Ok, so here is where I am now. I think that it is race worthy at this point.
I got my order from Mike. I got the Kyosho spur, the 8L motor, a 16T pinion, and the heatsink.
The first thing I did was drill and tap the heat sink 3X0.5mm and mounted a 40mm 12v fan to the motor. It's wired directly into the battery lead going to the ESC. Man, does this thing move air. I managed to get the spur to fit, after some fine tuning on the lathe. Dropped the whole thing in and ran it on 3S Lipo. MUCH faster than the 7XL. It's not stupid, but it's fast. While running I kept "feeling" the heatsink to check the temp and all seemed OK. When the battery dumped, I just happened to reach under and feel the motor itself. Scorching hot, although the sink was only barely warm to the touch (I did use thermal compound). Pulled the sink off of the motor and there were on two skinny lines of thermal compound on the motor. The heatsink doesn't fit right. That kills me, because I could have just bought two clip on heatsinks WITH the fans for about half the price of the Monster sink. I had to clamp the sink to my drill press and I hit it on the sides of the inside with an end mill and removed material until I got a good fit. Reinstalled everything and all is good. I can't wait to see how this 8L runs on 4S.
To test for race worthyness, I let my 8 year old put a pack through the buggy. He cartwheeled it down the street, hit a mail box post, rolled it a couple of times, and for the grand finale, he jumped the curve and smacked a utility pole. Nothing moved. It's all good.
All I have to do now is clean up the wiring and it'll be done. I had to laugh. My son says that it's more fun than his little rc18t. He did make one keen observation. He did notice that the buggy didn't break. I think I'm going to have to pick up an Ofna MBX R2 or something. Those things are dirt cheap and parts are cheap too.
On a side note, I found out that my batteries will be here on the 13th. A hair over two weeks to get them. If I had known that, I would have just ordered some more expensive batteries that would have gotten here quicker from someone else. The guys at Maxamps are great guys, and they will take care of you when things go wrong, but geez. I don't want to sound like a weinie, but I've gotta have it NOW!!!
Now...some gearing questions. I'm figuring that 14T will be good for the 7XL on the track. Right? Will this leave the motor under loaded? I'm asking because running it on 3S, the motor was heating up, but the esc was always cool. How about the 8L? Any suggestions?
Bomb-proof,
I like your style. I've always said that too much is better than not enough.
As for the CF, how thick should I get it? That .09" stuff looks good. I hope that I can mill this stuff. I'm hoping to make an adjustable tray to accommodate batteries of varying width. I'm going to get on line and try to find someone that can overnight me some Tanic or Flightpower packs. I really want to race this weekend.
glassdoctor,
What sort of tools do you use to work cf? What do you use to bond the pieces? CA?