XT8 Update

great work, i like your battery tray

[Sower]

Thanks for the kind words guys!

About the mud guard, yes it is something I came up with. Basically it's a solid piece of plastic that is held on by the two front bolts on the side mud guards. It sandwiches between them. Then there are velcro strips to form it to the side mud guards. The plastic has a small slit going up to the servo arm so it can slide down as one large piece.

On the battery tray, I attached the battery to the CF with some very heavy duty double sided tape. The battery is then held down by a couple 1/4" aluminum posts that I threaded to accept a 8/32 counter sunk screw from the bottom of the chassis. It seems extremely stout. As you'll notice, the bottom CF strip is not covering the whole battery in order to drop the COG as much as possible. With 1/8" CF, the battery rests almost perfectly flush to the mud guard. Then I have a piece of the fuzzy part of velcro on the bottom of the CF for cushioning.

[Sower]

Here are a few more "detailed" shots that might help my explanations:

[othello]

Interesting motor choice (1515/2Y/F/H -> 1100kv) especially considering you are waiting for a 6s capable ESC (MMM). I run my 1515/2y (smooth can) with 10s1p A123 (comparable to 8s lipo) and it reaches around 30000rpm under load (eagletree) with Badlands on gras with a 1:13 gearing. With lighter racing tires i see around 32000rpm. Now if you run it with 6s max you will shoot for 25000rpm. No doubt this also can be geared to 35-40mph. Should make it very driveable as you have to gear it very low to reach speed.

Battery pack seems to be a 6s pack, right? judging by it's dimension you will have some good runtimes.

All in all a perfect racing setup (low RPM turning motor, thus not as agressive as high rpm revving motors. With its attached fan and relative low voltage the motor should run ultra cool. I wouldn't expect high Amp peaks too, so the ESC will have no hard time and will run cool too. All this will result in low mAh consumption, giving you long runtimes.)

With your front protection, sideguards in combination with your body chances are low that stones are sucked into the fan of the motor.

Thumbs up. I like it.

[jordan...]

Looks really awesome, great work!!

I like the look of those 'H' motors, got one on the way myself. Do you think you could post some more detailed pics of the endbell fan looking 'into' the motor?

thanks
jordan

[Dafni]

Nice one! Makes me wanna post some pics of my "updated" XT8
http://www.rc-monster.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7993
It came a long way since then, lots of mileage, lots of tweaks...

[Sower]

Originally Posted by Dafni

Nice one! Makes me wanna post some pics of my "updated" XT8
http://www.rc-monster.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7993
It came a long way since then, lots of mileage, lots of tweaks...

Thanks Daf - dude, I gotta tell ya, yours was one of the sweetest conversions I've ever seen and helped me think through a lot of what I was trying to do for mine. Thanks for leading the way!

And you definitely need to update your thread with pics if you have them - I would love to see the latest.

[Sower]

Originally Posted by jordan...

Looks really awesome, great work!!

I like the look of those 'H' motors, got one on the way myself. Do you think you could post some more detailed pics of the endbell fan looking 'into' the motor?

thanks
jordan

Thanks jordan! I'll see what I can do - the best photo I have so far of the end bell is the one already posted. Maybe I can get a better shot of it for you tonight. If I remember

[Sower]

Originally Posted by jordan...

Looks really awesome, great work!!

I like the look of those 'H' motors, got one on the way myself. Do you think you could post some more detailed pics of the endbell fan looking 'into' the motor?

thanks
jordan

Here's the best I can do for you:

[Dafni]

Now Sower, come on! It only takes 4 screws to get the centerdiff/motor assembly off...

just kidding mate! But your "here's the best I can do for you" made me smile.

Nice motor though.

And yeah, I hear you, next time my truck is clean I'll snap some new pics.


Daf

[lutach]

Originally Posted by Sower

Here's the best I can do for you:

That looks nice. Have you added some type of foam to the back so it won't suck up any rocks?

[Sower]

Originally Posted by othello

Interesting motor choice (1515/2Y/F/H -> 1100kv) especially considering you are waiting for a 6s capable ESC (MMM). I run my 1515/2y (smooth can) with 10s1p A123 (comparable to 8s lipo) and it reaches around 30000rpm under load (eagletree) with Badlands on gras with a 1:13 gearing. With lighter racing tires i see around 32000rpm. Now if you run it with 6s max you will shoot for 25000rpm. No doubt this also can be geared to 35-40mph. Should make it very driveable as you have to gear it very low to reach speed.

Battery pack seems to be a 6s pack, right? judging by it's dimension you will have some good runtimes.

All in all a perfect racing setup (low RPM turning motor, thus not as agressive as high rpm revving motors. With its attached fan and relative low voltage the motor should run ultra cool. I wouldn't expect high Amp peaks too, so the ESC will have no hard time and will run cool too. All this will result in low mAh consumption, giving you long runtimes.)

With your front protection, sideguards in combination with your body chances are low that stones are sucked into the fan of the motor.

Thumbs up. I like it.

Thanks othello! You've basically just stated all the reasons for my setup to a "T" The battery is indeed a 6s made by NeuEnergy and it's a 3900mah. Going with the low kv motor was done for the exact reasons you stated - longer run times and cool temps for racing. I plan on running it with a 15t pinion for starters and then adjusting from there if needed. My calculations tell me that the 15t pinion setup will be slightly faster than my previous brushless CRT so that's perfect.

I will also be attaching a small air filter at the rear end of the motor to eliminate any dust getting into the motor. I'll keep you all posted on that.