Bling-A-Thon (Project "Super"maxx)

[Lessen]

Sounds good Charlie, thanks bro.

I just did a Fioroni Flywheel. Actually, I took Eazy Off to it the other day. I probably left it on too long though. I did 5 minutes twice and still didn't get it all off. I'll definitly use the shorter time method on my chassis set though. Anyways, I let the flywheel soak in Greased lightning for a while until it stopped bubbling. However, it wasn't shiny at all when I took it out. Actually, it was black but nothing that polish wouldn't take care of very easily. I'm looking forward to getting this truck back together in silver. I was thinking of getting an aluminum fuel tank as well. I just hate the clear plastic. If it was white plastic it wouldn't be so bad, but the clear just looks horrible. There's always the battery and radio box as well.. oh jeez, here we go...

 

[CharliesTheMan]

I love the black, I would have bought the chassis from you if I would have known that you wanted silver, or maybe I could have bought a silver one and we could have traded.

If I were you, I would do more short soak times instead of a couple of long ones. That should keep it from turning black or pitting. And I soak mine in greased lightning for at least 24 hours, and I haven't ever heard of it hurting the material that's soaking if left in for too long, but I don't want to say that it wont for sure and then have the first rare occasion that it runied something and it's all my fault lol

 

[Lessen]

Well, the problem with anno is that it looks great when it's new. Once you start throwing stones though... not so much. So I'm going for bright bling instead of mean bling just because it doesn't show wear as badly. Besides, if I were to continue the mean theme I would've ended up sending a bunchof stuff out to be done black and quite frankly I just don't feel like it.

 

[CharliesTheMan]

Yeah if you're going to be running it the polish look is definitely better. You gotta remember that when I build my trucks to look that good, they don't leave the shelf very much lol.

 

[Lessen]

Well, this seems to coming along nicely. This is after two 3 minute dips. When I rinsed the parts off I brushed them as well with a medium size paint brush to help take some of the 'softened' anno.

 

[Lessen]

So I'm still trying to figure out how I'm going to drive the diffs since the pinion shaft is soo much larger than any of the U-joints (outdrives, whatever...) I have. so I started pulling parts out of the diff packages to build the diffs when I noticed there is a grub screw included... hmmm. a grub screw but nothing to put it in. I think I may have got a couple mispackaged kits.

*edit*

oops, n/m. The grub screws are for the diff cases. Never seen that before. :shrug:

 

[Lessen]

After 4 dips in Eazy Off and a few hours in Greased Lightning.

It actually looks better in photo than is realistic due to the flash. However, it's very very nice and won't take much polish to get it looking great

 

[Lessen]

Here's a shot of the polishing process. It certainly does look better but even after I was finished it didn't look as good as some of the other non-anno'd aluminum. I'm not gonna worry about it though. This truck get's driven.

 

[savon]

So, is this a shelf queen or will it actually be ran?

 

[Lessen]

Oooh, this looks a lot better than I thought. Natural light is soo much better than a lamp at 2 in the morning.

Yes Savon, this truck actually get's run. It's not 100% alum. The suspension is all RPM and you can see I'm still using the stock plastic bumper supports.

I wasn't really sure what the standard is for diff oil in these hybrid things so I went slightly heavier than what I'm used to seeing in buggies. I went 7k up front and 5k at the rear. It's just a basher so anything is fine really.

*edit*

Wow! I was just browsing RRP's website and they've really added a lot of products since I orginally built this tranny. Of course that was probably 3 years ago... I don't think I'll need steel first and second gears though. I never had an issue with them even when I had twin .26's. I've blown through a few main output gears but that was befored I went FOC. I just need some good outdrives now.. ahem... Racer

 

[billym9]

hey lesson was that your 2.5r on ebay? the same one that was on this truck with the exaust.

 

[Lessen]

nope. I don't even have a 2.5. I have a 3.3 for sale but it's not on ebay.

 

[Jaxon]

Looks expensive. Hows that alum tranny case, does it help at all? I went for the all steel foc kit from rrp for my os21. Thats chassis looks super nice, little too expensive for me, but FLM makes good stuff for sure. What kind of brake setup do you have on that?

 

[Lessen]

People say an aluminum tranny case is supposed to increase stiffness. Theoretically, yes. However, I'm not sure how necessary it is. For me, that part is there for looks, but depending on the powerplant I put in it it may play part as a durability upgrade as well.

I currently have a CRN brake setup on it. I'm really not too thrilled with it though. I've had a lot of problems with the overall width of two discs and 3 pads skipping off the hex so right now braking is up in the air. This truck is on the verge of being a larger project than was originally intended.

 

[Lessen]

Custom outdrives

I know 1 to 1 conversation are for PM's but since this pertains to the build I'm doing it here.

Randy,

Here are a couple outdrives that I have now. The one on the left in the first picture is an MIP outdrive. They are very tough but it won't fit my 1/8 pinion shaft. It has a shaft opening of about 24/100". I need 2 nearly identical except with a shaft opening of 8mm. I also need 1 with a 5mm opening. The 4th piece will be a hybrid of sorts and please use your best judgement here. I've had a lot of issues with my brake discs skipping off of the brake hex opposite of the brake pads. I was thinking it would be rather easy for you to make a brake hex that was simply wide on one side of the grub screw hole. Then I was thinking maybe you could just make a one piece outdrive/brake hex combo. The shaft opening needs to 5mm and the hex part needs to be extended 5mm to the dogbone side of the part. Upon further examination I've noticed that extending the hex may interfere with the cross pin so the hex section will probably need to be notched (see 2nd picture). That won't create any further issues though. Also, you can see that the shape of the MIP outdrive is different from the RCA outdrive at the shaft end. The MIP part has an narrower extension. That ok to add to the new piece.

more pics for reference

 

[Rolex]

It's looking great. LOVE that Fast Lane Machine.

 

[Lessen]

OK Ralph, I know you're the Bling King and I'll never be able to touch the Savage but get this... I'm actually thinking about dropping the coin for.... Flextek suspension arms. Du Du Duuu....

 

[Rolex]

Hmmm. I'll have to check that out. Not familiar with it.
Bling/Quality, Bling/Quality, Bling/Quality. Tough call there.

EDIT: I just looked it up. WOW. Titanium. Bling AND quality. $400 for the Savvy. Go ahead, you're more than welcome to out-bling me.

 

[Lessen]

Well, they're not very blingy since they are cast and semi-flat but I'm thinking durability. I know it's a crapload of money for a suspension setup but did you see the video! My god, they're bending those things with CHEATER BARS! AND...AND the hinge pins that come with them are made by Lunsford. I'm guessing they might be a different length than the normal Lunsford pins for the Maxx. At any rate, they look tough and would look better than my black RPM arms. I'll stick with the RPM knuckles and shock towers though. Really can't beat those from a durability standpoint.

 

[Racer 1966]

Ok Josh, the outdrive/brake hex combo with a notch in the hex for the dogbone is no problem.
The outdrive with 5mm opening is no problem.
The 2 outdrives with 8mm opening leaves me with a couple of questions. What is the diameter of the small step on the back and is it there to clear something else? What I'm really asking is, can that diameter be bigger? If I make an 8mm opening it will leave that step really thin.