badazs brushless conversion

[Jon]

well guess ill start documenting my brushless conversion since it seems quite a few people are taking the plunge.

the plans:
castle MMM system
TCS 5mm standard length tvps (cheaper then stockers so these are just to get the build on its feet and mocked up)
flux motor mount and plate
SMC 3s 5500 11.1 bats (2x)
flm servo plate
hyperion duo II charger
flux batt boxes
flux 44t spur
cen diffs
flux bonz and cups
hpi big bores
mulcher tires

and much much more.

i plan to mount the ecs on the servo plate so its better protected.

what I'm starting with:

breakdown: this is also the truck after the bash with freddy, bank, vis, jud and all the others last weekend, truck got a little beat up lol. looks worse then it really was... just broke the wing mount bolts.

ill get pics of the rest tonight and post tomorrow (what i got so far)
got the tranny back to a 2 speed, all shimmed with the flux spur set up, motor mount and motor plate.
everything has been cleaned and all the bent and broken bolts were replaced.


i have everything on order right now so I'm hoping to start reciving stuff on monday, only thing left to order will be a charger.

 

[frddyj]

imma have to report these photos to the town selectmen. you seem to have stolen quite a bit of billerica bmx sand and transport across state lines.

 

[frddyj]

ps. that thing is gonna haul-the-mail with that brushless set up & packs you getting.

very interested in the build & seeing finished product at our bash site rockout

 

[Shaun]

imma have to report these photos to the town selectmen. you seem to have stolen quite a bit of billerica bmx sand and transport across state lines.

LOL FRDDY!!!:bigsmilie:

 

[Londoner]

Been waiting to watch one of these brushless conversions from the beginning for a while, all the best mate, lookin forward to watchin this one.

 

[Jon]

UPDATE:

got the tvp's ill be using (team tcs) ill be using them till the extened version comes out. they are a very nice product, every bolt hole lined up without a problem and the finish is stunning.

got the motor mount/plate bolted to the trans it mounts a little different then a nitro savy but its pretty straight foward.

bolted both front and rear end on.

NEXT i bolted the battery boxes on. MAKE SURE u bolt these on BEFORE you bolt both tvp's up otherwise you wont be able to get to the mount holes with a screw driver. again its straight foward how they bolt up.

LAST talk about LCG lol

 

[Scott]

Very nice build you have going on Bad. Can't get over how low that is going to sit..Can't wait to see the finished goods..

 

[Ascender]

Before you go any further, yank those battery boxes back off, cut the stupid clips off em, and swap them side-to-side(you'll have to do minor trimming for fit), so the hinges are on the outside. Use either velcro straps or zipties to hold the lids closed. Also,cut the last bit of each lid of behind the "vent" thingy so you have room to pass your battery leads through without crimping them.
Trust me, using those boxes without modifying them is next to impossible, and without straps, the first time you land on the roof, your batteries will eject. HPI really fell on their faces with that bit of design.

Also, if you're using the HPI Torq version of the 2200kv, your leads probably won't reach past the transmission to sit in the the radio box area.

BTW, what's the aluminum crossbar on the rear tower?

 

[frddyj]

looks good baddrick. tell the boyz what you paid for those tvps. i don't see how that guy makes any money. theyre pretty sweet.

 

[Jon]

thanks guys and yup ascender ill look into all that once i get some batts.

and yup freddy they are sweeet can't beat $20 and they offer 5 colors or something like that and on top of that in about a month or so they will have an extended version.

and yup scott its going to be sweet, I'm thinking about buying so low pro shock towers but we will see what happens.

 

[Jon]

UPDATE::::

i got the flm servo plate the other day and decided to get it mount, and take it from me it takes alot more work then you would think.
first you have to pin point the rear bolt hole for the plate mount since the tvp's don't have it on them, then you drill it out with a 1/8th bit, then i counter sunk it so it matched the rest of the tvp's.

i then removed the servo plate and figured out how i wanted to mount the steering servo. i had to drill 2 holes to get the flm mounts to work.

i also got the motor fitted. this took ALOT of work because the castle motor's case is different then the flux case. i had to take my dremel and take and sand a full MM around the whole ID of the mounts where the motor slides thru. didnt get any pics of this but heres the finished product.

here is a mock up of the layout of the servo plate with the ecs, reciver. next to come is a mount for the on/off switch.

there is alot of work to do this but i think its worth it. its cleaning up the overall look of the truck, lowering the CG, and better distributes the weight.

I'm having a H*** of a time finding 10 guage wire to add extensions to the motor wire to reach the front of the truck, since ill be running it under the motor plate and transmission to keep the truck looking clean.

i talked to castle about adding extensions to the motor wire and they said its fine with a 4in extension MAX, add anymore and it starts to create problems.

 

[frddyj]

looks good. do you think the esc would fit next to the servo if one were to mount the servo in the stock savage X location?

i can get you 10 gauge wire easily. lmk if you want me to caz i can send it out on Monday.

truck looks good, Aug 8th fast approaching and this build is what is selling the most tickets, tick, tick, tick. lol

 

[Neohio]

Any best buy, radio shack etc should have 10 ga wiring in their car stereo department.

If you have a best buy or something close, head to the installation dept. They may just hand over scraps of wiring to you. 10 ga is common in entry level stereo systems.


nice build, waiting to see how it looks when it's done.

 

[Jon]

yes it does freddy, its a snug fit but works well. I'm contimplating either keeping this setup or mounting in stock location.. decisions decisions.

and wish it was that simple guys, ive tried 10 stores with not luck on 10 guage high strand count flexible wire. got a few places to try tomorrow but might be hard now that the starter went out on my 1:1 car.

 

[frddyj]

theres a car-audio joint here in town, i will stop by when i get a chance & see whats up.

 

[kvnnets]

That look great Bad. Man you guys are a talented bunch.

 

[wildchild27]

you know you could try a junk yard for 10 gauge wire because some cars and trucks have 10 gauge in what your looking for.

 

[Jon]

well ive been getting mixed reviews on extending the motor wire.
ive called castle 2 times now and they says its fine.

everyone on the forum says no lol

here is the info i got from both calls, they are a little different but not much, the only difference is the length i can extend.

1st call, guy said its fine to extend just no more then 4 inches. he said i can either cut the old tip off add the extension and solder a new one on OR cut in the middle of the wire coming off the motor, put the extension in and then solder both joints so its basiclly just reusing the conector the motor comes with.

now the second call came with much more info. i asked the same question.
what i got was:
i can extend it, using the same exact methods as above AND OR i can make a 4 inch extension with a female bullet on one side and a male bullet on the other, then take and either tape off the connectors or use heat shrink so it cant touch anything. (I'm doing it this way.)

HE ALSO SAID i can miss match the wire with 12gauge wire. the reason is the 10guage wire they use is a specialty wire that is a very high strand count wire. most audio cable is not it has thick strands. he said that he would trust a hobby grade 12gauge wire over the audio grade 10gauge.
he said best stuff would to be find the same 10ga but in a pinch the 12ga will work a treat.
in this call he said don't go any more then a 3 inch extension.
he said the joints will add a little resistance and whatnot but he said its not going to be enough to be concerned about.

it figures cuz i finally found 10 gauge wire lol but ill go back to the hobby shop and get some hobby quality 12 gauge wire, i have to wait for the 6.5mm bullet connectors to come in anyway since the lhs didnt have them... only had 4mm-5.5mm

 

[Bankrupter]

well if you go to 12 Ga the 6.5s still fit ?

 

[Jon]

Yea I was just thinking about that I'm goi g to call castle tomorrow again and see if they will send me some wire or if they know where I can get some. Imm do it right with 10ga. The place Dan linked I belive has the right stuff and I sent them an email asking if it was.

 

[Jon]

Actually now that I thinking of it the 6.5mm connectors said 12-gauge I think

 

[Jon]

UPDATE:
Got the truck ALL together.... just need the batts, power supply and a pinion gear and finish soldering the batt connectors and its ready to go!

i decided against extending the wires and decided to just run the wires on top, ill be putting them in wire loom to protect them a bit and clean it up, also saves the hassle of making extensions.

sits sooooo wide but it will help a little on handling the power plus when i get the extended tvp's it will look better but i still like it.

 

[soulja]

cool pics dude.......

BUT..............

turn the volume down on those laces! LMAO!!!

 

[Mickey]

looking good badd needs a shorter roll bar tho

 

[frddyj]

its kill-ah

 

[wildchild27]

wat kind of rims are those on that bad boi?

 

[Jon]

whats wrong soul not a fan of yellow? lol

thanks alot guys
as for the rims they are IMEX rims part number imx7099 found them at the hobby shop.
micky i noticed that to and lowered it by about an inch... its just a "prototype" but ill make a better one when it fails.

did a little more work tonight.

got the rpm box mounted (huge pita) mounted the on/off switch, i lowered the roll bar, re mounted the servo, and mounted the ecs.

 

[Scott]

Man that thing is sick!!! Looks like them towers are going to work for ya dude..Can't wait to c some vid of that bad boi....

 

[frddyj]

got the rpm box mounted (huge pita) mounted the on/off switch,

baddrick, why was mounting a p.i.t.a? the rpm box look taller than the esc & might offer 'upside-down skid protection' is it taller or a trick of the camera?

just askin caz i might end up using your set up here. ordered my low-pro shock towers last night so i wanna make sure that esc stays safe ($$$$)

 

[pinkducky]

awesome job! post some running videos!