New 1/8th BL project, need help.....
 

This will be my first ever 1/8th scale bl project as I just got the funds. My buggy of choice is SET, it's an XB8 raycer. I love X-ray and I'm kind of priding myself in being the first one I've read of doing it to an X-ray buggy ;).

Anyways, I just need help figuring out the motor mount. I don't have any tools for cutting except a dremel, and I really want to do it myself.

Is there a faq for BL conversions? I really need to know everything I need to accomplish.

So far, the problems I have (without having the buggy yet) are:

Chassis flex in the center with no motor mount
Motor mount
Pinion on stell spur, will mod 1 pinions work?
Lastly, i have NO ideal what BL combo to use, but just the motor and esc have to be 300 or below.

Sorry for the long post and thanks for any info you can provide.

Welcome to the forum...

I'll hit a couple things quick... others will have input too... and you will find plenty of info here if you do some reading.

1. You need to run a plastic center gear believe it or not. Steel gears will destroy the pinions.... the Kyosho plastic gears work great.

2. I don't know off hand which parts fit for the xray, or if there is motor mount available yet, but I know someone here has doen an xray...

3. The best combo for under $300 is the Mamba Max esc and a Fegiao 8XL. That's about $225 and you also need a ubec (voltage regulator for rx/servo) which run $15-40.

Chassis flex should not be an issue any more than nitro... ?

Thanks for the info glass doctor.I'm surprised I could get a decent BL set-up for that much. I thought I'd have to stretch it to 350.

I've been reading, and I figure I'm going to use the 44t kyosho spur and a 17t pinion, does that sound about right to you? I'm clueless on gearing.

The chassis flex I was worried about was that there is now less bracing in the middle but the same front and back, will this cause bending?

Lastly, I'm running 12 matched 3300 packs, will that be a problem?

Thanks.


EDIT: So I did some (window) shopping on rc-monster today and I decided to go with a BK warrior ESC since it seems to be a much better one, and it's only 30 bucks over budget total with the fegiao.

I made a list on excel and so far I have the spur, pinion, buggy, powerplant, BEC, and speed control taken car of. Everything without motor mount is 804 bucks. Pretty good for everything being new :).

First off, don't get a Warrior. I don't know why you say its better, but its really not. The Mamba Max is superior, by far. If you want a better ESC than the Mamba Max, get the Quark 125B. Second, if you don't have batteries, then I would highly recommend LiPo.

Squee has strong opinions but he does have a point the mamba is easier to program and is worth every penny the bk esc from what I hear is hard to program.

I also say the Mamba is better... with fewer issues than BK. The little green bugger works great, even where several other escs had problems or died.

Even if the price was the same I would recomend the MM.

I like the Mambas too. The 8XL will be the perfect motor too. I do, however, thing that the 17/44 gearing that you want to use will be a bit too much gearing and may cause a small problem that may manifest itself in the form of some cogging. You may want to start with something more like 15/46. I'm not saying that you can't use a 44T spur. Perhaps something like 12 or 13 or the pinion with the 44T spur.

I'm only mentioning this because it's a problem that I had.

hey, welcome aboard.
i'm x-rayted on the xray forum.

a kyosho spur doesnt fit an xray.
i asked dafni if the whole kyosho/hotbodies assemble drops on to the xray chassis.
we should know soon enough.
i would have mike make an adaptor for an ofna 51T plastic (delrin) spur.
and dont buy a bk right now, new ones are coming soon.

byby

I would also recommend the Mamba Max over the BK Warrior. I burned out two Warriors rather quickly, and total waiting time and cost for replacements from BK was 10 months and ~$170. When I got my third one, I immediately sold it so I wouldn't have to deal with it.

Metalman, I can top that...I've burned 3! Not to mention, 2 of them in less than 10 minutes...Hows that? :005: Of course my first burned one was pretty easy and fast to get a replacement.

Wow, thanks a ton guys, this helped a lot AND made my budget happy :).

Yes, I already have the batteries.

Well, it turns out I can get a hellfire ss kit for 255 bucks BRAND NEW! But I've heard it had some durability issues.

Should I go with the hellfire over the xray? Will a kyosho spur fit the hellfire?

Thanks for all the help guys, and what's up x-rayted ;).

Oh man, tough question. I think I'd have to go with the X-Ray and just deal with the center diff issue. I've driven quite a few rc cars and have seen many, including 8ights, Mugens, etc., and none seem to float over the rough stuff like an X-Ray does.

Can anyone confirm whether the screw pattern on the Kyosho spur matches the hole pattern on the X-Ray? If they do match and it's just a fitment issue, it might be pretty easy to over come with slight modification to the spurs. I have to modify the spurs to make them fit all of 1/8 scales.

Hmm, I don't know, I don't think it's going to see track time soon as my offroad track closed and they always tell me not yet when I asked if they've found a new place for lease yet.

The hellfire seems like a better basher, and it would be wrong not to race an Xray ;).

Hmm, I'll give it more thought, but because of the price, I think I'm leaning towards the hellfire. But yes, I do know as I own an X-ray kit that the quality, support, and following are unmatchable.

EDIT: I think I'm just going with the Hellfire as I can directly mount the kyosho spurs as they use the same hole configuration. The price is great, the aftermarket is great, and it's a lean, mean, truggy machine!

Hey, good luck with it. I'm sure it'll be a kick in the pants to run.

Good choice. As you said, you won't always be racing, and the hellfire has mroe ground clearance, so I think it will work better for you. Have fun with the conversiona nd be sure to keep us posted.:027:

The X-Ray would be my choice. The Hellfire isn't that great of a truggy from what I've heard...

stay with the xray imo.

and the diff cup of an xray is smaller in diameter.:002: so that why it doesnt fit.

I'm now convinced that the hellfire is NOT worth getting. But is there any way to make the X-ray work?

If not, what are some other vehicle choices in the 400 buck price range? I see the hyper 8 looks nice, but it's not as good as the X-ray. Yea, I'm biased :).

I agree, the hyper 8 isn't as nice as the X-Ray. Unfortunately, I don't have an X-Ray readily available to make a comparison; however, if the chief difference is that the diff cup is smaller in diameter, that may not be too big a deal. What's important, I think, is the total length of the space between the diff mounts. You just need to find a diff that will fit between the mounts. I know the losi/sportwerks diff cup will work with the Kyosho spur with a little massaging. We also know that the hotbodies diff will work with the spur, but is a bit longer than the sportwerks diff cup.

Well, I think I'm going to say screw it to the X-ray and go with an LSP-R pro rolling chassis. Much easier as I don't have metal working tools except for a dremel and costs less.

Just a couple last questions:

Is the Fegiao 8xl still a good motor? Did you guys mean the 540c XL?

Are the lightning pro's as good as I've read?

Lastly, what's a good gearing starting point and will the 46t spur from kyosho work?

Thanks a ton for the help guys, great forum, site and group of RCer's! :)

EDIT: Here's the list to look over:

Lighting Pro rr $400.00
Mamba Max +Fegiao 8xl $215.00
Kyosho 44t Spur $5.00
Mod 1 Pinion $12.00
BEC/UBEC $37.00
Motor mount $40.00
Total $709.00

i'd get a 46T spur, and a 15T pinion on the 8xl will do about 35ish on 4s lipo.

I'm using 12 Ni-Mh batts.

http://www.rc-monster.com/forum/show...ighlight=video

And I found this for you x-rayted, in case you decide you can make it work with the XB8 ;).