EP Savage X build

[Joey]

Originally Posted by Nixpus

Where does that center diff come from?

It looks like a damn easy way to make a brushless savage conversion... and it must save weight as well? Hmm... and on top of that you can center the motor. Nice :)

The CD is a losi 8ight-t model. It is pretty easy to do the conversion, the hard part for me was lining all the holes up correctly and making the cuts correctly as I have VERY limited tools (read: electric drill, hacksaw, and metal file). I made tiny errors in lining up the holes all the time and had to constantly drill out the holes extra to make things fit. Other than that it has been pretty easy.

I wanted to be able to side mount the CD in the chassis so I could lower the motor and mount it on the side opposite the CD, but there wasnt enough room to have them side by side. On the savage-central forums in the project area, theres a guy who made a custom chassis and widened the area between the plates, and he made a CD mount for his nitro truck and has the nitro motor laying next to the CD, very cool idea.

[Joey]

Got the body all cut and drilled, its an HPI nitro GT-2 with spoiler. Now to decide on a color scheme... I dont want to do something typical, but Im having trouble finding something I like that will match the yellow wheels. These pics are without batteries or motor, so when finished the truck will sit a little lower. I wanted the body to sit as low as possible, and this is it with these towers.







I like what LarsenRacing has done with this body below, might give that a try.
Still alot of options to choose from, just gotta pick the right one for me.

[littlegiant]

That is one hot looking truck. I like the low stance. Kinda like a truggy now.

I really love the looks of it.

[brushlessboy16]

Wow I like it, that body looks great on your setup. now all you need is a wing mount :)

Have you decided what your exact setup will be?

[Joey]

Thanks guys. I would have gone with a wing but it would be really hard with the way my towers are set up... Not sure the rear tower could handle some heavy landings on a wing. Its too bad I cant get the body lower, theres so much empty space between the top of the chassis and the top of the shell!

...looks great Joey...I look forward to you getting it driveable...

[Joey]

Well, here it is. I did this all late last night, and without proper masking tape. I only had 1" thick tape and no pinstriping tape. So the black line turned out not to be much of a smooth line, but more of a varying width, splattered paint looking line! But it worked out well because I like the look, gives it kind of a wild look instead of a perfect smooth line. The paints used were white, black and flourescent red-orange. Though it looks like pure orange to me (its even more orangy in person). I wish the color had a little more red in it but hey I cant complain for a first time paint job. It had so much flat orange I threw a bunch of decals on it, Im tempted to throw a bunch more on but I dont want to overdo it. The white on the truck bed is just some leftover material from the window masking sheet, I wanted to add some color in the rear, it was too orange!

EDIT: I just realized I had the camera set on "flourescent white balance" so the color is off a little. The orange is more rich and "pops" alot more in person.

[brushlessboy16]

Looks great joe :)
What else does it ned to run

[ZippyBasher]

$.88 paint? LOL or did you go for the cans?

[Joey]

I just need the motor and esc now. Ive got crappy nimh batts to start with, Im going lipo though soon after I get the motor running.

The flourescent paint was $3.85, and the black and white were $1.00 each. All were spray cans. Not bad.

[TruggyLuva]

I like that paint job... The only sticker I would add is a big HPI one to the wing.

Thats so much better then the one color master peice that I thought was good

[scarletboa]

Originally Posted by Joey

I just need the motor and esc now. Ive got crappy nimh batts to start with, Im going lipo though soon after I get the motor running.

The flourescent paint was $3.85, and the black and white were $1.00 each. All were spray cans. Not bad.

if you don't want to break the bank buying lipos and a charger, i recommend the zippy lipos and the $38 charger from hobbycity.com. i have some of the flightmax 25c 3s 5000mah packs and even with my massive 45x77mm motor, the packs have topped out at 102F when the ambient temp outside was 95F. they also maintain their balance well. i used a neighbor's high-end voltmeter (he's an electrician) and according to it, the charger charged the pack to 12.60 volts exactly and the cell voltages were 4.199, 4.196, 4.205. not bad considering the charger was dirt cheap.

[Joey]

I definitely had the zippys in mind, as well as one of those cheapo (but decent) chargers. Glad to hear they work well, aside from the low wattage output.

[scarletboa]

Originally Posted by Joey

I definitely had the zippys in mind, as well as one of those cheapo (but decent) chargers. Glad to hear they work well, aside from the low wattage output.

even that $140 hyperion charger has a 50watt limit. the turnigy 8 cell charger has a wattage limit of 150watts. you would be able to charge 6s lipos at 5a and still have almost 50watts to spare.

(sorry if this has already been said...)

what center diff and center drive shafts are you using. i love what you have done and am thinking of going something similar.