a servo where the front diff goes with a two sided horn that pushes out rods to lock the front wheels for burnouts would be uber cool

That would be cool. Maybe later on I'll try and figure out how. I just want to get it up and running first. The motor/mount has tried to deliver itself twice already but I haven't been here to sign for it! There goes work again, getting in the way of play!

With only the rear wheels braking, you WILL have some troubles stopping it. For the loss in weight I'd keep the 4wd and have better brakes

I may reinstall the 4wd/4wb. I want to see how it act's with 2wd/2wd. It's what I've gotten used to driving with my over-powered Rustler. I think it will drive realistically which, being a physics-minded person, is also what I'm used to. Having two vehicles with different driving styles would most likely lead to more broken parts. I'd expect it to do one thing and it would do another.... crash! :cry:

Something new:

I'm going to try building my own LiPo pack for this car as well. I have some 25-50C 5000 packs lying around doing nothing. There are 8 cells in all, 6 are about the same age. I'm going to cycle all 8 cells at 1C to see which ones would be best to use in the 6s pack.

One more thing:

If I don't catch the USPS guy before work tomorrow I'm going to leave a note telling him to leave the package. I will sign the note so hopefully he will comply...

Hmm where should I start? All 8 of the cells I tested were toast (not literally). The postman didn't leave the package either. So down to the PO tomorrow I go. I need to mail something anyways.

Now I'm just waiting on that economic stimulus check. The IRS may as well make it out to RCM. :lol:

What brand cells were they? And they were all dead?

They were sold by Tanic Packs. They were old (had not been cycled for almost a year) so I'm not that surprised they went bad. The part numbers on them are PF8643150XP.

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g4...d/DSC00096.jpg
http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g4...d/DSC00098.jpg

I disassembled all of the packs so that I could test 1 cell at a time. The first 3 I tested (all from different packs) started at around 3.56 - 3.68V. Not bad right? Except they went down to 3.0V within 20 seconds at a 0.5C discharge?! So I tried charging them. They all peaked to 4.2V in less than 1 minute. :no:

I went down to the PO today and picked up an unassuming white box they had been holding for me. You won't believe what was inside- :surprised:

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g4...d/DSC00099.jpg

:yipi:

So began the installation. It went well, the only thing I noticed was that the holes in the bottom of the motor mount weren't tapped deep enough. I had some shorter screws around so NBD.

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g4...d/DSC00100.jpg
http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g4...d/DSC00101.jpg

I had to file out the bump-start hole to fit the wider plasitc spur.

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g4...d/DSC00102.jpg

It's looking pretty good now. :yes:

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g4...d/DSC00103.jpg

5.5mm bullet connectors were soldered onto the motor leads. I like shiny things!

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g4...d/DSC00104.jpg
http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g4...d/DSC00105.jpg

Only two more pieces and the puzzle will be finished. Unfortunately, these pieces will cost almost $800. :oh:

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g4...d/DSC00106.jpg

This is a 22T pinion against the 51T spur. There is plenty of space to fit the 25T pinion I bought, too.

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g4...d/DSC00107.jpg

That thing is going to fly.

I may have just saved myself $300. I ordered one of the Turnigy Sentilion HV-100A controllers (the USA model of course :smile:). I hope it works well otherwise it's $100 overspent.

I tried out the Sentilon ESC the other day. It's very smooth, although there wasn't much load on it. I used one of my MA 4s packs. My programming card is on the way from overseas. It just shipped yesterday so it will probably be a while. I'll say one thing - These ESC's are a PITA to program with a radio! I gave up trying after about a half-hour. The MGM's are cake compared to this one... Oh and I've masked off the body and I'll be ordering the paint from Tower pretty soon. Same colors as my Rustler, but with graphics! You'll have to wait until I paint it for pictures. :mdr:

cant wait to see it

NICE!! great work 'whats nitro' the build is coming along real nicely.

Who did you get your motor off? those gold plugs look sweet

:great:
jordan