My FLM Savage Build
 

Well after 2 months and close to $1000 bucks I am almost done but have run into a problem. Here is a list of everything I have added and what the issue is.
Flm Savage chassis
Medusa 36-80 1600kv motor
HW 150a ESC
Zippy 5000mah 6s Lipo's x 2
icharger 106b lipo charger
New Era Wing mount
New Era 23mm ext hubs
New Era Shock towers
New Era Wheelie bar
LST Shocks
IRC Shock mounts
Airtronics MX-3FG TX/RX

Problem I have is that the zippy's are too big and the ESC does not fit in the chassis. I have two options that I can see. Have the Lipo's reduced to 3 4s or get a smaller ESC. Don't know how big the MMM is and if it would fit.

Here are some pics of the truck.
http://i672.photobucket.com/albums/v...y/IMG_0605.jpg
http://i672.photobucket.com/albums/v...y/IMG_0603.jpg
http://i672.photobucket.com/albums/v...y/IMG_0608.jpg
http://i672.photobucket.com/albums/v...y/IMG_0609.jpg
http://i672.photobucket.com/albums/v...y/IMG_0610.jpg
http://i672.photobucket.com/albums/v...y/IMG_0604.jpg

Let me know what you think and what my options are.
Thanks to all that have given me help and ideas to do this project.
Rear tie rod eliminators and adjustable upper a-arms
23mm wheels and tires
Wing

Mount the esc above the tranny on a custom plate. As for the lipos, what gearing do you plan to run? When I had my flm chassis I used the 52t spur to get the motor as far away as possible to open up the battery tray area. I have since scrapped using the flm chassis and decided to make my own for forward battery mounting...

the mmm esc is much smaller than the huge hobbywing esc. your best bet is to sell the hobbywing and get yourself a mmm. also, castle creaion's customer service is much better than hobbywing's.

if you do end up selling your hobbywing esc, i still need one for my conversion. i have plenty of esc space with my setup. :intello:

May take you up on that. Just trying to figure out the best route to go. From the pics I have seen, not too sure if the mmm will fit either?
Either that or I have to figure out if making the lipo's smaller are worth it or not as I would have to get someone to do it for me. Never dealt with taking lipo's apart before.

After looking at the various controllers I think the Tekin RX8 will fit. May go that way and just sell the HW and card that I have.

One question? Can I use an air controller like the quark 125amp ESC? Reason I ask is that I can get one for a very good price. Just wondering if this would work and what else would I need to use one of these.

If only i had $1,000 to spend on R/c.... Nice truck.

Just waiting for the Medusa to show up to see if this set-up with work or not. May have to get new Lipo's or a new ESC. I gues I can tack this up to putting the cart before the horse and a learning lesson. Bought everything all at once without seeing if it will all fit. Got too excited i guess. Will post more pics when the motor gets in and go from there.

What are my choices on a smaller ESC? I have looked at the MGM's but they seem to be a bit to expensive. Anyone have quark's that run well. Have seen the Monster Pro and it is small enough. Just don't know how good it is.

Mgm and the MMM are about the best bet for a reliable 6s esc... Neither are that much smaller than the HW you already have. The quark is good for 5s max, even though it is rated for 6s. Basically the same internals as a Mamba Max...

I would mount the esc above the tranny myself, and hopefully you have enough room beside the motor to fit the 6s packs you have. What are the dimensions of the 6s lipos you have?

The packs are 160mm x 51mm x 46mm. They just fit in without touching the spur. Have maybe 1/2" to spare. The biggest problem is the width. I am now seeing what you said about them being too close to the motor. Once I get the Medusa in that will be the determining factor as to what needs to be done.

Well, you can put them in on their side, so they will be 46mm wide. The medusa is 36mm wide. If you can put the pack in and measure the distance between the center of the spur gear, and the edge of the pack where the motor would touch it. I should be able to calculate what distance you have left, and we will see what gearing you could run.

Also, can you list your motor and tire height again, and if you plan to run the 2 speed and mech brakes, or lock it in either gear? That will help with figuring the correct gear ratios...

I had to do this with my flm chassis and ended up with the 52t spur to get adequate clearance for the lipos.

Will try that when I get home from work tonight and see what we get. As for the spur, I was already planning on using the 52 just for that reason. Have plenty of 47, 49 and 52T spurs with a 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18 pinion already so I do have some options on this.
Thanks

Just let me know, Thanks!

Well I think all the best laid plans just went to hell. I put the motor in and it touches the battery using 52/17 gears. I think I am going to have to start over. I think 4s will be the way to go. Now just have to figure out if I keep the Medusa (1600kv) and the ESC. From what I read the motor might be a little lacking? Should I go up to a 2000 or 2200KV motor?

For a heavy truck 6s is better... Did you try the battery both ways, as it is narrower on its side? Also you can put spacers under the motor mount, which raises it up so that the motor shaft is closer to the center line of the spur, where the spur is widest. I have seen people do this to gain clearance between the motor and batteries.

If you go with the flux center shaft for the tranny it effectively locks it in 1st, which will require a larger pinion to get the correct top speed...

I will plug some numbers in to the calc.

you have 6s lipo, a 1600kv motor and something like 6" tall tires, correct?

Yup. Set-up is Medusa 1600, 6s Lipo, and I have Proline Holeshot MTR tires. I would like to stay with 6s but there is just no space for the two. Obviosly I have some tinkering to do but just can't see this working without reducing the Lipo size to at least a 5s?? Yes I did flip the batteries.

Ok, if you run the flux center shaft/gear in the x tranny, pn hpi100905, it is just like locking the X tranny in 1st gear.

With that tranny ratio and your 6s/1600kv combo you could run a 52/25 spur/pinion combo. That would get the motor well away from the tranny. If the motor mount does not have enough adjustment, you could go with a 47/23 spur/pinion setup and that would yeild the same ratio (about) I figured that you are using 40 series bowties (by the pics) which are around 5.75" tall.

Set the motor and mount up with out a pinion, and place the battery in the chassis, adjust the motor as close to the battery as you feel comfortable (leave 1-2mm between) and measure from the center of the spur gear to the center of the motor shaft.

The 52/25 combo would place the center of the motor shaft about 40mm from the center of the spur, the 47/23 would give around 37mm. Your 52/17 combo is about 36mm, so the 52/25 would most likely get the job done.

Plus you only need to buy the flux center shaft/gear and the 25t pinion from mike, (25-30 bucks for the 2) which is much cheaper than another lipo or motor...

Calc info for the 52/25 gearing with flux tranny ratio:

Differential Ratio: 3.3076923076923075
Transmission Ratio: 2.215277777777778
Other Ratio: 1
Spur Tooth Count: 52
Pinion Tooth Count: 25
Total Voltage: 22.2
Motor KV: 1600
Tire Diameter (inches): 5.75
Tire Ballooning (inches): 0
Motor Current Draw: 0
Motor coil Ω: 0
Spur/Pinion Ratio: 2.08 : 1
Total Ratio: 15.24111 : 1
Tire Circumference (inches): 18.06 inches (458.83 mm)
Total Motor Speed: 35520 RPM
Vehicle Speed: 39.87 mph (64.04 km/h)
Effective KV Value: 1600

If you have room you can run the smaller 49-47t spurs to up the speed a bit...

I went thru all of this with my flm chassis savage... Hope the info helps! And keep in mind with the flux internals on the tranny you can use motor brakes and motor reverse, instead of mech brakes.

linc, you rule:yipi:
I will give this a try and order some extra parts and see what I come up with. Thanks for the help. Didn't think about the extra size on the pinions:oops:
Just mean another 2 weeks before this thing is running.

No prob, I must have fooled with gearing for about 10 setups with the flm chassis. Seemed like you had to lock it in 1st and use large pinions if your motor speeds were around 45mph, that way the battery and motor would fit. I did not like the idea of raising the mount up, so I got around it with gearing. I had the chassis built for over 6 months and never ran it...

Ya I am just too stubborn for that. After all the time and cash into this thing there is no way it is going to sit there.:intello:
Besides, its driving the wife nuts that it is not done yet. She will probably driving it anyway. She is scared of my Baja.

Well got everything mounted up. Made some risers for the ESC plate to lift the controller up a bit higher. Have the Lipo, motor and ESC all installed and everything fits very good now. Just waiting on the tranny gear and the larger pinions as well as a new rx and I am ready to go.

Well got it all running and all I can say is this thing is NUTS!!!!! At least for as long as the rear pinion lasted. Blew it completely apart. Ring gear got a bit chewed as well. Now I just have to figure out different ring and pinions. May go with FLM bulks as well. Gonna be fun when I get this thing running consistently.

Well got the diff fixed and was able to get a full pack on the truck. Changed to a new pack and started running and that's when everything went wrong. Heard a load snapping noise and shut it down right away. Damage was a chewed steel spur, chewed RCM pinion. So I thought no big deal, just change them out. Went to pull off the pinion and the motor shaft came with it.
Snapped the shaft right off. Also the end bell (?) came off as well. Only good thing is the diffs are fine.
Guess it is going to be a while before this is running again until I get the Medusa either repaired or refunded.

Set-up and damage.
http://i672.photobucket.com/albums/v...y/IMG_0614.jpg
http://i672.photobucket.com/albums/v...y/IMG_0615.jpg
http://i672.photobucket.com/albums/v...y/IMG_0616.jpg
http://i672.photobucket.com/albums/v...y/IMG_0617.jpg
http://i672.photobucket.com/albums/v...y/IMG_0618.jpg

That sucks. It's happened to me before, but only with a castle CMS36 motor.

That is a real bummer. hope i have better luck with my conversion.

Ya, hoping next go around will be better. New to all of this so hopefully I will figure this out sooner or later.