campbellspurlock (who hasn't been on here in a while) has converted one, I don't think it was for himself, though.

It looks VERY nice in person. The guy at the store opened the box for me, but I didn't get a real good look at how feasible a BL conversion would be. Seems a waste not to use all that cool carbon fiber and shiny aluminum.

So, for the sake of easily/quickly getting replacement parts and overall price, it looks like the Jato is still my top pick. At least I'd be able to sell the motor and Tx/Rx on Ebay to recoup some of the cost. Too bad there wasn't a version without electrics and motor...

The Hyper8 is a good buggy from what I've seen so far.
There are 3 or 4 people running them (nitro) at my local track and they're pretty happy with them.

Brian, which store had that , H haven or H town? I might know someone who would want that BL revo here in Des Moines.

HobbyHaven on 86th.

About the BL Revo; Um, I pretty much disassembled it so I could build it better. I was thinking of re-doing the chassis so it is lighter. I also have to order the gmaxx tranny coupler because the stock dog carrier wrecked 2nd gear. I suppose I could re-assembele everything back to what it was depending on price, or I can sell some of the parts seperately (front end, rear end, ESC, BL motor, etc) if desired. PM me if interested.

Well, picked up a Jato today (only the 2.5) and started stripping it. Did the single speed conversion (which does lock the tranny so I'll be able to use ESC braking and reverse) and RPM arms. Wow, with all the Nitro parts out, it only weighs 2 pounds at most! I'm planning to use either 2s or 3s E-Molis which I recently purchased. Even with those batteries, ESC, and BL motor, the whole thing will only weigh 5 pounds. Now, I gotta figure out what I'm going to use for a motor/ESC. At first I was going to use a Lehner basic 3100 with a Quark 80 ESC, but those Monster Max combos are looking pretty tempting for the price! I would think the 4600 should be fine right, especially if I go with 3s? If I go with 2s, I'd say the 5700 would be more appropriate. However, I'd like to keep the current down so I don't mind sticking with higher voltage (3s).

The 4600 will work for 3s, it's within the RPM limit of the motor (although you can't say the same about the efficiency). The 4600 will also work well on 2s, as that's what Batfish used in his Jato with the Lehner 4200XL.

Hmm. I thought those motors were efficient at higher than 40k rpm for some reason. I'd like to have decent runtime and high speeds, so I'm going to need something that has enough torque to be geared up without heating up. I'd rather go with 2s since I have 4 e-molis, but am afraid that current will be too high and I won't get the runtime I want (~30 minutes), so that's why I was thinking of using 3s. Although 2s will be lighter and the truck weighs hardly anything at all...

You could just get the Mamba Max controller (~$130) and a Feigao motor, that setup would only run you $200.

OK, I've done a little work and decided to totally re-do the interior with something better. I made all the parts from 1/16" 6061 Al. Obviously, it's not totally done yet. I have yet to procure a bolt and standoff to help support the servo mount (where the little tab is), as well as the proper mounting bolts. All chassis bolts will be countersunk from underneath to keep the same look (nothing is mounted to the dirt guards). I also have to wire up the battery (2s2p emolis) with taps (coming next week), main connector, and heatshrink. The Rx will be padded and held down with a zip tie. I did use the antenna mounting scheme from the stock plastic carriage though since it works well (on the corner of the servo mount). The raw Aluminum (4mm thick 6061) angle bar for the motor mount will be here next week, and of course I need to get an ESC and motor. The padding you see here is just temporary for display purposes.

I tried to even out the side-to-side weight as much as possible while keeping the weight front-to-back at about 40%/60%, respectively. I am going to paint all Al I made black, but want to make sure there isn't something else I was forgetting, or better ideas from you guys.

One thing I wanted to ask though; How are those Traxxas steel CVD upgrades? The stock sliders seem a little weak for BL power.


http://bgosselin.home.mchsi.com/e-jato/jato_beta.jpg

The sliders should be fine for BL power, especially with only 7.4v. I think they're the same sliders used on the Revo, so they should hold up.

Have you decided on a BL controller?

Actually the sliders are smaller than the Revo ones. There the same style, but slightly smaller (about the size of a Maxx slider). Brian, the Traxxas cvd's and the MIP upgraded ball diff would be a nice upgrade as well as GTR hard anodized shock bodies and TiNi coated shock shafts with the little Traxxas shaft protectors, aluminum caster blocks, ect :p.

The sliders are similar design, but much smaller. Although I suppose if the 3.3 works with them, BL should be fine.

As to the ESC; I was thinking the Mamba. It is small enough and provides all the features I'm looking for at a decent price. I'm just gonna wait until Mike has them in the store. If not the Mamba, then maybe a Quark 80B, but pricey when compared to the Mamba.

I still don't know about the motor though. These are the ones I'm looking at getting in order of highest liklihood of purchasing:

- Castle Creations 4600 or 5700. The price can't be beat!
- LMT 1920/6. Stupid price tag making me shy away despite the promises of utopic performance.
- Lehner Basic 5300. Eh, I don't like purple, but would deal to get better performance than a Wanderer.
- BK Wanderer 6S. Heat issues making me think twice.

Do you have a link for the upgraded diff? As far as shock bodies, I have a TiN set from my dismantled Revo (v1) that I could use, although I probably should change the oil. We'll see. I want to keep the weight to under 4 pounds. I do know I want to get the RPM bumper - I am a terrible driver. :frown:

Oh, and I want to get the tie bar that reduces the rear toe-in. 4 degrees is too much for me. I want 1 or 2 degrees, but am limited to as little as only 3 degrees.

Sounds cool Brian, I would like to see it run when it gets finished.

so far its a great start brian, how many volts are you running on your motor?
is that 4 cell pack just for show? or you packing in 6 cell?

Thanks. It's a 2s2p eMoli pack, so 7.4v. I was going to use 3s1p, but the current rating of those cells wasn't high enough (3Ah @ 10-15c). I only have 4 cells, so it was much easier going down to 2s and paralleling for higher current (60-90A) and double the runtime. Of course that means I'll need a motor with a kv rating between 4500 and 5500.

ok i see now, i was looking at the cells and was saying " thats not sub c" lol

I think you should go with the Mamba Max 4600 system. You could run 12 cells or 4s Lipo down the road if you were so inclined :004:.

I think the 1920 Lehner would be my choice with the Mamba Maxx controller.

MetalMan; yeah, I've been taking a good look at the Mamba Max controller. I like the low internal resistance of 0.0003 ohms - won't heat up much. Not to mention the programming options.

Squee, that's what Mike said. Argg, but those LMTs are pricey for a cheap Jato. What are those CC motor equivalent to quality-wise and efficiency-wise (LMT, Lehner Basics, Wanderers, etc)?

So, it looks like I'm gonna get a motor (whatever thay may be) with a kv of ~4600. So, either the CC 4600, LMT 1920/7, or Lehner Basic 5000. No matter, it looks like it'll be a while before the CC stuff is readily available, which will give me time to scrape some cash together. In the meantime, I can work on the other parts of the Jato.

CC hasn't posted any sort of efficiency numbers for their motors, but the efficiency is definitely up there. The Lehner is most likely more efficient simply because of the segmented rotor.

Well, I've decided on the 4600 system. The price is just too tempting to pass up. I can always get the 1920 later if I don't think the CC4600 is working for me. I just wish Mike would list it so I could at least enter a pre-order or something.

With the exception of the motor mount and a couple of small details, the hard part is done. The parts I posted earlier are painted black now and have the proper foam padding. It looks SWEET if I do say so myself. I don't know if I'll want to drive it! No new pictures though until it is fully done.

Thanks all for the suggestions. Sorry Mike, but I'm sure someone will pick up those 1920's (especially now you listed them :)).

Got the steel CVD kit and installed it today. Looks nice, but what a PITA to install! You have to replace a set of spider gears and get a itty bitty c-clip on the end of the gear/output shaft - which was fun trying to do inside the deeper half of the diff. :mad:1

While I was at it, I put in some 50k diff fluid.

The Jato diff should be pretty sturdy. The flex found in most diff cups (which destroys those spiders) must be all but nonexistent since the ring gear acts to stiffen the walls keeping them from flexing.

Thats not to thick? Maybe you can use a Revo aluminum diff cup? The appear to be the same correct?

Nope, not even close. Each half is sorta cone-shaped. One half is a little deeper - that one has the ring gear. So, the ring gear wraps around the diff making it sturdy. Looks sturdier than a Revo diff. You can see what I'm talking about here and here.

(Edited to answer your edited question :)): I don't think so, but time will tell. Stock 30k seemed way too loose. I guess I'll find out when I get this done and try to turn! I used 50k mainly because I had it. I forgot to pick up stock 30k diff fluid while at my LHS. :(

Yea, I realized that after I looked at the exploded views on Traxxas' website :007: :013:.

lol. I was wondering why you asked that. I figured you wanted me to do all the "hard work". :027:

surprise us brian!!!!!

Well, now the Jato is done! All I need is a motor and ESC and I'll wait for the Mamba Max for that. I'll post a picture sometime (if my semi-broken camera will let me) because it's just soooo pretty that I have to share! :004:

So when do I get to see this thing on the track at hobby haven?

Actually, the Jato was more for parking lots and such. At some point I'll get specific on-road tires or maybe the 3.3 Jato tires since they look cool, but I guess I could take it to a track once or twice. I still need to wait for the Mamba motor/ESC to become available though.

Do you work at HH, or just hang out there a lot?

Brian use the victory tires for on road and count how many runs it takes for your bl to burn the rubber right to slick. Any you got some road slicks. No money wasted lol.
:)

I would just get the Anaconda's.

A couple pictures of the finished product sans motor/ESC. When are the Castle Creations Mamba parts going to be available already! Arggg!

Anyway...

I ended up creating the motor mount to work like stock. Creating straight sliding slots with a dremel is MUCH easier than trying to "machine" out a motor adjustment like on the e-maxx.


http://bgosselin.home.mchsi.com/e-ja...most_done1.jpg


http://bgosselin.home.mchsi.com/e-ja...most_done2.jpg

nice.

Can you have the battery laying flat on the chassis... regular style 6 cell pack? The MM should be able to fit next to the motor... it's smaller than I expected.

I got mine at Hobby Haven last week.

You live in Des Moines too?

The batts might be able to fit flat along the motor mount, but I made the holder for a 2s2p eMoli pack, but happens to fit a hump 6-cell NiMH pack as well. That's why I made the holder walls angled. Even then, the dirt guards on the sides angle up and there are screw lumps where they mount to the chassis and they get in the way. You'd have to raise the battery holder bottom about 9mm to clear the screw lumps and angles. For strength, everything is mounted to the Al bottom, not on the plastic dirt guards.

Sweet!

I've been visiting the Castle Creations site every couple of days hoping that the "Product is currently back ordered approximately 3 weeks" notice would be gone. Well, I got tired of waiting and checking so I placed an order through them for the 4600 system. I just got an email saying it was shipping today! Yippee! :dft003:

BTW: What size shaft do the Mamba Max motors use? It looks like 1/8", but I want to be sure before I order a pinion...

It's 1/8".