8ight T conversion

Hey guys,

Just a little show and tell. I got an 8ight T a few days ago and converted it to brushless, of course. Right now, I'm running a Feigao 9XL with 4S and 5S lipo with a Mamba Max controller. I made the motor mount out of 7075 aluminum and incorporates the center diff bulk and motor mount. I'm running 16/44 gearing on 4S and 13/44 on 5S.

Some pics....

My 8ight T with 40 series Moabs










I do have to say, that I haven't been shy about the fact that I wasn't crazy about the 8ight buggy. I also didn't like the 8ight Ts that I've driven that were owned by others; but being lazy, I left mine as it was out of the box and ran it. It actually did pretty well. I then put some 100,000 weight fluid in the center diff and it just came to life for me. It handle very well. It takes the rough stuff as though it were floating, very much like the X-Ray buggy does. It turns on a dime and likes being driven with the rear end, which really helps on our tight track. What can I say? I like the 8ight T.

I also have to comment about the stock tires that came with the truck. I love them. The truck is very controllable in the loose stuff and it down right hooks up on the tight stuff. I'm going to get more.

In case you're wondering what the silver box next to the esc is, it's a cap bank. It contains four 330uf, 35v capacitors. Don't ask me the technicals of why. All I can say is that I can't get my esc over 130*F now, no matter how hard I run it. I ran it for over an hour straight tonight and all it got was warm.

[Serum]

You serious? the caps help you keep the esc cooler?

Great news. Odd, but great news.

Great work man!

[Serum]

Got more of these caps? i read you bought a bunch of them?

Nice screws in your fan BTW! :p

[jollyjumper]

sweet. doesnt look right with the moabs tough.

Serum, I really don't know what to tell you about the caps. I'm an electronics moron. I just thought that there must be something to it when Frank at S&T told me that they recommend the addtion of extra caps to the Quarks when running them in large scale vehicles.

I don't completely understand it, but I will say that the esc is running cooler. I don't think that I'm running conservative gearing either. In fact, I'm running higher gearing than I've ever been able to run with the MM.

I don't know if it's comparing apples and oranges, but with the Muggy and the large 40 series Mashers, I had to gear 9/46, when running 5S just to keep the truck from killing the controller with cogging. At 10/46, I did kill the controller. In the 8ight, I was running the 40 series Moabs (larger and heavier than the Mashers and making the 8ight weigh in at 13lbs.) and I was able to gear 12/44 on 5S.

Don't ask me for any explanations, because I can't give any. I just know that the caps made a difference.

The 8ight does look funny with those tires, but boy does it eat up the rough terrain. My running buddy was teasing me about them saying that if I flipped the truck over, it could probably drive it upside down.

[Serum]

Thanks Aangel; sounds promising. yeah, you most likely can drive it upside down..

These wheels.. Bashingracer.. sounds like an oxymoron to me..

Oh, I don't race with them. I race with the stock Losi tires. Those big tires suck when it comes to handling.

[supralover72]

Looks like a very nice conversion, and it actually makes me like a Losi product!

Just not my choice of Vehicle.

Believe me, I'm not a dedicated fan of Losi. There are things that I don't like about the Losi 8ight. Just little things that I've noticed so far that strike me as odd. For example, when you screw into the center diff bulks to mount them to the chassis, you are actually screwing into plastic (or whatever the material is). It's like that on the 8ight buggy too. On my Sportwerks vehicles, the plastic bulks have steel inserts in them and make for a very rigid mount. This was the primary reason that I had to fabricate the sort of motor mount that I did. When I mounted the motor mount to the stock diff bulk, it wasn't nearly rigid enough, as it was on my Sportwerks vehicles.

Also, I've noticed that the screws that hold the front and rear bulks on the chassis are also screwing into plastic. Again, on my Sportwerks, even the plastic pieces have provisions for the use of nuts and there are optional aluminum threaded pieces that can be used. I think that these are going to be problem points for me, since I'm going to be using my 8ight for racing and bashing (playing bumper cars on the track with my friends).

I'm going to have to make an aluminum front bulk for the center diff so that it will be stronger and hopefully someone will release an aluminum version of the front and rear bulks.

These are just the things that I've noticed so far. I'm sure that there will be more. Of course, these things are also weight saving features and since the 8ight T is made for racing and not bashing, I can see the logic; but for what I hoped would be an all around truck, I am a bit disappointed.

Last night while running on the track, I hit the big triple wrong and landed on the very top of the last hill and my chassis hit right in the middle. It bent. Not much, but it did bend. When I put a straight line across the length of the chassis, you can see it.

On the postive side, this truck handles like a dream. As I said, I wasn't crazy about the 8ight buggy, but the truck was a very pleasant surprise.

The only advise that I can give to new 8ight T owers is not to mess with the factory setup until after you drive it on the track so that you'll know what you need to change. Don't just assume that your last setup is what you will need with this truck. All I had to change was the diff fluid in the center. Everything else is untouched. Even my friend who had the 8ight buggy conversion says that the buggy didn't handle anything like the truck does. The only other thing that I'm thinking about changing right now is to move the spacers on the rear hingepin studs to the front to lengthen the wheelbase by another 1/10 of an inch or so. The 8ight T has so much steering that I think that it can afford to sacrifice a tad bit in favor of even more stable running. We shall see.

Glassdoctor, if you see this, are you running the springs that came on your truck or did you opt for one of the optional sets?

[Procharged5.0]

The conversion looks good!

I agree the moabs look a bit funny.

I'm guessing the caps take a bit of the load (particularly instantaneous power draw from the motor) thereby reducing the strain on the ESC.

I'd like to know more about how you wired it up and the value of the caps.

Thanks!

Pro.

[supralover72]

Originally Posted by AAngel

Believe me, I'm not a dedicated fan of Losi. There are things that I don't like about the Losi 8ight. Just little things that I've noticed so far that strike me as odd. For example, when you screw into the center diff bulks to mount them to the chassis, you are actually screwing into plastic (or whatever the material is). It's like that on the 8ight buggy too. On my Sportwerks vehicles, the plastic bulks have steel inserts in them and make for a very rigid mount. This was the primary reason that I had to fabricate the sort of motor mount that I did. When I mounted the motor mount to the stock diff bulk, it wasn't nearly rigid enough, as it was on my Sportwerks vehicles.

Also, I've noticed that the screws that hold the front and rear bulks on the chassis are also screwing into plastic. Again, on my Sportwerks, even the plastic pieces have provisions for the use of nuts and there are optional aluminum threaded pieces that can be used. I think that these are going to be problem points for me, since I'm going to be using my 8ight for racing and bashing (playing bumper cars on the track with my friends).

I'm going to have to make an aluminum front bulk for the center diff so that it will be stronger and hopefully someone will release an aluminum version of the front and rear bulks.

These are just the things that I've noticed so far. I'm sure that there will be more. Of course, these things are also weight saving features and since the 8ight T is made for racing and not bashing, I can see the logic; but for what I hoped would be an all around truck, I am a bit disappointed.

Last night while running on the track, I hit the big triple wrong and landed on the very top of the last hill and my chassis hit right in the middle. It bent. Not much, but it did bend. When I put a straight line across the length of the chassis, you can see it.

On the postive side, this truck handles like a dream. As I said, I wasn't crazy about the 8ight buggy, but the truck was a very pleasant surprise.

The only advise that I can give to new 8ight T owers is not to mess with the factory setup until after you drive it on the track so that you'll know what you need to change. Don't just assume that your last setup is what you will need with this truck. All I had to change was the diff fluid in the center. Everything else is untouched. Even my friend who had the 8ight buggy conversion says that the buggy didn't handle anything like the truck does. The only other thing that I'm thinking about changing right now is to move the spacers on the rear hingepin studs to the front to lengthen the wheelbase by another 1/10 of an inch or so. The 8ight T has so much steering that I think that it can afford to sacrifice a tad bit in favor of even more stable running. We shall see.

Glassdoctor, if you see this, are you running the springs that came on your truck or did you opt for one of the optional sets?

Yea, on the Jammin, the center mounts have steel posts that the top and bottom screws go into.

On the parts that are plastic, the screws are HUGE and the plastic is hard.

Pro, one of the things that I do love about the MM is it's design from the standpoint of the placement of the components and connections. The thing is just plain easy to work on.

Anyway, I'm using 4 cap banks in all of my conversions now. I used a piece of 1/8" copper tubing and flattened it in a vice. This made for some pretty rigid copper strips. I then soldered the caps to these strips. After taking precautions to avoid a short, I mounted the cap banks into a piece of 1/2" aluminum channel and then encased the caps in home made thermal epoxy. Besure to take not of what is + and what is - before you pour the epoxy.

I use devcon two part epoxy and mix it with aluminum oxide powder. The aluminum oxide effectively turns the epoxy into a thermally conductive block when it hardens. This is a good alternative to Arctic Alumina as it is very inexpensive and you don't feel to badly about having mixed to much.

I then used a couple of short pieces of 12 gauge wire to make the connection from the cap bank to the under side of the pcb on the esc. I soldered the wires from the cap bank directly to the power leads sticking out of the bottom of the pcb on the MM. All I can say is that it works.

supra, oh, the screws are 4mm screws and they are substantial. The plastic is also hard. Very hard. I'm assuming that all of the plastic parts are made of the same material. Last night I slapped the heck out of the wall in a turn on the track. When it happened, I thought to myself, "something broke." Well, all that happened was that I bent the steel hinge pin stud, but none of the plastic parts even cracked. It is tough stuff. I just know that steel would have been tougher.

All in all, I'd still by the truck if I had it to do again. It actually makes me look good on the track. If those that might be offended would forgive the analogy, I'd say that the 8ight truck is like the XB8 of truggies.

[bdebde]

Nice work AAngel! How is the left to right balance witht the single pack set up? I have really been eyeing the 8ight T at the hobby shop, and most of the guys racing have gone to it.