BL Build From Scratch - What's the Best Donor?

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
candre23

candre23

Active Member
Messages
101
I'm looking to build a BL savage from the ground up using the FLM extended LCG kit and extended arms. I intend to use mostly aftermarket parts, but I still need a donor roller for some of the smaller bits, and for temporary filler parts. There have been several versions of the savage, and I'm wondering what would be the best choice for this purpose. I'd like to get something with a tranny that I can re-use, at least temporarily - is there one that is particularly well suited for conversions?
 
Thanks for the advise and the heads up. The price certainly is right, and the big bores are a nice plus. PMed the seller.
 
Thanks, but I'm not doing a conversion so much as a ground-up build. Most of the important stuff will (eventually) be aftermarket parts, so it makes more sense to buy them individually. I intend to start with the FLM ext BL chassis, extended arms, towers, and hybrid bulkheads. I'm looking at a xerun 150A BL combo for power. Everything else will come off the donor for now, and I'll upgrade/replace parts as they break or I get sick of looking at them. Nearly everything in that conversion kit is something that I'm replacing or doing away with right off the bat.

I've never owned a savage before, so I'm not sure what the front/rear dif situation is for different versions. Will the dif gears from the X fit in the hybrid bulkhead? Should the be automatically replaced with something stronger?
 
iod get th rpm as and extended axl stubs insted of actualy extended arms because u can go any where to get sparesbut if u run weid parts then u have to play the waiting game
 
candre23 said:
Thanks, but I'm not doing a conversion so much as a ground-up build. Most of the important stuff will (eventually) be aftermarket parts, so it makes more sense to buy them individually. I intend to start with the FLM ext BL chassis, extended arms, towers, and hybrid bulkheads. I'm looking at a xerun 150A BL combo for power. Everything else will come off the donor for now, and I'll upgrade/replace parts as they break or I get sick of looking at them. Nearly everything in that conversion kit is something that I'm replacing or doing away with right off the bat.

I've never owned a savage before, so I'm not sure what the front/rear dif situation is for different versions. Will the dif gears from the X fit in the hybrid bulkhead? Should the be automatically replaced with something stronger?
Click to expand...

I advise against all that alloy for many reasons. chassis fine, but arms never. Also with the 8th scale BL systems out there being sensitive Id watch the overall weight of your final truck or it may just be a fire starter.
 
I suppose I could do extended axles instead of extended arms. They're certainly a lot cheaper. I don't suppose anybody makes extended plastic arms?
 
candre23 said:
I suppose I could do extended axles instead of extended arms. They're certainly a lot cheaper. I don't suppose anybody makes extended plastic arms?
Click to expand...

With extended arms you need extended dogbones. Your better off using axles and or offset rims to get the width your looking for, keeping your drive line standardized for ease of replacing broken parts. To my knowledge there are no plastic extended arms.
 
The FLM extended arms come with long dogbones. But I will take your word for it and stick with plastic arms - at least to start with. My goal with this truck is pretty much the opposite of what most people are doing. Instead of lowering it for handling, I want to raise it up. Hopefully I can still get some decent height out of the stock arms.
 
Just sold off my entire airsoft collection for $1k, so this project is officially on.
 
Well, there isn't going to be much left of it when I'm finished 🙂

Here's what I plan on ordering tomorrow. I'd really appreciate a "sanity check" from you guys to make sure all the stuff I'm looking at will work together for what I'm looking to do.


About $915 all-in, not counting the roller I bought off Crash yesterday. Plan on de-anodizing the RSC so everything will be a nice shiny silver.

Already have a receiver, but would like some suggestions for a bulletproof servo. I'm sure I'll need some other odds and ends to finish it off, but I think this is sufficient to get me started.
 
Looks like you are on the rite track and i will be looking for the pics as you get this thing togather
 
A few things i think you should look into.
1)skip the FLM shock towers. They look cool but the functionality of them is poor. easily bent. the plastic is much better.
2)Leave the HPI suspension conversion anodized, or have it re anodized a color of your choice. from my understanding the anodizing helps protect and strengthen.
3) proline beadlocks look cool but are heavy and not the toughest. if your set on beadlocks maximizers are good, or just old school glue.
Sounds like a sweet build tho, and these are just suggestions, you do as you please, I'm really looking forward to seeing the build, especially with the FLM tranny forward conversion. i really like that set up!
 
Got a lot of criticisim in the chatbox about all the FLM parts and now I'm second-guessing my choices. Found two 1:5 conversion kits - Kershaw and TCS - which I'm eying now. Leaning toward the TCS because of the built-in roll cage. 1:5 bodies are silly expensive and I'm not a fan of any of the limited options, so if I go that route, I'll probably leave it open. The TCS would give me more than enough room to mount the batteries inside the TVPs, which would be good. Also found SPI racing wheels, which are offset all the way to the back of the rim, which adds a ton of width and stability.

Was thinking of keeping the FLM towers and bulks, but now you're saying the towers are less durable than the plastic? Great. At least that will save me $50. Are the hybrid bulks a waste of money too?
 
hybrids arent a waste of money just heavy. HPI has a composite housing ot now for the flux and there tough. it all depends on the route you want to take. me personally id do the FLM build like you plan and steer clear of the 1/5 scale build but thats just me. you do as you please, i don't want to wreck your ideas I'm just trying to offer feedback from the roads ive traveled lol.
 
The reason I posted this stuff was to get that kind of feedback.

My main goal here is to go big. Longer, wider and higher. I want to build a monstrous monster truck. If there is a better way to go big than the 1:5 kit, then I'd love to know about it. The only real problem I see is that it makes the truck longer, but no wider, so it ends up more like a stretched buggy. I see kershaw also makes a 1:6 kit that would be a bit less overly-long. They also make extended plastic a-arms, but they're pretty pricey for what they are. I'm totally open to suggestions that would end up with what I want.
 
I say go longer like you say but use FLM or PRC to do so. 1/5 will not be suited for a basher and from the sounds of it they become tippy because of the layout. extended chassis and b/l will be a great combo, and it will still allow you to keep the stability you need with the extended axles you plan on running. If you want even wider you can run an offset wheel as well but theres no need if your suspension is set up well enough. higher isnt a good thing either. Ive been down many of these roads you speak of. I tried running baja 1/5 scale shocks on one of my trucks and it got ridiculous how tipy it was. I now run the Aluminum big bores, and they work great. tell you the truth i actually have one truck that is lowered using hellfire shocks and its the truck i jump most.
 
Spent most of the day finding out everything I could about the various extended chassis options. After much consideration, I've decided to go with...

The HPI XL conversion.

Boring, I know. But when I realized the FLM chassis was less than half an inch longer and 3x as expensive, I decided that "boring" wasn't enough of a reason to rule it out. I'll go with the XL, and if I really do get bored of it, I can always "upgrade" later. Also decided to skip the hybrid bulks and just get the BP dif kits. With all the extra weight I'm not adding, I should have no problem using the (much cheaper) xerun/kershaw BL combo. New parts list:


Anything look completely wrong here? What am I forgetting?
 
hi candre.... I thought i would chime in... thanks combuster for pointing him in my direction...

I had the same mentality as you... GO BIG, FAST, or GO HOME

And with the new brushless power it was definitely the right choice.... BUT A VERY EXPENSIVE ONE!

Maybe you have seen my videos and seen how much expense i have not spared in building my truck...

Its extremely fast for such a big truck...It doesnt over heat.... I have tried to keep it as lightweight as possible (but looks like its only going to get heavier as it needs to be more reliable) But all this has come at a cost.

If you want to build a completely custom truck.... You are going to have to rethink your motor options and size of the lipos you are going to run... I am currently running 6s which is the minimum... but most here run 4s-5s because 6s is uncontrollable with the stock motors and lengths. My 6s due to the motor having more torque at a lower kv means the motor can handle up to 9s which is what i am building the truck to withstand now ( The tranny cant handle 9s so i am installing a centre diff and some alloy bulk heads from GH so minimise any diff movement).

The truck has great air control with the right wheel/tyre set up and makes it a whole load of fun to jump... But this comes at a cost.

If you have bad landings, your a arms will bend more than usual, resulting in lots of bent dog bones. A arms are fine as they are flexible and cheap to replace. But going longer definitely means more weight is transfered to each corner in tumbles and cartwheels.

Going wider to match your length also take a small toll on your wallet...
I have done things which most probably no one would do or recommend.
I run spi wheels which you have mentioned, and they give a great look... But i also use the XL Wheel extenders for even more offset...
It makes the truck look sick cause its extra wide.. It doesnt handle that badly either, as you can see in the vids i can drift it nicely on grass. It is not way to wide and long for a track, but hey i don't race anyway!
I also like seeing a huge RC Truck ripping across the grass at 50mph rather than seeing a smaller truck. Anyway what ever i am rambling...

If you have any questions, just shoot me PM or ask me in my build thread and ill get back to you immediately.

Here is my latest vid if you haven't seen it. You can see i use the SPI rims for handling with the lowered suspension.. .and then when jumping i raise the suspension and use my heavy MOABs which give great air control....Tell me what you think.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LvDEGlTetw
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Members online

Total: 1,158 (members: 1, guests: 1,157)
Back
Top