SH Z-Car ZMXB-8 1/8 Buggy - Perfect for conversion?

[MetalMan]

Originally Posted by drkros3

hey i have a question. do you know of any motor mount that rcmonster makes that would work for this?

I would guess that none fit, although I have no idea. As is per my usual routine I will be making my own mount. If it would help I could post up a drawing with dimensions for the mount I will make.

[TDC57]

Wow.. That’s a mighty cool build you have going on there Travis.., you are going to make you own motor mount??. Cool please post progress pics of that one…. How and the hell did you make the progress that you did in 7.5 hrs??. I'm loads behind you and with today’s / tonight’s progress I’ll have over double hrs in mine than you have in yours.. I'm totally jealous.. But I'm stoked for you at the same time and I'm looking forward to seeing you run that bad boy next week…

Quick question for you!!?? How are you going to utilize the rear breaking system?? Sorry for the newbie question I just can’t figure it out. The ESC does it so how are you going to do it?? and I didn’t install mine in my 808 for just that reason, should I have installed it?? (help)…

Thanks for the cool thread and please keep the updates coming..

Have a great night..

Shaun.

P.S.
I know how you did it!! (Youth and experience!!).. Outstanding job Sir…


P.S.S
What Droop setting are you using on the front and rear?? (thanks again)..

[MetalMan]

Originally Posted by TDC57

Wow.. That’s a mighty cool build you have going on there Travis.., you are going to make you own motor mount??. Cool please post progress pics of that one…. How and the hell did you make the progress that you did in 7.5 hrs??. I'm loads behind you and with today’s / tonight’s progress I’ll have over double hrs in mine than you have in yours.. I'm totally jealous.. But I'm stoked for you at the same time and I'm looking forward to seeing you run that bad boy next week…

Thanks! I most certainly will be making my own motor mount, using 2" wide 1/4" thick 6061-T6 aluminum. It won't be the prettiest, but I value function over form anyways (not that it will be ugly, though).
If I had to set this thing up for nitro, I'd still be working on it. Just the brake and throttle linkages would take me two hours! My guess is I just knew more or less what I was doing, and didn't waste much time going over the instructions (which are pretty much just pictures). If you have any questions on your build, don't hesitate to ask! I'm working tomorrow at Hobby People 8am-3pm, so bring in your buggy if you like.

Originally Posted by TDC57

Quick question for you!!?? How are you going to utilize the rear breaking system?? Sorry for the newbie question I just can’t figure it out. The ESC does it so how are you going to do it?? and I didn’t install mine in my 808 for just that reason, should I have installed it?? (help)…

Thanks for the cool thread and please keep the updates coming..

Have a great night..

Shaun.

This is one of the things that makes this particularl buggy so special. Many of us 1/8 electric buggy/truggy veterans know that motor brake can never be as good as mechanical brakes in terms of control and tunability. Often we opt for motor brake because it is MUCH simpler to use and is the most weight effective solution.

At one time Mike and I held a conversation about the ultimate compromise: a combination of motor and mechanical brakes. Basically, you retain the brake on the rear wheels for the ability to "swing around" the rear end of the vehicle in turns, but then you use the motor brake to eliminate the mechanical brake for the front wheels. Also, having a mechanical brake over only the rear wheels means you can use a smaller and lighter servo for the brake (as opposed to a larger heavier servo for front and rear mechanical brakes).

If your radio is good enough and your skills with it are sufficient you can actually use your radio to control the front/rear brake bias between the front and rear ends on the fly! This is the ultimate in brake tunability if you ask me (or Mike).

Originally Posted by TDC57

P.S.
I know how you did it!! (Youth and experience!!).. Outstanding job Sir…

P.S.S
What Droop setting are you using on the front and rear?? (thanks again)..

Those two do help .
As for droop, I have yet to actually set it. Right now the bottoms of the droop set screws are flush with the bottom of the suspension arms. I will wait until I get to the track to set droop, so that the track will help me determine the best setting.

[TDC57]

I'm sorry to ask a Newbie question here, but what is the recommended shock rebound setting for buggys?? The instructions give me three options (low, 50% and 100%) what are your thoughts / suggestions.. what are you running your at Travis??.

Thanks again..

shaun.

[TDC57]

WWWOOooooowww you know so much more than i do.. (that’s SSOOOO COOOL) I just love reading your information.. Thanks for the schooling and your time.. I will bring my buggy to your office tomorrow with several questions (sorry!)..

Thanks again for your time and have a great one..

[MetalMan]

LOL, I just put up some answers to your questions over in your thread. It's neat that we are doing parallel builds .

[TDC57]

Thanks SIR...

[pb4ugo]

Isn't this the car Greg Degani has been pushing? I know he's experienced a couple durability issues. Hopefully it was in the name of testing and they've fixed the bugs.

It is a cool design. I'm looking forward to seeing the conversion.

BTW, did anybody else notice the copyright belonging to the Lego Group on the bottom of that Z-Car page? I always loved Legos growing up, I guess now is no different!

[MetalMan]

This is the buggy that Greg Degani had a part in. I am interested in hearing about the durability issues, if you could find out what they are.

[pb4ugo]

I don't know too much. In talking to him at RCX he said it was real durable except when he nailed the boards at near full throttle and it broke an arm (to be expected). Ironically, in that afternoon's supercross he broke also. I guess that doesn't mean the car has durability issues, the comedy of it just stuck with me I guess.

[TDC57]

Hey guys I stopped by LHS this afternoon and had the opportunity to see MetalMan’s buggy up close (NICE…) that thing is really nice.. luckily I’ve have the opportunity to see at run next weekend at the track.. I can’t wait to run mine with his, of course he’ll smoke me on the track dam (youth and experience) but it should be blast none the less.

Great job on your build MetalMan..

[rschoi_75]

Wow... it looks great. Can't wait to hear how it drives.

[MetalMan]

I finished painting the body today, although it's not nearly the best paint job out there. Usually I only do the fade (metallic blue to metallic black), but I had to throw in some flourescent yellow . This was pretty much my first time masking, which is odd considering I've been painting bodies (albeit without skill) for at least 4 years now.




Current weight with a Hitec 5955TG and the kit minus the nitro crap is 5lbs. 5.9oz.


And I just finished designing the motor plate:

(yes, I did use Mike's mounts for inspiration, because they are so nice!)

it looks good man. cant wait to see it running.

[MetalMan]

This buggy was finished a week ago, but I didn't have time to upload pics then since I was busy preparing for the 1/8 electric race in the JBRL electric series. But here it goes:

Here's an overall view without the battery/battery tray:


I took inspiration for the motor mount from Mike's line of motor mounts, but obviously my design isn't as good. It's completely functional, though!


And now, the revolutionary part of this kit in action:


That's the best place I could find to mount the brake servo. All it is is an upper deck mounted above the center diff/motor mount, that extends toward the rear, and is bent down after the motor mount to keep the CG of the added servo as low as possible.
Then you can see the MMM mounted. There's industrial strength Velcro under it, and a zip tie holds it down securely (although the Velcro alone would allow the MMM to hold the entire weight of the buggy).

And a view showing the not-so-low CG:

With refining it would definitely be possible to get the brake servo and ESC mounted directly on the chassis plate, but I didn't have the time or determination to do so.