About the weight:

From
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_oXx8nzDDQME/S1...2/P1040317.JPG

To
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_oXx8nzDDQME/S1...2/P1040399.JPG

;)

Nard, I couldnt read the numbers on the second pic....enlighten us!!!!

I hope you dont plan on gaining suspension performance by going to dual bigbores.

looks like 3772g to me, so he lost 228g. Not bad at all.

No doubt that the FLM chassis is lean but Nard's weight loss would have come mostly from the removal of the stock battery boxes (~130gm each) and the radio box (~140gm). Freeze won't get the benefit of either of those.

Part 9: Battery tray mods and skid plate


The end is in sight! Now we all have left to do is final assembly of the chassis, battery tray mods, order and paint the body! So lets get to it, I wanna drive this thing soon!


The flux's battery trays are substandard at best after dealing with them on my first Flux. Without some modification, I found it nearly impossible to get any Lipo to fit decently inside, depending on how the wiring came out. Even with "Frostbyte II" extended savage frame, I still wanted to place more of the weight on the font of the truck to increase forward traction and reduce wheeling.

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...yte2/tray1.jpg


Were first going to go ahead and remove the all but usesless rubber clip holders as I'm switching the trays on the chassis so the top lid opens outward to allow for easier battery access. With that, we need to also remove the clips as they are now useless in reverse position

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...yte2/tray2.jpg



Next, I clipped off the forward, slanted section the tray lids. This allows me to slid the Lipo's all the way forward into the tray

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...yte2/tray3.jpg



I'm then cut out some shaped pieces of foam to keep the Lipo's from shifting in the tray. Once again, im going to use velcro straps to keep the batterys secured.

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...yte2/tray4.jpg



I then clipped off part of the rear section of the tray lid to allow the wires to easily exit out.

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...yte2/tray7.jpg



With some last bit of trimming of the foam to keep the Lipo's securely in place, our battery tray mods are all done!

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...yte2/tray6.jpg

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...yte2/tray5.jpg



Now its time to seal up the bottom of the Flux with our sexy skid plate thanks to FLM. I decided to go ahead and use the small hubs to attach the skid plate rather then the braces themselves for the time being to see if they would hold up under bashing abuse, not to mention the braces included hex screws don't fit flush with the skid plate either.

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...yte2/skid1.jpg



With a little bit of blue loctite on each of the screws to keep them from getting loose, my tranny is now safe and protected from the rigors of bashing!

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...yte2/skid2.jpg



Lets throw our new tires on and see how she looks now!

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...trialsetup.jpg


Wooo, I'm getting close to completion of "Frostbyte II"! Our final step is for me to make up my mind on a body, figure out a cool paint and decal scheme and then take this thing out on its maiden drive! Hang tight folks, the grand finale is coming up!

So why did you cut such a huge portion of the battery doors off? I know you said it was for the battery wires but looks like you cut the wrong end? Looks like those hard case batts fit perfectly

Because the tops, for some bizarre reason, slop downwards. And therefore you can't get most 2S, or especially 3S, batteries to fit. So he basically removed the slopping part of the battery tray top.

^ yeah that

At long last, I found the perfect body for "Frostbyte II" after days of google image searches. I'll give you a hint, its a SC body!

True Finnster, I lost 228gram with going XL.

That's indeed were I cut weights.

Freeze it's looking good. As for a body, me next one will be a SC as well. Am curious to see what you got / are going to get.

Yup S/C bodies are big and cool i've got a desert rat on one of the Muggy's

Try Slash bodies, as the Slash has the longest wheelbase. Still the difference between XL and Slash wheelbase is 2.44"! Heck the Savage X has about the same wheelbase as the Slash (336 vs 333) and, at least IMO, most bodies for Savage X look stupid on the XL.

UPDATE: Steering mod and test run damage


I had all but forgotten about the steering modification you can make to the Savage hubs to give a little extra angle during steering. I remember doing this on my original Flux but I totally forgot about it until the other night when I was browsing through another forum. Seeings how its been shown in variety of forums, i'll be brief with this.



As you can see, that small piece of plastic right under the upper arm screw on the hub is preventing the servo from turning the wheels more. Were gonna fix that!

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...te2/steer1.jpg



After removing the axle and bearing housing, we can can see we need to remove both of the small ridges to net us some increased steering throw

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...te2/steer2.jpg



Mr. Dremel will make sure work of this!

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...te2/steer3.jpg



Were also going to remove these small tabs as well as they are also preventing the steering from maxing out

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...te2/steer5.jpg


And in less then 10 minutes, we've increased our steering throw for free!

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...te2/steer4.jpg



Later in the day, I was simply dying to take "Frostbyte II" on its first real test trials at the new bash pit I found several months ago for my Baja 5T. I really did want to reveal my project as all brand new, shiny and with no scratches. \But I just had to know for sure how this build was going and if it needed any changes or modifications to my liking. With the weather clearing up and my patience at an end, I took "Frostbyte II" on its trail run and....well, this was the result


The included FLM XL chassis rear dogbone pin snapped after a hard landing and I was instantly down to FWD on my Flux after only driving 10 mins. Lame......

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...te2/break1.jpg



To make the day end on an even more sad note, I incorrectly took a jump and flew sideways into a dead burn pile and slammed into a sharp tree branch, puncturing one of my new wheels. Grrrrrrrrrr, talk about bad luck for a first time drive out.

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...te2/break2.jpg



Now i've got emergency orders placed at Amain and TCS Crawlers to replaced my damaged parts along with my enroute body and paint. With that said, I hope to get the project done by Labor Day weekend. Ung....I was not planning on buying a new set of tires and wheels already, this hobby sucks sometimes. I guess its still cheaper then owning/running my Baja 5T.....

that sucks. How mcuh more steering did you notice with the mods?