap to rent out etc.

The prep and setup is quite involved. Everyone there had a picnic type table, camping chair, mains lipo charger, car stand, full set of tools / spares, food for the day, big bags to carry it all in etc. If i’m going down by myself I don’t really have the resource to cart that lot along.

Despite that i’m going to give it a go. I get 3 free rounds before I have to sign up to the org. (BRCA maybe) at about £30 a year. The lad whose number I got dropped me a message kindly stating he hopes I decide to go as we’re both at a similar level which was nice.

Good visit overall and will have to suck it and see!

Whilst I was there the owner of L&L Models Lee made time to have a good chat and answer most of my questions, top bloke. He’s given me lots of info / advice on parts and of course can supply them. I bought a servo off him as it will be good to have during the front end build as it gets fitted quite early on



The other kit i’ve more or less settled on is as follows

ZTW Beast Pro G2 160A ESC Bluetooth Competition Speed Controller 2S sensored

SkyRC ARES Pro V2.1 Modified Motor 10.5T Part number: SK-400003-67

Intellect LiPo LiHV 4400mAh 2S 18.5mm Shorty 7.6v IPLP2S4400PT2

About £260 worth there which isn’t too bad imo, the ESC is a peach and allows for full adjustability (they don’t really do a stock class only mod) via bluetooth and will grow with me if I do stay in the sport long term.

There’s ancillaries like wheels/tyres, paint for the body etc but I think i’ll be all in for the build complete around or under £600. A lot of money but not horrific.



Edited by squareflops on Sunday 8th October 19:19

roly79

34 posts

101 months

Sunday 8th October 2023
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Sounds like you have a good competitive setup there to have fun and thats the key.
Dont worry about setup until you can race for 5 minutes without crashing (pretty difficult at race speed).
Just build it to kit carpet setup. You can change your driving style nearly as much as you can change the car.
Ask one of the racers to give your car a quick once over to check the build
I would advise getting the throttle setup nice and soft and progressive either via the esc or Radio when you start 2wd buggy are very throttle sensitive.
This can be done with punch settings on the esc or Expo throttle curve on the radio (bit more complicated)
Your travel time is not bad for RC tbh, it is great fun and as you get better and start racing people of a similar level it is very addictive.

the outdoor season is great as well although not sure where your nearest track is. Have fun

squareflops

Original Poster:

1,820 posts

183 months

Monday 9th October 2023
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Agree bud, the whole point of this is to have fun, if I'm getting stressed with any aspect of it I'm doing it wrong. The consensus yesterday was the YZ-2 is a good base to start from as it will grow with me rather than being limited in performance like the RO might be as skill level (potentially) improves.

Will get it checked over, few of the boys down there run Yokomo so they can cast their expert eye over it. I've had a good play around with expo settings etc with the crawlers so have a little background knowledge, will be starting from scratch again with this no doubt though.

Outdoor isn't something I'd considered looking at, I'll need to buy a DTM (dirt spec) YZ-2 for that!

roly79

34 posts

101 months

Monday 9th October 2023
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Your Carpet Spec will run fine outdoors I do pretty well with my carpet spec with minimal changes for outdoors.
A lot of people talk alot about setups and the latest kit because they enjoy that side of it. I try to tune this out as I enjoy the actual racing more than the tinkering and dont enjoy spending loads of cash.

95% of setup is using the right tyres, these will either be a nominated control tyre (Cactus indoor ?) or copy what the quick boys are using.

If you have a bit of space in your house well worth giving it a small low speed test run, this will get you used to the throttle control and steering and what various settings do related to these. I do this on my wooden kitchen floor and reckon i have learnt as much doing this as at the track.

You can also set your Steering Trim and your Steering endpoints before you go anywhere near the track by quick test run at home. This saves wasting time at the track which as you say is pretty limited.

Hopefully you will enjoy it I used to race as a kid and got back into it during Covid as realised needed new hobby that my body could cope with as getting older. Have really enjoyed it probably as much as when i was young. was hoping to do a COBRA at some point but its about 2h30 for me so maybe a bit far for a day trip

squareflops

Original Poster:

1,820 posts

183 months

Tuesday 10th October 2023
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Re the outdoor tracks that's good to know bud. Yea agree I've read threads etc where people are swearing all the hop-ups are needed and you can't race without X upgrade. This buggy is like the starship enterprise out the box compared to most things so I'm trying to ignore the hype over upgraded parts etc. I haven't go the money for them if nothing else!

Yea cactus I believe in yellow and cut staggers up front seems to be favourite, I'll be going with whatever is recommended.

The house isn't really big enough unfortunately but will give it a go, at least to set end points etc as you say.

I've been looking at tools yesterday evening, realised Yokomo (shiny things!) make hex and nut drivers at not insane prices, I have a cheaper driver kit that I use for the Crawler but want new tips etc for this build, that's another £50 just in tools yuck

Glad you're enjoying it bud, what and where do you race? Be good to see your setup! I've been looking at Midlands Raceway as a perm venue to go and have a play on at some point, something to make a day of! Hopefully you can get to COBRA at some point bud.

roly79

34 posts

101 months

Tuesday 10th October 2023
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I race down in the SW and will be doing the Torquay Winter carpet king series. I race Xray 2017 2wd buggy carpet spec (second hand). I managed top 10 overalll this year at our outdoor Regional championships so your new Yokomo won't hold you back !.
The designs of the Xray and Yokomo are very similar I believe with diff etc interchangeable

Regarding tools I have been really happy with my Wera Allen keys off Amazon 2mm and 1.5mm they are pretty cheap compared to the RC brands. Only recently did I buy the MIP 2mm Allen (This is the posh expensive brand many use). Only bought this as it is the most common size used. For your Nut drivers pretty sure you could get something a bit cheap and cheerful. They don't really strip and the nuts are pretty much all in easy access places. I just use old ones out my garage and don't feel an upgrade required for these.

Keep your eye out on Rcbay on Fb or just ebay for tools greases oils etc. Alot of people will flip flop brands and sell stuff off.

I have raced at Midlands Raceway a few times which is a great venue, my family live nearby so whenever I'm visiting the buggy Goes in the car and me and my old man have a night racing like the old days haha.

If you feel the need to travel Swindon and Mendip both run outdoor over the Winter. Swindon is brand new astro and grippy so your carpet setup would be fine for that in the dry. Mendip is more lumpy bumpy but again great location and fun tracks. All will be happy to help new racers.


squareflops

Original Poster:

1,820 posts

183 months

Tuesday 10th October 2023
quotequote all
Goo to hear that the non-current buggies can still be competitive! I think it will mostly come down to whether I can get it around the track in one piece as you mentioned in an earlier post, I doubt I'll be pushing the buggies capabilities for a while.

Ive seen the MIP stuff, lovely isn't it. I'd love to be able to drop £300 ish on a whole MIP/Hudy kit! I was looking at the Wera stuff too for nut drivers, as you say there's no real stress on those. The 1.5/2.0mm Yokomo hex and 5.5/7.0mm nut drivers come as a kit for about £27, not cheap but for the 4 I think I'll stump up.

Will set up a few searches for stuff, always good to pick up a bargain. Although I am looking at a Yokomo body reemer, £20! yikes

Cool cheer for the recommendations, I can see me being happy to travel at least a few times a year. I just need to get building now!

dom9

8,079 posts

209 months

Tuesday 10th October 2023
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Saw that deal at MB models and kept looking everyday... until they sold out!

Really need to get back to the track in the next year!

Interested to follow your journey!

squareflops

Original Poster:

1,820 posts

183 months

Wednesday 11th October 2023
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I bottled straight away and hit buy now biglaugh If you do get one drop a thread, there's a huge shortage of 1/10 comp buggy builds on here!

I was going to get the build started today but looking at my crawler tools the tips on the hexs weren't looking the best. I'll hold off until the Team Yokomo ones arrive, itching now to get started!

dom9

8,079 posts

209 months

Wednesday 11th October 2023
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squareflops said:
I bottled straight away and hit buy now biglaugh If you do get one drop a thread, there's a huge shortage of 1/10 comp buggy builds on here!

I was going to get the build started today but looking at my crawler tools the tips on the hexs weren't looking the best. I'll hold off until the Team Yokomo ones arrive, itching now to get started!
I really, really didn't need one, it just seemed such a good deal! With something like ten/twelve 1/0th 2wd buggies (I'm sure I listed them on another thread but picked another one up since then) that could all do with going through, in the garage, I didn't need another project! I even have a built Schumacher LD, which has never ran or seen electronics!

I've always worked on the basis you don't need the latest tech to have fun/be competitive. As long as you have LiPos and brushless motors, you'll be fine. The cost of tyres does start to stack up though! Will get rebuilding over Christmas, maybe, when I have shifted some of the collection to make the task seem less intimidating!

Edited to add: The XB2C deal they have at the moment is also pretty good, if you were looking to jump straight into a competitive car: https://www.rccarshop.co.uk/XR320013-XRAY-XB2C-23-...

Double edit: Oh! The YZ-2 Cal 3.1 is back ins tock at your price, so still a belting deal: https://www.rccarshop.co.uk/B-YZ2CAL31-1-Yokomo-YZ...

Hmmmm...

Edited by dom9 on Wednesday 11th October 14:46

squareflops

Original Poster:

1,820 posts

183 months

Wednesday 11th October 2023
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Ah yea really doesn't seem like you need another one bud!

I've been looking at tyre choices and look forward to having a good stock to choose from. Also been looking at the Yokomo hauler, that's a lovely thing for race days but £200, crikey.. Who'd have thought this hobby could get expensive hehe

I don't like spending money without recouping it somehow so I've just sold the private reg off my Boxster to even out the RC spending nerd I bought it with the private plate on it and never really liked them so the imminent spend on electronics gave me the push to get rid of it.

That Xray looks lovely! Can see me potentially picking another one up if I enjoy this build! Not sure what I'll have to sell to find that one..

roly79

34 posts

101 months

Wednesday 11th October 2023
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You can very easily get carried away but just stick to the basics until you decide you might want to go further.
Your car and electronics could quite easily make an A final.
Nothing wrong with Lidl toolboxes etc. As said above tyres can get silly but as a beginner you will save on tyre wear when the buggy is upside down lol. Alot of the top guys will toss tyres that are perfectly usable away so keep a keen eye out for that.
Also when they are a bit worn down it helps slow things down a little and gives practice sliding the car around which helps your skill level. Make sure you glue them on well though, carpet racing puts a lot of strain on the tyre walls and if it ain't super glued on they will be off.

Probably worth limiting your Top speed a little at first on the radio also, easy to damage things hitting something at speed or if in the beginner heat somebody hitting you. What gearing did you get for your 10.5 ? Great motor to start with and again will still be competitive until real top level

squareflops

Original Poster:

1,820 posts

183 months

Thursday 12th October 2023
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Trying to stick to the basics, I'm currently being influenced by Ryan Harris from YT, may have a made an essential purchase last night that I didn't know I needed until I had the soft sell on the internet. I'll do a dramatic picture reveal when it all arrives.

roly79 said:
Your car and electronics could quite easily make an A final
That's good to know, the same may never be able to be said about the pilot wobble

Good to know on the tyres. I'll loiter around the pits and see if anythings going begging. I heard a recommendation for Loctite 406 for tyre glueing as apparently better than super glue, who knows...

Yea I'll be running stock for a while I think as you say the last thing I want to do is stack it, I'd be devastated as I get propery attached to inanimate objects ha. Re pinion I have no idea really, I think 20-22t is in the right ball park, I was gonna ask!

roly79

34 posts

101 months

Thursday 12th October 2023
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Regarding Pinion for a 10.5T with an 80T spur and 2.6 internal gear ratio
I reckon about a 24T-26T............For lower turn motors 6.5T etc 20-22T would be about right. You are aiming for roughly an FDR of 8 although could go lower as more speed required there are calcs and tables online about FDR (final drive ratio)

Spend some time getting the mesh right so you can just hear a small tap/click between the gears and make sure the grub screw is on the flat part of the motor output.

Not sure on superglue I just buy what's cheap on amazon but tbf most of the model shops do there own mix which are normally well priced

squareflops

Original Poster:

1,820 posts

183 months

Friday 13th October 2023
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Cheers for the info Roly appreciate it, took a while to accumulate that knowledge no doubt! I haven’t ordered anything yet but think i’ll order the electronic from L&L before the next COBRA event and get said pinion gear then.

Received some stuff to help the build go smoothly so hoping to start tomorrow





These are 1.5mm, 2.0mm hex and 5.5mm, 7.0mm nut drivers, the sizes used for this kit. It’s almost as if Yokomo put together a set to accommodate this..

And lastly something to help me see what i’m doing. My eyesight is pretty good but the lighting in my dining room as awful so this should help. £20 off Amazon seemed fair



Edited by squareflops on Friday 13th October 17:20

nigelpugh7

6,039 posts

190 months

Saturday 14th October 2023
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Assume you read my build on my associated RC10 bud.

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

Really must update it!

squareflops

Original Poster:

1,820 posts

183 months

Sunday 15th October 2023
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Well started the build at 10 this morning, probably stopped for 2 hours total throughout the day and just finished wobble fair play that was a mission, thoroughly enjoyable though. What a great kit so far.

Will do a proper update later, let’s get 3 hours sleep frown

squareflops

Original Poster:

1,820 posts

183 months

Sunday 15th October 2023
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Build done up to slider status then. An incredible amount of work has gone into this already. Looking at the car as it sits it hard to equate how it looks to the effort put in. Some guys online have said they can build these in 4 hours and not refer to the manual, lies! biglaugh

Having watched the Hearns Hobbies build series on this kit (well the DTM) I got to it. I’d picked up some good advice such as greasing the plastics before putting the fasteners in, they go in a lot nicer and will come out more easily if needs be. This extra step took a huge amount more time as well as wiping any excess off the outside of the plastic to ensure no dirt / grime collected in those greasy spots. I had constant FOMH (fear of missing hardware). A few times I couldn’t find a screw / link end or whatever and came to a complete halt thinking I wouldn’t be able to finish the kit but a little searching always sorted the issue. I’ve got quite a few fasteners left over in the 24 or so bags (hopefully as extras rather than missed steps!)

The kit went together beautifully and I was consistently impressed by the quality, fit and finish of the components, it’s a work of art in some places.

A few pics from beginning to end















Have dropped L&L Models a msg to pick up all the go fast bits and will pick those up on the 22nd at the next race event.

dom9

8,079 posts

209 months

Sunday 15th October 2023
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There's something so satisfying about a new built car... I think the engineering is stunning and the minute you race, it'll never look so fresh and so clean again biggrin