Nitro XL goin' brushless

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LeroyX

Member
Messages
38
Location
Alberta Canada
Hi everyone, first post on this forum, first on any forum in ages actually.

Anyway I've decided to pull my clocked picco out of the XL and convert it over to brushless. So far I've ordered the xl flux tvp's, motor mounts and plate, battery boxes, ESC tray, idler gear probably a few other things. Does anyone know if the 3 speed case will fit in the new flux xl tvp's? Also not a huge concern but I wonder if the old battery/radio box will work or not. I can always make it fit I guess. I really like the little radio box on the xl flux but I can't find one anywhere at the moment. Seems like all HPI parts are hard to get these days.
 
Hi everyone, first post on this forum, first on any forum in ages actually.

Anyway I've decided to pull my clocked picco out of the XL and convert it over to brushless. So far I've ordered the xl flux tvp's, motor mounts and plate, battery boxes, ESC tray, idler gear probably a few other things. Does anyone know if the 3 speed case will fit in the new flux xl tvp's? Also not a huge concern but I wonder if the old battery/radio box will work or not. I can always make it fit I guess. I really like the little radio box on the xl flux but I can't find one anywhere at the moment. Seems like all HPI parts are hard to get these days.
Welcome to the forum and yes the tranny and the radio box will fit as well.
 
Sweet, good news. I have 3 or 4 transmissions and plenty of parts for them so I was hopong the case would drop right in.

I noticed that the new octane/flux XL trans case has a part on the side that looks like it comes off in addition to the top. I wonder what advantage that would give?
 
Not sure. The new flux xl chassis will not fit the prior model savage's trannys. It has to be a savage xl for it to drop in.
 
Oh shucks, I better get to it and see if I can find a flux XL centre gearbox. I was kind of wondering about the fit, its hard to tell from a few pictures but there is some differences.
 
Found a complete gearbox on ebay and ordered it. There is quite a bit of difference from these new photos I just looked at.

Looking forward to this build, i really like how low everything appears to sit in the new xl flux chassis.

Now what to do for a motor...
 
Good luck with your build. I'm just finishing mine off. I have a Savage 25 I'm converting to brushless. I'm using the flux chassis, motor mounts etc. the ring motor mounts are the same as the flux Xl. I just wanted to give you a heads up to triple check the diameter of the motor can and the motor mounts. I decided on a castle mamba monster 2 that comes with a sensored 1515 2200kv motor. The fins on the can stick out about a millimeter too much for the the rear mount. I just Used a dremel to grind it to fit. have fun with the build
 
I got some extra parts from my build. It is the electronics box that came with the battery boxes from a xl. I can't use them, If you want them, they are yours.
 

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A lot of members on here are using either a hobby wing motor or the castle creation motor mentioned.
 

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I got some extra parts from my build. It is the electronics box that came with the battery boxes from a xl. I can't use them, If you want them, they are yours.
Hey Nadboo that would be awesome! I can't seem to find that radio box without the battery boxes that I already have. As soon as I figure out how to send you a private message on this forum I'll contact you. Thanks!
 
Hey Nadboo that would be awesome! I can't seem to find that radio box without the battery boxes that I already have. As soon as I figure out how to send you a private message on this forum I'll contact you. Thanks!


Click his name and click start conversation
 
just an FYI for you both, any trade or sale you do is on you alone, the forum takes no liability for any deal made, you are both still on probation as far as selling is concerned (still needing the 100 post requirement), but I have no problem if you do a deal via pm between yourselves....
 
just an FYI for you both, any trade or sale you do is on you alone, the forum takes no liability for any deal made, you are both still on probation as far as selling is concerned (still needing the 100 post requirement), but I have no problem if you do a deal via pm between yourselves....


Ok, thanks for the information. I am offering the part LeroyX needs completely free. I am not trying to break the rules, (they are there for a reason) I have no interest in selling anything at this time. People have been really kind to me and welcoming to this hobby and this is my way of passing on some that. I understand this site is not held responsible for any deals we make. Thanks again
 
For sure, I do have a bunch of Nitro stuff I was thinking of selling but had already read the rules of the for sale section which are pretty much standard for these forums.

Thanks again Nadboo, this forum is awesome!

I haven't been on probation since working at a grocery store 23 years ago haha!
 
Well I learned a few things today after taking some more time to research the differences between the savage xl and the savage xl flux and what you can and can't use. Since I am using the Flux XL TVP's I have to use the centre gearbox from the flux XL which is the same case as the octane. The regular 2 and 3 speed case does not appear to fit. The motor plate is unique to the flux xl but the motor mount is the same on the flux xl and flux hp. Steering servo mount, receiver tray and esc tray are all unique to the flux XL. The front dogbone/driveshaft is unique to the flux xl and octane as is the rear output brake hub/cup on the gearbox. Basically in hindsight I should have found a set of flux HP extended TVP's and then almost everything would have been easier.

I've yet to receive most of my parts so will have to verify all this once I do but it seems pretty clear after looking over all the exploded diagrams that hpi has.

Not sure if I like how the esc is supposed to mount on the xl way up at the top, seems kind of vulnerable especially since there is no more roll bar/handle like the nitro version. Might go a different route but we'll see.

I picked up the Mamba Monster 2 combo with the 2200 motor, seems to be the most popular option around and was reasonably priced. Lipos are another story though, at least up here in Canada. Not sure what way to go there yet but I do like the gens ace LiPo I use in my XS and may buy a couple of the same packs for this build.

More to come, will post a full write up with pics to help any future folks out if doing the conversion the hard way like this
 
Ok this thing is about done. To recap this truck started as an XL nitro and I have converted it to the new XL Flux. Now had I done proper research to begin with I never would have went this way as there is a fair bit of difference between the rest of the savage line up and this new XL.

Parts needed:
Flux XL TVP’s (same as the octane)
Motor plate (unique to XL)
Motor mount clamps (same as flux lineup)
Front drive shaft (unique to XL and octane) shorter that the old xl shaft
Rear brake hub cup- unique to XL and octane. Its longer than the reast of savage line up and is required or the rear drive shaft will fall out
Radio box (unique to XL)
Battery boxes-same as flux hp
Servo mount (XL flux and octane)
Transmission (same case as octane but internals are unique to XL)
New dual slipper cluch and spur gear (unique to XL)
Esc mount- I made my own out of an old savage skid plate.
Steering rod- (unique to XL and octane) I couldn’t locate this part so I ended up having to make it. I used a piece of threaded rod and a couple old shock ends.
And of course the electrics. I went with the Mamba Monster 2 combo with castle 2200. I wanted the mamba X but my LHS only had the 2. Oh well it was cheap. For batteries i went with gens-are-spammers 5000mah 50c

The build was pretty simple, hardest part was locating the parts. If it wasn’t for JRC on ebay it would not have been possible. Also thanks again to nadboo on this forum for sending me the servo mount and radio box, much appreciated! I phoned hobby shops all over north america, I couldn’t find a single one who has ever had a single part in stock for the XL flux, nothing not even a spur gear or slipper pad.

Overall I like the truck its handles extremely well, almost doesn’t seem like a savage anymore. No rolling over and cornering is much improved. Credit the lower centre of gravity for this, you can see in the pictures that everything is mounted deep in the tvp’s. While this helps in the handling department its at the expense of suspension travel, not much mind you but its closer to the ground than it was before. Also you can see in the photo of the bottom that the transmission is even or even slightly below the tvp’s. Heavy bashers will want to create some kind of skid plate here which I plan to using an old nitro motor mount. Another major difference is the front servo mount and radio box. The new servo mount has the steering servo mounted right side up rather than the old way. This is why the new longer steering link is needed. The radio box is nice, waterproof as well. I didn’t like how the ESC is mounted in the XL so I chose to make a mount and position it at the back down low where it is protected. Also there is no roll bar/handle on the XL so I took the one of the old XL and modified it to fit. Some dremeling is required but it was easy. There is only 3 screws holding it but it seems solid enough. Also a concern is the new slipper clutch setup. It seems solid enough but I don’t like how its only used on this truck and there is only one spur gear available right now. The whole spur pinion set up looks limited and like there won’t be much room to fit different gear options with how the trans/spur is positioned. Stock is 16 tooth pinion and 43 tooth spur.

Anyway thats it for now.



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Hello all I'm new here just found this place ive been exploring..I have both the new savage flux xl and a savage flux XL conversion that came out for the HP. I will Tell you this side by side the is a good inch of gained possible height on the new XL TVP also the new XL/OCT have new a arms that increase the angle. Ill get some pictures up soon. I had a question what did you do to secure your esc down in the back?
 
Hello all I'm new here just found this place ive been exploring..I have both the new savage flux xl and a savage flux XL conversion that came out for the HP. I will Tell you this side by side the is a good inch of gained possible height on the new XL TVP also the new XL/OCT have new a arms that increase the angle. Ill get some pictures up soon. I had a question what did you do to secure your esc down in the back?

Make sure you create a new thread, that way it is easier for people to find.

Most people go with double sided tape for holding down ESCs.
 
No no no lol I don't need a new thread, I guess I didn't word my question right. I want to know how specifically he mounted the ESC in the rear. If your not familiar with this model the ESC is located above transminssion. I've been in the RC for about 10 years.... I'm into custom mods and fabrication.

P.S. Also I posted here because I wanted to clear up the statement that the new xl chassis has less ground clearance. That someone above was unsure about.
 
I used a piece of a previous savages skid plate and a few plastic cross braces to make the esc mount and then secured it with 3M 2 sided foam tape. There was no way that I was going to leave the ESC way up top like the stock XL, I think that is almost as silly as there being no more roll bar/handle. There is no way the body or ESC would survive my driving way up there unprotected!

To me there is less ground clearance than what my XL nitro had. Maybe the tvp’s themselves are close to the same but previously the transmission and steering servo mount where way at the top of he tvp’s now the transmission is way at the bottom even hanging ever so slighly below the tvp’s. the steering servo is not that far away either. I’ve run only a few packs so far and already there are a couple big gouges out of the transmission from hitting rocks etc. I’m going to make a skid plate but it won’t be the greatest because it cannot tuck inside the tvps nicely because of the low hanging trans. This will reduce ground clearance but save a busted case.

If you have some pics I’d love to see them side by side.
 
Doubledx2 you mention that the new XL has new a-arms but hpi’s exploded diagrams show the same part numbers as the rest of the modern savage lineup for the whole suspension. What is different about them? maybe HPI has changed something and not updated their website where I have been looking?
 
Hey! :) I'll take a side by side for ya but they both have very different tire setups but both are set to max height I could be wrong or the difference in shock setups I have could make it look that way but I swear the arm on my new flux allow more droop. I def don't work for HPI but just from having them they seem different.
 
How do the arms look when both have the tires off the ground? I wonder if it's not the arms limiting you but rather the "lower" rig has internal shock spacers under the piston keeping them from fully extending.
 
Yeah, I'll bet you the one with orange springs has limiters inside the shocks. If you disconnect your shocks, do the arms then drop down? Bit of a pain, but just two screws to try one side.
 
Tough to compare with such major differences between the two trucks, tires/shocks. The extra droop like mentioned is probably due to the old style small shocks vs the newer big bores.

My comment about reduced ground clearnce was mainly about how things hang way low in the tvp’s which is a concern because of how much bottoming out savages do when landing.

Thanks for the pics
 
No prob! yeah i don't like to bottom out so i went with dual big bores and now can get huge air with no bottoming out. you have a nice build!
 

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