Tonight I continued the build of my D819 that arrived yesterday. The car is starting to take up the shape of an actual 1/8 buggy now following tonight’s progress ??
Bag F – Front End; Arms, Bulk Head, Shock Tower, Caster Blocks and more!
Bigger pinion!! 
Pin & Clip close up 
2.2mm front anti roll bar 
Arial View
Bag F was by far the biggest bag of the build so far. It contained 7 smaller bags and by the time we reach bag F7, we will have a fully build front end ❤️
Some points worth mentioning –
- Anti roll bar – the kit ships with 2.4mm but I have changed this out for the 2.2mm option.
- Pinion gear – the size of it! It’s big, feels solid and looks like it is going to be pretty awesome!
- Diff shims – after some deliberation and a chat with some of the team, it felt better/smoother to shim the diff away from the pinion (as opposed to one shim either side as per manual) – two shims pushing it away, none pushing it towards the diff. Likely to change when the car is run for a day.
- Bulk head bearing carrier – I haven’t seen this before – a metal insert. It was so tight (so much so I had to remove the finest fraction on the cut out to fit it), but once in place, it felt like it’s a brilliant help for that bearing – same for the other side, only smaller insert.
- Plastics – I’ve noticed on a few occasions how tight the plastic composite is – when screwing screws in they are really getting in there! Feels fantastic.
- The clip! – no more grub screw connecting the centre driveshaft to the pinion! I cannot wait to see how reliable this pin and clip design is.
- Carbon steering plates – a pretty cool addition to ship as a standard part with the kit.
Bag G – Steering Assembly
My only real comment here right now is, my word that servo saver nut was ridiculously tight. Ridiculous!! But all is good and the steering assembly is fitted.
I had to call on a nail file from Jemma (my wife) to remove the smallest graze of plastic off the plastic arm that joins the ackerman as it was ever so slightly catching on the bulk head casing.
Once this was all completed, it was the full front end** of the car completed (with the exception of the shocks).
** Tangent – I split the car into 3 sections in my head when completing maintenance/rebuilds
- Front
- Centre (includes the fuel tank, engine and radio tray)
- Rear
Bag H –
Metal bearing holder outer 
Metal bearing holder inner 
Starting to take shape 
Kit roll bar fitted – 2.6mm 
I like the subtle orange/black contrast 
Long rear links
Bag I – Shock Installation
Bag J – Fuel Tank
Look at those finger prints!
Bag K – Air filer, flywheel and clutch kit
XTR oil 
Kit 3-shoe clutch 
13t clutch bell 
❤️ 
Getting there!
Bag L – Radio Tray & Linkages
Servos added, and pink Blutac and double sided ‘no more nails’ to keep everything together and in place!
This is one of the easiest radio trays I’ve built. Extremely straight forward and a one piece box.
Linkages were their normal futtery selves. Manual is well laid out. Plastic servo horn is still to be swapped out for my metal Answer RC one arm horn.
Bag M – Wing
6.5mm holes. Snug 
Completed – Final picture
