CENTER CHASSIS BRACE

for Associated TC3

 

This is how I made the modifications to my TC3. You will find many pictures of the different steps of the mod and the tools I used. This idea is not mine, a few manufacturers already do this center brace, I just wanted to do it myself.

Why do it?

Because the modifications for the battery placement and the one to install the NTC3 steering rack leaves the chassis a bit less rigid since so much material had to be removed. This brace gives back a lot of rigidity to the chassis.

Safety!

PROTECT YOUR EYES, WEAR A DUST MASK and take your time.

 

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MATERIALS NEEDED

The best material would be woven carbon fiber. Since I had a slab of thick G10 fiberglass lying around, I used that instead. You will need four 4-40 screws that are ¼¨ longer than the stock ones, two washers that are approximately 0,02¨ thick and four small spacers that are 0,10¨ thick.

THE TOOLS
This is most of the tools I used to do the braces (fig. 1 and 2). Some things are not in the picture like sandpaper, bench grinder and miscelanious stuff.

Figure 1

Figure 2

mod_tc3_centerbrace_outils.jpg (32098 bytes)

pressdrill.jpg (30060 bytes)

 

The brace is simple to do but you have to be precise in your measurements (fig. 3). I used a metal saw to roughly cut the brace out of the G10 slab, then I used a bench grinder to remove most of the unneeded material and finished the job on the pressdrill with drum sanders. The result looks like in fig. 4 but don't drill the hole for the antenna just yet.

Figure 3

Figure 4

mod_tc3_centerbrace3.jpg (24247 bytes)

mod_tc3_centerbrace4.jpg (8394 bytes)

  

I'm the kind of person who doesn't throw anything away. I found little plastic spacers in my parts box. I don't know what they're for but I decided to use them to secure the brace to the chassis. I used two 4-40 screws ¼¨ longer than the stock ones, two washers and two of the plastic spacers (fig. 5) for the back of the brace (fig.6). I used two 4-40 screws ¼¨ longer than the stock ones and two plastic spacers for the front of the brace (fig. 7).

Figure 5

 Figure 6 Figure 7
mod_tc3_centerbrace5.jpg (33566 bytes) mod_tc3_centerbrace6.jpg (10423 bytes) mod_tc3_centerbrace7.jpg (10522 bytes)

 

I installed the brace on the chassis and with a 3.1 mm drill bit, I made the hole in the brace for the antenna. I went from the underside of the chassis, sticking the bit in the existing hole for the antenna (fig. 8) which served as a guide to drill the brace (fig. 9).
Figure 8 Figure 9
mod_tc3_centerbrace8.jpg (27631 bytes) mod_tc3_centerbrace9.jpg (35242 bytes)

 

With the side braces and the center brace installed, the chassis is very rigid. I have big strong hands and I can barely twist the chassis. I finished the mod by making some holes on the center brace to make it lighter.
Figure 10
mod_tc3_sidebrace_fini.jpg (20475 bytes)

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