[MetalMan]

After much time sitting from the debilitating crash several months ago (as noted in post #4), this truck lives yet again! For a Savage that crash meant death - with the front right tire stuffed under the tire of a parked car, the following damage was done:
-sheared the front right axle
-bent the front right shock shafts
-broke the lower front right a-arm
-broke a left rear steering turnbuckle rod end
-broke the left rear upright

When stock parts break, it's often time to upgrade! First up were the shocks: I bought some used LST shocks off a fellow forum member, cleaned them, rebuilt them, filled them with 35wt. oil, and stuck silver springs on them with about 1/2" of preload spacers on each shock. Then I made some custom lower mounting point spacer/brace pieces that provide ample clearance from the upper arm and should keep the shock mounting very sturdy. At the top of the shocks I just used the standard LST shock bushings.

HPI CVDs replaced the front and rear driveshafts, since I got them for maybe $15 TOTAL (gotta love employee + Red Tag discounts!). When I built the CVDs I also added Hellfire axles so I could use Hellfire 17mm hex hubs.

From my boss I bought a number of aluminum Golden Horizons parts for really cheap, including front and rear shock towers, chassis braces, and the rest I haven't/won't be putting on the truck.

I also threw on a generic New Era wing mount kit I had laying around from another project, along with a Hellfire wing.

With the Savage back together, I loaded it up with only a single 5s2p A123 saddle pack (normally I run two of them for 10s2p), reprogrammed the HV-110 for a 10.6v cutoff, put the receiver in, and fired it up. Amazing! I thought for sure there would be a lot of cogging, considering that the gearing is quite tall (20t pinion, 46t spur, and stock 43/13 diffs) and the top motor RPM is below 17,000 RPM with the 1200 kv KB-45 10XL. But the starts are quite smooth, and the HV-110 allows very low motor RPM.

This truck is set up pretty well right now, with the oil/spring combination in/on the shocks, but I still feel like it would benefit quite a bit from sway bars for street running. Otherwise, WOW! Top speed is an estimated 37mph and acceleration is ballistic. Wheelies only occur on inclined surfaces thanks to the center diff. Unfrotunately the temps weren't quite so pleasing - after maybe 6 mins of pretty heavy street bashing the motor was up to 170 deg, HV-110 at ~140 deg, and the A123s were at about 100 deg. I can tell the motor is pulling a lot of current, but I can't do anything about that for now since the motor will hit the center diff outdrive with anything much less than the 20t pinion on it.

Now, if you have managed to read this whole post, you will be rewarded later!