What is the cheapest I can build a 1/8 brushless buggy?
 

Alright so here is the deal... I am an avid RC fan who recently came back to rc. At one point I had 13 rc's (12 electric, and a further 6 brushless lol). My favorite vehicles were my brushless rs4mt (always broke belts) and my brushless E-revo, but it was really heavy (this was long before conversion kits...the good old home made one).

I did buy a rustler off ebay and put an MM controller and Traxxas VXL motor in it. I have two 3s 5000 mah packs. This truck is fun, but I miss 4wd!!!

I was considering doing a brushless buggy converison. What is the cheapest I can accomplish this? Is there a motor I can run with the MM (would rather not buy the MMM...its kinda pricey lol). I used to run a 9920 and 9xl on the e-revo on 14 3800 cells and it ran pretty good.

Can the MM handle a 7XL on 6s? I assume 3s is not enough...?

Since i already have an MM and two 3s packs... I would like to utilize those if possible.

So which buggy is the best/easiest/cheapest to convert?

I searched ebay and found this: http://cgi.ebay.com/Losi-8ight-Buggy...QQcmdZViewItem

Is this a good deal? What else would I need to get it running?

Worse case scenario is I can sell the rustler setup RTR and start fresh, but would prefer not to do this if I can avoid it (cheaply!)

Thanks for any ideas and information!

mike

Also...what do these buggies tend to run weight wise after converted? I was hoping to keep the weight down but dont even remember what my last 1/8 buggy weighed. I just need something super durable. I would like a 40-50mph top speed with great acceleration. I miss my old nitro 1/8 buggy as I took it to the skate park and beat the SNOT out of it without breaking a single thing! Unlike my old ss5800 pede that went through 20 bucks in parts every 5 minutes of skate park action!

It would be nice to be able to re-use the MM (buy a new motor) and just sell off the lipo's if there is not a motor that will run decent on 3s or 6s. I could always grab two new 2s (to make 4s), or a 3s and 2s (to make 5s).

the mamba monster max is only 170. not much more than a $130 mamba max. the mamba max is good for 4s (remember rated to 3s only), some fry on 5s, some work, and on 6s ive never heard anyone crazy enough to try it. (100% failure predicted)

so get a mamba monster max and use your 3s packs.

The conversions tend to weigh very close to nitros... often a couple oz heavier.

You can run the MM on a 3s setup... pick up a 2400-2800kv motor to go with it.

That ebay buggy would be a good deal at $200, assuming everything is in good condition.

For $300 I would buy a brand new Fusion! LOL

have a look at the hyper ranger. they are pretty strong, also aparently mugens are tough as nails too... i can tell you one thing, ive not broken anything on my hyper 8.5, partly because ive had no esc :lol:

Ofna Mbx- $189

KD 36-74 9xl
$30


Rhino 3700mah 4s lipo
$63

and use your mamba max

Call me crazy, but for $40 more, I'd get the ESC that was designed for the job.

I would pre-order the MMM Motor combo for about 260-270... This should get you a state of the art controller and motor...

Just keep an eye on the good deal thread for a roller - There have been some great deals passing through...

What is even a good deal for a roller? (new/used?) What all should I be looking for?

So say there is a roller with nitro equipment stripped. What all am I looking at to get a brushless setup to run on the 1/8? I know using the controller brakes tends to make things hot...so mechanical brake setup (buy a servo mount)

Batteries are easy..can fab up a tray or buy one...

Motor mount I would purchase @ 45-50

Am I missing anything? Seems like a pretty easy conversion with the new motor mounts.

Those 9xl's are 35 bucks!?!? Damn the feigao's I used to run on the revo were like 2-3 times that price!

So what size motor would be suggested for 6s? Like a 7xl? Might see if I can swing the MMM And one of those 35 dollar motors.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Kyosho-WC-R-C-Bu...QQcmdZViewItem

??? I dont know JACK about buggies...so dont know what is good/bad or even which versions are old or new!

What is the easiest brand/types to convert? Assuming there is a motor mount for most buggies out there, is it just mounting a braking servo and finding a place to mount the batteries/controller?

Is it just me or are these conversions pretty simple? I know back in the day when you had to fab up your own motor mount things got tricky...but seems like fabbing up a brake servo is the only real hard part. Am I missing something? Lol

Seems like there are some good deals on ebay right now...

http://search.ebay.com/search/search...e=roller+buggy

Of the 30 or so on that ebay search (for "buggy roller" ) what would be a few good ones to watch? The only buggy I have ever owned was an ofna (dont even remember which one) and my buddy had a lightning pro buggy...

I feel like 110% newb all over again! I know a lot about most every 1/10 stadium truck made...but when it comes to 1/8 buggies they all look identical to me!

Now after seeing the price of the motor mounts...would that losi buggy that is already converted be a good option? (save the 50 bucks the motor mount would cost me).

Or do some of these ofna/lightning rollers sell for like 100 bucks, making that a better option to start with?

edited

Our entire team has run 6S on the Mamba Max. We have never had one fail. You must use an external BEC and must not run a motor with a KV over 1300, but it's quite possible and being done every day.


My best choice for a low budget brushless buggy is the Tekno kit for the Losi8, because you can sell your nitro related stuff from the RR kit and use the money or barter power to purchase any extra equipment you might need.

I got my Hyper 7 roller for $125 with wheels but no body.