Ah cool thats not to far away from where I am. I'm hoping to make a truck track on a piece of my dads land in Ipplepen some time this year. So you never know we may meet one day. I see where you're coming from on the shock towers. Its allways nice to have a wide range of options, but I dont hink I would want that many.

Tupers

Ipplepen hmm, if only I could drive a real car I wouldnt mind having a track to race/drive on....
Anyways, I got my replacement battery pack yesterday:-

http://www.modelsport.co.uk/_images/...al/ftx2522.jpg
Those are Intellect 4200 cells, very nice. I just sold my remaining nosram 4000 pack for £22.50 ($40ish), so I will put that towards another FTX 4200 pack sooner or later, but for the time being Im spent right up to my credit card limit, so I want to pay a load of that off before buying anything else- and only essentials at that. As it is once the GorillaMaxx & towerhobbies orders arrive I will be 100% sorted, so no more purchases need to be made with regards to the truck (barring breakages). I have a feeling though that HMC&E have got their filthy little hands on the Gmaxx stuff so I will be getting a nice letter from parcel farce requesting £20 or so before I can get the order- bum-holes, but towerhobbies stuff usually gets through without any problems/charges so fingers crossed by the start of next week I will finally have the truck running like she should do....

Today something strange happend. I got home from work this evening to find a great big parcel on my doorstep (I live in a communal block of flats inhabbited by mainly old people so no danger of theft)- it was my G3.3 suspension. Yippee- though it has taken 3 1/2 weeks to arrive.
Strange thing is on one side is the green customs label stating a value of $210- its actually worth $370-, and its marked as 'commercial sample'.....

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n...icture1003.jpg

On the other side of the parcel theres a nice big label stating that I owe £25.86p before it can be delivered, yet I was never sent a letter asking for the money & it was delivered anyway.....

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n...icture1005.jpg

And in the final act of weirdness I got a note from Royalmail saying I have to pay £13.22 before I can get my Towerhobbies order....

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n...ture1006-1.jpg

I've ordered nearly half a dozen times from Tower before and never been charged a penny for import tax or VAT (I ordered stuff totaling $150+ before and nothing was charged), yet on this last order for about £35 I get charged £13.22; now thats pretty strange stuff....

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n...xx/gmaxx55.jpg

More pictures later; this could take a while to assemble.....

wow, those look nice! can't wait to see how it looks on your truck.

Me neither! It will take a few days since Im working some funny shifts at work hence not much free time, hopefully I'll have it done by monday evening, and my Phaltlines are already winging their way to me as I speak- should be here by the end of next week if not sooner.....

Looks beefy and shiny! Me like! Cant wait to see it together!

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n...xx/gmaxx56.jpg

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n...xx/gmaxx57.jpg

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n...xx/gmaxx58.jpg

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n...xx/gmaxx59.jpg

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n...xx/gmaxx60.jpg

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n...xx/gmaxx61.jpg

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n...xx/gmaxx62.jpg
I had to remove the extra support areas with a dremel in order for the rear lower A-arms to fit.

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n...xx/gmaxx63.jpg

Im picking up my new steering servo, saver & shock springs tomorrow, and my new Phaltlines are being held by Parcel force- should get a letter in a day or two, then I'll have the correct code to be able to pay the customs charge ~ end of next week and this will finally be 100% finished.

will the arms work with the hybrids in the rear.

that much mod does not seem right are you sure you did not mix up the arms between front and left and back and right.

No, the front & rear lower a-arms are essentially identical- no difference in thickness or shape etc. The hybrids have the same extra support area I believe, so you would have to either remove it, or enlarge the gap so that the a-arm can fit into it, then get held in place with the hinge pin. Its a shame but its only the FLM bulks that seem to have this added support area- otherwise the new suspension will work perfectly on any maxx.

can you measure that part of the arm where the clearance issue was the part that the pin goes through that is fatter than most arms.

Its exactly 3/8 of an inch. I believe the FLM bulks have a gap about 2/8 wide- just to make life awkward......

So, I have a plan. I am going to get:-

8XL- I will strip the anodizing because purple is sooo not me.

Quark 125b- not the cheapest controller around but one of the best for reliability/features. A MM would do but with my truck being a little heavy it may just strain the motor & cause the esc to go pop...

All I need then will be a few 3.5/5.5mm gold connectors, shrinkwrap and some deans (I will practice on a few to see if I can solder any better with my new iron, if not then I think I'll get the Candyman to do it for me; he's such I nice guy!)

Money wise I will need about $400/£200 for everything including p&p. As my bank account stands now I may be looking at about 6months or so before I will have enough 'spare' cash to spend- I like to keep above a certain amount with account balance, and building this truck has taken me way below that amount.... but with some hard saving I will have a good BL set up in next to no time.

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n...xx/gmaxx69.jpg

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n...xx/gmaxx68.jpg

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n...xx/gmaxx67.jpg

Okay, plan B. After much thought and technical discussion with the brainiacs on the board, I am going to stick with the HvMaxx. It makes sense really since I dont need gut wrenching torque, and I dont use the truck that much either so putting an expensive BL system in there is daft. What I am doing is upgrading the motor with the sintered rotor which should be here next week with any luck, and also finally replacing all the tamiya connectors with 5.5mm gold plugs; no deans please, my fingers are too stubby. At the moment the weather is being crappy, so testing will occur when I have a window in the weather & work. Thankfully however I get 4 weeks off at the start of august (college students on summer leave = no customers), so I will have plenty of time to bash/test/repair/tweak etc.

I ordered a sintered rotor for the hvmaxx as well. Curious to see what's it like on 14 cells.

You could use a sermos/powerpole plugs. Easy to clamp/solder on. The 5.5's have got the tendency to get loose from time to time.

Did you noticed any difference with the added caps?

By all accounts on 14 cells its pretty damn good- there are a few videos on youtube of maxxes & revos fitted out with a HvMaxx of one type or other- they even wheelie on demand so the torque is there, its just only seen in light weight setups (not mine then....). I looked at the powerpoles when choosing the new connectors- they are ugly as sin! I have the 5.5mm gold jobbies with me already- no chance of coming loose with these, they are seriously tight fitting, but give plenty of connection area between the female & male halves- I can just about push them together/ pull them apart without the need for pliers (deans were way too small for my fingers). As for the caps, i havent been able to rn the truck properly yet due to the weather- but I am willing to bet they will help with temps a little, but I think 3 of the original size/rating caps or similar would be better due to lack of mounting points on this thing. Time will tell, but I think the new rotor will definately help the HvMaxx with temps- should do well in a lightish truck.

You've got a 4400 hvmaxx, correct?

Do you guys in the UK use metric hex wrenches? the novak hv motor uses non metric hex screws.

the 5.5's will get loose sooner or later, they are made from brass, and it's not known for its flexible behaviour. but a small tool can be used to push the contacts in place again.

They are a tight fit (or seem to be) but sooner or later they will loose that pressure. the powerpoles may look ugly as puge, but they are very good.

I like good 4mm plugs better than the 5.5's.

I suppose they are a bit overkill really, but they do look beefy- good for future upgrades. It is the Hv4400 I run- 3 years old or more and still going strong. Im not sure which allen bolt size the motor uses to mount the endbell/ mounting screws- heck, Im not even sure which size/type of allen keys I have TBO, but so long as one fits that all that matters really! The HvMaxx is a very well put together motor, its just a shame it has such a tiny magnet/rotor- bring on the next generation of XL sensored motors please Novak/Traxxas....

I think we could wait for traxxas to obey..

Since they came with a new setup for 1/10'th, completely out of the blue, i think we can expect a bit more from them. The where close to novak with their setups, but this new brushless they produced means a breaktrough IMO.

Its only been two months, yet it feels like an eternity (sp) since this forum vanished. Thankfully its back up again and I can continue my BL adventure.
Today I went to the park for the first time with the finished Gmaxx and shot some video- same poor quality, wonky camera etc, but I think i can edit together all the good bits to make a 5minute vid. Things I learnt:

Esc was cool and motor very hot, so most likely under geared a bit- need to get 18,19 & 20 tooth pinions.

Use more threadloc.

Use some threadloc & zip ties to hold dogbone cup retaining pin onto tranny output- lost one.

Make sure all batteries are fully charged & peaked before you run.

Make sure transmitter batteries are also fully charged- I had to stop after two runs since the tranny died on me- poo.

try and make a carry handle since the truck weighs a ton & is impossible to hold comfortably for long periods.

Vid to come.

What wheels are used? do they use a 14mm hex?

I only have the one set of Imex Jumbo clawdawgs & jumbo diamond rims with a 14mm hex. I was doing some 'burnouts' on the grass- it was a little long really so the wheels would spin for a split second before gripping. On the tiny bit of concrete infront of me (you'll see in the vid later) they gripped a bit better, but not much. Good & bad thing really, since its saves the driveline by having some slippage, but in a race that could cost me time & speed. Good thing I only have myself to race really. Lighter wheels/tires ewould be the best solution, but the new rotor seems to have a lot more 'umph' to it, so it handled the weight very well- just need to play with the gearing a little.

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n..._Gmaxxvid4.jpg

5 minutes, 10MB. Not the best video ever, though it does have good music to make up for it....

wow is that beast low and wide! i like it a lot!!

i was dancing like crazy while watching the vid too. i couldn't help it... the music commanded it, lol.

In cased you missed it in the other forum:
Sick build!!!

Slalom the poles with a wheelie bar!!

That thing is a wheelie monster! :) Looks great.

I too like the low ride and wide wheels.....nice!

is that manyou?

Eh? You mean the music, it was Cascada: A Never ending dream.

The thing that made me really angry was the dopey woman (putting it mildly) who decided to park right in front of where I was driving; got half a field to park in, loads of empty spaces, but she decides to try and run over the truck & park right in my way. I was tempted to let down her tires, but too many witnesses.... Overall a fun day, the weather was great, but man are my legs aching from walking to & from the bash site.

Forgot to mention before, but I have some news about my capacitor mod. I decided to loose the 4 small 330uf caps in favour of another big Novak 2700uf jobby ( 2 in total, wired in parallel ). Did it make a difference? YES. Esc temps were no different than normal really, but the thing I did notice was that towards the end of the run the power was still delivered smoothly. By this I mean before I added the extra cap, in the last 3-5 minutes of a run the batteries would 'dump', and the caps would be be providing the power on & off whilst they 'emptied' , then recharged, then emptied again. Hard to desribe, but it sounded like I was trying to change gear ( motor revs up, then dies, then revs up again, then dies & so on ). Now however, theres none of this, and the truck just runs solidly until the last few minutes when the power starts to drop off, then in the last minute or so it really slows down & I call it a day for that set of batteries. Shame the Novak caps cost $10 and you cant get fewer than a bundle of 100 or so per auction on feebay of similar types, otherwise I would add another one or two just to experiment.

UPDATE:

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n...0photos/72.jpg

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n...0photos/73.jpg

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n...0photos/74.jpg

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n...0photos/75.jpg

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n...0photos/76.jpg

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n...0photos/77.jpg

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n...0photos/78.jpg

I'll let the pics speak for themselves. Hopefully within the next week or so I will be able do make a video of how it performs with 14cells instead of the usual 12.

I uploaded the vids to youtube so that I could reach a wider audience. There is also a new vid of the truck using 14cells; not as impressive as I was hoping.

<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/sb5oN8OImRE"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/sb5oN8OImRE" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>
older vid

<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/KxicmxHn2Do"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/KxicmxHn2Do" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>
New vid

I did remember to bring my temp gun this time (aka hacked meat temperature probe, oh man....), the results after 10 minutes of hard running are as follows:

ESC= cold, seriously. Wasnt worth checking it was so cool ~ ambient temp 20*c / 70f ish.
Batteries= hot! ~ 70*c / 160f ish
Motor very warm = 60*c / 140f ish

Normally I would say that the motor was under geared, thats why the esc is so cool yet the motor hot. Thing about the HV motors is that they dont always follow that rule of thumb, so I think I need a few more pinions (18 & 19tooth) to have a play with, and try gearing up a little. I will figure it out though- I know this system is capable of much more; it went faster in the TXT-1 and that was with the old bonded rotor and 12 cells.....

wow - that thing really flies! those tires sure do make that thing look beastly.

nice! :yes:

That brick might float !!!

Huge focal point of the truck too.

I like'm like that :wink:


Good Lookin Whip you got there for sure. :intello:

Very nice!!!!!!!!

That is how I like my 1:1 low and wide.

Time for some experimenting, I want to get this gear ratio nailed. I also locked the tranny into second gear & removed the 1st gear RCM idler- suprizingly heavy for such a small part. If I really wanted to I could just order the single speed cover plate since I have the coupler & a million spare screws, but.... bah. Had an interesting thought too; if I decide the HvMaxx is no-longer enough power/speed and get the new Novak system or something else, could I use the HvMaxx in a BL boat- dont see any reason why not?

HEY thats nice do u have a top speed on it.

Thanks. I dont have an official topspeed yet- everytime I try to buy a GPS unit on feebay I get out bid by a huge amount, but I estimate the top speed at about 30-35mph roughly.

At the moment I have ripped two of my 7 cell packs apart into individual cells, and im just about to order a soldering jig & battery bars etc so I can make them into side by side packs which fit the Gmaxx chassis much better.
I did a little test this morning and managed to get some solder to stick properly to a old spare cell, so I am confident I can do this properly & not ruin 2 perfectly good but cheap battery packs.:yipi:

Have u tried lipo yet? When my g3r revo chassis comes in I am going to set up for drag racing I think I will use the Novak HV 6.5 with lipo.