The Serpent 733 build review

Last Updated on Monday, 12 October 2009 07:10 Written by SlowSteady Tuesday, 18 August 2009 00:00

I was really looking forward to this new kit from Serpent. I had a sneaky look at the CAD drawings way back when and the waiting was agony. I also realised that they were old and that further modifications were due however I was excited by the new ideas that Serpent had in mind for the car.

Disaster struck everyone some time late last year when the so called "masters of the world" finally learned that lending money they don't really have to individuals they know cannot possibly repay the loans to buy bricks and mortars 20 times their worth. Serpent had to act and re-organise to survive. Leaving a skeleton team in The Netherlands for design and Marketing while manufacuring was moved to China. I became even more anxious then - will the kit be up to standard? Will the design be compromised by the dismal economic state of affairs? Well, find out by clicking Read More below ...

How fitting, I just came back from a week's break in Holland and it's time to continue with the 733 build. Actually we went to Amsterdam where the people are tall and huge but the ladies do look graceful on their bikes. Everyone bikes in Amsterdam and very few own cars. Houses are slim width-wise and tall, rooms are small and yes, they still do "go Dutch" but they have a great sense of humour.

This habit of being thrifty shows in these economic times. The Dutch seem calm, serene and not a worry in the world as far as the economic crisis is concerned. Why should they? Their banks prudent, they don't like "plastic" money and they don't buy huge houses or fancy cars. They eat what they need, they don't practise gluttony and you better look after your cash-flow because you have to pay for everything, and I mean everything.

OK, we digress but before that I would end on the note that Amsterdam is one of the most accesible city I have ever visited - useful to know if you are wheelchair bound. It is also full of culture, history and yet modern with over 170 nationalities (according to the hotel concierge) living in the city. Righto, time to get back to the build review. I started by saying "how fitting". I could not take my mind off my 733 kit the whole week I was in Amsterdam. I saw (and heard) similarities. The 733 is a Serpent and it is based in Holland. The orange look is a relfection of the Dutch football team colours, they nearly trashed England on the Wednesday we were in Amsterdam too.

There is a sense of minimalists, sparseness and the 733's rear end is definitely bare-open, sparse. The kit too. Gone are the clutch-nut adjustment tool, the pinion tools, the spur gear remover, the fuel tank nipple installer that used to come in Serpent kits. Hell, even the documentation was "sparse" - not all labels are there in the diagrams, gone are the blank set-up sheets, standard set-up sheets, the gear ratio chart and the set-up guide booklet. The manual combined with the 733 Parts List and the Reference Guide saving 2 sets of covers among them but what upsets me the most are the missing stickers!

(Click on the thumbnails below to zoom in to the larger versions)

Oh yeah, I bought this kit so I'm not going to be biased and get accused again that I'm too much of a Serpent fan. You'll get MY version of the review right here now.

Errr, one other thing, to my ears they sound German when they speak Dutch - the 733 was designed in Holland but it was designed by a German after a Dutch (Michael Salven after Rene left to pursue other interests at EDAM), this was what I meant by similarities seen or heard while I was in Holland. How fitting!

So, what else is missing or not so good? I think going from a full set of foam tyres, then just the wheels and now to nothing at all is just fine. No one ever liked the foams that came with the 705 or the 710 and I have 3 sets of those bright yellow rims that came with the 720 kit. Why would I need more of these?

Even the missing tools are fine because I must have 4 sets of them and yes, they do fit the 733 bits and pieces but please, I'll say it again, no matter how rushed, no matter how quick Serpent may have wanted to release the kits, the stickers HAVE to be in them! These are your free advertising aren't they?

Please don't blame it on the new Chinese factory or your new QC guy over there either because this isn't good enough. Last but not least, the center bodypost does not fit into the front shock tower - I had to trim the bit that was supposed to slot into a hole.

Now that I've got all the annoying bits out of the way, let's go to the good parts and a couple of tips from the build. First I would like to go on record and say that Serpent have managed a miracle here to release this 733. Don't forget that they had to move their factory only late last year. With the design team in Holland, manufacturing in China and everything else coming in between one airport to another, this has been a great feat and it is in my opnion a success. And don't you guys mock at the "Manufactured in China" label on the box either because the kit is superbly finished, the screws made of high-quality steel, the plastic bits solid plus the spring-steel parts and the aluminium parts (plenty of them) ensure that you will never need another hop-up for this car.

I've read on RCTech that the aluminium front and rear bulkheads have burrs in them. Maybe I got lucky because mine did not have these and the aluminium parts all fell into place and fit perfectly throughout the build. To my surprise, the rear aluminium bulkheads lined up so well that the rear drive shaft just slides in without any effort required.

Serpent have also used the larger M4x10 allen screws for the front droop adjustments - an improvement over previous kits definitely. The smaller M3 ones used to dig into the plastic or aluminium droop stops. In the rear though it is still those M3s unfortunately.

TIP: Download and print the Serpent stock setup sheet. The manual does not tell you which silicone oil to use in the front diff but the set-up sheet does. If you're an experienced racer you'll probably assume that the right one to use is the 80,000 cst is for the front while the 30,000 cst is for the rear - and you'd be correct.

The 733 features a wire-type from anti-roll bar and it is well designed, giving zero play when moved. It is mounted on two ball-bearings which fit into the front bulkhead, the system will be solid and very functional. Fine adjustments of droop later will also be very easy compared to using the old blade-type anti-roll bars.

Another new feature are the spring-loaded brake pads. The brake pads themselves are very high quality "team" versions. The brake system is now a pair of ventilated discs and sandwiched between them is the "ninja star" spacer that will ensure your brake stays cool under use and does not fade.

Incidentally, when I first saw the beautifully etched Serpent logo on the bottom of the chassis, I thought "how silly, if it's that beautiful why don't they etch it on the top side". Well, turns out that while parts of the car might look quite bare, the top of the chassis is almost completely occupied. Only a very small area of the chassis can be seen in the rear of the car.

The top deck radio tray is a compact design and very well thought out. The whole thing is self contained, holding your tank, servos, Rx, transponder and detaches easily from the chassis. This is because the hold-down allen screw for the exhaust wire is easily assessible from the top, the steering servo linkage is also on top and rollover handle was designed in such a way that it does not get in the way of the two rear screws.These used to be the things that took time to undo when removing the top deck on the 705/710/720.

Oh and by the way, the radio tray sits pretty low but it measures 31.5mm from the bottom of the chassis to the top of the deck which is exactly the same as the XRay NT1. This means theTM G4S still wins at 30.5mm - made possible by the fact it is the only model to use a layed-down throttle servo - see the comparisons here.

Servo installation is so easy now compared to any other models that I've built regardless of manufacturer. The main thing here is that they just fit (I tried a Sanwa pair as well as a Futaba pair), all you need to do is ensure that the lugs at the other end of the 4 screws for each servo go in the right orientation. They fall into place and then the screws just goes. This kit is heaven to build!

TIP: Now is probably a good time to switch on, align the steering servo and install the steering horn. The screw that holds the horn onto the servo will not be easily accessible once you've installed the radio tray top deck into place.

The rest of Bag 10 (tank) went together easily but I did have to use a Vernier to ensure that I did not mix up between the M5 and M6 screws. The M5 ones are for the transponder and if you get this wrong you'll destroy your tank!

TIP: I deviated from the instructions at this point by installing the tank BEFORE the battery. This is so that I can align the battery as close to the tank as possible and guarantees that it will not touch the side belt at all later. As you can see in the pictures, this was a good move - I have plety of clearance after doing it this way!

I love this new 733, the roll-over handle bar now has a slot for the tank's cable tie to slot in and go to the back of the car. There's also a couple of convenient slots in the rear shock tower for this. The transponder underneath the tank is a nice touch. Makes the wiring look so tidy and with the opening in the chassis, ensure that the transponder will be as close to the wires detecting its signal come race time and should you forget your number, it is easily visible.

The side belt tensioner fitted perfectly for me. This is probably because my kit came with Pro belts instead of the orange ones. Apparently with orange belts, you will need to install the belt tensioner upside down (i.e. below the carbon radio tray) to ensure that you're able to put enough tension on it.

Next the RCC shocks which remain a joy to prepare and use. All you need to do is fill it up with the silicone oil included with the kit. Superb quality, almost foolproof and Serpent have ironed out the cross-threading issue with the first batch years ago.

The 2-speed is the same as previous Serpent kits. Why change? This thing is bullet-proof and incredibly reliable. The spurs though are of better quality than the previous ones. At least these now run true after installing and instead of having hollow sections in them, Serpent has designed them such the holes are "covered" with a thin slice of plastic. For an almost negligible weight penalty, you will now have a clean 2-speed gear box throughout the race.

Last but not least is the Serpent invented Centax clutch. This time the flyweights come in "reverse pivot" mode as well as the race-type yellow clutch shoe. The pinions are now also clearly marked so that you know how many teeth they are. Spring steel lock nut and tension adjusting nut rounds out an excellent set of mechanical marvel to transfer your ponies to the transmission system.

My Centax is going on a brand new Murnan Modified RB R3. It was bought early last year because I had planned to enter this year's EFRA European Championships. Well, I never made it so this lucky 733 is going to get the beast as it's "prime-motivator". (If you want the latest beast from Uriah as of Aug-09 then I recommend the Murnan Modified RBM3.)

As you can see in the pictures, Uriah Murnan provides super-high standards in his modded engines with the workmanship. On top of being usually very fast and powerful, he also manages to keep his engines not so thirsty. If you ever tuned Murnan engines to give top performance and find that you are running out of fuel in less than 5 minutes, you can safely assume that you've screwed up somewhere. I'm looking forward to running-in this beast so stay tuned!

I have not had the opportunity to drive the car yet but from the looks of it, the 733 is going to be an interesting test. And yes, I plan to do a short video of the test drive. For some reason or another, the team did not do well at all at the recent Euros and no excuses here. They decided to rush through with the car and the gamble did not pay off. When I look at the car, I have a really good feeling about how it will handle and perform but as we all know ... Win on A Sunday, Sell on the Monday.

I hope Team Serpent will be better prepared for next year's IFMAR World Championships in the USA and bring justice to this beautifully designed kit. The 733 deserves better!

Praying for some sunshine now before I have to leave for a long business trip. Then you might just see another article on the test drive as well as a short video (did I say that already?). Ah well, fingers crossed then ... ciao for now!

NOTE: I did manage to do a short test drive and a not-so-stellar video. Its available here!

P/S: Do feel free to add your comnments using the box below and input your hints, tips, whatever regarding the 733. It will help!

Written by :

S. Steady

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The Serpent 733 build review