Oh no, he done made it official with it's own thread. Hope I'm "cool" enough haha.
This will be my version of what would be the best overall basher. Not a no-expenses spared aluminum shelf queen. It will have a lot of emphasis on value, and ease of maintenance/replacement utilizing a mix of OEM and aftermarket parts. Basically, it will be how in Surlyman's perfect world, the truck would come from HPI ready to bash up, over, and though anything. (Although don't tell them, I have non-HPI power house plans
sshh). I have no specific time-line, could be a month, could be 5 years. I'm in into a lot of different things but I've been itching to build up a Savage for over a decade now. So this will be an ever-updating thread, for my own documentation if nothing else, but I hope someone might find something useful for their own aspirations!
This Savage started its life as a 4.6 SS. The PO added the X TVP's after they had bent one up in a crash. It also has the X radio box. Still need to add the ez-acess bulkheads, BP gear sets, big bores and X towers to make bring it to full X specs.
It was dirty and I was told it had been hibernating for a year or more. I tore it down and inspected & cleaned just about everything, the clutch bell bearings were essentially nonexistent, when I pulled the bell they fell into pieces, the bearing cages and shields were what the CB was rolling on, the spur looks quite fresh, so either the CB just took it out and it was replaced, or the bearings haven't been toasted for long. Picked up a 10 pack of metal shielded bearings for around $10 shipped on eBay.
Replaced the glow plug, fuel lines, and added a fuel filter. Charged up the included 1600mAh Venom hump pack and the truck was running. Super happy with it so far, getting some shifting bugs worked out. After turning the shift point screw 360° counter-clockwise, with no change, I checked where the screw was in relation to the stock 3 1/2 turns from closed, it was eight. I set it back to the stock setting and will test when some fuel gets here.
Anyways now that that's out of the way, here's I guess what will serve as the "before" or beginning picture. I had to paint the wheels, they were somewhat chrome haha.
Thank you for reading!
Todays update (2-20-15) while nothing significant, it made a huge improvement. BIG BORES! Woot haha.
The factory 8 shock set-up was in dire need of a service, 3 or more had slightly bent shafts, and many had various levels of oil in them. I didn't want to waste the o-rings & 40wt on them so I straightened them so they traveled smoothly and refilled them with some 5w-30 just until I picked up the big bores.
They had some oil from assembly under the spacers and such, so I pulled the springs and wiped them down. Also, for anyone buying pre-assembled big bores, be sure nothing is left over from the parts tree on the shock body. In the pic above one can see a little bit of the parts tree not yet removed, a hobby knife cleaned them right up, I had two like this.
Bonus:
Not sure if this has been done or seen, but I'm OCD when it comes to particular things, one of them being when multiple shock clips become misaligned. It bugs the hell out of me, so much that I try to just run one spacer, or CA them together. However, I noticed the big bore spacers have a decent size recess on the finger hold, and saw an opportunity to use some race-ties 😎. Again, totally useless, but I'm a guy who index's his spark plugs in everything from his modified 302's to his lawnmower.
The last update today doesn't really require a picture, but I made the common fuel-line for brake-spring swap. In my ventures through the plethora of Savage info out there, I saw a lot of people asking about, and how long to make the tubing. This is how much longer mine is, works well so far.
There is lots I have planned, some of I'm still deciding on the direction to go. But extended FLM TVP's are a for sure, not the XL length. Lots that need to be purchased before I even start thinking TVP's haha.
Next upgrades:
Flysky 2.4GHz to replace the high-tech HPI TF/RF-3 AM band haha
17t vented CB
A new body of some sort, not really a fan of the one on it, and I didn't paint it, so I need one thats my own, even if it were a pre-painted lid. But I can't decide.
Stay tuned!
This will be my version of what would be the best overall basher. Not a no-expenses spared aluminum shelf queen. It will have a lot of emphasis on value, and ease of maintenance/replacement utilizing a mix of OEM and aftermarket parts. Basically, it will be how in Surlyman's perfect world, the truck would come from HPI ready to bash up, over, and though anything. (Although don't tell them, I have non-HPI power house plans
sshh). I have no specific time-line, could be a month, could be 5 years. I'm in into a lot of different things but I've been itching to build up a Savage for over a decade now. So this will be an ever-updating thread, for my own documentation if nothing else, but I hope someone might find something useful for their own aspirations! This Savage started its life as a 4.6 SS. The PO added the X TVP's after they had bent one up in a crash. It also has the X radio box. Still need to add the ez-acess bulkheads, BP gear sets, big bores and X towers to make bring it to full X specs.
It was dirty and I was told it had been hibernating for a year or more. I tore it down and inspected & cleaned just about everything, the clutch bell bearings were essentially nonexistent, when I pulled the bell they fell into pieces, the bearing cages and shields were what the CB was rolling on, the spur looks quite fresh, so either the CB just took it out and it was replaced, or the bearings haven't been toasted for long. Picked up a 10 pack of metal shielded bearings for around $10 shipped on eBay.
Replaced the glow plug, fuel lines, and added a fuel filter. Charged up the included 1600mAh Venom hump pack and the truck was running. Super happy with it so far, getting some shifting bugs worked out. After turning the shift point screw 360° counter-clockwise, with no change, I checked where the screw was in relation to the stock 3 1/2 turns from closed, it was eight. I set it back to the stock setting and will test when some fuel gets here.
Anyways now that that's out of the way, here's I guess what will serve as the "before" or beginning picture. I had to paint the wheels, they were somewhat chrome haha.
Thank you for reading!
Todays update (2-20-15) while nothing significant, it made a huge improvement. BIG BORES! Woot haha.
The factory 8 shock set-up was in dire need of a service, 3 or more had slightly bent shafts, and many had various levels of oil in them. I didn't want to waste the o-rings & 40wt on them so I straightened them so they traveled smoothly and refilled them with some 5w-30 just until I picked up the big bores.
They had some oil from assembly under the spacers and such, so I pulled the springs and wiped them down. Also, for anyone buying pre-assembled big bores, be sure nothing is left over from the parts tree on the shock body. In the pic above one can see a little bit of the parts tree not yet removed, a hobby knife cleaned them right up, I had two like this.
Bonus:
Not sure if this has been done or seen, but I'm OCD when it comes to particular things, one of them being when multiple shock clips become misaligned. It bugs the hell out of me, so much that I try to just run one spacer, or CA them together. However, I noticed the big bore spacers have a decent size recess on the finger hold, and saw an opportunity to use some race-ties 😎. Again, totally useless, but I'm a guy who index's his spark plugs in everything from his modified 302's to his lawnmower.
The last update today doesn't really require a picture, but I made the common fuel-line for brake-spring swap. In my ventures through the plethora of Savage info out there, I saw a lot of people asking about, and how long to make the tubing. This is how much longer mine is, works well so far.
There is lots I have planned, some of I'm still deciding on the direction to go. But extended FLM TVP's are a for sure, not the XL length. Lots that need to be purchased before I even start thinking TVP's haha.
Next upgrades:
Flysky 2.4GHz to replace the high-tech HPI TF/RF-3 AM band haha
17t vented CB
A new body of some sort, not really a fan of the one on it, and I didn't paint it, so I need one thats my own, even if it were a pre-painted lid. But I can't decide.
Stay tuned!
