8ight T 2.0e Build
 

Hello,

I thought I'd post up some progress pics of my Losi 8ight T 2.0e build. For this new truck my goal was to make something simple, clean and well thought out. My old E-CRT was great and I will always love that truck but it looked like a mess. Wires everywhere, 5-6 tie wraps visible and all the electronics exposed to the elements. For this race season I wanted something that didn't only run like a winner but looked like one too...

Gotta start out with the obligatory box shot:
http://visionarycomputer.net/rc/8ightT2e/IMG_2791.jpg

Here is the truck as it comes out of the box, along with all the nitro guts still in there:
http://visionarycomputer.net/rc/8ightT2e/IMG_2792.jpg

All that Nitro junk was removed post hast:
http://visionarycomputer.net/rc/8ightT2e/IMG_2895.jpg

For this build I actually bought both the complete Losi Nitro conversion kit AND the RC-Monster 8ight motor mount. I wanted the best of both worlds. Here it is almost complete, the battery tray, center diff and aluminum servo horn are in place. What you can't see is how much dremel action it took to grind down the center diff mount to work with the Plastic Spur. I know it would have been infinitely easier to sand the spur but I felt like if I break one at the track, I want to be able to use a new one without needing to remember the sandpaper.
http://visionarycomputer.net/rc/8ightT2e/IMG_2904.jpg

And now the (near) final product. The only part missing is the motor. What amazes me is how clean this looks for a conversion. No wires all running amuck. Everything seems to be in it's right place and well fastened. I was hoping to use the MMM ESC top brace off the BL-E-Revo but it's not out yet so unfortunately one Zip tie was used. The MMM is mounted ontop of industrial grade velcro with the Zip tie as insurance. I use a Nomadio Sensor so there is an extra pair of wires running to the radio box for the battery voltage sensor. I did have some major troubles fitting the rather larger sensor rx inside the little box. I hit a show stopper but figured a way out. I couldn't close the lid so I had to drill a new hole in the rx box to let the antenna out in a different place, still couldn't close so I had to remove the wires from the servo lead on the voltage sensor and I shunk wrap them by hand, bent them at 90 degrees so they were perfectly flat on top of the rx, then the box would close. I didn't do this for the other servo leads b/c they were OK, only the voltage sensor was too tall.
http://visionarycomputer.net/rc/8ightT2e/IMG_2910.jpg

I didn't install the motor yet b/c I would be too tempted to take it outside and it's a bit snowy and wet today. Maybe next weekned I'll take the 8ight T 2.0e out for a quick test drive. Spring can't get here soon enough!

Looks really nice!

Looking great so far :yes:

What color scheme are you going to run on the body, or do the 2.0 come prepainted?

Just curious as to what part you had to "dremel action it took to grind down the center diff mount", was it the RCM mount or the top brace mount. With my 1.0, I had to dremel the top mount and bottom plate only using the Losi conversion for fitting the plastic spur. I am looking at the RCM mount as a lighter option, since you have one, can you use M4 screws through the mount instead of M3 or will they have to be opened wider?

Again, looking real factory like :intello:

The body is clear so it's yet to be painted. It is also trimmed which is nice but it has cut outs for the engine head and such which are a bit unfortunate. I'm not much of a painter so I'm going to let a young guy at my local track spray them. Colors will be bright b/c there have been a few races which spill into the night and seeing is better than not seeing. I'm waiting on a 2.0e buggy too so I won't get it painted till that starts shipping.

As far as the dremel bit goes, if you use the metal spur there would have been no real problems. I chose to use the new Losi 45T plastic spur which is quite a bit wider than the steel spur. It rubbed - quite bad - against the RCM mount. I would spin it and see where it touched, then I hit it with a sanding wheel. I kept doing this what seemed like 10-15 times in an effort to take off as little as possible. I also had to hit what I'd call the "D Loop" section b/c it was touching the battery tray - that was super minor as the tray is plastic and it just bent ever so slightly on the velcro loop but I my whole goal here was something very finished. FWIW I've read elsewhere that even the Losi mount has a small amount of spur rub when using the plastic spur.

Oddly I went with the RCM mount because I've got a Tekno Neu and it's not easy or perhaps even possible to re-tap them 4mm. The Losi Mount uses 4mm. The RCM is designed for 3mm. I'd imagine you can use 4mm but I doubt it would ride in the little track designed for the motor mount screws. It would likely be on top of the track, very minor but some work would be required.

Finally put the motor and ESC wires in. Did a bench test, all sounded and looked good. The MMM is brand new (it's a v3 replacement for my v2 that died) so I won't feel totally safe until it has 3 or 4 packs through it. Very wet and muddy outside so no chance of running it just yet. Now that it will move I'm very anxious to take it out and at least check out the turning radius and the top speed as I've got it geared. (I've added 1 tooth from my settings last year, it may be a little too fast for the track but I wanted to try it.) I did check the weight and fully RTR with wheels (no battery or body) the Losi is .8 pounds lighter than the old CRT was. That's about 10% which I think is quite a bit at this scale. Anyway here are some more photos:

http://visionarycomputer.net/rc/8ightT2e/IMG_2931.jpg
http://visionarycomputer.net/rc/8ightT2e/IMG_2937.jpg
http://visionarycomputer.net/rc/8ightT2e/IMG_2949.jpg

It's.... sooooooo clean....

What battery are you going to run?

Enerland Packs. I'm about to send mine over to Lincpimp for conversion from 2s packs into 4s packs. I've got 5100's 5000's and 6000's all in 2s...

Are they Neu? Polyquest? Flightpower?...

btw what is that red box in front of your motor?

Enerland Polyquest. (Specifically PQ-5100RXP, PQ-5000RXQ, PQ-5000XQ and PQ-6000XP)

The red little box is my AMB transponder for racing.

beautiful Rc !!! i love !
good job

Looks great.

How's the build coming along? Have the guys at your track painted your body? Have you had a chance to run it?...........All these questions :)

Sorry for the lack of updates. Here is the current scoop...

While yesterday was the first day of Spring, it is still not quite spring like. The temp at my house this morning was 17 degrees. To remove the temptation of driving in either to cold or too wet conditions, I mailed my LiPo packs off to Lincpimp for conversion from 2s packs into 4s packs (my former truck used two 2s packs to form a bridged 4s pack.) Anyway you can see here that he finished:

http://www.rc-monster.com/forum/show...&postcount=149

And I'm just waiting for them to arrive.

As for the body, I was waiting there too to have it painted by a local guy at my track. The delay was that I wanted to have my new 8ight-E 2.0 and give him both bodies at the same time in the hopes of getting a near matching paint job. The 8ight-E was supposed to be out March 17th, it has been slightly delayed till April 6th (or so) and because of that I mailed the 8ight-T 2.0 body to my buddy for painting, if they don't match, oh well, you will never notice because they will be moving so fast!

My game-plan is to take her out for her maiden voyage next weekend. I will of course post photos and results. I don't think I've driven a Losi since the 8ight T first came out and even that it was a few gentile laps on a buddies nitro. Certainly never driven any of the 2.0 stuff...very anxious to see how it drives and how the durability is (not to mention the first run of the MMMv3.)

Ok, first update, I got my batteries back from Lincpimp and he converted all my 2s packs into 4s packs. I have to say, I was hoping his work would live up to the hype but in the end it was even better than I could believe. Thank you SO much Linc! The packs look amazing and they fit perfectly in the Losi battery tray.

http://visionarycomputer.net/rc/8ightT2e/IMG_3062.jpg

http://visionarycomputer.net/rc/8ightT2e/IMG_3069.jpg

But there is more...

I <b>FINALLY</b> took it out today! Now I live on a dirt road, the dirt this time of year is actually very much like the racetrack surface. As soon as I dropped the truck down I noticed the servo was reversed - no biggie - a quick change on the radio and it was pointing in the right way. I slowly crept up on the driveway (which is paved) and did a few low speed turns to just work out the diffs and check the turn radius, very impressive. I couldn't wait anylonger. I headed to the dirt road and gunned it. <b>A-freaking-mazing.</b>

During my build I've been checking the weight of the truck and totally ready to run, with battery and cables, everything (except body, my body is out being painted by AXM) it weighs 4290g (9.46 pounds) which sounds heavy but is almost a full pound lighter than my old CRT. With the weight savings and the free drivetrain on the 8T 2.0 the brushless power is just disgusting. It throws the truck around like a rag doll. I did gear up by 1 tooth (14t on my pinion) and the truck was the fastest I've ever driven. The sound was totally different too (and I've been using a plastic spur for years) it just sounded free-er. More like the whistle you hear on a 1/10th truck. I tore up and down the road for a while, roost tails were flying everywhere. Then I started to hit some bumps and driveway lips. Granted, these were not as big as typical track jumps but the truck was just WAY more composed than the CRT over the same obstacles.

It's always hard to judge the performance on a 10-12' wide road vs a narrow track but I'm much more impressed than I thought I'd be. I can't wait to get it on the track and start getting to know the handling characteristics of this truck. I'm sure given the way it accelerates alone it is going to shave several 10th's off my lap times!

That sounds great! I'm looking forward the the video!:yes:

+1 :yes:

I see you also own a E-revo. How does it compare to an E-revo in handling and driving? I have yet to own a truggy, so Revo's are the closest thing I know of.

Man, sounds like an awesome machine. I am super jealous.... If I could afford it, the 8T would be my dream rig to do a conversion on.

Looking forward to your reviews of it on the track.

after converting a few Revos and building a Losi 8t truggy I have to say I wish I would have started with a truggy, they handle much better and has twice the steering ability a Revo has but the Revo can handle rough terrain better

I dunno if you have had a losi conversion before, but industrial strength velcro the entire battery tray and the batteries or they will smash through the front of your tray the first time you nose dive a bit.

My race program last year was my E-CRT and my E-Revo. They both had identical power/motor and batteries and on our small local track, they were actually very close in terms of laptimes. The Truggy definitely is quicker and easier to drive but the E-Revo was really a very well handling vehicles. When the track would get rough, the truggy would have a significant edge.

Thanks for the tip. I will no doubt be adding velcro to the tray and packs. I was considering making some kind of adjustable blocker or something but Velcro is the easy fix, used it in the past and I'll be installing it on this one as well.

Use foam too to take up the extra space. The less momentum that battery has on a crash the better.

HD sells the industrial strength velcro that I love to use and it's a standard mod for me on all my Lipo's and trays. It took breaking 2 batteries and 2 MMM's to learn that lesson. Some people say it's not necessary, but to each is there own.

(Long post alert)

I took the truck down to the Pin Shop Hobbies track yesterday to run some practice laps and shake out any issues with the truck or electronics. For those of you that are not familiar with Pin Shop, the track hasn't been touched since last year. One part was pretty mangled by the snowplowing over the winter. At then end of the season last year, the track was pretty well beaten and in desperate need of a rebuild. I expected it to be rough and really just a shake down of the truck, not so much a setup or tuning day. A few guys showed up and did a great job with the raking, the track was super dry and it seemed to have loads of small pebbles and sand on top.

As far as running the truck, it is just psychotically fast. Perhaps too fast for this small track. I'm only up one pinion tooth from my gearing last year but the truck just felt much faster. There is no doubt the Losi is a fast reacting vehicle. The first pack was a little wild as I was getting to know the truck. I was pleased with the steering. I think the feature I was most impressed with was the jumping. The truck just loves to launch. Again, knowing the track is getting a complete rebuild in the next few weeks, I wasn't too concerned about handling, however I would mention that the rear end was much looser than the old CRT. The truck was just sliding all over the place. Eventually I stopped fighting it and just power-slided around the corners, it was impressive looking but very hard to control and in a race, it would be a very risky way around the corners. Once the real dirt is down and the track is built I'll work on bringing that rear end under control.

While it is great to sing the praises of something, you can get all that from the magazines, I'll mention my gripes with the truck/design. My biggest disappointment is with a flaw in Losi's design. This is the first time the Losi Truggy has 0 offset wheels so the geometry and arms are all new. In short, they rub badly unmodified. Luckily I had read about this online. A few days ago I posted in this thread that I ran it outside my house. When I did that I had not made any changes to the truck. True to form, even in the few minutes I ran around my house, I cracked a small part of one of the webbings inside the front wheel. At full lock the webbing inside the wheel will hit something, the steering knuckle or something. Before hitting the track I did the research. I took a sharpie and laid down a heavy line on the webbing, then I spun it by hand. The black ink showed exactly where the rub was on the webbing. Then I hit the dremmel, I didn't have the exact right bit for the job but I did the best I can. I also read about the rim hitting the arm in use and I can see wear from the spot that rubbed. I will also hit that with a dremmel. Apparently one fix is to use the optional Losi +2mm hubs. They won't require the wheels to be modified. Kind of bothers me that Losi, who touts their Engineering prowess all the time, would have made such a huge mistake. I'd bet that anyone running a new truck, without one of the two mods, will crack their wheel after one run. Other than that, another thing I saw online also happened, the camber links backed out in the front and rear. Fix there is copious amounts of locktight and longer screws to get into the nylon of the locknuts. I will be fixing that right away. Only other gripe is that even after just 4 or 5 runs, the rear bearings already feel not right. I have to take them out and clean them but I've read about some King Heads hubs which make use of larger bearings, I have a feeling that upgrade is in my near future.

The teething pains of a new vehicle design are not uncommon and while I sound pretty critical, I just want to help other guys reading to prepare their 8T 2.0's. I am sure this truck is fantastic and I'm positive that it will shave time off my laps. It is a winner for sure but like anything worth doing, you have to put in some time and effort to make it live up to it's potential.

Dave, I am looking around for possibly a 8T, but didn't know this. Glad you posted this....Is their a losi forum for find problems like this??

Also does the truck oversteer badly on most surfaces or just was it that track?

RCTech has a great forum on the truck. That's where I've done most of my reading.

As for oversteer, hard to say. Yesterday was only the second time I've had the truck out and to be honest, neither surface was ideal. I'm sure the handling is something which just needs to be tuned. Once our track is redone, I plan to start making setup changes and get it to be the way I like it.

8ight T 2.0e
 

love your 8ight t 2.0e. can i get it as RTR.
as i see losi has the 8ight e 2.0 as a RTR.
or is there a lot of parts to put the 8ight as a truggy:wink:

or i get a 8ight e 2.0
and what will i need to put it as a truggy?
wheels,shock parts,dogbones......

Just get an 8T 2.0 and the Losi Conversion Kit. I also am using the RC Monster Mount (rather than the Losi that comes with the Kit). Only other thing you need is the brushless motor and ESC. Mine are just like the MMM 2200 Combo.

Dave, great review, especialy about the negatives, a lot of times people just want to talk about how great their truggy/buggy is. I'll keep an eye on the wheels. How did the temps look? and what gearing were you running on the track? Can't wait to get mine out on the track.

Thanks. I know I'm going to love the truck but the truth is, it helps to know what's wrong so you can prepare. I read these sites and found your threads particularly helpful so I figured I'd try to post the same.

I'm 75% sure I'm going to just get the +2mm hubs though my current set of wheels have already been dremmeled. I also plan on hitting the arms where the rubbing happened just to eliminate it regardless of width.

Temps were good, but I wasn't very constant about checking. My last run of the day was a very long one, 11 mins on one pack, and I had already run 3 other packs through it in a very short time. The ESC was a bit warm at about 148, no fan but warmer than I thought it would be. My next outing will be more temp focused.

My gearing was 14T pinion on the plastic 45T spur, the track was very small and I honestly feel like it may be a bit much. I was running 13/46 on my CRT last year.

I heard back from Losi on the wheel rubbing issue - let me rephrase that...My calls and email messages continued to go unanswered so I kept calling until someone picked up the phone...anyway the guy who answered said that it was a known issue and that what he and "all the drivers" do is back down the EPA on their radios. I also asked about those +2mm hubs and he said he prefers the stock setup.

The parade of somewhat weak answers continued when I asked about the delays on the 8ight-E 2.0 and he said that it would be shipping sometime in the middle of April.

I just picked up my 8t 2.0 last night and they guys at the hobby store told me about the wheels hitting so I backed my EPA off some compared to my old 8t but they were still hitting. So I need to dremel them.. Will pro-line wheels do the same thing?

On a side note I used Rc-monsters motor mount with a kyosho 46t spur gear and I didn't have to do any grinding..

I've heard AKAs are the only wheels which don't hit without mods or the +2mm adapters.

Good to know on the 46T, I've got a few of those, I have a feeling when my Losi 45T dies, I'll switch back to the Kyosho.

Just what we need, a faster Dave at the track.

I envy you...

So clean. I am a huge fan of the 8, and the 2.0 is even better!

Hey guys, I've got a race report on the new truggy...

While I wanted to go another week or two of just practice, my buddy Mark pushed me into taking the new truck to a race at Wolcott. For those of you that don't know the Wolcott track, it is about the best way to battle-proof a vehicle known to man. The track is big and is just loaded with jumps and not small one's either. There is usually at least one very big jump that gives you anywhere from 6'-9' of distance between you and the ground.

During Practice, I shook out one of the common 8T 2.0 issues right away, shock ends stripped. The hobby shop didn't have the replacement parts but luckily one of the racers had a new pack and I just bought it off him. Amazingly the shock shaft was fine, I didn't even loose the spring. After that I had a wheel nut come loose - I was very worried it was the dreaded rear hub bearing issue but it was just a loose nut. I checked them after each run after that and it was not a problem. My final issue was also a common one, the wing mount screws backed out completely. It's another issue where longer screws will actually thread into the nylon of the nut and should go away. For the day I made use of the short screw and some copious amounts of locktight.

Once those issues were worked out I could really drive the truck and of course it is just amazing. I think having now driven it at two tracks I can honestly say that it's not worlds of difference from what I had, maybe it's only really 5-10% better than my old CRT but 5-10% is actually quite a bit. I give it high marks in two areas. Without a doubt it's a better jumper. It is lighter so it jumps far, high and fast. It also lands and settles much better. My favorite track feature was this incredible step-up big kicker tabletop. The truck just launched 8 feet in the air and with a tap of the (motor) brake landed the downside every time. Really smooth and beautiful. I also give it high marks in low speed corners. I could cut inside just about anyone in low speed. I still think on-power it has a lot of push but that is more likely because it's Electric and on-power it transfers lots of weight to the back. I plan to work on that a bit but it was acceptable.

During the actual race, I was quite surprised. Now in all fairness to any Wolcott guys, this was an odd week. There were only two heats of Truggy, about 12-13 truggies, and just about all the local Wolcott fast guys were absent so I wasn't up against their best. I got out front in the first qual round and just never looked back. I drove smooth and consistently. I focused more on not crashing than on trying to push the truck. I was careful with my jump timing and did really well. I won the heat and after the second heat of truggy ran, I was TQ. For the second round I ran a little more experimental. I was very far out front and I realized because of a transponder error (on the track's part) I wasn't clocking. It didn't really matter to me as I was TQ already and I had to leave before the main anyway. So I went a little wild. There was one section in the back where there was a double double. ALL of the Nitro guys were doing it double double. I did see a guy running an Electric 8ight buggy QUAD it once. It wasn't pretty but he did land it. So I went for it. Amazingly the truck LOVES to be pushed hard. I must have landed the quad at least 4 laps in a row. I was psyched. I'm sure my lap times were even better than round 1.

I did not make round 3 or the main b/c I had some family commitments. I left the track at 2:30 after getting there at 10am. All in all it was a great day of early season racing and I feel like now with (most of) one race day under my belt with the new truck, we are off to a good start.

Nice review...my co-worker just bought one and he is psyched!