Noob with an old 2.5 revo

[TK5310]

Wasn't really an issue with the stock air cleaner, but the motor saver was *just* touching the spur gear & was a real PITA to get on & off, not to mention the chance of cutting through the filter neck when stuff moves around a little on jumps etc.
Shifting the trans 1.5mm forward as far as I can tell will have no ill effects & just makes life easier.
It's never broken a spur gear or anything & it's the original gear for the car, I'm replacing it coz it's got a couple of chipped teeth & well, it's just old - I reckon the new 3.3 would finish it pretty quick.

Still no pipe & the wing hasn't lobbed yet, getting titchy, tonight is my only chance to run it & break in the new motor untill next week, no sure I can wait that long LOL.

 

[TK5310]

Wing got here, pipe didn't yet.
Got the wing all mounted up & made a wheelie bar/skid plate with a urathane button on the bottom in anticipation of wheels up antics.

Cracked the sh\ts with lack of pipe issues & borrowed a mates old rustler 2.5 pipe, managed to get it on the car good enough to run so I took it out last night to break it in.
Got through the first tank quick smart then my glow heater crapped itself (GAH!!!!!!!!!!) & I had to pack it up.
Obviously only used 1/4 throttle, but I can tell already that even with the crappy pipe it's going to be a lot more responsive & torquey compared to the 2.5.

Picks of wing, wheelie bar, pipe & new motor when the bloody pipe gets here.

 

[REVO-5309]

yeh in the revo the 3.3 is alright, i have 40t spur and 14 or 15t cb and mine is a couple tanks past break in and it does wheelies pretty much at any time in 1st, from there if u have the room it will shift into second while still up its cool. can't wait for the picco to get here... will be stupidly powerful.

 

[TK5310]

LOL, this new engine does not want to get broken in!!

Got through the 2nd tank, loosening up nicely, had to drop the idle etc.
Started on 3rd tank, reciever batteries went flat, just charged em not long ago, must be borked or on their way out, no charger here - didn't think I'd need it.
Battled on, strapped a 6V lantern battery to the wing & hooked it up, bingo, that'll work.
Carried on with 3rd tank, pulled up to check fuel & noticed bubbles around the glow plug, went to tighten it - stripped. Head is pretty old & alloy looks to be relatively low quality.
So I need a new head, but not to be outdone & so I could finish break in at least I popped a 1/4" unf helicoil in the plug hole & ran a matching die nut over the plug.
Normal plug thread is 32tpi, normal 1/4" unf is 28tpi, only 4tpi difference so the plug accepted the small reprofile of the thread. Screwed back in & sealed, heads gotta be replaced but it's good enough to finish break in.
Back out again, just about finished 3rd tank & my dodgy wiring to hook the 6v lantern battery up got a little loose & dropped contact, fortunately at low throttle, car smacked into a concrete barrier, flipped & stalled, lantern battery went flying.
(*&(*^%&^%&*$%^$%$#$!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Packed it up & heading home, 3 tanks done, full throttle tanks to go, I'll do it next week when the pipe shows & I can get a new head.

Speaking of the pipe - it's taken so long coz bl**dy customs siezed it on the way into the country, decided they needed to look at it, should be cleared & here next week tho.
No-one I know has had a pipe & header siezed before, typical of my luck!

 

[REVO-5309]

lol, where u coming in from? i had customs hold a package cuz it didnt have a description on it. no i tell everyone that ships something to me to mark it.

and yeh i get bad luck like that sometimes, eg today, went out, glow igniter battery getting flat, but managed to start it, then the receiver battery decided to die too. so packed up and went home. only 2.5 tanks through, but had some fun.

 

[TK5310]

Got the 3.3 broken in last night, it's like a different car, gotta be double the power, instant throttle response & wheelies on demand!
Holds a tune much better than the old 2.5, still got it quite rich now & I'll leave it like that for at least another litre or so, from what I hear the motor won't really come alive till I've put around 4-5 litres through it, dunno if I need much more power tho, it's a handfull for a noob as it is.
I had the suspension dropped right down coz I knew I'd be breaking it in on flat tarmack, handles awesome with the suspension right down, no sign of flipping over, even at high speed hitting the brakes & full lock she'll just slide & spin.
Steering is a problem now tho - at WOT there is none! front wheels turn but she's so light on the front under hard acceleration that it just keeps on going straight, gotta back off to turn, pretty much just steer with the brakes & throttle LOL.
Tore off my wheelie bar a couple of tanks after break in was finished & the motor really started to come alive, had it vertical quite a few times & the wheelie bar couldn't cope, the trailing edge of the wing took over it's job. A small bump under hard acceleration is all it needs to get the front up, even when it's already travelling at speed.
Holy sh|t it's a fun thing now! Can't wait to get on a BMX track & skate park.

Mate with the 3.3 rustler busted his rear suspension tagging a gutter (again), he's pretty much over it & is bidding on a revo on ebay, he's dead keen after putting a tank or 2 through mine last night after he busted the rustler. Revo can use the power, rustler either just wheelspins & loops out trying to steer or wheelstands into a gutter, completely unusable.

Pics with the new motor, THS pipe & wing:

 

[TK5310]

I broke reverse gear the other night but didn't know it, not sure how it happened, but I went to take it for a blat in the carpark last night & the trans locked up - debris caught between the teeth.
Pulled the trans down, everything other than reverse gear looked fine,so I whipped out the reverse idler gear & support, cut the remaining teeth off the reverse gear (so it'd be in balance), ditched the shift fork, linkage & optidrive sensor, fitted a couple of washers between the engagement dog & the reverse gear to hold it in forward gear with no linkage, cleaned all the debris out, put a dob of silicon over the holes left from the linkage & optidrive sensor & screwed it back together.

Then I removed the shift servo & wiring, optidrive box & wiring & plugged the throttle servo directly into the reciever.

To cover the hole from the optidrive in the reciever box I gaffa taped a thin piece of plastic over the bottom of the hole & filled it with JB weld.

Bingo, a functional trans minus reverse gear, a bunch of weight gone, heaps more room for my failsafe in the reciever box & less sh|t to go wrong.

Up & running again now, I don't think I'll miss reverse, when I first got the truck I thought having reverse was a tops idea, but a month down the track I almost never use it anyway - there really isn't much stuff a revo won't just drive over. I've kept all the bits anyway just in case I ever want reverse again.



Pics:

 

[TK5310]

hit a couple of BMX tracks on the weekend, 1 disused clay & grass - heaps of traction, lotsa jumps - kept popping out the right front ball joints.
the other was a well prepped race track, bugger all traction, but lotsa big jumps.

Pulled the front right carrier off to see what was going on with the balljoints popping so easy - it's pretty much stuffed, made some steel rings to go over the ball holder bit to reinforce it for now but a set of RPM carriers will be headed my way shortly, along with a true track conversion for the rear.

Couldn't be happier with the motor, it's loosened up nicely now & is making great power, I should have the ofna carb by the end of the week & I've got 3L of fuel through it now - so I'll fit the carb & start leaning on the tune a little this week, not hard, but I'll see what she's got without pushing the limit.

I've worked up a 'birthday list' of stuff to buy for myself for my birthday in a few weeks:

RPM front carriers
RPM true track rear
Sway bar kit
Alloy pushrods
P2 rockers
Driveshaft rebuild kits
Proper forward only conversion
Davis rod & good rear bearing
Engine mount brace
Wheelie bar
Single high torque steering servo
New set of tyres (either trenchers or stock talons, dunno yet)
May grab a new body as well - maybe a GTO, undecided, or I may just stick with the beat up original so I'm not destroying a nice body for a while!

Also getting a near new 2.4Ghz radio & digital reciever from a mate

Now I've got a better idea of what I'm doing I'll pull the car down again to check everything over again & fit all the new bits while it's apart.

Also, could use a little advice:
I've got the suspension at it lowest setting right now, handles great like that, but on big jumps/flat landings she'll bottom out & do a few gruesome looking cartwheels.
So the suspension really does need to go back up to the mid setting.
Will the addition of sway bars, a bit more caster on the front & a bit more camber all round allow it to retain similar handling at the mid height setting to what it has now on the lowest suspension setting?

 

[TK5310]

So I broke an engine mount, welded that up & reinforced it so it won't happen again - I was just going to replace it, but another stock one would be just as weak, so I opted instead to fire up the TIG welder & put a lot more metal in critical areas, much stronger now.
Broken engine mount hurt the spur gear, not terminally, but chipped a few teeth, so I threw a new one on.

Also destroyed both rear tyres completely - they were a little shabby on the sidewalls anyway & were old, tore great chunks out of the sidewalls.
Got some new GRP's coming hopefully today or tomorow.

Did some other stuff over the weekend as well:
P2 rockers, fresh shock oil & spacers on the stock pushrods.
New clutch (old one was pretty worn)
New cooling head to replace the helicoiled one
Single servo steering conversion with 2075 servo
Traxxas 2 channel 2.4Ghz radio & digital reciever
New cover for the ezi start
Patched up the body

Hanging out to try it out with the new tyres when they lob, ofna carb should be here today as well (I hope).

 

[TK5310]

Got me some new Badlands tyres.

Also replaced the throttle servo with a spare 2075 as the stock one crapped out.

Replaced the rear shock ends & pushrod ends, they were a bit flogged.



The THS header broke! - snapped clean off, it's only a few weeks old.

Had to TIG it back together & bodge up a way to mount it up again, it won't break again but it looks a bit untidy, pretty dissapointed, I figured an aftermarket pipe would be more durable than the stocker which also cracked - but lasted longer than the THS header.



Car is running great, pulls 20m wheelstands on wet tarmack no problem if I manage to control the throttle well enough to keep it off the rear bumper, the trick is keeping the front down, getting it up is easy.



Pics with Badlands:

 

[SchrodeMode]

Looks good, what wheels are those?

 

[REVO-5309]

my headers were always breaking until i made this up....

dont look too hard at the wheel alignment, its a little off lol

i then decided id buy a wing and throw it on, after giving it a bit of a bash i decided to take of the cage.... it was good, but the wing sorted out the header being snapped issue.

 

[TK5310]

Wheels - dunno to be honest, got em at LHS when I stripped out the 14mm hexes on the stock wheels & needed a 17mm conversion & wheels in a hurry.
They were white, I just painted em satin black.

Got a wing, still break header pipes!
I had it mounted with the spring, but that stretched & it was leaking pretty bad, so I screwed it on instead, obviously it didn't like the vibration of being more solidly mounted.
It's pretty solid now, PITA welding alloy that thin, but I've done it before no problem so I reckon it'll hold now.

 

[SchrodeMode]

I would suggest dying next time you want to change the wheel color, paint will chip pretty easy.

 

[TK5310]

Chipped paint/scratches on the wheels will just compliment the body!
A fair chunk of the back of the body is actually missing, gaffa tape is the body in some spots.

I don't really care that much what it looks like, a little 'patina' is ok by me, so long as it's fast & don't break (too often).

Pretty ain't fast.

 

[TK5310]

Need to update this a little, or a lot!

Car got a complete makeover:

RPM true track rear
RPM front arms & carriers
TRX alloy pushrods & steering links
Alloy single steering servo arm & HD servo saver spring, servo hole blanking plate
High torque metal gear single steering servo, revo 3.3 servo arm (for the 2 holes)
Purple rear springs, blue fronts
TRX sway bar kit
Diffs cleaned & filled with 900,000 oil
Buggy header & alloy mount to replace the busted THS header, now has the THS pipe mounted as a side pipe with the buggy header.
17/38 gearing
New clutch
Ofna .28 carb modified to fit & linkage made to get it working

And a brand spankers 3.3 motor after literally breaking the other 3.3 in 1/2.

Gotta get a new battery box - it was cracked & broke last night, held together with zip ties for now.
Also need a new 1 way bearing, it's been playing up a bit & cleaning it doesn't help for long.
Debating whether I'm gonna go pull start or not, less sh|t to carry around & less batteries to charge, but more PITA starting when conditions have changed a lot since last time out. I reckon I've got a good enough handle on tuning now to live with a pull start, so leaning that way I guess.

New Pontiac GTO body should be here later in the week, gonna paint it plain metallic black.
The old body has gone to beyond even patching up.

Pics:

With all the suspension work & the extra power from the ofna carb & brand spankers motor she's an outright weapon now, handling is supurb, doesn't bottom out after 4ft jumps but is still compliant enough for high speed over rough ground.
Needs to be geared up a little more, a bit too wheelstand happy, 17/36 gearing should work out well.

 

[TK5310]

Body I wanted was nil stock, so I just grabbed a Proline crowd pleazer from the LHS so I've got a lid for it, old one was busted beyond patching up.
As I have zero artistic talent I went for the safe 'always looks good' black.
Didn't cut the hole for the ezy start as I've got a pull start coming:

 

[REVO-5309]

you wont regret pull start. also have a look at switchglo. its a great glow igniter solution. i have one on mine, and will the pull start and on board temp gauge the only thing i have to carry around is a controller and maybe a screw driver.

i also got an extra rx battery for $20 1600mah for backup. but the switchglo doesn't drain much power at all. love it.

 

[TK5310]

Yeah, that's the main reason for pull start, getting sick of that heavy ass ezy start pack dragging my jeans down. Not gona bother with the pushglo - less sh|t to break on the car is good & a little glow wand fits in my pocket no probs.

I tune at the start of a bash session, then fatten it up a tad & leave it alone, so I don't carry a temp gun or screwdriver anyway, it'll just be the controller, glow wand & fuel bottle.

 

[REVO-5309]

yeh. glow wand is small, but its a pain in the ass when a battery goes flat. i like having it run off the rx battery as i know when its flat. and i generally dont re tune every run* but i try have a general tune that work in most conditions i take it out.