Project Frankenrevobaja !!!
 

First off, I must give credit/blame where it is due ! Special thanks/blame go to lydiasdad for the great idea of a home made baja !
I was in the process of building 2 e-revos , one Gorillamaxx and one homemade . Well After seeing the excellant work on his baja I figured why have 2 revo's when I can have a revo and a mutant baja ! So, while I wait on more parts to finish up my gorillamaxx , I started on the mutant. I was gonna wait till I got farther along to post pics, but couldnt help myself . So, heres where I am as of today . Jerry
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Dude, I wanna come and play at your house! :)

What kind of tooling do yopu have?

Just minor stuff, drillpress, beltsander,vise ,grinder . I have to do the aluminum shearing and bending at work. I have just got my drill press set up to do some minor milling, but have only done it a handfull of times so far. Getting better at it !

your front driveshaft will be incredibly long, its looking good though

No front driveshaft, 2 wheel drive only .

Well, you do very tidy work for the tool you've got. I'm impressed and sure the buggy will be fun. Any thought of working out the 4wd?

Wasnt thinking 4wd on this one, I've got my Gorillamaxx revo for that !!
I think it would be pretty hard to make it 4wd with the extreamly long wheelbase .

This will have a cage by the time I'm done . And will probably start looking more like a buggy once I get the arms and tires on it lol

Nice job, it looks great! Can't wait to see the finished product. What motor, esc, batts are you using? What is your wheel base?

I made the wheelbase 22 inches . I think that was the same as the HPI baja. I have a 9XL and 2 2s trakpower batts at the moment I bought for my G-maxx , but have since picked up a quark Monster-pro . So now I will be able to run a 6s batt !!! I will set it up with what I've got but plan on bigger and better power soon !

Nice man. I think this project deserves a Neu 1527. You could fit many more batteries in there you know...

I just want to get it done , then I can start experimenting with motors and batts. I still havnt even seen my g-maxx run yet . Thats the sucky part . As much as I LOVE making my own stuff, it takes forever cause I cant just dedicate a week to it " atleast my girlfriend says I cant " lol !!

OMG :surprised: Wouldn't be surprised if RC411/Xtreme RC would want to put this in their mag

Man after i saw lydiasdad's ride i wanted to make one, but this thing is amazing! And using revo parts is the BEST idea! all i can say is :surprised: and keep up the good work.

this is a very interesting lookin project. Nice work.

Ditto, that thing will rock like.... granite!

4wd wouldnt be that hard, just move the batts a little, and have Mike build you a foot-long dog bone... hehehe.

After I saw lydiasdad's ride I HAD to make one !! It's an uncontrollable urge I just cant help myself !
I'm sure some of you understand lol !! Jerry

You could install another transmission and motor up front. Then there's no need for a LONG cv shaft. Just a thought...:whistle:

C'mon man in dieing over here i want more pics! lol i cant wait to see this thing run, ive been thinking up ideas for my own in my head all day!

I thought about another tranny and motor. I did a 4WD stampede that way a few years back , it was pretty wild . I am trying to keep this one on the lighter side of things, will see how that works out lol.
Well I built the rear suppout today but dont think it's going to pass the final inspection. Tapping 3mm holes are almost impossible ! I did 4 and still need 5 more ! I will probably change it . I did get the steering servo mounted though !! Heres a couple more pics from today. Jerry

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Are you using a drill press to drill the holes? If so when you clamp the piece to drill, leave it in place and chuck the m3 tap in the press. Then just feed the tap down into the hole and turn the drill press by hand. I usually open the lid and use the pulley to turn the tap into the material, much easier than doing it by hand, and the tap is always perfectly lined up with the hole.

Looks good, are you going to build some sort of battery holder?

The batteries fit back to the rear mount perfectlyand are captured by the braces also. I plan to use some kind of pad like the gorillamaxx to keep them tight and then strap the hell out of them !! I have extra room up front for "future upgrades " I did try the drillpress method . I have used that in the past with great results but this is the smallest I have ever tapped and it just seems to not cut and gum up the threads. I have cutting oil and go slow and back it out but all 4 came out terrible. One I had to pry the tap back out ! I couldnt turn it out, it just kept spinning. I may just tap them the best I can and put the screws in with loctite . Will see. Jerry

How deep are you drilling the holes? You may have to drill up to twice as deep as you intend to tap. That will give the room for the material that the tap pushes in front of itself. I usually try to drill thru if at all possible. Never had a tap issue doing that. You may need to remove the tap and knock out the shavings frequently.

I cant go all the way through, but will try backing it out and knocking out the shavings. Thanks for the tips !!

Looking good! That's one sweet design and layout so far. I can't wait to see it finished! :D

The rear support design does look rather nice, but it is indeed a real bitch trying to tap smaller holes; I busted 2 or 3 rather expensive taps when I first got into modding my old TXT-1.

Well I know it's been forever . We have our house up for sale , so I've been busy doing all the repairs I've been putting off for the last ten years :lol:
Those of you who have sold a house know what I mean :whistle:

Anyhow, I've been squeezing in time on several different projects when I can. Heres the latest pics of the frankenrevo !! Still have a ways to go but atleast it's starting to look like something now. Dont worry, the wheels are just old junkers .

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Wow man that looks great. How stiff is the chassis? How much does it weigh as it sits now? What power system will you be running? I put a kb45 10l in my e-baja and am very happy with it. You just had to out do me.:cry:

Can you flog the weed whackers yet? Don't worry lydiasdad you will always be the first.

That's looking pretty sweet Jbreddawg. Something I have noticed about the baja 5b is the strange steering geometry. Is there something you can do to replicate this on the revo front end. I'm sure the baja must be like it for some reason.

Yes, yes I can. Vids coming soon.:yes:

Jb, couple more questions. Do you plan on using some sort of roll cage? What body are you going to use?

The chassis is very stiff, it has foldups on the sides to add strength but will see how it holds up in the long run. I want to run 6s !! I have a couple different motors and speedos to try if I ever get it done. Havnt weighed it yet but it's still pretty light at this point in the build. I plan on a full cage and maybe some carbon fiber panels . Wont have any idea on the steering till I get it running .

It looks fantastic. One more question. What wheels/tires are you going to use? I am really enjoying mine. I was never really drawn to 1/5 scale before but the only other guy I knew that was in to rc went to 1/5 gas vehicles.

I really want wheels that looks buggy-like :lol: I was thinking some 40's in the rear and 38's up front ?

On a side note , I ran 1/5 scale cars for a couple of years , there is probably nothing cooler on the planet !!! They arnt super fast , not lightning quick , but theres nothing like running those monsters with 3-5 others at the same time !!! Only problem was they were kinda like the "big boy toys " and few people had them . We went from 7 people down to 4 down to 2 to just me , so I sold and moved on. If you get a chance to drive one GO FOR IT !!!
we could draft, push , and run touching side by side with them !!
Not something you can do with 10th scale :lol:

*Bump* for updates?

X2. I'm really curious how the Revo shocks are going to work. Me think's yer gonna have to do something different for shocks.

very cool project, i think the revo shocks should handle it just fine

great looking build. i have a couple i am working on now and i love it & hate it. love the time building...can spend 12 hours and the garage and not know it. but hate the money i spend and hate waiting for parts/materials. anyway, you all get it. its an addiction we all share. i was thinking of bagging my latest project with christmas here and trying to get my $2k back by throwing all the parts on ebay but your build has inspired me to stick with it. i cant turn my back on this hobby now. i am in too deep. thanks for the post of your awesome build.