Project: Flux XL

[Jahay]

nice one... i guess 100k is what i will be using then.... i dont really want any power unloading to the front wheels.

Hope you sort out your slipperential probs soon...

[_dV]

Balance point for the near final build. 1/2cm forward of center with cutouts in the rear of the TVPs to come

[Jahay]

I originally thought that 50/50 was a good think, but more and more people say that 60/40 to the front is better for handling...

[_dV]

For a basher 60/40(either way) is likely not that relevant. For a racer i guess i could mean a small lap time advantage in the right circumstances.

Very slightly forward should be great for bashing. The handling should be quite neutral and better than the original Flux which i had no probs driving anyway. I've never seen a balance test on the original but i would have to assume it would be a bit rearward just from the layout.

Being center balanced certainly didn't hurt Nard's FLM FWD Tranny build, vid at bottom.

[Jahay]

sooooooooooooooooooooo???????????/ Have you been too busy running it? I want to see some vids of your creation! Hows the slipperential and the motor mount holding up?

Would you recommend that mount??? i am looking for one for my neu which has space for a fan.

[_dV]

Haven't had much time lately with organising the house build and it just won't stop #@%$$#% raining here atm.

Pulled the slipper apart and scuffed the pads and ring. Went for quick drive on a tar road. Slipper was a little better but still not where i wanted it. Truck is also too fast, maybe a little overgeared. ESC gets hotter than the motor but only 10-15c and doesn't get too hot overall. So i have ordered an extra wave spring for the slipper and some lower gearing. Should arrive next week i hope.

Apart from that things seem to be working great. Nps with the diff mount or motor mount thus far. Steering re-arrangement works fine. Truck handles well from the small amount of driving i have done.

Was taking it easy on the tar road run, mostly half throttle stuff. Towards the end i decided to give it some stick to test the drive train. Got it into a slight drift on tar under max throttle (and this was from a rolling start) and let it off a bit too quick. Truck grabbed and eventually flipped and hit the only light pole on the street. Hysterical . Had my bro and neighbourhood kids watching. Only broke the top of one shock so i was extremely lucky.

The thing i'm noticing the most about the truck is just how amazingly easy it is to work on compared to a stock Flux. Anything between the TVPs you can unbolt from easy access screws on the outside of the TVPs and take it out without have to remove anything else. Really does makes working on the truck a pleasure.

[thzero]

Yeah, stock TVPs are stupidly designed. You gotta pull off one of the TVPs to even be able to switch pinions. I've been thinking about just cutting the vertical piece that is getting in the way.


Looks nice though. What diff gear and pinion are you running?

[_dV]

46\14 mod 1 with 1550kV motor on 5s. Ordered 58\16 mod 0.8 to try.

Jahay: I've never put up a youtube vid but i had a decent photo camera that also does video so i'll try and post a vid when the new slipper parts arrive.

[Jahay]

i am running 46t spur and 11t pinion when using badlands. This should give me 53mph top speed on 6s. I think you are geared a bit to extreme on 14t.

I did buy a 13t which brings my top speed to 63mph for road use and occasional runs, but i doubt i will ever use that pinion.

I even have a 9t for when i run my huge MOAB heavy wheels...

Maybe instead of gearing it up to get your desired speed, just run 6s ???

[_dV]

46/14 calculates to 49.15 mph (78.95 km/h) on 5s. The 58\16 mod 0.8 will bring top speed down to 44.55 mph (71.56 km/h) which is a bit more reasonable. Smaller pinions will be a prob as the motor mount will get close to the diff cup.

[_dV]

House building is hitting my time hard. Managed to complete the shell today though. This was the first shell i have painted and I used Tamiya spray cans. I'm quite impressed with how it turned out. Looks good with the stock Flux tires mounted on the inner bead of Rulux half-ups. The windows are actually 'tinted' with Tamiya smoke spray but they show up as black in the pic.

[Jahay]

nice paint job!!! take it you decided t oleave the TVPs as is? or are you going to get around to cutting areas out? getting a bit lazy now are we :)

[_dV]

Cutouts in the TVP are still on the todo list. Likely they will get done this weekend now as the replacement slipper adjustment ring didn't arrive this week so no further test driving

[Jahay]

well keep me posted!!! i want to see how you go abuot keeping the rigidity.. are you going to do any crazy cut outs?or just keep it simple and maintain strength?

[_dV]

Got a lot done this weekend though not much to show for it visually. Fitted an FLM steering brace. Simple but effective, freed up the steering movement. Cut a heap of bolts that needed doing and drilled all the remaining holes in the TVPs for the radio box(Traxxas), shock tower supports, rear mud guard mounts and skid plate. Rear mudguard mounts i made out of old Flux battery box mounts. Skidplate i decided not to go with the RPM one. Made one out of 3mm MDF i had left over from prototyping. It will be mounted to an old set of plastic Flux cross braces that have had the locator pins cut off. Shock tower supports are made out of the stock Flux steering tie rod ends. You can sorta see one on the rear in the pic

Did some cutouts. I had more cutouts sketched out for the middle of the left TVP shown below but i'm going to wait and see how much mud\dirt gets thrown up in the area where the slipper is.

I probably have only a days work or so to go now before a final assembly