Racing Savage build

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Pines

Member
Messages
8
Hello everyone,

I recently started working on a project I've wanted to do for some time. As some background, I have been involved with the R/C hobby for 16 years, starting when I received a Savage 25 for my tenth birthday. Fast forward to today, I'm my own man with my own pay, and I decided to build what I would consider a serious contender in monster truck racing, a truck I would have similarly built in the day when I was racing at Trax 70 in New Jersey as a kid, had I the money or knowledge.

I'll start with the main chassis, this is a NOS piece, a LCG chassis set from HPI, as well as a machined heatsink engine mount. The truck also has a three speed transmission.


This build will end up being a variety of parts from a number of generations of the Savage, and may take some time, as it will progress as I am able to track down parts I wish to use. Thanks for looking, I hope to have an update soon.
 

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Welcome @Pines! Looking forward to the build process.

FYI, your engine mount is backwards. ;) :D

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Hello again! Wow, time has flown by and I've made very little progress. I'm still in need of small things to convert to X style differentials such as hardware. Not much has changed, but I have swapped to the sintered ring and pinion and... bought an engine! This is going to be a very SLOW build as I am essentially building my dream truck, and I want it to be perfect. Thanks for looking everyone, there will be more I promise!
 

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Awesome man! I wish they still had the monster truck class down here in Florida. I used to run nitro buggy and the monster truck class with an old revo. Tons of fun. There was one guy with a savage at that time
 
Apologies for the long radio silence. I didn't exactly realize how much difference was between the Savage 25, which this truck started out as, and the Savage X, which the truck now is. Kind of. And documentation is hard to keep up with. The project has progressed a fair bit. And the truck is relatively complete minus some fine details, and mounting the engine. The original plan was to use the HPI HD machined engine mount however my Novarossi does not fit. I tracked down the 2 piece mount HPI made and I'm waiting for it to show up, hoping it works. I plan to compile a better post with pictures once I have a computer again, however I'll post a picture of the HD engine mount issue. If you look closely you can see that the engine does not mount flush due to cooling fins on the block, and due to the rarity of the part, I don't want to file it down I less I absolutely have to.
 

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Apologies for the long radio silence. I didn't exactly realize how much difference was between the Savage 25, which this truck started out as, and the Savage X, which the truck now is. Kind of. And documentation is hard to keep up with. The project has progressed a fair bit. And the truck is relatively complete minus some fine details, and mounting the engine. The original plan was to use the HPI HD machined engine mount however my Novarossi does not fit. I tracked down the 2 piece mount HPI made and I'm waiting for it to show up, hoping it works. I plan to compile a better post with pictures once I have a computer again, however I'll post a picture of the HD engine mount issue. If you look closely you can see that the engine does not mount flush due to cooling fins on the block, and due to the rarity of the part, I don't want to file it down I less I absolutely have to.
I'm having the same issue. Got this engine on Facebook marketplace. I'm not familiar with the HPI 2 piece mount. Can you share any information on that? Thank you.
 

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I'm having the same issue. Got this engine on Facebook marketplace. I'm not familiar with the HPI 2 piece mount. Can you share any information on that? Thank you.
Absolutely! The engine mount in question is HPI PN#86140. It is a two piece design that you can see in the pictures fits my Novarossi perfectly. They are fairly expensive these days and not that easy to find. Last I checked eBay has a few, but again, being an old discontinued part, the price these days is usually over original retail.

Edit : I've rearranged the photos to be a bit more tidy, as well as provided better pictures to show my issues with the engine mounts, in the order of the factory provided engine mount, the HD mount, and lastly the 2 piece lightweight mount.
 

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Hello again!

My project is getting closer to completion, but just like everyone else currently I'm at the mercy of the postal service and still don't have a fair few parts I'll be using. Until then, I have a fair few photos for you all to see, I'd say she's a real looker.

In the photos you'll see - Radio box upgrades. Replaced the servos that came with the truck two years ago when I bought it with HV servos from Ruddog, as well as a LiPo reciver pack, Dynamite 23mm hexes - tracked them down for cheap, and I have a few sets of wheels and tires I can finally use up now, And pictures of the truck itself, In those I've included a picture of an aluminum TVP brace, found them cheap and said why not!

Thanks for looking!

Edit : I know I double posted, Sorry! I wanted to keep the engine mount information separate so it was easy to comprehend in hopes you all may find it useful. I was genuinely surprised that both the factory engine mount and the HD engine mount both didn't work with my engine.
 

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Absolutely! The engine mount in question is HPI PN#86140. It is a two piece design that you can see in the pictures fits my Novarossi perfectly. They are fairly expensive these days and not that easy to find. Last I checked eBay has a few, but again, being an old discontinued part, the price these days is usually over original retail.

Edit : I've rearranged the photos to be a bit more tidy, as well as provided better pictures to show my issues with the engine mounts, in the order of the factory provided engine mount, the HD mount, and lastly the 2 piece lightweight mount.
Thank you!! Been searching around and the only place I have found them is on E-Bay from somewhere in England........quite expensive too. Damn this hobby.....LOL. Surprised Integy doesn't make one.
 
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Where did you get that exhaust manifold? I bought a nice Picco pipe but exhaust manifold is for left side exhaust car and cant use on my savage. Cant find the manifold ANYWHERE. Most of them are wrong sided, so if you use it on savage and level it then the pipe end would be way up high.
 
Found the mount on E-Bay. Not too bad of a price. If your looking for any odd parts, I may have it. Let me know if I can help:)
Much appreciated!
Hi have you tried Aliexpress for parts, never used them myself though?
Sorry, I haven't! I usually find my parts on eBay or small hobby shop websites!
Where did you get that exhaust manifold? I bought a nice Picco pipe but exhaust manifold is for left side exhaust car and cant use on my savage. Cant find the manifold ANYWHERE. Most of them are wrong sided, so if you use it on savage and level it then the pipe end would be way up high.
THS Racing!
 
Here she is! The finished truck, well. More or less. I've added aluminum HPI big bore shocks, a set of Xspede rear aluminum hubs (I can't say I can recommend these yet...I'll follow up on these after they see some use...) and I managed to track down a set of universal driveshafts for the front! (Note, these are PN# 87239, NOT the original MIP CVD's, every time I see those they're wicked expensive!) Now the fun part, breaking in the engine and getting the suspension tuned up! I have an assortment of shock springs and stiffer sway bars when the time comes for the other reason I built this truck, which was to better improve my understanding of suspension setup. I still need a body, I'm waiting for HPI GT-3 truck bodies to show up.

Side note : When I made this thread, I didn't realize there was a forum section for builds and projects, sorry! If an admin could be so kind to move this thread there, I don't wish to clutter up the wrong forum section.
 

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