1/8th On Road Conversion
 

Hi you guys,
Now that my 1/8th off road conversion is done (and working FAR better than I ever expected), I was thinking about trying an 1/8th on road conversion. Has anyone tried this? Is there room for LiPo packs in an on road chassis? 1/8th on road nitro cars just fly, I wonder if you could match their level of performance with an electric?
Thanks,
Matt

I was thinking of doing this also. Please post your progress if you decide to do it.

Take one of the tamiya TGXs or TGRs and convert them to brushless. The chassis is quite big to carry lipos easily.

I have been looking at Schumacher GTRe as a good candidate for a BL motor and a 4s LiPo. The guys on the Schumacher forum are running the car with a BL motor (not sure which one) and a 2s LiPo but anything more than that seems to give them a thermalling problem. I am guessing with the right BL motor and ESC combination, the thermalling problem could be minimized. Now, of course, the big question. Does anyone have a recommendation for a motor/esc combo that can be run with a 4s LiPo that would good for a 1/8th on-road car? I may be "dreaming" here but I would like to try to run with 1/8th scale nitro's. Since we can do that with 1/8th buggies, I am hoping we can do the same with an on-road car.
Thanks as always for the help.
Matt

In my opinion, your dream may become reality without much problems.
I'm sure the heat problems they were having were due to bad motor choice. You can find a setup for most any application.

I know those 8th scale onroad rockets, they are awesome. The nitros are so fast, most of us off-road addicts have no idea about such speeds and acceleration. And those suckers just stick to the track. I kept thinking about converting one ever since I saw one in person. But because I have no track here (or only ones which would be too small) I stuck to off-road conversions.

Anyway, as for cars, the Schumacher IS nice, but I would look into Serpent, Mugen or even Kyosho (Evolva). Serpent and Mugen being my favourites. Those Serpent guys are on the forefront of 8th scale onroad stuff, and sometimes you can find deals on an "out-dated" model.

As for motor/ESC/batt combo, well, pretty much depends on your budget. A (wisely selected) Feigao/Wanderer XL would get the job done, but if you have the money, I would look into the Lehner 19 series. (22 series is not recommended for cars, but opinions differ)
Let us know how much you want to spend, and I'm sure we can lead you in the right direction.
A 5 or 6S setup should work very well, and will give you power to spare.

And as for the conversion itself, it should be pretty straight forward. If you loose the engine and fueltank, those cars offer alot of arrangement possibilities.
As for performance, well, the nitros use 2-speed trannies, belt drive setups with one-ways up front. I personally would keep the two speed, but this would require some creativity on the pinion. But it will be the ticket for nitro annihilation!

DAF

how about a Kyosho Inferno GT??

justin

DAF,
Thanks for the reply. In terms of "budget", I am pretty much open. I want to do this right. My 1/8th buggy conversion uses a 4s LiPo. I can't imagine how much power a 5s or 6s could supply!
I have looked into Serpent, Mugen and Kyosho and all have great cars. The interest in the Scumacher is from the fact that it is designed to be an electric with the motor mount and other necessities already there.
The two (or three) speed trannies part is what frightens me. I am not sure how they work nor how an electric motor would have to be mounted in order to work properly. I am very open to learn though.
Thanks for all the help!
Matt

I believe it would require special pinions to keep the 2 or 3 speed tranny. I saw a LST conversion on here that had special made pinions for the 2 speed tranny but im not sure were or how he got them.

The custom 2spd pinion was made by Mr Constructor - you can contact him here if you like ;) constructor@ace-cars.de

The stock LST gears screw straight onto the piece he made - that piece is basically just as a normal electric motor pinion is :)

Do you have access to tools? Mill and lathe?

I would go for a nitro conversion, just because of the challenge. Converted nitros rock, as you know.

The 2-speed pinion will not be too hard to make, and in the worst case you could do something with a stock clutchbell.

Yes, 5 or 6S BL setups are insane. But so are the nitro 8th scale onroad cars.

Let me know if I can be of further assistance.

but a 2 speed tranny with a brushless motor wouldnt run very well because with the battery fully charged it would shift sooner and with the battery going dead i would shift later.

I don't agree. Especially on Lipos you have a very smooth discharge curve, with a drop at the end. Even properly matched Ni cells give you a stable output for most of the time.

i guess its what ever u think then.

Nope. I'm speaking from experience.

Cheers

In some cases, throughout the discharge of a Lipo battery a 2speed might shift sooner. This occurs because as the cells warm up their internal resistance decreases, which lets them put out a higher voltage. For the most part the decrease in the battery's voltage throughout a discharge would not noticably affect 2speed shifting, except for the end of a discharge using Nickel-based cells.