My New Savage X SS 5.9 Build

[GRKSTL]

Hi everyone, as some of you may know already I just purchased my Savage because I destroyed my X1 truggy bashing. I now have a dedicated bashing rig. I will be posting pictures here through the build and upgrades. Please feel free to comment, I would like to upgrade more parts in the beginning, but money is kind of tight right now.

Have fun.

This is the truggy gettting a wipe down after putting it back together from parts I got from Nitrohouse.

Jammin 16mm Big bores shocks

Ready to go

But put on the shelf

FOR:

Looks like

The diffs will need to be torn down and the upgrades need to be installed separately.

Going to stick with the 5.9 after seeing some YOU TUBE videos yesturday. But I will not put up with a pull start coming from bump boxes so I picked this up at my LHS today

My reciever came in for my DX3R

Just wanted to throw these in here: pictures of the real race car sitting int he garage

She runs on the bottle

I will keep updating this thread, but due to New Years Eve, and plans to go out and party it up with the wife this will take a little time.

Bob

 

[Judicator]

Woot on both cars lol good oldie mustangs were the best 5.0s!

 

[88gtanotchback]

sweet build, even nicer car! have you been down the track with it yet?

 

[GRKSTL]

The mustang isn't a 5.0 anymore thats a 351 stroked to 427ci, the car on nuts has been dyno'd at 594rwhp. When we tried spraying it on the dyno the clutch just smoked so I had to upgrade the clutch and trans this past summer. The car on slicks just motor will run 10.43's quarter mile. I have yet to spray it, I wanted 10's on motor the spray was just insurance. lol

Bob

 

[GRKSTL]

You also can see where I get my screen name from.

The car is GRKSTL4, I have retired many other toys. The number right now is GRKSTL 6

 

[texasavage]

Sweet pics!

Keep us posted

 

[Scott]

Sweet Stang man!!! Keep the pics coming of the build..

 

[Mickey]

nice grk the x1 sweet the new savy sweet the mustang eeh ok its sweet to

 

[GRKSTL]

OK, after some family time I had a chance to upgrade a diff and document how it was done. Below are a few pictures of the stock 4.6 diff to the upgraded 5.9 diff. The only problem I had was they nly gave me 1 shim kit to do 1 diff. I need to get 1 more to do the opposite diff. So till I get the other shim kit, and bearing that I need I am on hold. I also want to mention that the stick diffs have alot of play in them. With the upgrade parts you can add a shim to either side of the diff and 1 on the pinion and stiffens up the whole setup. So basically, 2 shims on the inside of the bearings that go on the carrier (4 total) and 1 on the pinion gear before you slide it into the bearing.

My question is should I contact HPI or my LHS to get this resolved. I will probably call HPI in the morning.

On a side note, will be going pheasant hunting in the AM, so I have pleanty of car ride time to get this done.

This is a pictures of the stock ring and pinion vs the upgraded units. The upgraded units are BLACK in color.

Maybe a little blurry, but you can see the beefyness of the upgraded pinion gear.

Diff being filled with 10,000 weight oil, cleaned out all the grease with carb cleaner tooth brush and compresed air.

The is the final product next to the stock unit.

 

[ljrce]

nice stang how big of shot are u running I'm guessing a 125 shot thing must sound awsome

 

[GRKSTL]

nope, 225 shot.

here it is being dyno'd by Bob Kurgan on the 225 shot at hus facility in Byron, IL. The thing is doscile, but sick.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkOqSC-QbyY

 

[GRKSTL]

Good news, my LHS hooked me up with correct parts today to get my #### going. I give major props to Leisure Hours Hobbies in Joliet, IL. HPI isn't shipping anything till the Jan 4th which meant I probably wouldn't of seen anything till the following week.

I will work on it a little later tonight and keep you up to date.

Bob

 

[Mickey]

nice to hear the lhs took care of you grk. looking forward to more pics

 

[GRKSTL]

Ok, Gentlemen more updates. I spent some time yesturday morning putting this together and found a flaw.

The servo saver has 4 plastic bushings that act as bearings on the post. I am not happy with this. So I had a few extra real bearings from a servo saver out of my OFNA truggy and I just replaced the bushings with bearings. This made the servo saver move back and forth real easy with less effort.
you will see in the pictures below what I mean.

Next is a picture comparison of the stock 4.6 axles versus the 5.9 stuff. There is a big difference in size and strength.

While I was assembling the body, I am not impressed with the stock shocks, (don't like plastic) so i upgraded to the HPI Big Bores. I was ready a few threads on here where a couple of other member have done this and ran into excessive play on the balls the fit into the sleeves that go into the shock. I have a permanant solution. I will be ordering OFNA part number 41010 (Shock Bell), these are the shock bells used in the Jammin truggies to fit the 16mm bore shocks. These shock bells have the same inner diameter and the plastic sleeve on the HPI part and will take up the slack. Another good thing about these bells is you will be able to pull the shocks off in a matter of seconds with a nut driver versus pulliny the upper screws out. Depending on how these single big bores work, I might run a double set on each control arm. I will post pictures when I get the parts to mount them.

I also ordered some Axial Bead locks with some moab tires. I am not sure if these will go together but I like the look.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270671345810&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270489810943&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT

This is how the truck sits as of this writing. I will keep you posted.

I hope everyone had a happy new year.

Bob

 

[Scott]

Lookin good Bob!! rockout

 

[tallone09]

Look good .

 

[300m]

lol at your little race car..


truck is ocming along nicely though.
Didnt know the 5.9 was available with the X SS from factory.
Should be a very fun truck.

 

[Cwheeling]

coming along well!!!

 

[GRKSTL]

OK, here goes.

Filled and ready to drop in, I will be mounting them using the HPI hardware, but will be switching over to my OFNA mounting design. The OFNA design will take the slop out of the upper mount. Has anyone ever run 2 big bores on each wheel?

Here are the big bores.

5.9 motor went pretty easy and uneventful

Working on the Radio/servo box. I will be running JR 9100T for steering and JR 9100S for throttle. I always run aluminum servo horns, I was able to get one for the stearing. The throttle and break linkage is another. Due to this crazy design nobody makes anything. Not sure if the thottle upgrade can fix this, but I will be doing some reading.

Shocks in place and almost ready to run with a few tweaks and upgrades.

Bob

 

[Mickey]

looking good bob . as for the throttle linkage scrap the stock setup and search for ofna throttle mod to make the setup better and cleaner looking.

 

[texasavage]

Looking good! keep the pics coming!

Here is a link to the ofna mod mickey is talking about-->>Ofna Mod with pics

 

[GRKSTL]

Thanks for the heads up. Called my LHS and they have the OFNA parts on hand.

 

[GRKSTL]

FYI, My local hobby shop is awsome. They have a great inventory in parts and such for many make an models of RC Nitro and Battery.

This is why I supports my LHS before any internet place.

 

[GRKSTL]

The radio gear is in the chassis. I was setting up the endpoints on my radio DX3R for the stering servo. With the endpoints set to 100% which would be normal, the end point hit lock to lock and engage the servo saver. I had to trim the right side to 67% and the left to 88% to keep it from engaging the servo saver.

Waiting on the JR 9100S for my throttle and brake, I should have it sometime this week. I also ordered some upgrade parts for the linkages, I will post pictures. I saw the OFNA upgrade done in the previous thread, this is great upgrade. I will be doing the same except the difference will be a longer servo horn so it the rods do not touch the radio box body.

I am waiting for my wheels and tires and a fuel filter and I will be ready to roll.

Not sure what kind of paint scheme to paint the body. Any recomendations?

 

[GRKSTL]

I believe I have an issue with big bore shocks. Images and descriptions below.

The shock spring touches the upper control arm with the buckle.

My kit came with both control arm types, the one in the above picture and the one in this picture.

The solid one piece unit is thinner is design which will fit the big bores easily. The problem is I will not be able to adjust Caster in or out. What would you do?

I found this problem when I was taking the shock off to measure why the shocks have loose mounts.

Basically the give a 3mm screw in the kit. The inside diameter of the ball is 3.10mm so you get a little slop there and the sleep the ball sits in is 5.97mm basically 6mm in diameter and the ball measure 5.73mm. My solution is to order OFNA part number 41010 these are the shock bells found on the Jammin big bore 16mm shocks. The sleveon the OFNA unit is the same diameter as the HPI parts 6mm, you also do not have to use the spacers in the kit provided to space it out past the shock tower. The shock bells are also threaded meaning, you will put the screw into the shock tower then screw the bell down onto screw. This assembly will be self contained, meaning you can take the shock off without needing to take the whole screw out. Once the bell is screwed down slide the orginal sleve and shock in place put on a 3x8mm flat washer and 3mm nylon nut and BAM! perfect shock orientation. I will post pics of this when I have my shock bells later this week. I was able to do 1 shock by ripping the part off my Jammin X2 to prove the concept.

 

[tallone09]

Need get longer servo arm mine to short had shave part off the cover to make it work. but the mod make world of difference.

 

[Mickey]

looking better grk. i like the different aproach you are taking to some of the problems we have had with these rigs. your ofna solution to the shocks got me wondering about my d8t mounts for the bigbores they are pretty much the same as the ofnas but look shorter

 

[GRKSTL]

I know OFNA like the back of my hand, over the years I have owned many OFNA cars, buggies, truggies. That was my primary manufacturer because they were reliable, I had many overlapping parts and user friendly. The TC6 was my second manufacturer and now HPI.

tallone09, There is nothing wrong with the stering servo. The problen is in the stering knuckles on the front suspension. Because they are made out of plastic they have some bulk to them, the reason for it is reliability and cost. Making pastic thincker is cheaper, easier and more cost effective than machining a piece of aluminum. This kit already costs $499.99 retuail at a store and you need to add parts to it to finish it off. I would be willing to bet that it doesn't cost HPI more than $150 to build this kit maybe $200 tops. The rest is profit margin, you start adding aluminum knuckles and you eat into your profit margin. Lets say you want to increase the price of the kit to make up for the aluminum parts, then the kit will be priced to high and not sell. Its a catch 22, that is why people in marketing get involved to make these descisions. The question is who do you want to sell too? I am not going to go on a rant here.

Guys as long as I keep upgrading and modifying this truck and find cost effective solutions I will post answers. The cool thing is I have an answer to the big bores and will show detailed pictures when I get the parts.

Mickey the reason for the extended bells is because I want to be able to clear the upper control arm on the suspension. Remember I am solving 2 issues here, the upper mount that HPI provides is not up to par with what I expect in a $100 upgrade and my spring is coming in contact with my upper control arm.

I will keep everyone updated.

Is there a way I can make a sticky on the solution to the big bores without adding this whole post to the sticky? If I have to I will rewrite one that only focuses on this.

Bob

 

[GRKSTL]

Possible knuckle soultion:

After some looking around I have come to a conclusion. Changing the steering knuckles out for ones with less material in certain spots to allow for a better turning radius is not the correct solution. My reasoning for this is the you have a diff cup on the center differential an axle by itself and a diff cup in the hub. If you had the ability to turn further you would loose the axle completely.

In the image below is the only steering knuckle that will fit and will bolt right into the savage and give you the additional turning radius. You still have to solve the axle issue.

The axles solution comes in the way of capturing the diff cup in the hub with a universal joint to the axle. The problem is you will not find one out there that has enough meat on the shaft to hold up to the abuse and torque. You can possibly find one out of a truggy setup that will go in and bolt up, but not have enough material there to hold the abuse.

Below are 2 pictures 1 out of a OFNA Jammin CRT X2 truggy that has the correct design you want. I measured the length and matches the savage setup to bolt in, but not enough meet in the shaft and knuckles to sustain a constant abuse.

The other picture is from an OFNA Twin Titan Monster truck that has been discontinued. The cool thing is the length of the shaft is the same as the truggy so it should fit into the Savage. The bearing diameters are the same as the Savage, I am not sure of the beef in material in the shaft.

These are the shafts out the the Twin Titan. I will call OFNA in the A.M. and see if I can get some more info on these, (like dimensions, material composition and such). If the numbers add up, I will be ordering the above knuckles and the axles and making the switch.

Have a great day.

 

[Mickey]

grk once you get parts and we know it works we can pull the posts from this thread and possibly make them a sticky. I'm interested in the axle idea you have cookin there waiting to hear what the results of your research is.