going brushless (savage x 4.6)

[scarletboa]

i have made a decision. nitros only run right in the winter where i live and i want to be able to get full performance year round. i am sick of constently tuning and paying $40+ per gallon of nitro fuel. my savage will go through a gallon in just one weekend of bashing. i want to go brushless for a few reasons.

i love my rustler vxl (minus the low durability)
i love my savage x 4.6 (minus the nitro)

pros:
with brushless, there is no engine maintenence or rebuilding.
much more consistant power than nitro
no more high-price nitro fuel
no more worrying about being able to start the engine.
longer runtimes
no annoying engine clutch issues
no more neighbors plotting to destroy my savage (noise issues)
projects are always fun
watching the nitro savages at the LHS eat my savage's dust
selling the nitro components will give my budget a little boost
i could run my t-maxx as electric with my savage's motor, esc and batteries by getting an e-maxx motor mount

cons:
drivetrain wear increased
i'm still looking for the right low-cost setup
not sure of battery mounting
i'm on a low budget for this project
have to lock tranny (don't know how to do that yet)

i think the benefits heavily outweigh the downsides

this is what i have so far:
i am going for a 4s setup
kershaw designs motor mount
rc-monster pinion gears
hobbywing ezrun 150A esc and 3674SL motor or the 4465SL if budget allows
rc-monster motor heatsink (the 3674SL is the same size as the feigao xl series)
two of these velcroed to the sides of the TVPs
or
these batteries if they will fit inside the stock TVPs
i might be willing to get the xl chassis plates so i can mount the batteries inside the TVPs like that one guy with the xl TVPs and the GST tires who is running 6s on a CC MMM combo.

and i plan on getting the $38 charger on hobbycity as well.

what do you guys think? i guess this is a conversion for 2 vehicles. if the 3674SL isn't enough for my savage, i'll just get a medusa motor or the 4465SL for my savage and use the 3674SL on my t-maxx.

[Metallover]

I would go for a medusa motor and I would stay away from the kershaw designs mount. Just my opinions. I'm looking forward to seeing your conversion!

[lincpimp]

If you run the xl setup and the kershaw mount you can put the lipos under the motor behind the tranny. That seems like the best way to do it, and the lipos are well protected in a crash.

You could also buy the flux battery trays and possibly the flux chassis. Either way the kershaw mount is about the cheapest way to get a motor mount.

I did a savage really cheap, go thru my threads and find it. Made the motor mount myself, and used some FD battery trays (I would not recommend them). I left the 2 speed and mech brakes, you can do that or lock it in 2nd, or get a flux tranny off ebay (technically locked in 1st gear).

Quite a few ways to do a savvy.

[scarletboa]

Originally Posted by Metallover

I would go for a medusa motor and I would stay away from the kershaw designs mount. Just my opinions. I'm looking forward to seeing your conversion!

what's wrong with the kershaw mount? i haven't heard of anyone complaining about it before. the mount is a quarter inch thick!

also, i would like to mount the batteries inside the TVPs under the motor.
linc, do you think those 4s 2200 lipos will fit in the stock TVPs? they are 101mm long.

if not, does anyone know just how much space i'll have for batteries under the motor if i were to upgrade to XL TVPs?

[Metallover]

Kershaw just has really bad customer service and some of their stuff is over priced... Or am I thinking of fine design? Or both?

[lincpimp]

On a std length chassis you only have about 70mm to work with behind the tranny. With the Xl setup you can get full sized 140mm packs to fit.

Kershaw are ok, I have never had any issues with them. I had one of the savvy mounts and there was nothing wrong with it.

Fine Design have customer service issues, I would never buy from them again, took him 1 month to ship me an item, not including shipping times...

[scarletboa]

i've heard of issues with the direct drives that kershaw is selling, but i've heard nothing but praise about their motor mount.

[scarletboa]

has anyone tried mounting the flux battery boxes on a standard x chassis? i might just do that instead of getting the xl chassis plates.

[scarletboa]

alright, i have made the first step in converting my savage. i bought a used KB45-8xl motor. the original owner grinded the shaft down to 5mm so normal 5mm mod pinions will fit it.

this is was was included:
the motor
a heatsink
18t mod1 5mm pinion

i already e-mailed dan @ kershaw designs and will be getting a custom motor mount that is just like the one he sells but one side will have a 30mm bolt pattern to fit the KB motor. He told me that he's used the KB45-8xl and said the motor puts out about 40% more power than the CC/NEU 2200kv motor. it is 45mmx77mm. the only downsides are the mount size and shaft size. i already have those problems solved, so, i'm good to go as far as the motor for my conversion.

i'm thinking about the mystery 200amp esc. i've seen that it is rated for 4s and i've also seen that it is rated for 6s. is anyone here familier with this esc?


i think my biggest issue is still how i'm going to mount my batteries. any suggestions?

[scarletboa]

i picked out my batteries finally. i'm getting 2 5000mah 25c 3s zippy flightmax lipos to wire in series. i am getting them and the motor mount at the same time from kershaw designs. he bought the batteries to use in his e-revo, but they are too wide, so he is selling them to me for the same price as hobbycity. they are unused and unlike hobbycity, i don't have to pay $30+ shipping and i don't have to wait for them to be back in stock.

the motor mount will be the same as his standard savage x mount except for one side being drilled with a 30mm bolt pattern. now, i can use standard fiegao sized motors as well as the KB motors.

as far as battery mounts, i'm thinking about buying an e-maxx chassis (old style) and cutting the battery trays out of it. then, i'll just drill holes in the TVPs and the battery trays and mount them. i'm goingto need some sort of spacers though because the tranny gets in the way in the left side of the truck. what could i use as spacers?

also, i know the batteries are too wide for the trays, but i plan to cut 1 of the walls out of then and use velcro to hold the batteries in place.

Sweet. I will be paying close attention. I also have a Savage X (4.1) that I'd like to eventually do a conversion on. Looking at also running the KB45 from OSE, mounts unsure, and I also would like to see how the batteries are mounted on your setup. BTW nice find on that used KB45. I'd love to learn how to cut down the shaft to 5mm....

[scarletboa]

whats OSE?

the original owner of the motor hasn't told me how he did it, but i think it could be done by using a dremel while spinning the motor using an ESC. i will let you know how i like the motor and will be sure to post videos.

you could make your own mount by using aluminum angle stock or you could get one custom made like i did.

http://www.offshoreelectrics.com/categories.php?cat=14

Pretty good pricing IMO. They stock the KB45 for $45.

[scarletboa]

update:

i got the motor in today along with the pinion gear and the motor is massive. it must weigh a pound. i compared it to my dented vxl motor and it must weight 3 times more than the little 36 sized motor.

[Metallover]

That sounds awesome! Give us some pics when you can... I can't wait to see this run!