Savage brushless conversion ... another one
 

Hello to all the brushless specialists,

I just finished my Savage X ... :yipi:

This is my 1st post, but I visited this forum 1000x during the last 6 months gathering a huge amount of information, so thanks a lot to everyone !!

And here is the result: My Savage web page

Savage X SS
NEU 1515 2.5D
Quark 125B
MaxAmps 5s 8000mAh

Very nice

And welcome

very clean i like it alot

Officially the sweetest brushless Savage I have ever seen. So incredibly nice. Now all you need are the FLM extended a-arms. :smile:

When i was at Mikes place i drawed some parts for a centerdiff savage as well. It will be a bitt different than yours;

motor sits in front, next/above the steering servo/batteries in the rear.

Perhaps Mike will sell them as a kit.

A kit like that serum would sell very well. I definitely know I would change my next project if Mike sold a kit for a center diff Savage.

Wonderful conversion, looks very neat. What kind of speeds are you getting out of that motor?

Concerning speed, I just can refer to BrianGs R/C calculations where I got 46 mph with my 11 pinion+46 main gear, but 11 is really minimum and everything stays really cool (really cold). There is enough power to gear up to .. maybe 14 or 15... but who wants to speed should take a 1515 1y. My setup is fast enough for me, and short gear makes a lot of fun on gravel roads :-)

Like Serum said, motor in front would be a better... now with the batteries (more or less in the middle) it got a bit heavy in the front. But this was the only solution to keep it compact and tiny. Mike announced a kit for the Savage but he is really busy and needs some more time.

Yes, maybe some extended arms (for christmas :-)... but more urgent will be a plastics or delrin spur, the pinion is getting weak already (nevertheles too much power :-))

Yes, that is VERY clean! Almost looks like something straight from the factory (a little better actually). Good job!

...how did you get that carbon in there ? is it very fine sheet and its justscrewed between the TVP's and the parts? looks great...

yes indeed, 2 sheets of 0.3 mm, easy to cut, then a bit of glue on the TVPs, thats it. Then just make holes where necessary and screw it between the plates. I think it protects a bit better against all the dirt and stones flying around when you accelerate ...

Nice that you like it :-)

...Great pics Helms...thanks to you i am beginning to understand a whole bunch of stuff i didnt even know i didnt understand...

...Could you tell me, or direct me to a thread where i can understand why the front shaft is so LONG and then so SMALL in the rear?

well, there is no thread telling how long the drive shafts have to be... this is your decision ... you decide where you put your motor.

I did not like to have the batteries outside the TVPs, I wanted to have them inside the chassis, so I had to push the motor to the rear, the batteries to the front. As the motor is close to the rear differential, the drive shaft got short... and to the front it passes along the batteries, so it got long. I just measured the length I needed, and Mike fabricated the drive shafts (very well) (thanks again to Mike!!!)

...understood...and serum suggests power source in the rear...hmm...ok...

motor in front ... but there is the steering ... this gets complicated .. or you loose a lot of space, I think the batteries will not match any more inside the chassis. But try it out, we will be curious seeing your version.

I'll post the pics in a few days when its fully completed and I get it back from Mike.

if you use a smaller diameter motor it would be even easier.

There's my baby :) I'm so proud her

....hmm..ok...interesting...Off to the side and to the front...I have just figured out how to get a hellfire center diff into my HPI E-Savage, as opposed to a converted GP, and it faces backwards and in the middle :D

...great eye-candy though...its all really helpful stuff...Just makes me wnat to get it done quicker...

really well done!!! This is the alternative solution!!
But all the weight is now pushed to the rear, it got not too heavy in the rear? How does it behave? (but ok, it's better to have some weight in the rear than in the front...)
In any case, the center diff will be helpful :-)

Not sure how it behaves, it's still in Mike's hands ATM but I hope it handles well I'm not too much of a racer but if it handles good enough I may just have to take it down to the track. Anyways he's still got to mount the ESC and rx but I'm curious to know if I'll have a receiver pack with a ubec in there also as i'm using the Quark Monster Pro 125B on 5s and I thought the limit for using the internal bec was 4s, I could be wrong though. We'll just have to see.

The limit is 4s I believe, but in reality if you can avoid using it completely it saves a little extra heat & work for the esc to do. If you are concerned about the size of the ubec (the RCM one isnt all that small, but it is flat), the Dimension engineering one is smaller than a gnats testicle, so it will be easy to fit just about anywhere on that stunning truck of yours- Mike has done a cracking job there.

lol smaller than a gnats testicle thats pretty clever. Well I e-mailed mike about this, looks like the savage is going to be packed to the limit with all kinds of stuff, this things going to be a tank.

DANG!!!!

Those savvys are so nice!!!!

REALLY makes me want one, how much cash does it take to make a savvy BL worthy?

Well the drivetrain is pretty solid to start off with especially with the alum. diff cups if you're going to convert a stock setup, but of course you can go all out and get all kinds of option parts and high end electronics which is going to set you back quite a bit. It's pretty much entirely up to you on how much you want to spend and what kind of performance you're looking to get.

Dont even ask me how much it was!!! :o/

But I was lucky to find a new X SS kit (yes it's solid) without nitro equipment, RC, shell, etc. for about 250 dollars ... this was a good base.. then check the price list from Mike and add yourself all FLM parts, Neu, Quark, Maxamps, connectors, cables, some fine driveshafts for 50, shell 70, you should also have alloy bulkheads and C-Hubs for another 150.. screws, new tools .. and ... patience and a lot of time :-)
but who cares afterwards! It's done ! And it's worth :-)

Last brushless savage pics from 2008
 

Just to add the last state of my truck to this thread...

I updated my web page with some pictures from 2008... (the new SAVAGE web page !!!)

An important detail to improve was the (well known) choice of pinion / spur gear, so finally the steal spur gear was replaced by a plastic one (Kyosho center diff from Mike), the problem was that the new diff was longer than the old one, which caused a lot of mechanical works, luckily the drive shafts had enough play. Furthermore a new outfit with new shell, new wheels (these ones really without ballooning), FLM shock towers to lower the truck. A puffed 3s 8Ah maxamps pack was replaced by Mike (he is the best!)...I checked the Quark programming and put now "normal lipo" to avoid high current peaks which are probably damaging the maxamps...(but I'm still sure the puffed pack had a problem with a single cell)...be careful with maxamps..

So now...after some runs the "new" truck is reliable and incredible amazing... can't be better !!! :yipi:

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