Freeze's Savage Flux "Frostbyte II" build thread
 

So I managed to freaking physically delete the whole thread!

So as a nice mod here it is again! Play nice!

Allright, so at long last, the "Frostbyte II" build has begun! This has been in the planning stages for time, right up to selling my first Savage Flux "Frostbyte" in January of this year to help afford a Baja 5T that i've been thinking about getting for the last three years. After having experienced owning and driving a Baja for awhile, I soon began to miss the simplicity, speed and just the flat out fun I had bashing my original Savage Flux. I missed being able to bounce around during crashes, fly sky high off of jumps and go screaming fast at high speed with nothing but a dust trail. About that time, I was beginning to get tired of the maintenance costs of owning a Baja, as much fun as it was. I hadn't planned it turning into such a money pit, especially for a secondary hobby.

The final nail on the coffin of my Baja ownership happened after our beloved local bash pit was gated off earlier this year. Now not only did I loose the perfect spot to run my Baja in, I had only a few other's area' I could run it in without the noise becoming an issue with neighbors. I soon began thinking about "Frostbyte" and how much fun I had bashing and zipping around with it and having to worry about noise, fuel leaks and other caveats that came with Baja ownership. I soon began to think and dream of ways I could have improved my "Frostbyte" build in many area's. I was also so proud and amazed that "Frostbyte" made into the readers rides section of four major RC publications! With that, I knew had to create a new Savage Flux build to follow up on "Frostbyte's" success, I just had to! And thus, the "Frostbyte II" project was born...

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...eginsagain.jpg


The thought eventually turned into a dream and then into a desire and eventually, an obsession. At that point I made my decision. Within the last few weeks, I parted ways with my Baja 5T, saved up money and accrued the beginning modifications and upgrades with which to start project "Frostbyte II" I was able to secure the new "updated" Savage Flux from my LHS for $605 within the last week as well. After alot of researching, forum surfing and energy drinks, I had my final design plans laid out for "Frostbyte II" I had simple goals with this build:

1. Bigger, better, stronger, faster and colder then the original
2. Improved handling at higher speeds
3. Better looks and color design layout
4. Able to withstand heavy bashing and crashes with minimal breakages and part failure
5. Maintain a balance of visual appeal with actual usability and practicality
6. Impress and please no other people other then myself
7. All upgrades and mods must have a purpose, no useless eye candy
8. Give homage to the first Frostbyte while having its own distinct look

With the design plan set, my mind made up and a good portion of the mods already ordered, it was at long last time to begin the "Frostbyte II" build!


http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m.../teardown1.jpg

Part 1: The Teardown




http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m.../teardown2.jpg



Allright, time to get this baby prepped up for its transformation! First to go are the stock wheels and tires which I will sell to help offset the building costs.

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m.../teardown3.jpg



Next are the bulkheads and arms which will also be sold. The included bulletproof diffs are an awesome in box upgrade, thanks HPI!

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m.../teardown4.jpg


http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m.../teardown5.jpg



Now lets remove everything else that can be detached from the frame...

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m.../teardown6.jpg



2.4ghz radio, bulletproof diffs and stronger steering servo but still no HD main drive gear upgrade. Owell.....

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...2/olddrive.jpg



The heart and soul of the Flux removed. Its pretty awesome as is, not much will change here during build.

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m.../teardown7.jpg



We'll call it a day, that's a good start me thinks. Sometimes to make things better, ya gotta rebuild from the ground up! Stay tuned!

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m.../teardown8.jpg

I picked up a Thunder AC6. The manual has terrible english translation but once I got it figured out after some RC groups forum help, its not a bad little charger! For $55 from hobbypartz, I can't complain. In fact, I'm gonna pick up one more so I can charge two Lipo's at once and still come out money ahead vs buying a big, single high end charger

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...moresetuff.jpg

Buttons!!! Need more Buttons!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's become recently apparent that i've either raised expectations higher then I thought I would with this build or people are just expecting certain criteria in order for this build to be a "success" or just "good enough" Everything from titanium screws all the way up to carbon fiber battery tray holders have been asked and or demanded from me on this build to satisfy peoples demands

I stated plainly in #6 goal of this build from the beginning:

Impress and please no other people other then myself

That being the case, I'm speccing this build to my liking and desires, so if you were hoping for a pimped out bling bling ride with carbon fiber screws, I suggest you lower your expectations and or look to someone elses work to praise and critic.

And that goes for anyone else who's getting hyped up about this. Yes, I plan on making this build better then my first one and im excited about it but I also have to be realistic about my goals. I want it to be better but better IN MY EYES only, no one else's. I am limited on funds for something like this, so I simply cannot and will not throw on fancy, expensive stuff willy nilly into the build just impress the crowd. Sorry, but I am NOT doing this as a popularity contest. Feel free to unsubscribe to the thread and ignore it from this point forward if your bummed out.

I do appreciate suggestions and insight but belligerent forced and rude suggestions of "Upgrade with this awezomes parts or uz a farking cheepaz noob!" or "A real man would spend this money and get this upgrade cause it rocks or this build and you totally suck" That does nothing to help me and makes me feel compelled to do less.


Thank you for the understanding.

Freeze, don't take this as ThunderbirdJunkie's typical style, but there is a difference between incite and insight.
Incite definition click here
Insight definition click here

In every case, you've typed "incite" instead of "insight". Hope this helps.

I think I speak for everyone here, we are all rooting for you and this build regardless what options you use. We all like to see lots of pictures and information as the builds progress. We are all ball breakers and enjoy a good laugh at others expense but I just dont see anyone one here "telling" you what you should or shouldn't use/hop ups on YOUR truck.
I for one look forward to see more of your posts and great pictures.

Not so much here but on other forums. Still, I wanted to speak plainly regardless.

Regardless of whether you are loved or hated, you stir interest, so a lot of people watch. You do cop a lot of flak but your good natured enough to come back for more, makes good reading :lol:

*cough* RCTech *cough*

Don't worry. People here are smarter and are more appreciative towards custom builds :intello:

Thats pretty much were its coming from

I'm starting to have second thoughts about the tire/wheel combo. I was going to reuse "Frostbyte's" combo of HPI GT-S tires with HPI dish wheels which worked very well and looked awesome IMO. However, after holding the stock Flux tires once again with my new Flux, I was reminded of how heavy they were and I noticed how my first Flux didn't seem to manuever in midflight as it did with the stock tires on it. I also seem to recall the truck wasn't as "zippy" as before.


I'm kinda stuck with what to do now. I really like the look of the GT-S tires, they grip awesome and they absorb alot of jump and crash energy. But I dunno if I want that amount of weight on the arms again, especially with the HPI axle extensions on them as I think it would result in more breakages, even with RPM arms during crashes. I don't wanna go back to knobby tires like proline's badlands because i'll just tear the crap out of them on concrete and I didn't like the look of the Proline mulchers at all.

Now i'm kinda wondering if I should just do the GT-2 tires on the dish wheel. Suggestions with pics would be greatly appreciated. I basically want to do it all with "Frostbyte II" From high speed concrete runs to climbing up dirt hills and everything in between, so I need a good all around tire that will last.

Below is what i've tried so far



Proline 3.2 Badlands with Proline VXL rims. VERY tight fit and badlands suck for concrete driving, so never again

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...rontangle2.jpg



HPI GT-S tires with Axial classic spoke rims. Great tires, POS rims. Stripped two of hubs within a few runs. Heavy tires though...

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...glemonster.jpg


Proline 3.2 Mashers with HPI Dish wheel. Hated look so much, never ran them once.


http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...lux/masher.jpg



My personal favorite. HPI white dish wheels with HPI GT-S tires. Looks awesome and grip like mofo's but damn, they were heavy

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m.../complete1.jpg

I also have an Savage XL and I love it. Makes it an completely different truck. Among the tires I have I have a set of those Axial 40 serie rims with some BowTies, they perform fine.

I also have Mulchers, Mashers and Badlands besides the normal truggy tires. I mainly run the Badlands since they are taped, have decent foams and I've strechted them on some JConceps Rulux Half Ups (which is a pita!). I did order myself a set of TerraPins though, should be awesome as well.

If I could make a choice now I would try the HPI TerraPins, tape them, put decent foams in, buy some RPM Revolver StableMaxx rims and glue it on. But they are black, so trying to dye them white ... well I don't think it will be an success.

In your ''previous'' topic some people were praising Losi ZombieMaxx or something. Do a little search for those, I've seen them being advized before.

EDIT: p.s. I've just received an e-mail from TCS with pre-ordering their XL chassis.

This is a good point... I'm sure you are already aware of it, but bears repeating. I personally use Gorilla Tape; bit heavier than strapping or standard duck tape, but its some really sticky stuff!

Wouldn't you "bleach" rather than "dye" in order to go from black to white? :) Although I suspect they'd just end up all spotted or gray or such rather than white.

Is that 5mm too? It seemed to be a tad overkill on the 5th scale TVPs from them, 4mm might have been prefect.