FLM Forward Conversion Build
 

Well as I posted today in the FLM ...... in the Nude thread I pulled the trigger on a savage build. In this thread I will go through the build for anyone who is interested. I have built several RC trucks and a few brushless. My previous brushless experience was with 1/18th scale. I have a LST 2 (for sale) that I enjoyed but just couldn't stand all of the tuning and what not. I work a lot and want something I can just bash at the drop of a hat.

By the way, to introduce myself my name is Shon. I am a 27 year old from down in Houston. When I'm not messing with RC cars or playing golf I'm a Financial Advisor and MBA student..... Blah Blah Blah

So here are the specs on my build thus far. Its pretty over the top I know, I have a tendency to do that (bad tendency?).

Ordered today:

Savage X SS Kit
Savage X dual pad slipper
Savage 3 Speed Conversion (Not the pre-built one)
FLM Brushless Conversion
FLM Hybrid Bulks
FLM Extended Arm Set
FLM Shock Towers
Neu 1521/1y/S
MGM 22418
Flightpower 6s 5000mah Lipo
Pinions - 15t, 16t, 17t, 19t
Steering Servo - Hitec HSC-5998TG

Parts I had:

Brake Servo - Spektrum whatever.......
Spektrum DX3
Hyperion 1210i Charger

That pretty much sums it up. I bought the 3 speed not really because I think it will help performance in anyway, I just though the metal gears might be more durable. I know this thing is going to be heavy with all of that aluminum, but I want the drive train to be able to take the abuse and the truck to be able to take the bashing. It won't be a beauty queen. I'll have to learn how to post pictures so I can keep the project up to date step by step.

My e-savage went on ebay today and my LST 2 will be soon to follow.

If you were doing this build would you lock up the tranny and use the motor/esc for brakes and have reverse? Or stick with the disk brakes and not have reverse? I've read bad things about the HPI reverse module.

You input is welcome on this build.

Sounds like its going to be a beast! Looking forward to the build pictures. I have my FLM kit just sitting on the bench and its killin me. I'm traveling like crazy for work right now and just cant get any time to build it.:grrrrrr: So seeing your build will have to inspire me.

As for the locking the tranny question... If you are going to lock the tranny and use motor brakes then there is no reason for the 3 speed tranny. If you want the 3 speed to work, you have to use the machanical brakes. I have been running the stock 2 speed tranny in mine with no problems at all. The 3 speed really isnt necessary. You could save yourself a couple dollars and not do the 3 speed.

My pesonal opinion is screw reverse unless you run in tight spaces that have alot of trouble.

That is a crazy setup. For the esc I would consider the MGM 16024 to allow for possibly more cells later even though 6s seems perfect in the savage. If you really want reverse definitely lock the tranny. The reverse module is too unreliable. Personally I find reverse not that useful anyway. Also if you really want to bash the savage I would stick to plastic arms, the plastic will flex and save your other parts. That is definately a sweet setup and that 1521 should push the savage along nicely.

Thanks for the comments! As far as the tranny goes, I think I'll stick with the mechanical brake, screw the reverse. I may return the 3 speed, don't know. I guess I'll decide once it comes in. I realize it has little to no benefit with the brushless setup. Actually the increased rotating mass could be a detriment.

As far as choosing the MGM 22418 over the 16024, my thoughts are half one way half another. I think 6S will be plenty, and I like to have the room to run high capacity packs that may not be able to fit with more cells. The 22418 allows for more amp draw, the 16024 higher voltage. Given the size and weight I do think there will be a lot of amp draw, and the flightpower pack is capable. Even still I think its about the same. A few more cells would make it a bit faster, but at that point we are pushing against a lot of wind resistance and other factors. I may regret it in the future, but I'm going to stick with the 22418 for now.

The FLM Extended Arm kit is the one area where I see maybe I should have stuck with stock. I definately see the benefit of a wider wheelbase with the added length of the chassis and the increased speed. I coudl achieve similar results using wider offset wheels though. At least I know that FLM will replace this stuff for next to nothing should I destroy it.....

What wheel and tire combos are recommended. I know I am going to have to tape the tires. Any recommendations for something light yet not a dish? Maybe run the stock Savage X SS setup until I kill them. Even then I am going to have to go through removing them from the rim to tape them and then re-glue them.

Thanks!

If I remember correctly the tires do not come glued on the rims in the ss kit.

I have a ss kit coming and the flm chassis. I am going to leave everything stock, 2 speed, mech brake, etc. I will either use a 9xl on 5s or a 14xl on 8s.

Sounds like we'll both be having some good times!! Good to know about the tires. I hope so because removing them from the rim to tape them would be a PITA!

I hate removing glued tires, especially if they are done right. It is next to impossible then! I should have my kit on thursday, but I do not know when I will have time to get it together.

Good news is all of my stuff has been shipped and it looks like it will all be here by Saturday. Bad news is that I ordered the wrong servo. I meant to get the Hitec 5955TG and instead bought the 5998TG. The 5998TG has 250oz/in of torque at 6v vs 333 oz/in on the 5955TG. Its not a huge difference but its enough to make me what to exchange it for the right one. Looks like I'll have to wait to send that one back and get the 5955........

Good choice on forgetting about the reverse. I tend to find I don't get my savage stuck that often and when I do reverse wouldn't help. A flip me over device would be much more useful. You are right about the 3 speed being stronger then the 2 speed with the metal gears so it might be worth keeping especially with your huge motor.

Can't wait to see your truck in action. Post a video if you can.

I got my kit and the tires are not glued, so you should be good for the taping!

I also just acquired a motor adapter that will allow me to run one of my kb45xl motors in the savage. Looks like it will have a bit more power than the 9xl feigao! Hopefully I have good enough batteries to run the motor. I have a 5s 5000mah 20c lipo that will fit the chassis. Hope it works! If not I have another 8s lipo and a lower kv motor, so we will see!

Well my Savage X SS kit came in yesterday and I decided to do the 3 speed conversion. Lucky I did because one of the factory metal gears in the 2 speed was already missing a tooth. I've always been told its a good idea to go through your truck before you run it and now I know why. Other than that I am very impressed with the kit. I have never owned a savage and I am impressed by how beefy everything is.

Welcome to the world of the savage..

I can't wait to get mine.. :)

I forgot to mention/ask......

I had ordered the dual pad slipper from the Savage X for 2 reasons. One, its plastic and my pinion is metal and I've always preferred this combo. Two, it has dual friction surfaces instead of just the one so I thought it might be better than the single surface. Well Tower forgot to include it in my box of goodies and they are sending me one out to arrive next week sometime.

The Savage X SS kit comes with the hardened steel spur setup. How do you feel about running a steel spur and a steel pinion? I am hoping my FLM kit and everything else arrives tomorrow and have set aside the good part of a day to build. Should I go with the steel setup?

With the RC-monster hardened pinions it should be no problem; but to be honest, i want to replace the gear with a plastic one too; it becomes louder with the metal to metal. i like the plastic/metal better.

I am actually contemplateing doing the opposite. I have been running my savage X with a 1940/7 on 5s a123 for about 6 months and the plastic 47T spur is the only thing that ever fails on me. I have stripped 6 or 7 of them. Its not the end of the world cuz they are cheap and easy to change, but I'm thinking about switching to the steel spur and hardened pinion when I install the FLM kit to see it that fixes my problem.... Or just moves it to the next weak link.

Do you have a link to the slipper?

hey man, i can't wait until you get some pics posted. your build sounds killer. i also love the fact that your a houstonian. you should make it a point to make it out to the drag races we do at track 21 west on 1960. i need a monster truck to run my maxx against. i had a long fight for finding tires that'll hold together with high powered high speed monster trucks. in the end, i just had to give up on monster truck tires. i favor truggy tires now. they are lighter and have much less sidewall to stretch when ballooning. i would always loose control of my truck at that sweet spot where my tires would balloon up. with my bl setup, i'm undergeared a little, and when the tires popped up, it was like hitting a nos button and my truck would always go ballistic. at least too much for me to hold. make an account on photobucket or something and get some pics up.

Linc;
what slipper do you mean? the standard X slipper uses two slipper pads and a plastic spur, while the upgraded HPI slipper uses a steel spur and one slipper pad;

Jhautz;

what went wrong on your slipper? stripped teeth? melted spur?

Actually some of both. Mostly stripped teeth. I felt like if I loosened the slipper so I didn't strip the teeth, I would melt the spur and If I tightened the slipper so I didn't melt the spur I stripped the teeth. I just couldn't find a balance that worked consistently. If I run a fairly tight slipper and am very precise with setting the mesh as tight as possible but not allowing binding. I could get it to last a quite a while, but it has to be just right. I mean just right. Even then I would eventually strip the teeth. I thought maybe I had a pinion with poor tooth geometry or something so I bought a new one to replace it but there was no difference I could tell.

But really who knows. It could actually be a good thing that the weak link is so easy to change. I guess it could be diff gears or transmision gears or something. I'm gonna test the new setup with the plastic spur after I get it converted to the FLM chassis just to see if maybe the old setup was a little "off" in the alignment or something that could have caused it, but I dont think so. I think its just alot of power and alot of weight and a plastic gear.

that's odd.

With the old school slipper (not the dual setup) i had great succes with the spur/pinion. i dumped at least 50 gp3300 packs through 1 spur, before it started to worry about replacing. I use white-lightening on it, and a 18T pinion though. I can imagine a smaller pinion would cause wear sooner.

What motorplate where you using on yours? flex in that area is eating spurs.

The motor mount was solid. The motor was sitting flat on the stock nitro motor plate and had a motor mount that I made holding it all in place. The motor wasn't moving. (see attached picture, its the best one I had of it and its in pieces now.) I was pretty hard on that poor savage so it might just be me that is the problem. :lol: But if I continue to see this same thing after the chassis and motor mount change I'll try the steel spur. I still have a few of the plastic ones sitting in the parts bin so I might as well use them.

I actually think the old single pad slipper setup might be better. The dual friction pads on the X make the adjustment real touchy IMO. Its either slipping allot or not at all. There really isn't much middle ground. The older single pad style is probably more forgiving on the adjustment.

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h2...z/CIMG1906.jpg

I'll continue using that. GPM also makes machined delrin spurs.

lincpimp,

Here are the parts you need for the Savage X dual slipper, I ordered from tower.

HPI 86800 X 1
HPI 97042 X 1 (you may have these parts on your existing slipper)
HPI 86802 X 1
HPI 77094 X 1 (that is the 79t spur)
HPI 87243 X 1
HPI 86801 X 1

It sounds like the jury is still out on slipper setups. I'll run the steel setup for now. Since I ordered it already I'll give the dual slipper a try when it comes, if nothing else just to get rid of the noise of the all steel setup.

I just checked my USPS tracking and my parts look like they are going to arrive. I'll be building all day today, so pictures will follow. I built all of the shocks last night and glued the tires.

I got super glue on the tires....... Acetone to take it off?

I need a recommendation on the connectors from the 22418 to the Neu. Should I use the 5.5 hi amp connectors on Mikes site?

Thats all I use and they are great. Never had a problem. I use them on every setuo I have. If you are racing you might consider a direct solder so there is not chance of the connector ever comming loose and shutting you down, but amp wise they are great connectors.

BTW I have only ever had the plug come loose on me one time so its not like its a problem or anything.

I'm going to try to post some pics. I'll start with one and see how it goes. Its a pic of most of the parts before I started the build.


Okay, that didn't work..... what program do I use to resize my images? There all huge, too big to post it appears.

Here are links


http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/h...3/IMG_1289.jpg
http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/h...3/IMG_1290.jpg
http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/h...3/IMG_1291.jpg
http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/h...3/IMG_1292.jpg
http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/h...3/IMG_1304.jpg
http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/h...3/IMG_1307.jpg
http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/h...3/IMG_1308.jpg
http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/h...3/IMG_1309.jpg
http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/h...3/IMG_1311.jpg

Nice pics BashOn.

Curious for those who have already got your hands on this conversion kit. I'm anxiously awaiting arrival of mine. However what I would like to know is if the front steering setup comes with this conversion? I converted the existing steering setup over to a akerman style setup from a 1/8 buggy like majority of the Savage owners do for improved steering/response.

Will this setup work with this conversion? Or surely I don't have to use the old crappy steering setup the Savage comes with initially?

I would think it would work with no issues. I cant see any reason it wouldnt work.

Do you have a link to this mod or pictures of yours. I'm interested in doing it on mine and seeing it will let me give you a better answer.

I will snap some pics of it at lunch time what my conversion looks like for you.

Whats with the little legs on the bottom of your motor mount?

this one seems to be flush;

http://www.fastlanemachine.com/Publi...tery-stops.jpg

or are the holes in the lower plate large enough so they fit through?

BTW, BashOn, how much did the whole thing cost you?

I might do one in the future.

No the holes arent large enough for them to fit through. Mine does not have the legs so thats why I was wondering why he did that. It looks like some sort of mod he did and I was wondering the reason why? I was thinking he wanted the motor pinion to contact the spur higer up so the motor could be moved farter to the side and allow more room for the battery.

Even with the spacers on the battery side TVP mine is tight for a 50mm wide pack. I ordered a 52T spur so I could use a bigger pinion and make more space. I was just thinking that this might have been his intention but wasnt sure.

What room can you get with the 52 spur? (width) 50mm is okay, but might be tight for some packs.

if it's higher, it sits more to the side with the same pinion/spur. perhaps it allows more clearance in the rear for larger motors too. I don't exactly know what to expect, since i am still waiting for mine to arrive.

Well I didn't get any pics as I said on my lunch hour. Will do so in the next day. However here is what the conversion for the steering looks like and how to set it all up.

http://www.savage-central.com/ftopic2361.html

that's a LONG time ago! nowadays the savage comes with a camshaft saver, and there is no need in modifying that kyosho/ofna saver. Since HPI came out with their saver this is an unneeded mod.

Well... didn't I say my Savage was over 2+ years old sitting on a shelf for that long? :lol:

Now I gotta check to see if the new steering setup will work with my old hag of a savage... :surprised: