DragonFireSG
Active Member
- Messages
- 56
Well to make a quick intro, I've been interested in RC a long time, but never had the balls to splurge big time on a really loud and expensive hobby.
Here in Singapore, most of us live in highrise apartments in high density housing. The noise associated with merely tuning a nitro vehicle was perhaps the biggest showstopper between me and my interests. Sure... other electric powered vehicles were on the market, but deep down I knew only a Savage would do. The FLM brushless conversion kit looked really enticing, and I almost put money down on that one.
Then along came the Savage Flux. When that came out, I almost ran out to get one. Unfortunately, work commitments, and the lack of running mates made me put that on the backburner until a couple of months ago when I discovered a friend had similar interests.
Once I got the Flux I couldn't stop implementing mods. "Want" lists had been prepared almost a year in advance, and I really went crazy, much to my wallet's chagrin.
She's currently in pieces at the moment, awaiting delivery of some parts. I've run her in two races so far, and that really highlighted some weak spots that needed work, none more so that the lack of skill on the driver's part.
Without further ado... I will get pics once I start on the reassembly process
HPI Savage Flux HP, "XL" version with plenty of CF and Ti.
==
- Full PRC CF all round, except the shock towers which remain stock
- HPI CF braces
- HPI RSC, C-hubs dremelled down for extra steering throw
- HPI alloy big bores with Bad Horsie shock covers
- HPI Savage XL axles
- HPI HD pinion and drive gear
- HPI bulletproof diffs
- HPI Ti transmission shafts
- HPI hardened diff and tranny cups
- HPI lightened tranny gears
- HB wing mount and V-Pro wing
- Flextek Ti lower arms (using RSC uppers)
- Lunsford Ti turnbuckles for steering and RSC upper arms
- Lunsford Ti hinge pins
- GH alloy bulkhead braces
- GH alloy servo saver (the screws on stock saver kept popping)
- Hitec HS-7955TG servo
- Robitronic alloy servo horn (the plastic ones kept stripping with the new Hitec)
- Boca YS ceramic bearings (damn these are smooth. Truck keeps rolling on and on and on)
- Caster Racing captive balls for turnbuckles (the Lunsfords kept popping)
- Caster Racing truggy premounted wheels
- Hyperion 2S 6500mah packs (gotta love batts that charge up to 95% in 20mins. I use these for my races)
- AcePow 2S 8000mah packs (Nice long runtimes. LHS dude has contacts with the pack makers so support is great)
- Hyperion EOS 0615i Duo3 (Kinda future proof, even if 10k or even 12k packs emerge from the shadows in the future)
- Tony's Screws hex kit all around. I bought the individual packs, not the kit. I used cap screws wherever I could.
To get:
- GPM 123mm Ti driveshafts to replace the PRC extended rear shaft. Less rotational mass is always good. But not at the expense of strength. This is light AND strong 🙂
- 2S LiPo pack for driving the electronics. My research indicates my RX and servo support unregulated 2S LiPo. I'm thinking a 1/18 scale stick pack would be about right.
- Titanium 3 and 4mm screws for the C-Hubs and suspension attachments to reduce sprung weight. A "bit" pricey for minimal gain so I will put this off for now.
To look into:
- A mod that allows the use of standard 17mm wheelnuts with the Flux. I know how to do this but sadly lack the machine shop needed to pull it off. I wonder if a bench clamp and a dremel with a carbide bit will suffice for chewing through the hardened steel of the flux axles.
- Mechanical brakes on the Flux! I've already put together a list of parts out for installing mechanical brakes on the tranny. Still debating whether or not I should go with this. Reverse is probably for the wusses... but it is a nice to have and I think I'd miss it. Gonna run the ESC using forward only for starters before embarking on this quest. I'd need a brake servo capable of supporting 2S voltage. That could jack prices a little high. If it prevents ESCs from blowing though, it would be a worthwhile mod.
- Additional motor cooling. A 40mm high speed 12V server fan powered off a 2S hump pack will be more than enough. A filter will be mounted in place to keep out blade-shattering particles. I'm thinking of strapping one on the MMM as well. These fans are powerful, and should be able to push air through the MMM even if a sock of sorts is pulled over it to keep out dirt and dust.
- Alloy bulks. If I break the composite ones I'll look into this mod. GH bulks appear to accept the RSC without the need for dremelling. More research needed here.
The (distant) future:
- I am toying with the idea of doing a truggy center diff mod with the stock motor plate and the PRC CF center. This will be time consuming, and lots of research needs doing on my part. As such I do not anticipate moving forward with this for a while. I imagine a center diff with independent forward/rear brakes would make the flux behave almost truggy-like.
- Hack and slash a tekno motor mount and elektri clutch adapter into the savage. Gonna be a expensive mod. Only worth doing after mech brakes are in, and maybe the center-diff mod is successful. It would be a different driving experience having true free-wheeling on the Flux.
==
The dream at the end of the road:
A Neu 1527/1Y and CC Hydra HV180 ESC. Needs center diff, mech brakes and just about all the other mods working well first. Tires will need belting with Kevlar thread from scrap fiber optic cables. Prolly get another set of PRC TVPs and double them up using extra long screws and JB Weld to get 8mm CF TVPs, or use 5mm spacers to make it a QVP chassis. Gotta sell my 1:1 car first to fund this one. Oh wait. I don't have a 1:1 car.
Some paper research stats...
Neu 1527/1y - 1250kv/2250W const./4500W burst/48V max
@4S 14.8V -> 152A constant 304A burst -> 18500rpm (Ouch HOT! Batteries may not like this.)
@6S 22.2V -> 101A constant 202A burst -> 27750rpm (Getting there. Think an MMM can handle this with brakes and BEC turned off?)
@8S 29.6V -> 76A constant 152A burst -> 37000rpm (Looks like the sweet spot. Batts getting a little fat tho.)
@10S 37.0V -> 61A constant 122A burst -> 46250rpm (A brick. No. A cinder block on wheels)
@12S 44.4V -> 51A constant 101A burst -> 55500rpm (...)
Hyperion G3 VX 5500mah
@192.5A constant, 357.5A burst - might fit in the stock battery trays if running 6S. Battery life will be crap tho.
Hyperion G3 VX 6500mah (booo darn IATA. Now Hyperion's stopped making 6500mah packs)
@227.5A constant, 422.5A burst - Should give semi decent runtime on 8S.
==
Any other suggestions are much appreciated. I spent over a year lurking this and other boards, and I have you folks to thank for helping me build up my hobby knowledge.
DF
XXXX Build Pics XXXX
A bunch of skeletons shots showing the full PRC CF frame.
The savage one-speed all taped up to prevent dust incursion. This is entirely stock. The Ti driveshaft and lightweight gears are *still* in the mail.
The PRC CF bulkhead plates. They are a little tricky to fit the front. A little practise makes perfect tho.
Boca ceramic yellow seals. After break-in the truck was smooth as a baby's bottom. Off throttle it would just roll on and on and on... and I'm still using stock diff bearings until the new IRC cups come in.
Arm brace mod... I figured the Ti Flexteks might easily snap a solo arm brace and bulkhead should I take a bad whack so I added an extra arm brace. It is secured with a 30mm caphead. The spacer is a Hellfire steel flanged pipe (HPI86531) you'd normally find with the RSC. This should support the arms and the hinge pins better, and stop the hinge pins from displacement in the case of a bumper impact.
RSC mod. Once bitten twice shy. I had the lower screw pop and cause the right C-hub to bend last race. Not any more. locktited and capped off with a 4mm stainless locknut. There is 1.5mm of clearance between the axle and the nut. I couldn't get locknut to fit up top so I settled for a longer screw there.
Here in Singapore, most of us live in highrise apartments in high density housing. The noise associated with merely tuning a nitro vehicle was perhaps the biggest showstopper between me and my interests. Sure... other electric powered vehicles were on the market, but deep down I knew only a Savage would do. The FLM brushless conversion kit looked really enticing, and I almost put money down on that one.
Then along came the Savage Flux. When that came out, I almost ran out to get one. Unfortunately, work commitments, and the lack of running mates made me put that on the backburner until a couple of months ago when I discovered a friend had similar interests.
Once I got the Flux I couldn't stop implementing mods. "Want" lists had been prepared almost a year in advance, and I really went crazy, much to my wallet's chagrin.
She's currently in pieces at the moment, awaiting delivery of some parts. I've run her in two races so far, and that really highlighted some weak spots that needed work, none more so that the lack of skill on the driver's part.
Without further ado... I will get pics once I start on the reassembly process
HPI Savage Flux HP, "XL" version with plenty of CF and Ti.
==
- Full PRC CF all round, except the shock towers which remain stock
- HPI CF braces
- HPI RSC, C-hubs dremelled down for extra steering throw
- HPI alloy big bores with Bad Horsie shock covers
- HPI Savage XL axles
- HPI HD pinion and drive gear
- HPI bulletproof diffs
- HPI Ti transmission shafts
- HPI hardened diff and tranny cups
- HPI lightened tranny gears
- HB wing mount and V-Pro wing
- Flextek Ti lower arms (using RSC uppers)
- Lunsford Ti turnbuckles for steering and RSC upper arms
- Lunsford Ti hinge pins
- GH alloy bulkhead braces
- GH alloy servo saver (the screws on stock saver kept popping)
- Hitec HS-7955TG servo
- Robitronic alloy servo horn (the plastic ones kept stripping with the new Hitec)
- Boca YS ceramic bearings (damn these are smooth. Truck keeps rolling on and on and on)
- Caster Racing captive balls for turnbuckles (the Lunsfords kept popping)
- Caster Racing truggy premounted wheels
- Hyperion 2S 6500mah packs (gotta love batts that charge up to 95% in 20mins. I use these for my races)
- AcePow 2S 8000mah packs (Nice long runtimes. LHS dude has contacts with the pack makers so support is great)
- Hyperion EOS 0615i Duo3 (Kinda future proof, even if 10k or even 12k packs emerge from the shadows in the future)
- Tony's Screws hex kit all around. I bought the individual packs, not the kit. I used cap screws wherever I could.
To get:
- GPM 123mm Ti driveshafts to replace the PRC extended rear shaft. Less rotational mass is always good. But not at the expense of strength. This is light AND strong 🙂
- 2S LiPo pack for driving the electronics. My research indicates my RX and servo support unregulated 2S LiPo. I'm thinking a 1/18 scale stick pack would be about right.
- Titanium 3 and 4mm screws for the C-Hubs and suspension attachments to reduce sprung weight. A "bit" pricey for minimal gain so I will put this off for now.
To look into:
- A mod that allows the use of standard 17mm wheelnuts with the Flux. I know how to do this but sadly lack the machine shop needed to pull it off. I wonder if a bench clamp and a dremel with a carbide bit will suffice for chewing through the hardened steel of the flux axles.
- Mechanical brakes on the Flux! I've already put together a list of parts out for installing mechanical brakes on the tranny. Still debating whether or not I should go with this. Reverse is probably for the wusses... but it is a nice to have and I think I'd miss it. Gonna run the ESC using forward only for starters before embarking on this quest. I'd need a brake servo capable of supporting 2S voltage. That could jack prices a little high. If it prevents ESCs from blowing though, it would be a worthwhile mod.
- Additional motor cooling. A 40mm high speed 12V server fan powered off a 2S hump pack will be more than enough. A filter will be mounted in place to keep out blade-shattering particles. I'm thinking of strapping one on the MMM as well. These fans are powerful, and should be able to push air through the MMM even if a sock of sorts is pulled over it to keep out dirt and dust.
- Alloy bulks. If I break the composite ones I'll look into this mod. GH bulks appear to accept the RSC without the need for dremelling. More research needed here.
The (distant) future:
- I am toying with the idea of doing a truggy center diff mod with the stock motor plate and the PRC CF center. This will be time consuming, and lots of research needs doing on my part. As such I do not anticipate moving forward with this for a while. I imagine a center diff with independent forward/rear brakes would make the flux behave almost truggy-like.
- Hack and slash a tekno motor mount and elektri clutch adapter into the savage. Gonna be a expensive mod. Only worth doing after mech brakes are in, and maybe the center-diff mod is successful. It would be a different driving experience having true free-wheeling on the Flux.
==
The dream at the end of the road:
A Neu 1527/1Y and CC Hydra HV180 ESC. Needs center diff, mech brakes and just about all the other mods working well first. Tires will need belting with Kevlar thread from scrap fiber optic cables. Prolly get another set of PRC TVPs and double them up using extra long screws and JB Weld to get 8mm CF TVPs, or use 5mm spacers to make it a QVP chassis. Gotta sell my 1:1 car first to fund this one. Oh wait. I don't have a 1:1 car.
Some paper research stats...
Neu 1527/1y - 1250kv/2250W const./4500W burst/48V max
@4S 14.8V -> 152A constant 304A burst -> 18500rpm (Ouch HOT! Batteries may not like this.)
@6S 22.2V -> 101A constant 202A burst -> 27750rpm (Getting there. Think an MMM can handle this with brakes and BEC turned off?)
@8S 29.6V -> 76A constant 152A burst -> 37000rpm (Looks like the sweet spot. Batts getting a little fat tho.)
@10S 37.0V -> 61A constant 122A burst -> 46250rpm (A brick. No. A cinder block on wheels)
@12S 44.4V -> 51A constant 101A burst -> 55500rpm (...)
Hyperion G3 VX 5500mah
@192.5A constant, 357.5A burst - might fit in the stock battery trays if running 6S. Battery life will be crap tho.
Hyperion G3 VX 6500mah (booo darn IATA. Now Hyperion's stopped making 6500mah packs)
@227.5A constant, 422.5A burst - Should give semi decent runtime on 8S.
==
Any other suggestions are much appreciated. I spent over a year lurking this and other boards, and I have you folks to thank for helping me build up my hobby knowledge.
DF
XXXX Build Pics XXXX
A bunch of skeletons shots showing the full PRC CF frame.
The savage one-speed all taped up to prevent dust incursion. This is entirely stock. The Ti driveshaft and lightweight gears are *still* in the mail.
The PRC CF bulkhead plates. They are a little tricky to fit the front. A little practise makes perfect tho.
Boca ceramic yellow seals. After break-in the truck was smooth as a baby's bottom. Off throttle it would just roll on and on and on... and I'm still using stock diff bearings until the new IRC cups come in.
Arm brace mod... I figured the Ti Flexteks might easily snap a solo arm brace and bulkhead should I take a bad whack so I added an extra arm brace. It is secured with a 30mm caphead. The spacer is a Hellfire steel flanged pipe (HPI86531) you'd normally find with the RSC. This should support the arms and the hinge pins better, and stop the hinge pins from displacement in the case of a bumper impact.
RSC mod. Once bitten twice shy. I had the lower screw pop and cause the right C-hub to bend last race. Not any more. locktited and capped off with a 4mm stainless locknut. There is 1.5mm of clearance between the axle and the nut. I couldn't get locknut to fit up top so I settled for a longer screw there.
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