Losi 2.0 Conversion
 

Look what showed up today. Still need a body (the one that comes in the box has big holes in it for the nitro stuff) and I have not decided if I am going to use M3 or M4 screws to hold the motor onto the mount. Tapping new threads is not a problem but I noticed on the MMM motor the holes come very close to the endbell screws and there may not be enough meat on the endbell to provide support if I drill and tap for an M4 screw. Got to open up the motor and see what's on the other side of the endbell.

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...P1010021-2.jpg

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...P1010025-1.jpg

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...3/P1010023.jpg

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...P1010030-1.jpg

Losi 2.0 race roller, MMM 2650kv combo, Losi E-conversion kit.

nice

Sweet but need you'll need a pinion... i think the CC ones are 32p

Arct1k, the Losi kit comes with two Mod1 pinions (15T and 16T). Probably still need more pinions because you have to use a 45T spur with the kit so I may need to drop down to a 14T pinion.

Started the build, I put some M3 screws in the motor to see how it would fit. It seems ok, but I think I prefer the larger screws. In the first picture you can see the M3 screw sits way down in the hole, a larger screw would use all the surface area to spread out the torque, the M3 looks like it is using only half. Also a larger screw would have more surface area (threads) to engage the endbell, which will mean a stronger bond between motor and mount. You can also see in the picture how close the stock hole in the MMM motor comes to the endbell screw. I think an M4 screw will still be ok, need to pop the endbell and take a look. In the next picture (side view) you can see there is plenty of shaft (at least with the MMM 2650kv motor) for the pinion. I wish Losi would make some adapters that allowed you to use m3 screws (in case you didn't want to use the Losi motor). I was thinking of taking some 8-32 screws, cutting off the shaft, drill out the center and use a m3 bevel drill to make my own adapter, but it might be easier just to tap the motor endbell. You definetly need to grind the rear motor support when using the MMM motor.

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...P1010028-1.jpg
M3 screw

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...3/P1010032.jpg
Plenty of shaft

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...P1010039-1.jpg
MMM 2650kv motor is much smaller than the 2200kv motor

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...3/P1010041.jpg
Probably going to need to run a smaller pinion with a 45T spur.

Sweet conversion. I don't like the looks of the losi motor mount though.

BL_RV0, thanks. Yeah because of the sliding adjustment in the Losi mount there is a slight amount of play. I guess thats why they include a rear motor brace. I may switch to the RC-Monster mount, but I'll try the Losi mount first, the gear mesh adjustment is pretty cool.

tits, Ill take that 15 tooth off you, if you want to get rid of it.

Sweet build. Everything is nice and shiny. Can I ask how much have you spend on this now? Buggys has always been interest of mine..

Shark, I helped a buddy with this exact conversion a few weeks ago. We did the same thing using the 3mm screws. He has been running it for like 3 practice days and they seem to be holding up fine.

Yeah several people have reported the M3 screws are working ok, but I still would like to try the M4 screws. Tapping is not a problem, and I just opened up the motor and there appears to just be enough room inside for the larger M4 screws. The motor has 2 sets of holes, so I'll tap one set to take M4 and leave the other at M3 size, so I can have both, in case I put the motor in a different mount.

A lot of $$$.. I used a discount coupon on the Losi 2.0, and another for the MMM, so I saved a few bucks, but it still not cheap. This will be my 5th buggy conversion, I have learned a lot with each build, so hopefully the Losi will turn out ok.

Sorry SeanZ0r, but I can still use the pinions on my truggies. I am curious, several people have said they are having issues with the Losi pinions coming off because the grub screw is too small and can't be properly tightened. Did they change the design? Because these pinions have the same size grub screw as the RC-Monster, Novak and Robinson pinions.

Yeah, fair enough. I guess I will figure the costs when/if im converting one :smile:. We'll see, these are very tempting right now..

Another update: I have added the radio tray and steering servo, optional aluminum servo saver arm, losi servo horn and a King Headz steering plate. I have a Losi hard case battery in the first picture, it's a pretty big battery much bigger than the Neu or Zippy.

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...3/P1010022.jpg
Losi battery


http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r.../P1010023x.jpg
Neu battery

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...P1010026-3.jpg
Losi on top, Zippy in the middle Neu on the bottom all are 25C 4S lipo's.

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...P1010028-2.jpg

looks great , it looks very well balanced


let us know how the motor does on the track , i am torn between the 2200kv and this one , once you get the gearing figured out , also run-time and such on the 5k packs

My new tap arrived, so I drilled out two of the holes on the Castle Creations MMM motor and tapped them out to M4 size. Mounted the motor using M4 screws, modded the rear mount to fit the MMM motor. Now everything is rock solid.

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...3/DSC05369.jpg
MMM 2650kv motor endbell, nice sharp tap and the proper size drill.

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...3/DSC05370.jpg
Drilling out the holes, the material was pretty tough, I hope they are using 7075 aluminum.

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...3/DSC05376.jpg
Holes tapped, now I am checking to see what length screws I should be using, too short and they don't thread in far enough and can strip out, too long and they will hit the coils inside the motor. Notice how close the new M4 holes come to the inner alignment ring, just made it. Also, the bearing is gigantic.

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...3/DSC05381.jpg
This is why I went thru all the trouble of tapping the holes, M3 screw on the left, M4 in the middle and on the right.

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...3/DSC05384.jpg
All done, absolutely no flex in the mount now. M4's look nice sitting in the mounting plate.

Almost done, hooked up all the electrical stuff, shortened the motor wire, installed the ESC and rx. Hooked up a battery and tested it out on the work bench, everything worked great. I am used to running metal on metal (spur/pinion) but this is the loudest brushless conversion I have ever run. My ears are still ringing. I Won't be able to get to the track until next week, got pre-SuperBowl parties Saturday and Superbowl Sunday going on this weekend. Also, still need to paint the body.

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...3/P1010038.jpg

If the noise is getting to you, I got the kyosho plastic spur to fit. Its quiet now.
Its a direct fit, so no need to mod or anything...just take the metal one off and replace it with this.

http://rc-monster.com/proddetail.php?prod=KYOIF147

oh, Its 44t so it will make you a bit faster.

Thanks for the offer, the guys on this forum are really cool. But I have used plastic before on my first conversions. Plastic is great, quiet, smooth, cheap, and doesn't wear out your pinion like steel does. I used them for several months with no problems, then one day after some heavy track action I knocked a couple of teeth off and had a DNF. So for me I need to be sure I can finish a race, and steel is more reliable than Plastic. May be when Mike releases his Slipperential I can go back to plastic. Also I heard Losi is coming out with there own plastic spurs for the 8ight as well.

Losi's own Xcelorin 1/8 motor has 4mm bolts, that's why the motor mount in Losi conversion kit was designed this way.
Bigger screws will definately be stronger, but some other motor mount(like the Tekno's) uses all four 3mm screws to hold the motor in place, it feels really tough.

if i may what is the difference between the 1 and losi 2? the chassis...center drive shaft is longer.... what else? also will a body form the 1 fit a 2?

i just noticed u had the flex chassis on it right? if so why do you have a metal king headz rear brace. i was told that you had to use the plastic ones with that chassis or it would make the chassis not do what it was made to do.

What your saying makes sense, if they design flex into a chassis why make it stiffer. But the E-conversion changes the dynamics of the chassis slightly because of the rear motor mount that does not exist on the nitro version. I want to try both the metal brace and the plastic one and then decide which suits my driving style. Since there were no changes to the front I am using the stock plastic brace up front.

oh ok i understand what your doing now. i dont think i would of ever thought of that lol.

Front A-Arms and carriers are different, rear a-arm and carriers are different, the rear outer hinge pin is larger (3.5mm), the front and rear shock towers are different (lighter), there are grease shields on the center cvd's, aluminum parts are anodized black, different rear diff housing, different radio tray (stronger), body has a slightly different design, but will fit on 1.0 version. Steering parts are different. Mainly small updates to fix issues with the first version and to add some better handling and more durability, nothing major.

I personally think all motors should use 4mm screws or at least have the option (have both 3 & 4mm holes on the motor). I think 3mm is a carryover from the past and with todays larger more powerful motors 4mm is the new standard. Just like 1/8 motor shafts, we soon found out 5mm was the way to go.

Conversion looks great so far - nice work!!

Another thing to consider. all chassis have flex built into them. It enhances the handling by adding to the suspension. A good comparison would be a motocross bike, it has suspension like a buggy, but you also stand up a lot and let your knees act as a secondary suspension, same as the flex in the buggy chassis.

Also, the Losi 8ight 1.0 version also has chassis flex built into it, the 2.0 just has a slightly different flavor, and remember Losi sells optional aluminum braces for the 1.0 version, so they must not believe it impacts the chassis flex in a bad way. Just my 2 cents.

I don't even used the front brace in my 8ight 1.0.

Agreed. Things are never considered "too strong", just the stronger the better. 4X4mm screws will be bullet proof strong, at least it looks that way.

Well I finally got around to painting a couple of bodies. I am not very good at painting so I stuck to some simple designs. The reason I have two bodies is because I was so excited to see the "E" bodies back in stock I ordered one without remembering I had one on back order as well.

Also, I added some 3M HD dual Loc velcro to the bottom of the tray and added some padding. All of my batteries (except the Losi hardcase) have Dual Loc on them. The the Losi tray is really long, which is good for adjusting weight bias. But, it is bad for short batteries because they tend to slide forward. With the velcro and straps the batteries stay where you put them.

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...3/DSC01218.jpg
Hard to see but there is dual loc velcro on the bottom of the tray.

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...3/DSC05392.jpg

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...3/DSC05406.jpg

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...3/DSC05412.jpg

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...3/DSC05416.jpg

Dude - that green, white, orange body is awesome!! Nice work! What color is that green?

looks good

Sower, I have been using Faskolor paints recently and the green color I used for that body is #40301 Pearl Key Lime backed with silver. Because Parma makes so many colors and they can look different once you spray them on the body and back them with another color, I made a paint guide out of some scrap polycarb I had. I sprayed small patches of my main colors and labeled them with the Faskolor #, some of them are very similar so the guide is really useful for picking the right color. Also I backed the guide with white and black so I could see how those colors looked with light/dark backing.

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...3/DSC05428.jpg

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...3/DSC05429.jpg

Thanks, now I just hope it doesn't rain so I can get out to the track this weekend.

Thanks for the paint info - too bad I don't have an airbrush!

I got my plastic spur today so I was able to change out the steel gear on my smart diff. I Installed the diff (center) and took it out for a spin (street). It definetly feels like it hooks up better, driving on the street is actually a good test because there is so much more traction. Off power turn in was great. The brakes felt good and seemed to stop like they did with the stock diff. Below are some pictures of the inside of the diff, the smart diff inner parts will not fit in the standard diff case. Also a slight issue using the plastic spur, it is a bit wider than the steel spur, and at first there was some binding with the motor mount. After a few runs up and down the street it freed up and felt fine. I hope it stays dry this weekend so I can get some track time in.

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...3/DSC05431.jpg
Losi Smart Diff and plastic spur gears.

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...3/DSC05434.jpg
Inside the Smart diff.

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...3/DSC05442.jpg
Plastic spur is a bit wider, some of this extra width is on the motor mount side and binds slightly, until the high spots wear off.

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...3/DSC05449.jpg
You can see how close the plastic spur comes to the motor mount.

Can you compare the quality of the plastic of the Losi spur vs. the kyosho spur? I was hoping the losi spur would be further away from the motor mount than the kyosho spur sits, but it appears it does not.

Does Losi have 48T or 49T plastic spurs? My Tekno Losi 8-T's motor mount is too far away from center diff to allow spur smaller than 48T.
Plastic spur must be much quieter than steel, makes the truggy feel even more "electric". I love that style.