The RC8 begins
 

I picked up a used RC8 off of a fellow RCM member and it just got here today. I didn't waste any time in taking it apart. Didn't even waste time on getting pictures:whistle:. But I do have a question for buggy drivers. The rear hubs seem really lose, they slide forward to rear a few mm's. Is there something wrong with this, my truggy rear hubs don't slide at all.
I'll get pics as I clean it up and get parts ready to transplant onto a RCM chassis.

Are they plastic or AL?

Are they missing a spacer? or just add an extra one.

plastic, but they don't look like they have much wear on them. The pin holes are fairly tight, but the hubs literally slide front to back. Oh wait...I see it, should they really wear that much? I guess I could shim them up.

In any case center diff is cleaned and filled with 30k.
http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i4...8/d3ab163f.jpg

Nitro anyone? I'm not really sure what I'm going to do with it. Keep it as a relic?
http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i4...8/921e2d5c.jpg

yep just shim them, the should have a spacer and shouldnt have much if any play

They do indeed use spacers, no slop at all in mine after weeks of racing abuse on my RC8T, they're the same hubs

If there were spacers there, they must have broken off. I'll put it n the to order list.

Their is suppose to be red spacers in front and behind the hub. This is what allows you to change the wheelbase of the buggy/truggy.

I know the red pin holders/spacers are suppose to be there, and those are still there. It just has a lot of slop front to rear. Shims will fix it.

I put in an order today for a bunch of small parts that should fix most of the loose ends. Also got around to taking the rear diff out as the out drives seemed a little wobbly. As expected the bearings were bad. So bad in fact, that they fell apart when I took the out drives out of the diff (which also happened to have no fluid in it).
After adding bearings, o-rings, and gaskets to my buy list I investigated the inner rear hinge pins and holders, all of which need to be replaced.
Should have some parts by Wednesday next week. In the mean time I think I'll check my crt.5, I think it needs new diff bearings too :(

you need to come down for the big july4th race this weekend..... already 9-10 1/8th electrics.... seems like everyone is building one after watching us put on a good show week after week, hope you can make it down! you can always pit in or at the back of my trailer depending on whos with me so drag your junk down here with the rest of the Okies that are coming and race.

btw im waiting for the the rc8B kit to come out before i do me another buggy...

Isn't the rc8b already out? Or is it still waiting to hit the shelves? I couldn't pass up a good deal on this used buggy. By the time I'm done with rebuilding it, it'll look next to new. What are the major changes with the "B" . Changing the steering geometry? What else?

Those spacers sqwashed as they get worn, replace them & you should not need a shim. At least the ones in my RC8 did regularly.

Mine did a lot of sqwashing but thankfully they're all replaced and there is no more slop.
Another update: I found a used RCM RC8 kit and bought it so I should have a rolling chassis here in a week or so. I still need a motor and a battery tray. Tray I will get from Mike to custom fit the batteries I choose, and my battery choice depends on the motor that I can get a good deal on. I think I'm going to stay with a 5s setup so I can interchange batteries between my truggy and buggy.

progress update pic:wink:

http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i4...C8/Picture.jpg

looks good william! i guess i lied about the rc8b becasue i talked myself out of it with all the durability issuse guys had with the originals down here, and i bought another Xray except its 808 and not the xb8 like i have...

It still has a ways to go before I call it ready. Who ever drove this thing before me, they drove the piss out of it. You'd think when someone bends a hinge pin they'd replace it, or when a caster angle is lost they'd notice their front wheel wobbling a little (a lot). Amain must love me by now. Still missing some key parts, like a battery and a custom fit tray, and the motor CC is suppose to release late this month (small can 1.5Y).

The local buggy class wont be safe for long. The project buggy just needs a few more parts.

http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i4...ly/RC8/007.jpg

Been doing some reading and not really sure what the best route to take is. Many buggy users seem to like running 4s. Can someone project a ball park number for a run time using a 1650-1700kv motor on 4s 5000 pack? Conservative gearing no higher than 40mph. I need to be able to make a 20 min main.
Anyone think a 5s 5000 packs are too heavy? In my truggy, I can get 20+ minutes on a 5200 5s pack. I would assume I would get a few more minutes running the same packs in a buggy.
It would be nice if I could use interchangable batteries between these monsters but I don't want my rc8 to be too heavy.

if you use good cells yes. ( neuenergy , polyquest , rcm ) zippy and maxamps will puff. i have had a 5s zippy puff in a 10min main because my lvc was set to 4s....:gasp:

Lookin' great so far, I curious to see your build finished and see how your liking it. I'm getting close to committing to a buggy build myself and the RC8 is at the top of my list of vehicles to use.

I'm just glad I was able to find a used RCM chassis kit for a very seasonable price.

OK motor people, consider this. Top choice for me right now would be a tekin 3D (1700kv) buggy sized motor. If I want to run on 5s and achieve 20min run time (minimum for race mains here), what size of battery should I be looking at?
My RC8T runs on a 1515 2.5D Neu and hits over 20 minutes. Would it be reasonable to expect 25minutes on a 5s 5000mah battery considering I'd be using a shorter motor, pushing less mass with very little difference in kv rating from my truggy?

Bought the Tekin 4030 3D this evening. Things left to acquire: Battery(s), RCM tray to fit battery(s). Going to postpone buying either of the remaining parts till the middle of next week or the following weekend.

After doing the speed calc and putting in the correct 4.3 diff ratio for the RC8, I realized I might need some bigger pinions than my 17T that I currently have. Gearing for track racing should be between 35-40mph on a small to medium track, correct?

run the same packs as your truggy itll make things alot simpler and dont worry about the wieght the rc8 needs a little gut to handle good anyways.

i ran my 808 (kayli already laid claim on it lol) last series race and it handles good except for the rear end. ive got a 1512 3d motor running on little 5s 4000 protek 20c lipos with a Mod1 MM and its alittle under powered, im gonna get a MMM and im think some 6s 2600 rcm packs and gear it down to 40 and let it rip only needs to run for 10 mins racing the the rcm 6s lipo on the 1512 3 or 3.5d gives you all the power you need with the lowest weight.... plus plenty of room to mount everything LOW.

Got one of my goodies in. Tekin motor came in yesterday and had the time to solder some wires and plugs this morning. I'm an thrilled with the quality of the motor. Yes the buggy is missing a rear hub carrier. I salvaged it for my RC8T because I broke one yesterday. Truggy has priority.

Edit: helps if I post the pic
http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i4...ly/RC8/003.jpg

looks good! tell how the tekin runs temp wise when ran on the MMM compared to the Neu...

Looks like I might be able to swing by wolfpack on the 15th! I'll be running truggy and I may bring a friend to run this buggy. He's a noob so I'll either have to gear it down or lower the EPA on the thottle, can't have him messing my buggy up.

Turnigy batteries came in today and both needed another layer of heat shrink. After I got them wired with dean connectors I tried out the iCharger 106B that also came from HC today.
I'm thoroughly impressed with the charger. Zero problems with the charge control software (more than I can say for my Cellpro 10s). And no more having to run my batteries down in my truggy or buggy, it comes preprogramed to discharge or charge a battery to storage voltage (cellpro doesn't have). Does all battery chemistry's (cellpro is limited to all lithiums). It's also 1/3 the size of my cellpro 10s and about cost about half as much. It only lacks the ability to charge above 6s packs.
After charging up one of the Turnigy batteries I strapped it in the buggy and went out to test. I think 17t pinion is going to be a bit high with a 4030 1700 motor on 5s. Had plenty of speed (too much for track use) and the motor got up to 115* faster than expected. I didn't have much day light left so I picked up and went inside to test the "Store" setting in the charger (it's still doing its thing). Had a very good afternoon :yes:

I just got my custom battery tray in from Mike, made to my specs and, just like my truggy custom tray, perfect fitment. Thanks Mike!
Now that I've completed the build, minus later upgrades, I'll try and get some pics up this afternoon if I'm not too busy tearing up a construction yard.

http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i4...ly/RC8/288.jpg

http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i4...ly/RC8/286.jpg

I think I'll take it to the track tomorrow and see if it's anything like driving my RC8Te conversion!

Looking good, Willy. I'm in the process of converting a used RC8 myself. You're darn right you were lucky to find a used RCM chassis kit! That's the one I'm thinking about buying, because they claim it's the lightest, and I really like having mud guards on a chassis.

I'll be watching this build closely; good luck with it!

I raced it this weekend with 2 other brushless buggies (both Losi). Finished last of the 3 of us but my lack of buggy skills may have something to do with it. I was racing against drivers who have been racing 1/8 buggy for years at this one track and they've been racing every weekend. My fast lap was ~1 second behind the fastest drivers fast lap in the main.
Initially it was having a bad time with the buggy pushing really hard through the corners with very little off-power steering. I took some spacers out of the front shocks and found the missing steering.

Ahh, that'll do it. Nothing worse than a post-8ight buggy that pushes in the corners. And nothing better than one that turns on a dime. ;)

You were running the Tekin RX8 system, right? I read another post on here that said that system had a sort of two-step power delivery, meaning it seemed to drag it's feet in the middle of the powerband. I don't know if the guy had his expo turned down or what, but how do YOU like the Tekin so far?

I'm running the Tekin motor with a MMM controller. The only complaint I've had about the MMM is that the fans go out; run in a dusty environment and they go out really fast. The Tekin motor seems great so far. It was a really hot day out and the humidity really didn't help the motors cool any. After 6 min all of our motors came off the track at about 165-170. I was running a Teken 1650 buggy motor on 5s, the other two guys had 4s setups: one an MMM 2200 truggy motor, the other a Tekin 1900 buggy motor. I would have expected the larger castle motor to stay cooler but....The whole motor heat problem in these new setups has me boggled. Similar setups compared to my truggy can run in the 140-150s, while I'm geared more or less the same and get temps in the 170-180.

That is strange. A buddy of mine has a Factory Team RC8 brushless edition running a MMM 2200 he pulled out of his E-Revo, which he let me drive on 5S a couple times. At the end of his run time (~15 minutes), his DX3S read the motor temp at ~150dF. I can't remember what pinion he was running.

It's all about ambient temp and relative humidity. High 90's in the shade and in the triple digits in the Oklahoma sun is going to heat up a motor fast the way we were running. The higher than average humidity didn't help.

I was running my buddy's RC8 in the Texas summer heat about a month ago, so conditions were the same as you're describing, or worse.

If your buggy has plenty of speed, do ya think it could simply be a little overgeared? Dropping down to a 14 from a 16 in my Losi 8ight made a 20dF difference in my motor and ESC temps.

Haven't done much lately with my buggy due to my air plane project. I wasn't feeling too great today so I took the time to sit down at the work table and resolder my bullet connectors so that the wires wouldn't rub against the body.
http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i4.../RC8/003-1.jpg

http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i4...ly/RC8/011.jpg

Not much change, but it's a nice fix.

hows the tekin motor still doing?

i was thinking about getting one to test with one of the MMpros i have and try the combo in my 808. But the 1512 and MMM does flawless so im not sure if i wanna spend the money to "test" a setup...

If your going to be running a slipperential then you may not have any problems, given that it's already a light buggy. I've had to have 1 rotor replaced and I have not had the chance to test the new rotor yet.