Xtreme's Axial 28 Spec 1S

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
xtremsavage

xtremsavage

OG HPISF MEMBER!!!!!
Messages
2,025
Location
Jacksonville, Fl
Alright guys and girls, here's my little insight on the Axial 28 Spec 1S. Since this mill has already been reviewed by two other members, I'm not gonna go into the full details about this mill. The main reason behind this review is because there are gonna be two parts to it. The first half is goin to be my thoughts on the mill in stock form, as far as break-in and tuning up to 1 gal. After the 1 gal. mark, I'll be sending the mill to Crash for him to mod it for me. That's what the second half of the review is gonna be about. I'll be giving my opinions on how much better the mill performs after he has finished his mod work. Ok, now that that's out of the way, let's start the show.

Taking a very big chance, I didn't open it up and check for metal shavings. Let the criticism begin, but I didn't wanna take the chance on messing it up. The I used is as follows:

Spur Gear/Clutch Bell- 49/15
Fuel- Sidewinder 30%
Plug- O'Donnels Super Sport hot plug (will switch to a cold plug at 3/4 gal.)
Flywheel- Stock HPI savage flywheel (no fitment problems)
Shoes- Stock HPI teflon clutch shoes
Springs- Stock HPI clutch springs

I will continue this tomorrow.
 
cool, yes the spec 1 does have some room for improvement for sure. I look forward to doing it for you.

do an extended break in PLEASE

baby the mill for a gallon then send it to me with the set-up as is. leave clutch on, engine mount ect.

I don't need pipe unless your useing a buku
have fun.....
 
Crash said:
cool, yes the spec 1 does have some room for improvement for sure. I look forward to doing it for you.

do an extended break in PLEASE

baby the mill for a gallon then send it to me with the set-up as is. leave clutch on, engine mount ect.

I don't need pipe unless your useing a buku
have fun.....
Click to expand...

I'll be hitting the 1/2 gal. mark today once I run one full tank. I'm gonna run it as soon as I finish this review I started. Ran out of time last night cuz my sis needed her comp. back. So far, I've only leaned out the HSN about 3/4-1 turn. And it's still runnin really rich. So, you want me to send you the mill with everything still on it. CB, shoes, filter and everything?
 
Review continuation

Here's the continued part of the review as to how I did the break-in. For those new members reading this and the older ones who may have forgotten, the tank I have on my savvy is almost twice the size of the stock tank and most tanks used for a mid-tank set-up. I used a 290cc tank for my mid-tank conversion and the stock tank size is 160cc and 150cc being the average size tank used with a mid-tank set-up. So, when I state that I only ran slightly more than 1/2 a tank, it's still equal to one full tank when using the stock tank. I wanted to clear that up before I got started so people wouldn't get confused.

Break-in:
I used the same break-in method that Crash used when broke in his Axial 32. I did this because it will be sent to him for modding.

I did 4 sets of 1/2 tanks with the truck sitting on the stand, wheels off the ground, at the factory settings, and runnin at idle. After every 1/2 tank, I set the piston at BDC during the cool down stage.
Day 1:
It was a struggle to get it started for the first 1/2 tank because the pinch was so tight. I didn't have a heat gun or anything to warm it up a little so it toke some time to get started. Plus, it kept dumping fuel into the motor and flooding it. I finally decided to remove the pressure line from the exhaust and losen the glow plug to get it started. Once I did that, it fired right up and never died. Of course I reattached the pressure line and tightened the plug back up once it was runnin. The first and second 1/2 tank the temps ran around 160-165 deg. Slightly warmer than what I wanted, but if I richened it up, it would just die.
Day 2:
When it came time to run the third 1/2 tank, that's when the problems started. First, the handle on the pullstart chord came off. I believe the knot in the end just came undone and that was an easy fix. I just toke an extra stop collar from a linkage kit and threaded the chord through the center and tied a couple knots. It's still holding up perfectly. Next, I went to try and start it again, the truck stand slip out from under me (sittin on a bunch of loose, oily, and wet leaves) and pulled the pullstart to far and locked it out. So, that ended the day for me and had to wait until the next day to finish the break-in. I fixed the pullstart that afternoon, just loosed the screws and it sprung right back in.
Day 3:
Took the truck and everything to work so I could finish the break-in process. Went to try and start the truck, and the pullstart locked up on me again. So, after it had happened again, this time I only pulled it maybe 6-8 inches, there had to be something wrong. Sure enough, after further inspection, the knot on the inside of the pullstart came out of groove that it sits in and was hanging up on the motor backplate, causing it not to retract back in. Got that all fixed up, and the rest of the day it was a breeze. Finally got the third 1/2 tank started and idled through without cutting out. Temps. on this tank ran around around 180-185 deg. only because I had the truck sitting in a partially closed building with no wind blowing through. Would have ran cooler if some wind was hitting it. Time for the fourth 1/2 tank, started right up, idled through, and never died out. This time, the temps ran around 125-130 because the wind was blowing pretty strong and I had the truck sitting near the back door of the building. After lunch, it was time to start the slow driving stage of the break-in. This will be continued later.

Here are some pics of the motor mounted in my savvy and how I have the throttle linkage and everything set-up.

104_0840.jpg

104_0842.jpg

104_0843.jpg

104_0844.jpg

104_0845.jpg


Enjoy....
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I will test it in my truck before modding and after

Its alot easier then you takn it off and me putting one on
 
Crash said:
I will test it in my truck before modding and after

Its alot easier then you takn it off and me putting one on
Click to expand...

Oh ok. Would it be ok if I just take the motor out of the truck without the motor mount and attach an extra one that I have? I've got an extra motor mount from the buggy project I did awhile back.
 
The break-in continues.

After lunch, and when the truck was cooled down, I started the driving portion of the break-in process.

Driving break-in process:

For this prosess, I used the same set-up that I used for the first four 1/2 tanks at idle. Needles at factory settings and driving at 1/2 throttle for a few seconds and then coasting, and 1/2 throttle again and coast. I did this for two 1/2 tanks. In between tanks, I let the motor completely cool down at BDC before I started the next 1/2 tank. For the first 1/2 half tank, I had to lean out the HSN about 1/8th of a turn to keep the motor from flooding and stalling out. Once I did that and started it back up, it never died out and temps never went above 130 deg. The second 1/2 tank ran just as good as the first. The motor was starting to loosen up a bit on the second 1/2 tank because the truck was starting to run a little faster but still stayed around the same temps and the first 1/2 tank. When it was getting close to shut off time, the temps climbed a little bit to about 140 deg. After the second 1/2 tank, I let the motor completely cool down at BDC again before I started the next phase.

Now it's time for the next phase of driving breakin, which was also the last tank of the day while I was at work. This time, I leaned out the HSN a 1/2 turn and drove the truck around at 1/2 throttle and then coasting for a little bit. I did this for a full tank and the truck stayed runnin and never died out. The temps ran a steady 190 deg. Right before the tank was empty, I shut the motor off not wanting it to run to lean from the tank going empty. Once I got home from work, I ran one more tank this way. Same as before, truck never died out, temps at a steadt 190 deg, and shut the motor off right before the tank went dry. One more full tank and I'll be at the 1/2 gal. of fuel mark. woo-hoo.

The next day after I got home from work, I ran the truck again for one more full tank. Well, atempted to. This time around, I leaned out the HSN a 1/8th of a turn more and went a little more than 1/2 throttle, but, never went more than 3/4 throttle. The truck ran beautifully. Temps ran at a steady 220 deg but was still extremely rich on the LSN. If I let the truck sit and idle for too long, when I would take off again, the motor would bog down and die out. Ok, now for the bad news. Stripped out the SG and need new brakes again. I've been having the brake problem for awhile now. 4th set of brake pads, but that is for another thread. As for the SG, I guess you can't run a plastic spur with the HPI hardened racing/vented CB. Live and learn I guess. I'll get pics of that later and post them up. I know it's not a gear mesh issue, because it couldn't be set any more perfect.

Now for my rating of this mill:

Price- 9/10 It's a great mill so far for $120. Perfect those budget bashers
Tuning- 9/10 Easy to tune, holds a great tune, and no walking needles
Quality- 8/10 Only reason being do to the pullstart problem.
Directions- 10/10 Very good directions involving their recommended break- in and parts break down. Also pretty good description as to what
to look for as far as tuning goes. IMO
Performance- 8/10 Has better top-end than what I expected, low-end lacking
but have yet to fine tune all needles yet.

Overall- 9/10 Can't beat the price on the mill for the perfomance that you get.
Can't wait to see how it runs with a better tune all around.
 
Crash, when you were doin the break-in of the 32, when did you start going full throttle and when, if you did, switch to a cold plug? Just so I know as a reference point. Thanks again.
 
once its on the ground you can start given it some 1/2 to full throttle for short runs.
 
Thanks Crash. I'm still gonna run it rich for the rest of the gal. I can't wait until you can get it modded and sent back to me. If I was a bad husband, I would try and arrange a meeting between you and my wife so that way I would have to ship it to you. She's leaving Thurs. morning to back home for her Grandfather's wedding and to visit family. Yes, she's from Chicago.
 
It's been a couple weeks since my last update. After I reached the 1/2 gal. mark, I switched over to a cold plug. After the switch, I reset all the needles back to factory settings and started from there with the tune. I figured goin that route would have been easier then trying to tune it with the cold starting with the settings I had for the hot plug. So, anyways, I finished off the gal. yesterday. Everytime I ran the truck, the tune was pretty consistant, with only have to adjust a slight bit due to outside temp. differences between runs. The hottest the motor got was 260 deg. only because the air temp. drop quite a bit due to strong winds and a rain storm moving in. On average, the temps ranged from 220-240 deg. For the last 2 tanks of fuel out of the gal., I had my buddy shoot some video of the truck runnin since his cen was down, again. We'ew guessing that a hard landing shifted the motor and he ended up striping one of the gears on the CB. If you have seen a GST 7.7, the 1st and 2nd gear are on the outside of the trans case. Anyways, as soon as I'm able, or can figure out how to get them loaded from the camcorder to my sister's comp., I'll edit, add music, and all that good stuff and make a little vid. I'll also try using my parents comp. when I goto their house tonight to puppy sit. Stay tuned for the vid, hopefully sooner than later.
 
Ok guys, I just checked the condition of the clutch shoes after the 1 gal. mark. I'm also gonna install some new ones before I send it to Crash. Let's just say they desperately needed replaced. Here are 2 pics that I took.

100_0857.jpg


The shoes on the left are the used ones and the shoes on the right are new. Just a comparison shot between the two.

100_0859.jpg
 
Looks like its time for new ones, lol.

I don't have a Axial or a real high powered motor, but I got about 10 gallons out of my last set of teflon shoes....
 
HPI_Savage25 said:
Looks like its time for new ones, lol.

I don't have a Axial or a real high powered motor, but I got about 10 gallons out of my last set of teflon shoes....
Click to expand...

I think it had mainly to do with the rich settings for the break-in and easy/rich tune. I'll be switching over to nova once I get the motor back from Crash.
 
Just thought I would give a little update on this 2 part review. I have already gotten my motor back from Crash and it's almost ready to go back into the truck. I just need to install the roto back plate and finish the rebuild I did to the truck. Unfortunenately, I'll have to wait until next weekend to run it. Gonna be busy this weekend and I have no money to buy more fuel. Over spent my money the last couple days and ended up recieving 5 $30.00 overdraft charges. That's what I get for not paying attention to my account. Anyways, stay tuned for the review as it continues.
 
Here's the latest update. I finally got a good amount of run time in with the motor today. I was able to get about 3 tanks in at work before I lost a screw for the brake hub/ drive cup. All I can say is wow, what a difference. The throttle response is instantaneous and the top end is crazy. I'm gonna try and get a couple short vids this weekend if the wheather permits. I've also almost got all the shift points worked out to where they are perfect. With the mod work that Dan has done, before I would have to set the 1-2 shift point sooner in the RPM range. Now that it's been reworked on the inside, I can let it stay in 2nd a little longer and stilll be able to shift into 3rd without any problems. Thanks again Dan for modding the motor for me.

Score card as of now
1= lowest 10= highest
Acceleration= 10
Top speed= 8 (only until all shifts are perfect)
Throttle response= 10
Tuneability= 9
Overall performance= 11

I'll mark another score card once I have everything perfect.
 
Crash said:
Glad you like it JR
:jamout: ​
Click to expand...

I'm lovin it Dan. Thanks again for doin this for me. Just from the difference in throttle response it has is worth it. And I love the fact that I can hold 1st gear longer before shifting to 2nd. Can't wait to see what it's like in 3rd.
 
The only vids I have so far are of the break-in before I sent it to Crash for modding. I'm gonna try and get a few vids of it this weekend.
 
Finally finished getting the vids uploaded that I had shot before I sent the motor to crash. These vids are of the last 2 tanks of fuel to hit the 1 gal. mark. The clutch shoes were pretty much toast during these vids. Enjoy. The vids will be linked in the order they were shot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lt3LsLl5l6k
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOL7Hl9RnWs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSYloE-_h_Q
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6BnNFhjG0o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgNXqpmpRPM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KuiMu1hdgo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PO-tP-pMBjs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqvP97OXQas
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QD6jN7a5GnU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lP-W5BbHPAg
 
I've gotten about 1/2 gal. through the motor since I've gotten it back from Crash. I definately need to get some better clutch shoes because these are slipping. I didn't notice how much they were slipping until I started to get the LSN set. Now that it's almost perfect, the shoes slip quite a bit. I'm already looking into a couple but haven't made up my mind yet. I've almost got the shift points set perfect, just need a slight adjustment. I'll leave them where they are until I can get a better clutch system. I just ran it today (about 30 min. ago) and it's starting to want to lift the front more but not yet. Only got about 1/2 a tank in when the pin that holds the wheel hexs broke and ended the run. Already got it fixed and ready for the next run time. Will be updated again soon.

P.S. Almost got all the vids uploaded from Sat. nights run.

And on a side note, I've never broke a hex pin before until now. I've worn out the hexes, but have never broke the pin. Thanks Crash for the extra power.
 
Alright guys, here's the vids from Sat. night. All these vids are of the modded motor. In the first few, the slipper clutch came loose and that's now fixed with a new nut and cranked all the way down, no slippage. Temps never went past 240 and it was runnin rich. I was lookin at all the fuel/oil trails I left in the road. I just now need to get a new clutch kit and then set the final settings for the shift points. Bare in mind that all the clips were shot at night and some parts are hard to see. And that's with the night vision on. Also, please excuse some of the foul language in the vids. My buddy was filming and didn't know there are young members of the forum. I would edit the clips, but I have no way to do it. So, I'm applogizing now and I told him the next time he's gotta keep it clean. Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-LwLej14SA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxWkkj0svGs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gOXWke7Fvg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dw321zDupIw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyB8hrkUAUo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbFDNHR1bmw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UiMI0WcxuE
 
A couple weeks ago I runnin my truck at work and did some damage to it, posted in my damage thread. While fixing the truck, I noticed it was leaking around the motor. My first thought was the bearing, until I got the motor out and started working on it. I then thought it was leaking from the backplate cuz the roto was almost filled with fuel/oil. I finally got the motor sparkling clean and did an air leak test on it. Sure enough, it was the front bearing. That's the one thing I was concerned about when I got the motor, was the bearings failing so soon. That's probably the main bad thing I hear about Axial motors. Oh well, gotta fix it now, time for an upgrade. So, it may be awhile before I'll be able to get it fixed. I'm gonna wait until I can get the bearings and a new clutch and do it all at the same time. Also, with the bearing leaking, that would explain why I had a hard time getting it to hold a steady idle. Once I get it it fixed up, I'll report back with the upgrades I used.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Members online

No members online now.
Total: 232 (members: 0, guests: 232)
Back
Top