Oh crap gixxer...sorry to hear that you're having some of my luck.

I really don't want to steer you away from the Quark. Many here are running them with success, as long as the heat issues are addressed. I just know that I won't be buying another. It just kind of rubbed me wrong the way Frank at S&T kept coming back to the fact that the Monster Pro is NOT a 1/8 scale controller, when their distributor (Horizon) advertises the controller as being popular for 1/8 scale conversions.

I do have to say that their customer service is good. I just have to wait and see what they do about the latest one going up in smoke.

What did you do about that lipo? Did/could you try to salvage the remaining cells?

For those keeping up with this thread that are considering doing an 8ight, here are updates....

I just ordered a Neu 1512 1.5Y for the 8ight. I've grown tired of the heat issues with the Feigao motors. I do have my truck running well with the 9XL on 4S. As you can see in the pic above, I had to turn a custom heatsink for my motor. It completely encases the motor and is a tight fit. I had to do some mild pressing to get the motor into the sink. It didn't do anything to reduce temps, but I can now run a 30 minute race before the temps reach critical.

At this point, I'm thinking that the MM esc with a Feigao 10XL geared 16/46 may have been a better racing setup, but I'm not experimenting with the cheap motors any longer. I'm just hoping that the Neu will run reasonably well with the MM. I've found the MM to be the best esc for my tastes, in terms of smoothness. My friends who also regularly drive me truck commented that they like the MM better than the Quark. Although the Quark is just about cog proof, the take off is also a bit more abrupt. If my Neu doesn't act right with my MM and Castle doesn't release the Neu fix; I'll do whatever it takes to keep running my MM. That may mean going to a Lehner, although I'm sure that the 1940/9 won't be bad either.

I've been driving the truck hard, meaning A LOT. Just about everyday with a lot of track time. Lots of jumps, hard landings, and wipe outs. The only things that have broken are the outer rear hinge pins (actually screws) and one rear wheel hub. It's a tough truck, but it's starting to show signs of wear. I can tell that things are starting to loosen up. The bearings in the center diff are making a terrible screeching noise now too. I just placed an order with Avid for two complete sets of bearings.

I also installed Mike's motor mount. It's pretty. The chassis mounting holes were a bit shallow, so I had to cut the screws. Later, I'm going to get a tap to cut the threads a bit deeper, but I'm sure that this will be fixed in later versions of the mount. Other than that, I would have liked to have seen a relief cut to allow easier access to the pinion screw. On the whole, the mount is a keeper. I was going to go back to my homemade mount, but it is heavier and for racing, I'm counting ounces.

For those of you still on the fence trying to decide if you want one...don't even hesitate. I didn't like the 8ight buggy at all, but the 8ight T drives like a dream and it's as tough, if not tougher, than other trucks out there.

I'll post a pic later, after I get some sleep.