Update on my nitro Savage

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MTBikerTim

MTBikerTim

Brushless Power!!!
Messages
868
Location
Australia
Update on my nitro Savage (midtanked)

So I rebuilt my nitro savage with a few upgrades. It has been in bits for a long time now but it is finally back together for a while any way. My savage was really run down. The drive cups all had 2 or 3mm of wear on them meaning there was a huge amount of slop in the drive train. Any way after buying a heap of parts from rob at nitronutzz and a heap from smf as well I have put it back together. It is now running a lot of savage x plastic. I also put on a set of losi shocks and upped the spur gear to a 52t. It now has a lot more take off which is nice as the engine was lacking in power and also moved the clutch bell away from the brakes and the carb away from the fuel tank. Here is a pic next to the mighty mini t which has also just got a bunch of upgrades:


I took it out and spent a long time re adjusting the shift points. A strange thing happened though. I cut some holes in my tires as the maximizer rims seal air tight. I though that my tires might tear though after doing this. Sure enough before I even had the shift points set I had a big hole in one of my tires. Thing was though the hole was no where near where I had cut the holes. Turned out to be bad luck. I clipped a treated pine log with a back tire and it splintered when I hit it. Now I need a new set of tires :$broke:.
 
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that was weird, i clicked on your pic to get a better look and my computer went beserk!!
 
Thanks Guys. The shocks do look nice. They seem to work OK too. I have a set of Proline Badlands on the way to replace the destroyed dirt bonz. You can get those LST2 shocks from ebay or Sals chop shop on LSTForum for $25 a pair which isn't bad I thought. I have a set of low cg tvps which I may put on this truck if I don't use them on the brushless truck I'm building.
 
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Works for me and that is one nice truck,i really like the tvps i thimk i might have to get a set of them also the shocks are cool looks good
 
crash said:
lookn good Tim

Whats the update on the brushless Savage project?
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Not much has happened on it really. I'm still waiting on the engine mount at the moment. Once I get that I will make a final decision on the electrics. It looks like castles Mamba monster max esc may be out soon so will one from tekin so I may wait and see how these go when they come out. I may be able to save myself some money too. Rumour is the mamba motor is going to be a neu motor which is a very expensive and nice motor. Could be well worth the wait.

And the nice chassis in my gallery is for the brushless savage at the moment. This may change though. It looks like I may get the extended tvps for the brushless savage and put the batteries in-between the tvps. If I put the chassis I already have on my nitro sav I'll do a mid tank at the same time as it won't cost much for the few extra little pieces to do it.
 
Nor can I. I put the diffs, shocks and cvd's in tonight so it's very close to being a roller. It's not even slightly brushless yet but I'm hoping this week I will get some news on the engine mount.

I ran my nitro today and was having a lot of trouble keeping it running. Found the HSN was wound right in. I wound it out and it wound it's self back in. I think the O ring is gone. I kept running the truck and just continually wound the needle back out. Despite this the engine was running really well. I had loads of fun, loads of stacks and no damage.
 
I have made a lot of changes to my savage and I thought I would share. The main thing I did was a mid tank mod. Note it's not quite finished yet though. Really it was very simple. I do not have a lot of tools and much in the way of fabrication skills so I tried to stick with bought parts.

I used the following parts all from SMF with SMF prices:
1 x HPI Battery Box - #A349 (HPIA349) = $6.29
1 x HPI 150cc Fuel Tank for Hellfire - #87505 (HPI87505) = $12.99
1 x FLM Savage Servo Mounts - #FLM46000 (FLM46000) = $5.99
1 x FLM Servo Plate Kit for Savage - #FLM45500 (FLM45500) = $13.99
1 x 3mm Flat Washer - 10pc (SMFHFW03M10) = $1.00
1 x RPM Receiver Box for RC10GT - Black - #80052 (RPM80052) = $8.99
1 x M3 Locknut - 10pc (SMFHLN03M10) = $1.00
2 x FLM Savage Aluminum Cross Bar for Skid Plate - #47500 (FLM47500) = $4.98
1 x SMF High-Strength Hex-Drive HW Kit for HPI Savage (SMFHKSAV2) = $21.99
1 x FLM Savage Center Skid Plate (for #45200 Chassis) - #45210 (FLM45210) = $10.99
1 x FLM 4.7mm Low CG TVPs for Savage - #45200 = $49.99
1 x GMK "Fat Boys" Thick O-Rings - #0110 = $3.49

Total $141.69 .... ouch that includes new tvps though.

I have ordered a few more bits from A main hobbies that haven't arrived yet which is why it's not quite finished:
1 x Team Associated Aluminum Antenna Mount (RC8) (ASC89005) = $8.49
1 x HPI Fuel Line Accessories (HPI85511) = $4.29
2 x ProTek R/C Heavy Duty 15cm (6") Universal Servo Extension Lead (PTK-5204) = $4.98
1 x ProTek R/C Heavy Duty 30cm (12") Universal Servo Extension Lead (PTK-5205) = $2.99

Total $20.75

Other miscellaneous items:
1 x Battery box bracket HPI Rush box - Savage X = £2.00
2 x Standard Top shock mounting screws

This isn't a comprehensive list but it's all the parts I could think of.

The few modifications i had to make were:
Drill a hole in the servo plate for the front fuel tank mount screw.
Trim some plastic and drill a hole in the RPM receiver box so the mounting holes line up with holes in the chassis.

These 2 items probably aren't necessary but are well worth it.
2 x FLM Savage Aluminum Cross Bar for Skid Plate - #47500 (FLM47500) = $4.98
1 x SMF High-Strength Hex-Drive HW Kit for HPI Savage (SMFHKSAV2) = $21.99
The cross bars are for that added strength on Crashes..... advice :rock:. The screw kit is really handy to have. I did use the screws to do things like mount the RPM battery box and some other things but if you have spare screws lying around you could use those as well.

I will post up some pictures which should explain how I put it all together better. I'll also add a bit more detail as well as things I'm happy with and things I am not.
 
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So I finally got our camera back so I can post some piccies.




A few little things on the midtank mod:
1.The fuel tank posts I used came with the FLM servo plate. I think they are actually servo mounts but 2 stacked on top of each other were the perfect height for the tank. The screws used to hold the tank are 2 stock shock tower screws with some washers and some GMK fatboys underneath.
2.The RPM box is a perfect fit for the Spektrum SR3000 receiver. If the receiver could be a little taller and longer and still fit definitely not wider.
3. The HPI battery box is a bit on the small side. My receiver pack did fit but it's a squeeze and it wasn't easy. Innovative RC now offer another mount for a different radio box which might be worth a try.

The only thing I am not really happy with is the wiring. There has to be a better way. I also want to move the hump pack back behind the rpm box. There is a heap of space in there and I think it will get crushed where it is. I also have to find a place for a switch. At the moment I am just unplugging the hump pack.

Any questions on the Mid Tank just ask. Any suggestions, please tell. I am happy to take extra photos of something if someone wants. There are more photos in my picasa gallery if you click the photos. I couldn't be bothered doing a write up of how I did the mod. It's fairly simple using the shopping list from up the top really. If I had had our camera while I was doing it I probably would have done a write up but the finished pics show pretty much all of it.

I also have the FLM skid plate which is not shown in the pics as I am still breaking (in) the engine and not bashing yet. The Skid has to be removed to remove bottom engine mount screws.

The break in has been a really painful process. Nothing to do with the motor really. Both my hands are badly blistered. I'm an idiot for not realising sooner but my glow starter had packed it. I put a brand new battery in it before starting the break in and assumed it was OK. It wasn't It seems to be shorting as the battery inside got fairly warm. I resorted to my old glow starter, you know the ones with the big *** battery. It was better but not much and it's too short to go into the head properly which caused me more pain :stressed:. After realising the big battery was pretty flat, only after I had warn through the blisters, I drove to the hobby store and bought a venom glow igniter with gauge and rechargeable battery. Charged it up and 5 pulls later :Crazy:.

It was starting with the old glow starters it just wouldn't stay running. They were both not getting the glow plug hot enough so after it fired a couple of times (running rich for break in) the fuel would cool the plug to the point it would stop. This had me completely confused as to why it just wouldn't stay running. Live and learn I suppose. Hopefully my engine isn't too worse for wear. Also during this ordeal the knot in the handle of the pull start decided to come undone and I then had to rewind the pull start :stressed:. That's why the skid plate isn't on the truck in the pictures. Haven't bothered putting it back on in case I have to pull the engine again.

I have a new body for it too but I haven't painted it yet. I painted my first body a while ago which I am hoping to use on my brushless savage if it fits.



I decided not to use that body on this savage as I didn't want to have to hack out the back so I bought a high back body. I doubt it will look as good (I think it's cool) as that body but we will see.
 
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Took it out the day before yesterday to finish the break in and started tuning. I got it broken in and started tuning. I got the top end where I wanted it and the throttle servo died. Thankfully it was at idle when it happened. The top end was impressive. Nothing like my .25. When it hits second it's scary. The wheels want to break traction and it starts squirming all over the road.

Took it out yesterday with a new servo, retuned the top and started tuning the bottom. The bottom was very sluggish and bogging. Also when I backed off the gas after a full speed run it would rev high and then slow to a normal idle. I richened the bottom up at first and that didn't help. I went back to factory and started leaning it up 1/8th of a turn at a time. Once again no improvement and I thought maybe I just need to keep going. So 1 more 1/8th and bang no bogging instant throttle response and no high idle after a full speed run. Still no wheelies though. Drove it around for a little bit and thought maybe the slipper it loose. Stuck my finger on the spur and oops it was bit hot. Tightened up and bang instant wheelies. I was having so much fun that I even forgot to set the shift point for third. I can't wait to see this thing in third.

The other thing is the hellfire tank works great. No signs of leaning toward the end of the tank. The only bad thing is that I never know when it's about to run out until it's too late.
 
What kind of rings are those on the wheels. I have the maximizer wheels but no rock rings. How do you like them? I hear problems of getting stones stuck in them. Nice looking rig
 
The rock rings are great. They are the maximizer rings, only place I could find them was on ebay though. I got them mainly because I was destroying the sides of my rims on rocks. I haven't had rocks get stuck in the rock rings but they do get stuck in between the tire and rim. The rock rings stop just before the edge of the wheel too.
 
Dreadnaught said:
what kind of box are you using around your steering servo.
just to let you know, YOU STOLE MY TRUCK!!! lol.
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There isn't a box around my steering servo. The box on the side of the truck is the RPM Receiver Box for RC10GT - Black - #80052 (RPM80052). I think I stole that idea from oregonmud.

And I am sick of the small tank already. I have the ofna 250cc tank on the way.
 
thats the tank I'm gonna get as soon as i order mine. your truck gave me some great ideas on how to route stuff, i just may try to find a different spot for the battery box, cus i have a bad habit of coming down hard on the front.
 
Yeah I have been thinking of mounting the receiver pack in between the chassis plates opposite where the steering servo sits. The only reason I didn't do it originally was because i already had the truck together and pulling it all apart for the 100th time would of killed me. When I pull it apart to move the servo I'll try to get the receiver pack into the tvp. It's actually surprisingly well protected where it is though
 
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