Another 1/8th Buggy Recommendation
 

I've read through a lot of threads, but most only discuss trucks and such and not converted buggies. I am thinking about converting my Duratrax Axis and just wanted some ideas. I think I want to stick with a Feigao motor and 9920 controller. For the motor I am thinking the usual 9L, 10L or 7XL.

I plan on 12-16 cells. I want this thing to move...fast. Somewhere around 45-50 consistently and comfortably (leaning towards 16 cells for that I assume), not geared for a top speed run for 2 minutes. Is that being realistic with those motors and cell count? :W: If not, what am I looking at in terms of speed?

Long runtime would be nice, but I realize there is a tradeoff. Anything around 10-15 min bashing would probably keep me happy. Is that realistic also?

Thanks in advance.

Welcome to the forum geereg. 45 mph on 16 cells with 10-15 min runtime. Seems very realistic. I not sure what a axis is. I don't want to tell you something that is going to rip something out. 16 cells I don't think I would run a 9l. I would stick with the 10L or 7 xl. I am doing a buggy as well. Dabid has done a buggy to. He got his in a magazine. RC car i believe. Nov issue.

Welcome to the forums, geereg. Your goals are pretty realistic. I would probably stick with the 7xl motor for best results. More cells = more potential runtime as well, so 16 cells is also a good idea. The axis allows a plastic spur gear as well, making it a fairly easy conversion(1 less problem).

Thanks for the quick response guys. I've been looking at the chassis and it looks like 14 cells would be more reasonable. I could squeeze 16, but realistically I'd probably run 14. Would that change things? The axis doesn't have side plates so there isn't a whole lot of room. I'll probably have to stack cells instead of using sticks. Of course I could fab some plates, but I'm trying to keep this as simple as possible.

So I guess my new question is, which will run the best with 14 75% of the time but be able to take 16 without a problem?

*edit* Also it actually already has the plastic spur which it came with. I think the metal was optional.

The 7 xl will run good on 12-18 cells.

I was leaning towards the 7xl because of the torque and it's ability to take a lot of cells. I'm sure I'd be happy with either so it probably doesn't matter too much.

Whatever motor you choose, you should shoot for about 35,000 RPMs loaded at max. throttle input. The 7XL on 16 cells will pass this mark (about 42,000). I am not sure why this is, but 1/8 electric buggies do tend to run best at 30,000-35,000RPMs. Even 14 cells is still about 37,000 RPMs. 12 cells would put you at about 32,000RPMs. Of course, you could always go with a motor like the 8XL and run 14 cells, or a 9XL and run 16 cells. This would greatly improve your runtime.
The 9L and 10L also work very well for 1/8 buggies. Either on 12 cells will do just fine, but the 9L will be faster. Although, you most likely won't get up to 50mph unless you go with something like 16 cells and a 9XL. 50mph really is asking a lot! What are you doing that requires so much speed?

LOL, having fun! Really though, it won't be raced, so I'm not worried about balance and any of that. I just want a excess of power. Maybe I should pick the most versatile system so I can start with 12 and move up to a max of 16 (18? :rolleyes: ) if I feel like it. Heck, it might turn out that 12 or 14 is plenty for me, I really have nothing to gauge it by except a RC10T2 with a Novak SS5800 on 7 cells. I know I want it faster than that. I'm going by what few videos I've found of buggies. I was impressed by one I saw with the 7XL and only 11.1v, so I don't know.

12 cells should hang with your t2 no sweat

The acceleration alone of these 1/8 buggies is incredible! Even if you only got 35mph, you would be amazed at how fast it would get there.

If you give me a little while gee. I can tell you what a buggy does on a 14 L. It is an ofna buggy.

Alright everyone, thanks. I think it's going to be the 7XL on 14-16 if I plan to actually do this.

Coolhand, let me know how that works out.

Ok, now as far as gearing goes. I don't know the ratios on the diffs, all I know is it has a 51t spur and used a 14 tooth clutch bell. The engine that was in it was pretty crappy I think, so it probably didn't do much over 30,000 rpm. Is that enough to go by to guess at what pinion I should use?

Here is the layout I'm dealing with. I have to mount the motor in the front as you can see. Something I was wondering was, if the rotation of the motor can be easily reversed? Because I notice most people run them facing the other way, so how would this setup work?

A brushless doen't mind running either direction. To change dirction change two of the three wires going to motor from esc.