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MR03: ATM upper arm mount (w/ video)

TJ's picture
Posted Mon, 03/01/2010 - 10:52am by TJ

As most of the MR03 owners know, the upper arm has a little bit of play even after shimming it. Don't get me wrong, sometimes you want that little play so that the car doesn't feel too sensitive on the track. Right now, the MR03 and my Futaba 3PKs transmitter had changed my driving drastically. I feel to be as one with the car. As if I'm inside the car driving it and every little adjustment on the car is very noticeable when the car is on the track. I'm very happy with this MR03, my 3PK radio, new found race body  and these new parts from PN and Atomic...  


The Atomic upper arm, Part Number: MR3-017-W is very precise. Something most of the tuners like to have. By adding this, in combination with PN upper arm, the slop between the upper arm and upper arm mount was minimize to .1mm movement instead of .2-.4 (this is my rough estimate ) or maybe even more. This without having any type of binding issue and the PN blue shim inbetween is perfect!

My only concern about this Atomic mount is that, is weighs about .6 grams heavier than stock. Not bad considering that it is precision cut. Other thing to consider is that, the added weight in the front is right at the nose of the car. To compromise with all the weight added in the front, you may want to use your stock plastic front clip. As for me, my new found "race body" seemed to have a very nice weight in the rear. So, having weight in the front is a benefit to balance the weight distribution in the front/rear.

On the track, my car felt very stable and predictable. On the straight away, the car just shoots straight on wide open throttle and rounding off the corner is very precise! I can hold my lines better while on-power and the best part is that the car is not twitchy at all! This is one of those "must have" if you're running MR03! =) 

Mid last week, I was able to hit multiple fast laps of 9.22-9.28 with my PN70 turn motor. Just so most of you guys know, the average experts fast lap is 9.5. Some had hit 9.4s but with a USA motor... When I reached that time, I was running my race cells (R1 750) that was charged at 1.5 volts. When I put the battery pack on my car, it was still very warm. This is probably one of the reasons why I was able to hit those fast times. However, tonight is different story. I didn't do any changes to the car but the atomic cover/upper arm mount. As a matter of fact, I'm still using the same tires (front and rear) from the day I hit that 9.22. Tonight, I used my practice pack that was charged 4 hours before and my car was able to hit 9.3-9.5 all night!! It was actually stuck at 9.4 for the longest time and I was able to hit 9.27 and few more high 9.2's. What I'm saying is that, having this front end set up just made my car very consistent on a very tight line! I'm very happy to go home knowing that my car will be ready for the next race.

I would definitely recommend MR03 drivers to try this with their PN upper arm. 

Check out this video! This is it for now. Till next time!
 

-Tj Macabuhay