HOW TO: Quark Mod / LSP Conversion *PIC OVERLOAD WARNING*

now I don't have step by step pictures of the next steps, as I did from 8am until 12pm noon today (racing started at noon), I stopped to pick up some nuts and bolts on the way to the track lol, and assembled the battery mounts at the track.

I had to move the steering servo back about an inch, to make room for the larger fan on the heatsink, so that was Drill 4 new holes, and I attached the servo mount with some cap screws instead of countersunk, because I simply didn't have the time.

I took the 4 pieces of aluminum angle stock, and cut them to the length of the chassis. Then drilled 2 holes in each piece (one piece on each side of each battery), and drilled the corrosponding holes in the chassis.. Left to the track, and learned that I had picked up the wrong size scews and nuts, so a fellow racer told me to "have at" his toolbox, and I found some countersunk screws w/ matching nuts. We were racing in a parking lot, so that was ok, but countersunk scews won't work with non-countersunk holes, when I decide to take it offroad.
I loosely put the angle stock pieces on, and layed a velcro strap UNDER them, and then tightened them down all the way. this held the batteries very securely, and was very quick to get the packs in and out of the truck.
Originally, I had planned on epoxying nuts to the bottom of the L stock, so The batteries could lay perfectly flat, and not rest on nuts, but I tried a few times, and the epoxy just didn't want to hold. Welding would be a better solution, but I don't have the skill or access to do that at the moment. To keep the batteries off of the nuts that were holding the L stock down, I plan on using some fairly dense foam, under, and on the sides of the batteries. Today, I was in a hurry, so I settled for two pieces of cardboard under each pack. Worked just fine.

So here's some pictures, then I'll tell you my experience :)

In the first two pictures, you can see the corner of the heatsink poking out of the front window. this doesn't bother me at all, as when it flips (and I flipped and slid about 30feet on it's lid today), the body posts, and rear wing, keep the heatsink off the ground. (also note, clear body on race day = RUSHED lol)









ok, so I benched tested the truck last night, and it all seemed in check. I got to the track today, found the right screws and nuts, and put the L stock pieces on, and made sure the batteries were very secure. then, mounted the steering servo, and went into the LHS to get the right steering link. played around in the parkinglot (off the track) for a few minutes, and set it aside to help marshal. When my first heat came up, I went to the side of the track, turned on my TX, and plugged in the two batteries in parallel into the quark (while the quark was turned off). Immediatly, SPARKS shot out of that small gap where the case had been milled down. and burnt electrical smell filled the air.. I unplugged, and tried again. (I know most of you will say "what?! WHY did you plug it in again!?", but the controller's warranty has already been voided, so it was either already burned up, going to burn up, or run like normal) Luckily, for me, it didn't spark a second time, and when I turned it on, that pretty little jingle assured me that it wasn't completely toast. Applied some throttle, and the wheels spun. I got it out on the track, and the controller never hicupped once. I made it about 3 minutes into the 5min race, when I lost power. Took the truck off the track, and noticed the spur was about 1/2 stripped, and the pinion was just floating. The motor had moved i don't know.. 1/2 of a millimeter. I'm running a 44t diff gear at the moment (Just ordered two 46t gears as replacements) and had 14t pinion on it at the time. The motor mounting holes in the motor mount wouldn't allow the pinion to perfectly mesh with the diff, only about 2/3 on. since the diff's teeth were now about 1/2 height, I had no choice, but to put a 16t pinion on, and try again.. With the harder gearing, I decided I to put a set of 1/8 buggy tires on it, to try and keep the temps in check.
Second race, never got it rolling.. Off the line, veered hard right, and I brought it over to the edge of the track, to discover a missing rolling pin in the right rear CVD. Another quick stop inside the LHS and I had 4wd again, but missed out on the second heat completely.
Third heat. I made it about 3 corners, when I lost steering. The servo horn screw had loosen (how!?), and the horn was just sitting above the servo's output shaft. Tightened that, and put it back on the track w/ about 4 min left in the race. I made it till about 30 seconds left in the race, when I lost a left rear CVD rolling pin.
took it off the track, and had someone temp it, and motor, and controller were both ~135 degrees F.
I did NOT have fans on the motor or controller today, as I didn't have time to solder them up, so I can understand the high Quark temps, sort of, but the Neu was hotter than I'd ever like to run a motor again.. it was about 80-85 degrees today, and humid.. only adding to the problem. BrianG also mentioned that when I sparked the controller, I could have lost multiple FETs, and that could be another reason for the controller running so hot. But I didn't have any thermals. and then again, I never got to run it for more than 5 min at a time..

Overall, I'm EXTREMELY happy with the performance, but it IS running too hot for me, even without fans, I wasn't expecting those temps and after only 3-5 min of hard running.. So, I'm going to get a 1515, and see if that will keep the temps down, and let me run my 16t pinion as a "cool" setup, and go up, if I want more speed out of it.
By the way, I think my biggest problem (aside from the fact that I havn't done any racing of any kind since the first year I was in this hobby, with my STOCK RTR Rustler say about 8 years ago..), was TRACTION. I was in the negative on the traction-o-meter. Down the back straight, was the only place I could keep this thing in some sort of "racing line".
We'll see what happens next weekend. I'll most likely have the same setup, but I'll have time to prep the truck, and get fans on the motor and controller.
oh, and I'd say I put about 20 minutes of runtime in the truck all together today, got home, and re-charged the packs, and they took 1.836Ah. so I'm looking at 40-45 minutes of runtime, just like I had expected.

Here's a short video of my second race. My sister had stopped by, and I asked her to video it.. bad video, and completely sun-washed, but it's something.. I'll probably get more video tommorow night.. My truck's the one w/ buggy tires, and clear body. go easy on my driving style.. I'm a much better basher than racer at this point.
http://a4dtm.com/lsp/race.mov ~10mb