I tried it out with the 16t pinion; seems way under geared. Motor spooled up way too fast, not much top speed (only geared for 33mph). Although this motor has always spooled up fast, it just seemed to go to max rpm almost instantly. Motor temp was 150 (about usual), but the esc (MMM) was only about 100 and lipo was 85. After 10-12 min run it only used about half of the battery capacity. I put in a 18t for the next try... about 37mph. Biggest pinion I have is 19t, which gives about 39mph, about the same as in my old buggy. If I need more I will need to place another RCM order.

1st Race Report
 

After trying bigger pinion on the lehner 1930/8, I got higher temps on the motor while doing some hard street running. Between work and the crappy weather filling my bashing spots with puddles and the local track being closed the last two weeks for new layout, I only tried it on the road. At the last minute I decided to try a Tekno Neu 1509 2.5Y (1450kv). So, i got new track and new car (only checked rotation on new motor) for the first race. The track is very tight so speeds are pretty low, and no insane jumps as in past layouts. They have a tricky "drive up the wall" corner; a couple sheets of plywood leaned against one wall with a divider so you have to get up high enough to go over the divider but not so high you shoot up the wall. So, after several practice runs I am getting the hang of the new track and the new car. The car handles quite well, a big step up from my old sportwerks buggy. It is the first qualifier, and I am still a bit slower than most people due to my driving, but finding my "groove". Near the end of the 7min qualifier, I land a jump on the rear end and hear a "crack", but managed to make another lap and finish. Grab the car off the track... rear skid plate is broken... crap. Starting to think the plastic chassis was a mistake. There were actually 3 Ve8's out of 15 cars running in the 1/8th electric class. Last year they could hardly get 3 cars to even make the class, so electric is really catching on, also evident in the fact there were like 11 or 12 cars in nitro class! SO, out of the 3 Ve8's, two of them broke the rear skid in the first qualifier (one mine) and in exactly the same place! I did not stick around the rest of the day to see if the third Ve8 made it all day, I was bummed out. My car also cracked the main chassis along with the broken skid plate, so a new chassis is needed now as well (F***)! I will give HB the benefit of the doubt and try the aluminum skid plates out with a new chassis, but I have a feeling that a stock D8 or Tekno D8 chassis is in the not too distant future! This also means a new body and a few other parts, so even more $. I may be selling a couple of my favorite nice cars soon to pay for all this, not to mention my balancer just took a crap and I will likely replace it with a balancer built into a new charger.

SOOO, long story short, stick with a D8 and convert it. Several guys in the nitro class running them since they came out with little to no breakage. The car seems to drive nice, and jump well, but I guess the plastic chassis isn't enough for 1/8th scale abuse, and we will see if the aluminum skid plates help any.

BTW, I loved the change to the neu 1509 motor, it ran great on 6s geared for 35mph, plenty of power (got full throttle maybe once on the "long" 50-60ft straight, lol), and temps were; 60 degree day, motor 120, MMM 110, batt 90...PERFECT.

i also have a ve8,sad to hear 2 out of 3 break their chassis.if this trend continues,i hope hotbodies comes up with an aluminium or carbon fiber chassis upgrade or something.

BTW.what i did with mine the first time i saw someone break was soak the corners of the chassis with diff oil.i dont know if it helps but mine has held up to some pretty nasty crashes.i used to soak my plastic parts with wd40(emaxx). hope it continues to hold up coz i love the way it handles with its current setup

I will be giving the aluminum skids a try... may have to try the soaking of the chassis too. The car handles very well so I would like to see it hold together longer. I may look into having someone make an aluminum chassis. If all else fails I will just go D8 stock or Tekno chassis.

i read from another forum that the difference between the d8 chassis and the ve8 was night and day.he used to drive the e d8 then ve8.the problem with aluminium skids is you may break the main chassis which means more money and a lot more work(i know,im lazy:lol:)

personally,i think ill start to do some lightening,it could prevent breakage.but of course the most important is better driving

What size is the battery compartment? What is the useable size (IE, you could always get rid of the battery strap locators)?

What size is the ESC compartment?

140mm x 49mm for batt tray, and esc area has room for a MMM with a little space all around

Thanks. Is that up to the battery strap locators, or including/over them?

It is to the edge of the straps/holder as well as to a part of the chassis that holds a nut in place. See the spot for the nut to the right of the straps in the pic.

http://www.rc-monster.com/forum/atta...8&d=1254590408

Thanks!

2nd Race Report
 

Well, last race day I was bummed, this time I am stoked. The day went well save for the "normal" mishaps. The aluminum skid plates and new chassis help up well. I did manage to break a rear hub ("normal" mishap lol), but had a spare so all was good. Also saw a "high" temp on the motor... 125, but that was after the motor mount moved and the gear mesh got too tight. That one was my fault as I didn't tighten the mount as tight as normal. I was trying to avoid my normal over tightening of everything... oh well, back to over tightening, at least things stay put (if I don't strip out the holes,lol).

It was a smaller turn out in 1/8th electric this race. I still managed to qualify dead last in A main, but I did not finish last, yah! Not sure of final results (maybe 6th or 7th out of 8), as I left right after corner marshaling as it was getting late... results online in a couple days anyway. They had a biggest air contest off of the "wall ride" corner at the end of the main. I got the biggest air, about 20ft straight up! All in all a good race day (for me anyway), and I had a blast.

I am really liking this 6s set up with the little 1509 motor; every bit the power and speed of the bigger motors... at least on this small track. I ran side by side for a couple of laps with another Ve8 powered by a Castle 2650 system on 4s (much better driver than me). I could actually pull ahead of him on the straight. He figured he was overgeared as his batts were getting hot. No heat problems with my set up, lipo barely gets warm. I could also pull about even with some powered by the castle 2200 systems on 4s as well. Perhaps I am seeing less voltage drop or I am a bit lighter than the rest, IDK. It is just a sweet running set up and very cool as well, perfect on this small indoor track.

In the spirit of digging up old threads, I have a question: How do you like the HotBodies Big Bore shocks? How are they for durability, and ease of maintenance?