Savage 21 BL Conversion - From The Beginning...Advice Appreciated =)

You can see where i replaced the single tabs with 'full length' tvp braces(forget the name?) in this shot - look for the larger 4mm screws in the chassis' deck, one is covered by the esc mount - had to countersink the holes a lil tho =)


Front birds-eye


I got a real clean/spoofy/bling idea for hiding all the wiring too - not spilling anything on that tho - you'll see when it gets done =) (not that it's all that intriguing -lol-) But you can see the power wires for the bec already kinda tucked away sorta under the tranny kinda in the bottom left, so you can see where it's all headed... i have every wire planned out hehehe - not thAT THINGS HAVE BEEN GOING TO PLAN LATELY - BUT IT ALL WILL WORK OUT IN THE END HEHEHE
Bloody caps lock - not going back to redo that hey, sorry



Anyways - hope you enjoy - please let me know if you can spot anything wrong/potential issues etc etc or just have some good advice, would be appreciated =)

cheers guys - will update again when i have more =)

wow nice savage!

Thanks man, i'm seriously wetting my pants waiting to be able to finish it tho! -lol-

ok - just a small update - just been lazy uploading etc, which btw, i have to get a full shot of the truck now with the shocks and all built up (i actually have the motor adaptor in my hands as of today too, so will be able to get some 'motor mounted' shots soon :D)

anyways - the shocks...

Integy Piggybacks for the LST
Kinda mixed... some good and some bad... but after initially being pretty unimpressed with these shocks (problems solved as you'll see further on), i'm thinking they should hold up and perform just fine =)

Compared to a stock shock...
...(comparing to the stiffer 'Yellow' Losi Springs) the red springs that Integy supply are slightly thinner than the Yellow Losi springs, and they are also (from memory) around 10mm shorter aswell!
...the body appears to be longer on the Integy shocks... you can see in the picture below - the bottom of the shock body, and the start of the thread on the Shock Shaft, are lined up exact on both the Integy and Stock LST shocks, but as you can see, the top mounting hole is clearly out of line
...the shafts are maybe 1-2mm thicker on the Integy shocks, and they feel a bit firmer - but wont know for sure untill i get it running =)
...the Shock or Rod Ends are pure junk on the Integy shocks - they're too small and WAY too brittle, and when i put the stock LST Ends next to the Integy ones, i knew straight away which ones i was gonna be running - pretty clear to see in the pic - sorry, they're jumbled, but the shock on the RIGHT has the INTEGY Ends and the LEFT shock has the STOCK LST End =)


The holes in the pistons clearly needed to be drilled out larger - compression was stiff as even with 20wt oil and no springs!
here's a before...


OOPS!! maybe went a little too large to start with, considering i plan on strictly using the truck as a basher -lmao- Would suit racing perfectly tho with the stiffer Losi yellow springs (as i have on the truck right now) - forget what size drill i used, but clearly needed the next size down hehehe


Might need to look into some new pistons before i go jumping it too hard, but other than that it's all going well so far - i'll be back with another update shortly - just some pics of the motor adaptors i got and the truck with the 2230 and shocks mounted up, but for now, i'm ghost =)

[bl-is-future]

nice updates man. looking great..... where did you get the alloy gearbox and how much. I found a couple but they were all made by cheap companies and were really pricey. I cant help on the LST shocks because i run the stock hpi alloy (2 on each wheel). Never have a problem with the jumping. You will also love them ext arms by flm. tough as nails and sets such a wide track and is very very stable.

cheers for the comment man =)
I got the alloy box at RC-Mall.net, and it was only USD$89.90!! I had seen a couple places wanting up around USD$180+!!!! -lol- Comes in purple/blue and silver =)
http://www.rc-mall.net/acc.php?brand...8&type=gpm_sav

They state something wierd in the FAQ, that makes you think they're located in Italy, but the package actually came from Hong Kong...

I should metion that i had a problem with my order tho... it didn't arrive for 2 weeks (was sposed to be expressed), and when i emailed em about it - the bloke told me it had been sent back to them... Funny they didn't think to notify me of this mishap, and lucky i got onto em about it - After reaming the fella's ass out, and giving them the guilts about this tho, the service was awesome, and i had my package in 3 days -lol-

[Joram]

I got too very stiff Losi shocks, i have filled them with 500 oil, very liquid stuff... But if i let the car fall on the floor: PLOFFF....

So i'm gonna make the pistonholes too more open because for off-road is sucks with very stiff shocks. On-road it will be VERY good. But i got for that stiff springs:)

Greetz,
Joram

[BL_RV0]

Very nice. You might want to fix all that toe-in for the front wheels though.

Drilling those pistons was the best thing i could have done for those shocks hey - i had a slightly smaller drill around, but i'm impatient, and couldn't find it, so went with what was on hand -lol- I'm thinking i might move up to 35 or 40wt oil, and grab some of the RC Raven progressive springs for these, as i plan on giving it a good kick up the arse on some big jumps i found about 20 minutes away from my house =)

Thanks for the comment mate =D The front has heaps of toe-in cause there are no shocks mounted in the pics, so the arms are hanging a bit lower than normal, but i'm still yet to play with that also =)


I've run into a small problem with one of my FLM upper arms tho... ok it's bigger than a small problem hehehe

As i was locking the 2 nuts to the outer section of the arm (to stop the play it has there), it appears i tightened them down way too much and didn't realise it, because I've managed to twist the thread so much inside the outer end that it snapped the thread itself! -lol-
will get some pics up soon that will explain much better than my words - been a bit hard to find any time to do anything tho lately, have heaps going on here atm...


***EDIT***
This is what i was shooting for....


Unfortunately, this is what i ended up with...


Dunno how good your eyes are - but this is inside the outer arm...


You can see how it bevels down into ½ the thickness of the threaded rod inside the end of the outer arm...



I've also got the 2230 mounted up too, but only a few 'whole truck' shots before i snapped the arm -lol- Uploading em now - there's like - 18 pictures - mostly useless, but gonna add em in here anyway, simply cause i can -lol- Will post back soon =)

Here's the RCM motor adaptor i received from Mike so i could mount up the 2230...


I had to drill out and countersink the 6 holes in the plate, so i could get the screws through, but no big drama, and was a 2 minute fix - just wish i had a dril press sometimes though =)


Side shot with the adaptor plate mounted to the 2230...


The following couple shots are just different angles when mounted to the FLM motor mount - FLM include 2x Rear Motor Supports - 1 for a standard 540 dia. can, and another for... the next one up, or the 22series - what size is it? 720 or something?

That's an RCM 20T Pinion in case you are wondering =)



View from the front end of the truck...


View from the Right side of the truck...


Birds-eye view - General

Birds-eye view - Motor/ESC/Battery area...


Diagonal/Side - Looking towards the front of the truck... You can see the spacers i have used to raise the motor up a little like a few others users here have done, in order to create a little more room for the batteries... I can't remember, but they're just the spacers included with either the Shock towers (spacers to mount Savage Shocks) or they came with the FLM LST Shock Conversion Kit... pretty sure it's from the shock towers, but i cant be certain...


Side view


Diagonal/Side - Looking towards the rear of the truck...


Diagonal/Side - Looking towards the rear of the truck... Just a little higher than previous shot...


Ants-eye view? Just to show overhang over edge of chassis...

[BrianG]

Jeebus! Can you say bling? I've gotta either put my sunglasses on or turn down my monitor brightness!

Looks pretty! I don't know if I'd drive something that nice and shiny!

I've given up on trying to screw with the camera settings - the flash is just too much most of the time, and the lighting in the room i have my little bench in isn't so crash hot - although the red towel wouldn't be helping much either hehehe - i dont know how, but i always tend to do things to the fullest (even though it takes a while to get there -lol-)

Thanks for the comment mate, but i might just quote myself, just in case it got lost somewhere -lol-

Originally Posted by danhfvcsd

as i plan on giving it a good kick up the arse on some big jumps i found about 20 minutes away from my house =)

No point building it, if i aint gonna use it!

***EDIT***
Just found some pics i remembered i uploaded of the place near my joint i'm talking about =)
http://s211.photobucket.com/albums/b...h%20Spots/

[Joram]

Nice truck

That terrain there is awesome, wanna have that here

That motor, isn't he too much powerfull?? I think the gears will be stripped in a second

Greetz,
Joram