As finished as it'll ever be

[TK5310]

I'm wondering if a savage trans could be made to fit - or some other 2 speed trans designed for a big block.

 

[TK5310]

Well, the picco is finally starting to show signs of age - over 10 gal through it, mostly 30% & it's started to play up coming back to idle.
Goes lean coming down to idle, a blip on the throttle & it clears, but I've been through everything looking for leaks etc & have concluded that the motor is down on compression causing the lean idle.
It's still real strong power wise, but it's time to retire it.

I'd rebuild it with a new piston & sleeve, but I'm kinda over replacing everything in the driveline on a regular basis.
I also finished off a 'spare parts' revo 3.3 with a pull start - so much more used friendly than a bump start engine.

So, I've got a near new LRP ZR.30 laying around, it's a bump start, but punisher has an old dead LRP.28 pull start engine, so I'm gonna pinch the crank & pull start off that for the .30 - with any luck it'll all fit.
The .30 should be easier on the driveling than the picco - despite being slightly larger capacity it's a less powerfull engine.

I've rebuilt the trans with a fresh stock main shaft, new dog clutch, new 1 way & some new bearings.
I'll run the slipper as loose as I can without it flaring & fingers crossed the driveline lives a little longer.

In other news the spare parts revo 3.3 came out better than expected, pretty dang decent for a leftovers junker:

3.3 chassis
RPM true track rear
RPM front arms, integy alloy carriers
Stock axles
Stock (new) diffs
TRX sway bar kit
revo 2.5 shocks
TRX alloy pushrods
Alloy single servo steering arm
PowerHD analogue high torque metal gear steering servo
2056 throttle/brake servo
Brand new trans with FOC
Ported fairly fresh 3.3 motor with pull start & losi carb
THS side pipe
Motorsaver filter
2 shoe alloy clutch
14/38 gearing
TRX wing & mount
Platinum RX box, cut down throttle servo box
Stock talon tyres etc

The rest is stock revo 3.3.

Shake down was done with 16/38 gearing - was a bit tall, lacked punch off the line & top speed was pretty high.
Clutch was also engaging too early.
This one will be my spare for when the big revo has issues, but it'll also get a lot of use from my eldest son, so I don't want big top speed from it.
So I switched the gearing to 14/38 & shortened the clutch springs to get it to engage at higher rpm - yet to test it, but should be pretty close to what I want from it.
With any luck it'll be a reliable rig that doesn't need much maintenence.

Plan is to have 2 pull start, reliable revo's that we can take out without hauling around a bunch of spares & tools, just toss them & the basics in the tray of the ute & head out for an hours bashing at short notice without having to charge starter batteries etc.

 

[TK5310]

Scratch the LRP .30.

Going for a Novarossi 528XR with pull start.

Giggity!

 

[TK5310]

Novarossi was a little tired, not much comp left, so I pulled it down, machined up a repinching sleeve & repinched it.
Got good compression now.
The rest of the motor is pretty good, so if I like it I'll rebuild it properly with a new piston, sleeve & pullstart crank - the crank in it is bump start only.

Got enthused & machined up a new 8740 steel mainshaft & case hardened it, then went through & blueprinted the trans - should be good to go for a while now.

Looking forward to seeing what this novarrossi can do - supposed to be just about the most powerfull .28 around.

I'll try it with my Go 2072 pipe for now, may try a ECRM pipe that a mate has on it if the motor turns out ok.

 

[TK5310]

Back together again, took some pics while it's clean.

 

[chickenman242]

Looks good mate, have you taken it out for a run with the nova yet??

 

[TK5310]

Took it out yesterday, didn't get much run time - it shook the carb pinch bolt loose & it fell out before I noticed, also lost 2 engine mount bolts & loosened the other 2.
All sorted now with loctite.

The nova is just nuts, rolling wheelstands on dirt into top gear whilst throwing roost everywhere. More rpm than the picco, more power everywhere & I was only running on nitroX 25% with lots of oil to give the repinched sleeve a chance to bed in.

Going to need those losi diffs real soon I think, hard to believe its got so much more than the picco!

 

[chickenman242]

I have a 2.5 nova in my slayer pro and I have to say its o e of the best quality engines I've had and the power from such a small engine is remarkable.
So yet another rebuild is on the cards, keep the pics coming

 

[TK5310]

I'll post up a bunch of pics on the LST2 diff conversion once I get some diffs to use.
I may grab some new bulkheads to mod rather than use the ones in it now.

I think I'll leave the nova alone for now, repinching seems to have worked nicely, I'll grab a pullstart crank for it so I can piss off the bump start.
When she's flogged out again I'll rebuild it properly, for now I'll stick with "if it ain't broke don't fix it".

 

[TK5310]

Well, Nova is dead, mighta repinched it a little tight, smashed the conrod.
Oh well, it was a freebie.

Ordered a Losi 454 off ebay along with a turbo head conversion, I've got an LRP .28 pullstart crank that I'll stick in it, got a rotostart setup for it till it loosens up a bit, then I'll stick a pullstart on it.
Got a new RR slipper, new 18t clutch bell & new werks clutch shoes to go in at the same time.
Bits will take a couple of weeks to get here.

 

[TK5310]

Back together again!

Still waiting on the turbo head conversion, new clutch shoes & 18t bell, but I can break it in with the stock head & I found some decent clutch shoes & a near new 17t bell that'll be fine for now.

I had to use the TRX big block mount - rotostart would not fit with the Qconcepts mount.
I fitted the LRP pullstart crank - identical to the losi crank other than the nub for the pullstart/rotostart.
Rotostart is all fitted up & functional.
I didn't like the alloy Losi carb so I fitted the long needle carb off my old picco .28.

Trans had to move forward a bit with the TRX mount, fitted a shorter front shaft but rear shaft is ok for length.
Made up a new throttle linkage & moved around a few things a bit, trimmed the body to clear the pipe which now sits a bit higher.
Fitted the new RRP slipper & set it up pretty loose.

Also got a new radio - just a cheap FlySky, tried it out on my other revo 3.3 & it seems pretty good for the $.

Gave it a quick clean once it was all together & snapped some pics:

 

[chickenman242]

looking good mate,bit of a pain bout the mount.i have heard the trx mount can be a bit weak I guess you will find out soon enough
I was looking at a true bb for my new build but have just ordered the ofna jl .28 ,will be running a trinity pipe with a trx manifold ,hopefully that should propel a swb revo along ok

 

[TK5310]

LOL, SWB revo will spend most of it's time on the back wheels with a .28 in it! - that'll be fun.

Break in went pretty good, 4x tanks of blue thunder first run fuel through it, 1st tank on a stand, rest driving around in circles & letting it cool between tanks.
Kept the running temps around 240 deg, the blue thunder 1st run fuel burns nice & hot so you can keep temps up even tho it's dead rich.
Then on to a tank of 15% oil 30% nitro.

Thing has got some poke already, but the Picco carb is not a good match, I'm going to switch it for an LRP carb I have somewhere.

 

[Rolex]

Are you finished?

 

[chickenman242]

Thats what I'm aiming for lol
Just gotta play the waiting game as usual
Good to hear break is going well, hopefully you shouldnt smash so much of your driveline now

 

[TK5310]

Motor break in done - turbo head conversion & LRP carb fitted & it's performing very well, not as much grunt down low as the Picco, but more rpm up top - perfect!

1 1/2 hours into a bash session last night I discovered a real quick way to get the front diff out - simply drive into a gutter that is obscured by long grass at around 30mph, front diff will pop straight out.
Of course it'll completely destroy the front bulkeads & a few steering components, but it is pretty quick.
Damage I can see so far is smashed front bulkheads, 2x broken upper arm pivot pins, cracked diff case, bent driveshaft & bent alloy retainer plate.
I've got plenty of spares, so it's only an hour job or so to fix er up again.
Amazingly enough the CF chassis took the impact like a boss & is fine:

 

[mike_inwood]

Can we say oooops. At least you have the parts bro. Sucks waiting around to order stuff or wait until lhs is open.

 

[chickenman242]

That is definitely a good one
Mine doesn't top it but comes close run my embe under the wifes car at full noise, 2 shock towers and 8 bent shock shafts, better then when I snapped it in half haha

 

[TK5310]

Had this out last night & beat on it like a redhead stepson, it was still driving just fine after a couple of hours of complete abuse.
I bent the crap out of the rollcage & finished off the road rage tyres - bald now, started out with decent tread.
A mate had an ERCM pipe off his race Losi 8 - he can't run it anymore as the pussys at his club reckon it's too loud.
So we bunged it on the revo.
It's pretty damn loud!
I had to lean off the HSN a full turn with the new pipe, it's dropped a little grunt off the line but the top end is much better, more power & more rpm.
The loss down low is actually good, makes it a lot more controllable, will still pull 50m wheelstands - but only when I want it too!

No driveline failures!
Multiple cartwheels, a few backflips when the wheelie bar came loose, plenty of high speed rollovers etc & it just shrugged it all off.

Bent rollcage & new ERCM pipe:

Crappy night time phone vid, shoulda taken more:

 

[TK5310]

Got it all fixed up again & out a while back - stripped another RR slipper.
I've come to the conclusion that they are just sh|t metal, clutch bell gears are always fine, just the slipper gear chews up.
So I've turned up an adaptor on the lathe to run the RR slipper pad & back plate but with a regular revo hardened steel gear, not only will this give me a proper hardened steel gear but it'll open up the gearing options & give me a sliper setup that won't just throw the pads out like a normal revo slipper does - it's a captive full circle pad arangement.
Had to shift the trans right forward again to get it all to fit & do a little machining to the clutch bell, but it all fits now & looks like it'll work well.