BL MBX-5 Near completion. Pics
 

Almost done. Going to the shop today to make the battery tray and CVD drive cup, then it will be done. I am going to list the steps and parts I used to make everything just in case someone likes the design. I tried to use as many stock parts as I could for replacement sake and still get the layout I wanted.

Front Cvd assembly is the short T/E Maxx MIP drive shaft.
Rear CVD assembly is LST axle and custom made cup on the rear diff to fit.
Center diff is the HB with the kyosho 44T plastic spur.
Center diff is mounted with the stock front mount.
Custom aluminum rear mount with integrated motor mount.
Stock HB top plate.
Moved the Center diff forward so everything is mounted on the chassis.
Maxamps 8AH 4S2P 14.8V pack with 12 gage wires.
MM ESC with all wires changed to 12 gage.
Neu 1515/2Y/F.
Neu 6MM connectors between motor/ESC/Battery.
3amp switching BEC 6V.
Rear chassis brace mounted on opposite side.
Rear chassis brace stock mount is just flipped with minimal machine work.
Front chassis brace is just moved on the chassis to clear the center diff.
Stock steering servo mount with throttle part dremeled off.

When it is complete I will have a weight. It is off balance to the battery side but not by much. I will scale it once it is done. I wanted every thing to be mounted on the chassis and as low as possible. That is the reason for moving the center diff forward to allow room for the battery. There was no room for the 10AH battery. It came together easier than I thought it was going to. I kinda stumbled on the center shafts and they are perfect length for where I wanted the diff and they are stock stuff to boot. The aluminum stuff is bead blasted and I am going to paint it. The gearing is 24/44. I know what you all are thinking. Why in the world is he running a 1515/2y with a 1100KV? HAHA Well I got it for a song. Thought I would try it to see how it worked first. I plan on either the 1512 or 1515 around 2000-2500 KV if this doesn't pan out. I did run it last night on the asphalt and it seams fine but I wonder about the heat and efficiency. I had some cogging issues from the start to where I had to reboot it. I changed some of the settings in the MM and then it seemed much better. Sure hope the fix is almost ready.

http://usera.imagecave.com/Dachshund/DadsBuggys010.jpg
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http://usera.imagecave.com/Dachshund/DadsBuggys015.jpg
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http://usera.imagecave.com/Dachshund/DadsBuggys017.jpg
http://usera.imagecave.com/Dachshund/DadsBuggys018.jpg

Nice job, like the motor mount!

Good conversion. I can't wait to commence my project..

Good looking Mugen, except for the steering servo. Have plans to upgrade it?

Looking really good. Once you get a few run on it, please tell me the average run time you get. I will be running the same battery in my buggy, and would like to know approximately what to expect.

LOL Good eye. Was wondering who would be the first to catch that. I just had that in there as I was building it. Putting in a JR Z4800T. Thanks to my BIL, who is a machinest, for the motor mount and battery tray. Here are pics of the battery tray we made tonight. Total weight RTR with transponder is 8lbs 7oz.

http://usera.imagecave.com/Dachshund/DadsBuggys019.jpg
http://usera.imagecave.com/Dachshund/DadsBuggys020.jpg
http://usera.imagecave.com/Dachshund/DadsBuggys022.jpg
http://usera.imagecave.com/Dachshund/DadsBuggys024.jpg

Will let you know how it goes. What motor are you running? Things are still up in the air with this motor but I hope to know within the next couple of weeks how she runs.

I was planning on running the MM esc, except with the 8xl motor, not the neu like you... but I'd assume that the run times would be fairly similar.

The battery tray looks great. It should work great for you.

Good servo...had one of those in my TLT crawler I used to have.

Excellent machine work on the battery and motor mount. What's it made out of? It looks like maybe anodized aluminum?

Looks like it is aluminum, then beadblasted.

Project looks good. I want to get my buggy converted, just trying to figure out motor/esc/lipo set up I want to run.

Everything looks nice. Question though: Why didn't you swap the side the battery is on for better balance?

I didn't have the room. For the motor to line up with the spur I would have had to move the diff rearward for the spur to clear the servo, then there wouldn't be enough room for the battery. I had a chance to run it today and the weight difference doesn't appear(thankfully)to even be an issue. The thing fly's over jumps just beautiful. It does push off throttle, but I'm sure that can be fixed with some setup tweaking. Sorry to say I don't think the motor is going to cut it on our track. It doesn't have the top speed it needs unless I can find a bigger spur. I don't think that would be a good idea though because it already takes off kinda rough from dead stop. Of course it's got gobs of torque and it to top speed in an instant. I'm going to try to get a GPS unit and see what the actual speed is.

Thanks every one for the compliments. The aluminum is bead blasted. I may have all the aluminum anodized in the future.

Very nice work.

I bet a 5s 5000mah pack would work nice with that setup... shed a little weight and give it the extra rpms it needs. I'm not sure about the MM on 5s though...

The off throttle push is a bit different with no f/r brake bias. I dial in the drag brake where I want it and if it still pushes into the corners... you have to drive it different than a nitro. Brake a little earlier and roll the corner more.. and you can come back on throttle sooner coming out, in general.

looks like a nice clean setup.

Nice setup. I can appreciate the gearing dilemma. I have a MBX5 Prosec with a Plettenberg Maximum and Quark 125B (w fan and extra heatsink). I use a 12-13:46 gearing and I t runs pretty fast/faster than I can drive it.

I’m almost done with my new 8ight with a 1512 1.5D Neu and I’ll be using the MM. What settings do you use on your MM?

Where do you live in MI? We will be running in Holly starting at the end of April with enough converted 1/8 buggies to have our own heats and extended mains. There are all other electrics and electric MTs too that run there. We ran over the winter in Ann Arbor.
http://www.rcpics.net/img/83379

The excitement there got others to convert buggies over the past few weeks and are itching to get started outdoors.

How'd I miss this thread?! Looks very clean and well done. The sandblasted Al is a nice (and different) touch. Before I read it was made of Al, it looked like some type of gray dense plastic. :)

nice setup!

BTW, is that motor mount sand-blasted? Looks nice, and won't scratch at least

I'm on the road right now but I'll check for sure when I get home. I can get it to roll real slow with just a touch of throttle but if I try to roll into the throttle gradually it will cog real bad and won't go so I have to hit the throttle hard after getting it to roll slowly. It will still cog but only in that one spot. I really don't like the cogging but I will play around with the settings some more to see if I can get it better. I do know I am running 100 percent punch control, lowest timing, 12V cutoff and linear throttle curve. I'm not sure what is going on with the cutoff though. I only got 6AH out of the battery and it shut down under hard acceleration. It must be pulling the volts down under 6V per cell. It takes right back off though with in a second or so.
I live in Hillsdale. My nephew raced the ROAR national up in Westland at CEFX the same weekend of your last race. We headed that way to check it out on Sat. night but due to some other problems we didn't make it. I saw a couple of months ago you had 7 or 8 that were running up there. We race at Stateline raceway in Fremont, IN. We may have to come up sometime to a race. It would be nice to hang with like minded converted:005: people. I am the only one that had a brushless MT at our track last year and now I'm gonna have the buggy. There are mixed feelings from the Nitro guys that I race against:007: .
Ya the beadblasted Al was my BIL's idea.

You really are using that motor? What volts are you running? There is nothing wrong with running that motor on 4 or 5 cells. It can handle it. It will be faster than all get out. It just seems the general consensus around here is to use a much lower kv motor ie. around 2000kv. Now I've gotta come to a race just to check it:027: out. I was planning on using the 1515/1Y or the 1512 2.5D.

So hows the buggy running? Have you done any speed runs with it?

If I had to guess I'd bet it is running right around 33MPH which is too slow for our track. I'm still deciding on whether to run the 1512 or 1515. One day I read something and I am sure I will order the 1512 and then I read something else and I'm not sure. I'm just worried that the 1512 won't give me the power/speed I need. Maybe I am all wet but it's hard to make a decision when I have not seen one run. Our track is pretty big and has some high speed sections. OH and to answer the question, I did a speed run with my nephews XLT-4 motor. It was geared 24/44 and the thing was a screamer. We paced it with a 1:1 car and it did all of 55MPH. It would get real toasty though with only a couple of minutes run time. LOL

Stephen.

The 1512 in a buggy will be all the power you need. I have the 1512/2.5D and have run in my 1/8 buggy, revo, maxx and XLB 1/7. More power than the XL motors IMO. Its plenty of power for a track. You have no worries there. I would say its a btter chioce than the 1515, just cuz of the weight factor. How much does that setup weigh with the 8K mah lipo?

I'm wondering how your lipo is holding up with that battery mount. It looks really well done. One thing I have found is keeping as much surface contact as possible on a lipo is important. I had a similar setup for a little while where I was contacting only around the bottom edge and 1 smaller point on the top and all it took was 1 crash and I wound up with some significant dents in the lipo. Freaked me out and I discarded that mount an built something that touched the lipo over a larger surface area and also added some foam padding to the contact points.

OK, jhautz You pushed me over the edge. I solemnly swear to order the 1512. Now do I get the 1900kv or the 2000kv? I wonder why they make such seemingly similar motors? I can't fine it on Nue's site but on DMA's site they rate the 1512/1.5Y 90+ efficiency and the 1512/2.5D at 86+. I'm leaning towards the 1512/1.5Y just because of that. Any reason not to go with that one? Anybody know the differences?
It weighs 8lbs 7oz RTR with Transponder.
The battery mount is working fine. I first ran it directly on the bare chassis but it was getting small pieces of gravel under the battery and leaving small dimples. I have since padded the whole bottom and sides with that thin craft foam and not a single issue. It fits nice and snug. I have ran it very hard with many high flat landed jumps, coming up short jumps and you name it.
You wanna know the funny thing? This is my first 1/8 buggy and I never even ran a nitro motor on it. I am impressed with the durability of these things. I'm used to the XX-4. You sneeze on one of those and it's broke. Don't get me wrong, I love my Losi but compared to the 1/8 stuff it is "HANDLE WITH CARE".
Stephen.

Yes, the 1512 is WAYYY more than enough for the track! I was running my 2d on 4s at the local track yesterday trying out a hardened 16T pinion and it went so fast so quickly that the front end hit a bump and it went airborne into the wall. Awaiting new shock tower now.

The efficiency is not a hard number. It will change based on current flow and load. The Neus in general are very efficient and stay cool. You basically choose the KV for the voltage you are going to use to stay under the 40k rpm "sweet spot". You need power to move any vehicle. 14.8v (4s) at 100A has the same power as 22.2v (6s) at 66.6A. Running a higher voltage lets you choose a lower kv motor to get the same speed and power output. And since current is less, efficiency will be higher. And less current is good for everything; batteries, wires, connectors, ESC, etc...

Well said Brian.

What size is the 1512 Neu's anyways?

Next year I'm thinking of going Neu.

So running a higher voltage lets you choose a higher kv motor to get the same speed and power output? I'm not sure I understand that. It seems to me like you should run a lower KV for higher volts. Now I'm really confused:032:

Oops. :) I meant lower kv motor lets you choose a higher voltage. I was thinking "turns" but wrote "kv". I'll fix the original response. My bad!

Geez Brian, you're doing more harm than good here! :005:

In reality, higher voltage will allow you to get a higher power from a given motor, that being said staying within a given RPM limit; I'm talking about scaling the system voltage ALONG with the motor KV (lower). This is because torque output goes up, efficiency goes up as well, that's if you stay within a couple 1k rpm, do you get what im saying? :032:

I know, I know. Bad Brian! A mod will have to suspend my posting priveledges.

Brian, what kind of temps is your 1512/2D motor running on a long hard run with 16/44 or similar? Thanks.

Just a reminder for all about the KV, rpm, pinion size, spur size, which can contribute to cogging. Keeping the pinion smaller in size helps reduce cogging with the MM. Having a large pinion forcing the ratio lower is like starting your pickup out in 3rd gear from a stop. Factor in the low kv and you have a slow buggy. There is a balance between speed, rpm/v, cogging and motor/esc temps.

I use a quark 125B with a Plettenberg Maximum 3100rpm/v. This is on a Mugen MBX5 12/46. Does over 40 mph in the short straight easily. The motor never gets hot and the Quark can last a 5 minute race before the thermo MOD. I just did the mod and it makes a lot of sense why it has these thermo problems.

I used the same motor on a MM with no cogging and the same 12/46 setup. The MM is just not as smooth as the quark, but what is?

I will be running my new 8ight with 12/46, MM, Neu 1512/1.5D(american made) @ 3200rpm/v and 4s 5000mah LIPOs. I am expecting the same performance as the other buggy.

Hopefully I'll be running at Stateline soon.

Thats awesome that you will be running at Stateline. It should be a really kool track layout this year:027: Silentmonster,YJ-7 and myself(jtracker)are the only ones that run electric there so hope to see you there this summer!:027:

Do you run electric 1/8th scale?

Me and my dad(yj-7) are in the process of converting ours. YJ-7 did the motormount and all the machining for silentmonster. :)

Well I got a Neu 1512/1.5Y/F for the buggy today. Went to the Toledo RC show today and DMA was there with one so I bought it. Swallowed hard and went with the 1900kv. I really was tempted to go with the 2600kv against most of your suggestions but listened to the motor gods here. HA. It's freaking snowing so I don't think it will get ran real soon. Excited to try it out with the new Neu motor. Stephen.

Its snowing...In mid-April???

HA! We win, lol. You will not be disappointed. Today I raced my buggy with the same motor you bought... :004: :004: should have seen it :027: oh my lord...

Sometimes even we (bl owners) forget how fast a bl can be. I had it geared 18/46 this time. It was stupid fast.. there were a lot of dropped jaws :005: Sometimes what doesn't appear crazy fast in the street or on paper (like 40-45mph) is just ridiculous on the track...

I actually gelt kinda guilty about having such an advantage as I wiped up the competiton (the faster local guys were not there today)

So... if you aren't smiling ear to ear when you run yours, just gear up...

It was a hard decision for Silentmonster to make. I think what made it harder for him was that we stuck my 7XL in it with that freaking flywheel that he was running with the neu 1515 and ran it on our track and it was just stupid fast.:005: We knew it was way overgeared but I wanted to see how fast it went!We chased cars up and down the road and stayed with them. Got in the car and silent drove it in front of the car and it did about 57mph!! Hopefully he will be happy with his choice and if he needs more he will have to gear up:004:

hee hee.. the 1900kv will have a hard time doing 50mph+ on 4s, due to the gearing. It's completely capable but need big pinion... at least 20t...

I've got an update. First off let me just say that the 1512 motors are more that enough. There is no need to even consider the 1515 series. I'm waiting on an order of pinions from Mike, so I ran it with the 24/44 gearing. Obviously it is stupid fast but here is the kicker: The hottest the motor ever got was 155 degrees. Wow, that is impressive to say the least. The MM was not too happy though. After about 10 minutes it was shutting off. I assume it was thermaling. I had the Nomadio Sensor on the motor but not on the ESC but it was hot. I didn't expect the ESC to get hot. When I ran the XLT-4 motor it was just warm and the motor was cooking. I can't figure that one out. It would shut down and then after about 10 seconds it would reboot and run. I'm sure the MM will like the 16, 18 or 20T pinion much better.