My e-revo brushless edition build

[mistercrash]

ALUMINUM SLIPPER DISK

Nitro vehicles use aluminum clutch shoes inside hardened steel clutch bells so there's the hardened steel slipper disk already on the ERBE, why not use an aluminum slipper pad. So that's the route I decided to take. I have been extensively testing this slipper for the past month and it is holding up to just about any kind of abuse I give it. I tried a carbon fiber slipper disk before that and it held up for a while but failed once it got the abuse of racing at the track.



This is how the disk looks after more than 25 cycles of 4, 5 and 6S runs at the track and bashing. The middle disk is the test one, the left one is new and to the right is the slipper steel plate.



Here are the measurements to make one out of a piece of aluminum anywhere between 2 and 3 mm thick. I tried to be as accurate as I could with the measurements.



BULKHEADS

I have a tendency to over tighten screws sometimes. Especially with the plastic bulkheads. I feel these need to be sitting as tight as possible against the chassis but I often stripped the threads in the plastic trying to do so. I installed some Dubro brass inserts to deal with this problem. Now I can torque those screws very tight and I believe that this helps make the bulkheads sit very snuggly against the chassis adding to the overall structural strength.
I used the 4-40 inserts for the screws that go through the shock towers and 6-32 inserts for the rest on the screws.



ROCKER POSTS

I don't know about you but when I want to take the rockers arms and this happens, it annoys me.



The P2 progressive rockers will be used but this is a small modification I like to do to the rocker posts. I take out the M4 button head screw, I make sure the rocker post is firmly screwed to the bulkhead. Then I take an M4X.7X16 mm set screw and screw it firmly in the rocker post with red Locktite. I then use an M4 Nylok nut to secure the rockers. Whenever I need to take a rocker out, the post stays in the bulkhead.



REAR BODY POST

There’s not much to say about the rear body post but I just wanted to show what I did to it. The body post used on the ERBE is the same as the 3.3 Revo with Easy Start so it has this orifice in it for the Easy Start plug. It is not used for the ERBE so I sanded it off with a sanding drum.



AXLE CARRIERS

This is something I always do with the axle carriers. I use a longer screw and a lock nut.

[mistercrash]

STEVE SLAYDEN STEERING MODS

The full ''Steve Slayden Steering Mod'' ( http://www.traxxas.com/support/kb_se...472&artlang=en )was done on this ERBE and also the front bulkheads have been modified to accept 5 caster clips. If you shave some material from the upper A arms, you can even go with 6 caster clips.



ON/OFF SWITCH

I read a few posts about people that do not use the on/off switch as it becomes contaminated with dirt and dust and quickly becomes useless. I'm trying this, I hope it works because I like to have the switch as a way to quickly turn off the MMM until I can take the truck back to my pit table to disconnect the batteries. I will be racing this truck so I can't loose time screwing around in the pits to disconnect my batteries. When my race is over, I want to just flick the switch off and take my turn marshalling on the track. After I'm done marshalling, I can take back the truck to my pit table and disconnect the batteries. I also made a little thing that pivots to keep the switch from going to the OFF position by itself. A little trick from Joel ‘’Magic’’ Johnson back in the early 90s. The green and red squares are just sticker on a piece of scrap Lexan trimmed to fit the top of the switch. It’s a visual aid, green means go, red means no go.



MUD FLAPS

The front wheels throw a lot of things to the back of the truck while driving it. Dirt, sand, mud, rocks, dog poo. To keep the rear shafts and suspension cleaner and protect the shaft's dust boots, I make mud flaps from scrap Lexan pieces or thick rubber. In this case, the are rubber held with zip ties. This really works. Also no one noticed but I always switch my rear shafts around so that the dust boots are close to the center. The dust boot trick is from ''WUDS'' on Revo-World.com. Thanks WUDS.

[mistercrash]

REAR SHOCK TOWER SHIM

I made this carbon fiber shim that goes under the rear shock tower, it raises the shocks just enough so that the springs don’t rub on the chassis at full suspension extension.



REAR SKID PLATE PROTECTOR

I made a rear skid plate protector much like the one I made long ago for my 3.3 Revo. It's just a piece of 1/16'' thick steel. It wraps around the rear portion of the skid plate and is secured on the middle skid plate with a screw and nut for added strength.



MOTOR MOUNT

I’ve SEEN some people do this and thought it looked good. I painted the motor mount black and sanded the fins.



AMB PERSONNAL TRANSPONDER

The MC Carbon Racing carbon fiber plate that covers the hole in the chassis left by the single steering conversion is where I decided to mount my PT for racing. I made a big notch in the cover plate because the AMB Personal Transponder does not always transmit well through carbon fiber.



Here is the AMB PT mounted in the truck with aluminum screws and nylon nuts and from underneath, the notch lets the PT transmit clearly to the AMB track loop.

[mistercrash]

Since I will never use this ERBE in water, I decided to modify the receiver box to help get more room to pivot the motor to change the pinion or spur without removing it. I sanded off the portion of the receiver box where the wires go in.



I am now left with two large openings that I will block with a piece of closed cell foam glued to the box with CA glue.



Here is the foam glued to the box to block those openings.



A tiny hole in the foam for the receiver antenna to go through.



And a small slot for the wires to go in the box. The foam wraps around the wires and will keep dirt and dust from coming inside the box. Here is just an extension wire to demonstrate.



I can now pivot the motor far enough to change my pinion or spur gear without removing the motor completely.



HOP UPS

PUSHRODS AND TURNBUCKLES

I am using the Traxxas aluminum red pushrods and Traxxas aluminum red turnbuckles. I would rather have them black but the black pushrods are not out yet. I changed to Traxxas red pushrod spacers since the ERBE came with blue ones. I also like to use the TRA5348 turnbuckle rod ends on all the turnbuckles and the pushrods. They are the biggest and bulkiest rod ends used on the Revos. They are usually used only on the rear turnbuckles but I like to use them everywhere. You can recognize them by the small ring around the base of the ball end.



SHOCKS

Variable damping #3 shock pistons will be used on this ERBE, the rebound holes have been enlarged to 2 mm. I like a fast rebound. I will use black rear springs and gold front springs.

[mistercrash]

CARBON FIBER HOP UPS

A few carbon fiber parts will be used also, a rear bulkhead tie bar, a rear wing tie bar and maybe a chassis cover plate for the hole left by the second servo that won't be used.



PIVOT BALL CAPS

Aluminum pivot ball caps, they are nice with an O ring to keep them from backing out. They have been working great so far.



SWAY BARS

I am using the Tekno sway bar in front and the Traxxas sway bar in the rear. I straightened the black Tekno sway bar to make a ‘’U’’ shape out of it and I use the black Traxxas sway bar for the rear.



I’M DONE BEATING UP CLOWNS

I feel sorry for all the clowns I lured into dark alleys with multi colored marshmallows to take their balloons. I used those clown balloons they use to make balloon puppets to make shock boots out of them for the longest time. I should have used these Jato shock boots from the beginning, they are perfect.

[mistercrash]

OTHER STUFF I DID

SPEKTRUM DX3R

I modified my Spektrum DX3R radio to accept 5 rechargeable AA batteries in order to have 6+ volts.



SET UP SHEET

I made an ERBE set up sheet using Traxxas' set up sheet for the 3.3. You can download and print the jpg file below on a 8.5 X 14 sheet of paper or PM me your email addy to get the pdf file.



PARALLEL HARNESS

My parallel harness with the jumper plug, I made a finger loop on the jumper plug to make it easy to pull the plug out. It pull on the plug and not the wire.

[mistercrash]

4S1P split into 2S1P

I bought those Zippy 5000 mah 30C/40C 4S lipos because I read that they could be squeezed in the battery compartment of the ERBE. They are too big and I couldn’t stuff them in there so I decided to split them and make 4 2S1P packs. I didn’t go with the thin shrink that is commonly used, it is very thin at 0.15 mm. I went to my electronics supply store and bought some heavy duty heat shrink which is more like a hard rubber and is 1 mm thick. Those packs are almost like hard case packs. I scanned and modified the Zippy stickers a bit then printed them on a regular piece of paper and stuck them to the packs using transparent tape to try to make them look factory. I am pleased with the results. The packs weight 280 grams each.

[shaunjohnson]

i hate you
you beat me to exactly what i was gonna do!!!!

ive got a 2.5 convert and i am slowly doing ALL of these mods

but i really like your build...will be a valuable resorce in years to come

[BL_RV0]

Very nice write up. Where do you live in Canada?