RC-Monster Forums - Revo Truggy!

Well, right now, in my stable, I have 6 trucks:

CF G2R (specs in sig)
BL EXT CRT .5 (specs in sig)
Jato 2.5 (nitro, just about stock)
Revo 2.5R (nitro, just about stock)
T-Maxx 2.5 (some aluminum, 2.5R engine, fail safe)
Factory 18T (Mamba 6800 on 3S)

At this time I'm selling my T-Maxx and 18T (as well as the Factory T4 kit that I was supposed to sell for a friend, I've been lax on it and he hasn't really pushed me so its been sitting in my closet).

Anyway, I've been wanting an 1/8th scale vehicle of sorts, and my Revo 2.5R needs a rebuild soon, and I was contemplating making it brushless (the Jato and Revo 2.5R are my bashers, other trucks are pretty much track only vehicles, just so you know). The Jato will stay nitro as I don't think brushless is a good combo with 2WD...plus, with its power to weight ratio, you can't argue (I have it geared so it does 0-45 in probably 2-3 seconds - its very, very quick).

I have decided to make a Truggy using the Revo front and rear assemblies. This will be a high voltage, very high speed basher.

So far, I have preliminarily decided these specs:

Diffs will end up being 1/8 Scale Hybrids from Mike.
I will use a Center diff, probably out of a Truggy (so I can get a larger spur, which will give me more gearing options when I use the mechanical brakes - yes, I will use mechanical brakes).
Motor will be a 1515 or 1521. Current plan is a 1515, though I'm also considering a 1512 - the point is to have a setup that can be massively powerful when I want (gear it up) but otherwise just be very very efficient.
ESC will probably be an MGM16024 - I think it should easily handle 8S, specially without the voltage spikes of motor braking since I will be using mechanical brakes.
Batteries will be FlightPowers in an 8S configuration, probably some sort of combo of my existing ones (like 4 of my 2S 4500mah Evo30's in series).

Motor will mount on the center line of the chassis. Center diff will be as close to front as possible, with servos (brake and steering) on opposite sides of the center diff. Motor will be mounted so its pertty much centered on the chassis (motor shaft toward front of truck, wires toward back). Batteries will be under the motor and very near the centerline of chassis. There will be two battery trays (1 per side) with about 10-15mm of clearance between the two for the rear drive shaft.

Braces will be made to connect the battery trays, chassis, and upper plate (there will be an upper plate/brace running the length of the chassis). The motor mount will tie into the upper plate for support. A motor brace to hold the other end of the motor will also be included (like Mike's Revo motor mount). ESC will be mounted right behind motor to make wire length very very short. This also means it will be right above the batteries, further shortening wires. Multiple braces throughout the truck will combine the upper and lower chassis plates. Current plan is to make the chassis 150mm wide at most for the best CG. Chassis length is going to be ~20-25mm over that of a Revo 3.3 so "frog leg" lengths can be achieved with stock arms. Frog legs can then add even more length if needed (reason for this is to create more room on the chassis to move things around for weight distribution as well as allowing the use of FlexTek arms while keeping frog legged Revo 3.3-ish lengths).

Current plan is to have the Lower chassis plate from 3-4mm 7075 (possible 2.5-3mm Titanium), and the upper plate from 2.5-3mm 7075 (or Carbon Fiber).

This is going to an insane project, and I will be designing for the better part of the next 3-4 months. Money from selling the T-Maxx and 18T (and money from other stuff) will go into funding this. It will be very expensive because on top of buying all that other stuff I need to replace/upgrade many worn stock parts. However, I will probably recoup some money by selling the Nitro stuff off the truck, though not much.

I will have some very very preliminary lower chassis plate renderings out within a few days. These will basically include mount holes for front and rear assemblies (current plan is GorillaMaxx G2R style - HOWEVER, I will make the front and rear ends level, instead of that stupid nonsense where the front bulk is a whole inch lower than the rear, which is my only annoyance with the G2R at this point).

It is somewhat possible that this truck may replace the G2R (because based on what I have in my head it SHOULD handle better). We'll see...

So what do you guys think? Anyone have any suggestions as to what design elements I should include or exclude?