Bubba02STi’s Traxxas Rally

[Bubba02STi]

Nickname
Lil Ed

Model
Traxxas 1/10 Fiesta Rally

Bodies
Ford Fiesta

Chassis
King Headz Motor Mount w/Oversized Bearing
VG Racing Chassis Brace
RPM Front Bulkhead
ST Racing Concepts ESC Mounting Plate

Drivetrain
Traxxas Center Differential
ST Racing Concepts Center Drive Shaft
ST Racing Concepts Drive Shaft Hub
Hobbywing 3652 3300kv Brushless Motor
ST Racing Concepts Heat Sink Motor Plate
Robinson Racing Pinions (Various Turns)

Suspension
VG Racing Springs
ST Racing Concepts Steering Blocks
ST Racing Concepts Caster Blocks
ST Racing Concepts Rear Carriers
ST Racing Concepts Hinge Pins
Hot Racing Sway Bars (Front and Rear)
Traxxas Adjustable Camber Links

Wheels and Tires
Stock

Electronics
ECO Power 3s LiPo 5000mah
Hobbywing Max 10 Brushless ESC
Top Qualifier 2.4Ghz Radio and Receiver
Traxxas High Torque Servo

Scale Accessories
Stock

Miscellaneous
Dusty Motors Chassis Shroud

Current Pic

​

 

[Bubba02STi]

Decided I needed something a little faster in the dirt than a crawler, so I picked up a Traxxas Fiesta Rally. Took it out for a bit after replacing the Traxxas plug with a deans. Here is a picture of it before it even hit the dirt.

 

[Bubba02STi]

Went and had some fun with it today. Found its limits. Pretty sure I toasted the motor. Seemed to be down on power shortly after running it fairly hard. Played a bit in the snow and then it seemed to give out. Thought it might be the same issue I had with my deadbolt l but the servo works on the other channels. I should probably get a dirt sock to put over it as I’m sure all dirt I kicked up into toasted it. Any suggestions on motors? Thinking about brushless if the price tag is right.

 

[Bubba02STi]

Way to go Traxxas! Good job!

Have a new motor, just a stock 12t 550, but I’m going to need a new pinion as well. I’m looking at upgrades for brushed motors unless anyone can point me in the direction of a WP brushless.

 

[Bubba02STi]

Well the 1/10 Rally is fixed. Forgot I ordered a spare 550 12t. Still waiting on the dusty motors shroud but I figured I’d take it out tomorrow for a bit and see how well he runs. The rips up and down the street seemed to be ok. I need to start looking into upgrades. Mainly want to get rid of the plastic suspension and driveline first. And probably move to brushless as well. If anyone has suggestions for the slash/rally let me know. It’ll be spending its time on both dirt and pavement.

 

[Bubba02STi]

Felt good to get it out and rip it around a bit.

 

[Bubba02STi]

Installed the Dusty Motors shroud today. Hopefully this helps keep all the rocks out and from destroying things. Pretty easy to install and seems to have a nice tight fit around the chassis. Very lightweight and breathable. Easy to reach in to connect batteries and should be easy enough to remove for tear downs. Also came with synthetic socks for help protect the shocks. Not sure if I’m going to use those.

 

[Bubba02STi]

Took the boys out for a bit this morning to kick up and climb some rocks.

This shroud is amazing. Kept everything but a fine layer of dust out of the chassis. Didn’t even need to shake it out while running through a battery.

 

[Bubba02STi]

Haven’t been running the rally much. But we had a quick snow storm roll through and I couldn’t resist.

 

[Bubba02STi]

About a week ago I noticed that the car was taking a second to get going. Think of a slipping clutch on a real car. Didn’t want to engage right away just keep spinning up the motor. No big deal I figured I’d just upgrade to a differential anyway. Well that doesn’t seem to be the only problem. I toasted another motor along with the slipper clutch. So it looks like I’m going to go brushless.

Couple questions regarding the differential though. I picked up the Traxxas center diff kit tra6814(see pic below) the spur gears in the kit don’t match the pitch of the pinion. They seem to be too “fat” for the pinion teeth to grab fully and they skip. This is with maxing out the pitch of the motor to meet the largest spur gear from the kit. (The other gears don’t even come close) has anyone done this upgrade? Is the answer to get a larger pinion? What one should I look for?

I also purchased a ST Racing center driveshaft to install but I forgot to order the front hub to go with it. My bad.

 

[Bubba02STi]

I think I have it figured out. I needed to get a 38p pinion. The one I have on the titan is a 48p. Lesson learned I hope. If I’m way off here please chime in.

I ended up going on a parts ordering spree. This damn IPA has me feeling Spritely.

Parts for the rally on the way (yeah I may or may not have ordered stuff for the crawlers too):

ST Racing Aluminum Center Driveshaft Hub
38p 12t pinion. (I’m going to order others as well.)
King Headz motor mount
Hobbywing ez run max10 Brushless esc and 3652 3300 kv motor

Probably going to do the axle carriers next.

Any ideas on shocks that have longer travel?

 

[Bubba02STi]

Pretty sure the mail man wasn’t happy today.

I should be able to break this stupid car much faster now. Kidding. Excited to see what how much of a difference everything will make. Just need to solder on a deans plug, attach the motor plate, and tuck away the wire for the temp sensor.

I’m going to see how I like the center diff first before I go to the revo slipper set up.

 

[Bubba02STi]

Waiting on a bunch of parts to get here, but the VG Racing Chassis Brace came in so I got that installed. Also I drilled out the stripped screw in the factory motor plate so I could attach the motor.

Parts I’m waiting on

STRC ESC mounting plate
STRC Motor heat sink plate
RPM Front bulkhead
VG Racing Springs
Hot Racing Sway Bar Kit
Robinson Racing Pinions (Various Turns)
RPM Front and Rear A-Arms

 

[Bubba02STi]

It’s all fun and games until you smack the corner of a curb.

 

[Bubba02STi]

Damage assessment.

The damage looks a lot worse than it appears. I only broke the carrier and gave the wheel some curb rash. So nothing major. Ordered a set of aluminum carriers for replacements.

Some parts arrived today. The esc mounting plate, heat sink, and bulkhead. Changed my mind on the blue bulkhead though. I can’t seem to find a rear one to match so I ended up ordering a black one.

Ordered some other parts as well to go with what I need to fix him after today.

STRC Steering Blocks
STRC Caster Blocks
STRC Rear Carriers
STRC Hinge Pins
RPM Bulkhead (Black)

I’m going to put him up until all parts are delivered and installed. Should make for a fun afternoon with everything I’m still waiting on.

 

[Bubba02STi]

I’m so so on how I feel about the rally. I wanted a scale rally car and thought this would be a good platform to start with. Should have done my research a little more instead of impulse buying it. There is almost nothing scale related to it. For a 1:10 this thing dwarfs my SCX10 II. So my build direction has gone towards a durable high speed all surface great handling track beast instead of scale clone of my 1:1 rally car. For out the door cost you would think it would have been a bit quicker and more sturdy. Pretty bad that I toasted two brushed motors, one due to rocks getting in the motor. And spun the other one out when I toasted the high stall gear. Personally I feel the VXL should have been the only option. I also wish there was more cosmetic aftermarket support for it as well.

One thing I do give to the Traxxas rally, is that it damn sure can take a beating. I didn’t want to go the basher route with it, but that seems to be the way it’s going. As I get more into this hobby I’m realizing the only competitive racing I have here is crawling. We don’t have any short course tracks locally. Probably up in Denver but I avoid that mess. But I’ve always wanted a fun car to mess around with on the hiking trails and this certainly fits the bill.

 

[Bubba02STi]

More parts have arrived.

VG Racing Springs
Robinson Racing Pinions
50wt and up shock oil
ECO Power 5000Mah 3s
Larger Protek Lipo Bag

I was bored so I started installing the parts I have. Figured I might as well knock out the parts for the inner chassis.

I started with the VG Racing Springs. These are much longer than I anticipated. These are supposed to be a +1 over the stock springs.

I decided them to the inner holes on the strut towers and the outer holes on the A arms to compensate for the length increase and give them a bit more of angle to hopefully help with keeping it rubber side down.

Next was the ST Racing Concepts ESC Mounting Plate.

The factory ESC just screwed into the chassis. Well the Hobbywing ESC uses 3m adhesive. While the Hobbywing did fit between the mounts that the factory ESC would screw into I still had to Dremel out the honeycomb to get it to firmly stick to the chassis. Figuring I’d probably upgrade the esc again at some point I searched (see stumbled upon) and found the STRC plate. Figured that getting the ESC off the bed of the chassis and using some outdoor 3m tape was a better approach. Plus giving the ESC a bit more breathing room to keep cool is never a bad thing right.

Next up was the heatsink.

Again,anything to help keep the car cooled off right? The stock one probably would have been fine but when I was installing the brushless setup I stripped the head off of one of the screws that mounts the motor to the heatsink. Figured I’d order another one before attempting to drill out the screw in the factory. (This is how I stumbled upon the ESC mounting plate) I was successful at drilling out the screw in the old plate but figured I’d throw this in anyway. Honestly if you didn’t know it was the stock one you wouldn’t even be able to tell.

Here is how it is sitting with everything I have received as of now.

Still waiting on more parts to come in. Once my sporadic laundry list of parts has arrived I’m going to do the GTR shocks and get a set of +1 and -1 springs for it. MIP CVD’s and aluminum shock towers. Try and keep it to as few orders as possible instead of many separate orders like I did this go around.

 

[Bubba02STi]

And we’re all caught up to this evening. Sorry if it
Seemed like I was spamming the forum. Just trying to copy paste my build thread. If you have any questions feel free to ask. Also any feedback is appreciated.

 

[cbaker65]

Cool stuff there ,I didn't know that King headz was still making parts!...

 

[Bubba02STi]

Cool stuff there ,I didn't know that King headz was still making parts!...

Thank you. It was a toss up between this one and the hot racing one.