BL MBX-5 Near completion. Pics
 

Almost done. Going to the shop today to make the battery tray and CVD drive cup, then it will be done. I am going to list the steps and parts I used to make everything just in case someone likes the design. I tried to use as many stock parts as I could for replacement sake and still get the layout I wanted.

Front Cvd assembly is the short T/E Maxx MIP drive shaft.
Rear CVD assembly is LST axle and custom made cup on the rear diff to fit.
Center diff is the HB with the kyosho 44T plastic spur.
Center diff is mounted with the stock front mount.
Custom aluminum rear mount with integrated motor mount.
Stock HB top plate.
Moved the Center diff forward so everything is mounted on the chassis.
Maxamps 8AH 4S2P 14.8V pack with 12 gage wires.
MM ESC with all wires changed to 12 gage.
Neu 1515/2Y/F.
Neu 6MM connectors between motor/ESC/Battery.
3amp switching BEC 6V.
Rear chassis brace mounted on opposite side.
Rear chassis brace stock mount is just flipped with minimal machine work.
Front chassis brace is just moved on the chassis to clear the center diff.
Stock steering servo mount with throttle part dremeled off.

When it is complete I will have a weight. It is off balance to the battery side but not by much. I will scale it once it is done. I wanted every thing to be mounted on the chassis and as low as possible. That is the reason for moving the center diff forward to allow room for the battery. There was no room for the 10AH battery. It came together easier than I thought it was going to. I kinda stumbled on the center shafts and they are perfect length for where I wanted the diff and they are stock stuff to boot. The aluminum stuff is bead blasted and I am going to paint it. The gearing is 24/44. I know what you all are thinking. Why in the world is he running a 1515/2y with a 1100KV? HAHA Well I got it for a song. Thought I would try it to see how it worked first. I plan on either the 1512 or 1515 around 2000-2500 KV if this doesn't pan out. I did run it last night on the asphalt and it seams fine but I wonder about the heat and efficiency. I had some cogging issues from the start to where I had to reboot it. I changed some of the settings in the MM and then it seemed much better. Sure hope the fix is almost ready.

http://usera.imagecave.com/Dachshund/DadsBuggys010.jpg
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Nice job, like the motor mount!

Good conversion. I can't wait to commence my project..

Good looking Mugen, except for the steering servo. Have plans to upgrade it?

Looking really good. Once you get a few run on it, please tell me the average run time you get. I will be running the same battery in my buggy, and would like to know approximately what to expect.

LOL Good eye. Was wondering who would be the first to catch that. I just had that in there as I was building it. Putting in a JR Z4800T. Thanks to my BIL, who is a machinest, for the motor mount and battery tray. Here are pics of the battery tray we made tonight. Total weight RTR with transponder is 8lbs 7oz.

http://usera.imagecave.com/Dachshund/DadsBuggys019.jpg
http://usera.imagecave.com/Dachshund/DadsBuggys020.jpg
http://usera.imagecave.com/Dachshund/DadsBuggys022.jpg
http://usera.imagecave.com/Dachshund/DadsBuggys024.jpg

Will let you know how it goes. What motor are you running? Things are still up in the air with this motor but I hope to know within the next couple of weeks how she runs.

I was planning on running the MM esc, except with the 8xl motor, not the neu like you... but I'd assume that the run times would be fairly similar.

The battery tray looks great. It should work great for you.

Good servo...had one of those in my TLT crawler I used to have.

Excellent machine work on the battery and motor mount. What's it made out of? It looks like maybe anodized aluminum?

Looks like it is aluminum, then beadblasted.

Project looks good. I want to get my buggy converted, just trying to figure out motor/esc/lipo set up I want to run.

Everything looks nice. Question though: Why didn't you swap the side the battery is on for better balance?

I didn't have the room. For the motor to line up with the spur I would have had to move the diff rearward for the spur to clear the servo, then there wouldn't be enough room for the battery. I had a chance to run it today and the weight difference doesn't appear(thankfully)to even be an issue. The thing fly's over jumps just beautiful. It does push off throttle, but I'm sure that can be fixed with some setup tweaking. Sorry to say I don't think the motor is going to cut it on our track. It doesn't have the top speed it needs unless I can find a bigger spur. I don't think that would be a good idea though because it already takes off kinda rough from dead stop. Of course it's got gobs of torque and it to top speed in an instant. I'm going to try to get a GPS unit and see what the actual speed is.

Thanks every one for the compliments. The aluminum is bead blasted. I may have all the aluminum anodized in the future.

Very nice work.

I bet a 5s 5000mah pack would work nice with that setup... shed a little weight and give it the extra rpms it needs. I'm not sure about the MM on 5s though...

The off throttle push is a bit different with no f/r brake bias. I dial in the drag brake where I want it and if it still pushes into the corners... you have to drive it different than a nitro. Brake a little earlier and roll the corner more.. and you can come back on throttle sooner coming out, in general.

looks like a nice clean setup.

Nice setup. I can appreciate the gearing dilemma. I have a MBX5 Prosec with a Plettenberg Maximum and Quark 125B (w fan and extra heatsink). I use a 12-13:46 gearing and I t runs pretty fast/faster than I can drive it.

I’m almost done with my new 8ight with a 1512 1.5D Neu and I’ll be using the MM. What settings do you use on your MM?

Where do you live in MI? We will be running in Holly starting at the end of April with enough converted 1/8 buggies to have our own heats and extended mains. There are all other electrics and electric MTs too that run there. We ran over the winter in Ann Arbor.
http://www.rcpics.net/img/83379

The excitement there got others to convert buggies over the past few weeks and are itching to get started outdoors.