3.5 mm offset steering block vs. standard

Q:

Do you use the 3.5 offset front steering or the stock ?  What are the steering dynamics of both?  Sorry for all of the questions, with all of the testing you've done, no sense duplicating what knowledge is already available!

A:

I have run the 3.5 arms, and if the track is small or has a lot of 180's, it's not going to steer enough.  I tried it last winter at a couple tracks, after a friend started running it.  The deal is if you are a good driver, you will want the steering from the regular arms.  The car is calmed down, but mid corner out there is nothing.  On a 103, the twichiness can be relieved with a slightly tilted t bar (like anti squat, front screw, .5mm spacer, rear oring + a spacer, or just a couple .030 nylon washers for hi traction), and 2 orings where the upper deck hits the servo mounts.  However, see below for the best idea.

The stock arms with the regular front end will be twitchy, generally.  The biggest thing you can do to make it easier to drive would be to add either a .5 or 1mm shim to the front end on the forward mounting bolt, so that the whole front end gets a bit more kickup/caster.  I take the front bolt out and loosen the rear a bit, and slide the shim between the top of the wing and the bottom of the front end, in the "wing slot" part.   Instantly more driveable, and a bit more useable steering as well.  Before this, my car would do the "F1 shuffle", where the rear end breaks loose a little bit mid corner.  Now it rolls through the corner at speed. 

This is all foam tire stuff though. 

ROb