Rustler #106 upgrade

[ahr43]

Lately, Rusty's been not getting much attention. After putting the MT10 4S project on back burner earlier in the week, swapped the P-L Street Fighter tire set over to the Rustler.

Now she is crying out for chassis bling. Got some upgrades in the mail and will post upgrade pix after install.

Power unit is 2s x 4600 7.6V LiHV shorty, Reedy 60A ESC and 17.5FT motor. JConcepts "Hi-Speed" Illusion body.

May eventually go with a Reedy 13.5FT but want to keep it docile for first time drivers dropping by. That, and it's just fun for this old man to run about. Cheers. 'AC'

 

[Doom!]

Glad to see Rusty getting some attention again.

 

[ahr43]

Glad to see Rusty getting some attention again.

Ha. Thanks. She's been lonely hanging up there off the pegboard.

 

[ahr43]

"Retiring is easy, I've done it lots of times." Quoting drag racing legend Don 'Big Daddy' Garlits here.

Anyway, the #106 Rustler went on the shelf as a queen last spring. Well-earned retirement did not last long. Pulled her off the shelf and out of retirement. Did a sort of retro modern install on her.

NiMH 7-cell hump pack, HW 80A Crawler ESC and a JC 27T brush motor. Had to solder up an iC3 -to- Dean's jumper between the ESC and battery until I confirm all is o.k. with the install. Then probably change out the iC3 for a Dean's. Went with a STRC aluminum battery strap to better capture the 17oz wt of the hump pack. It's not a light-weight battery. Other than that, pretty straight-forward install.

Got in some test runs on the pavement out front of the house yesterday. 75% power setting. She runs out o.k. Little slow, but that's o.k., so am I.

This all came about in prepping my SMT10 for sale on Ebay as a ARTR (Almost Ready-To-Run). Pricing it out, figgered I was losing too much money selling it that way. Pulled the power unit combo for Rusty. SMT10 will sell as a roller now. Cheers. 'AC'

 

[RustyUs]

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I love that color/design scheme! Glad to see the stadium truck getting back out there.

 

[ahr43]

Thanks, Rusty. Yeah, paint scheme is a splinter pattern lifted from an online Baja racer image. Commissioned the paint job. No way I could do it myself.

Couple of notes of interest. Splinter scheme is a bugger to sticker. No matter what sticker I put where, it blends in making it hard to discern. Fair enough. So, she runs pretty much without stickers. Also, didn't realize it until later, but the colors on the splinter pattern are those of the four-horsemen of the apocalypse. Found that kinda interesting.

Basically, an open-wheel guy here. ST is good fit for what I like to do with RC. Just finishing up my first SCT and already I'm not warming to it. Just not a full-fender guy. Don't know why but it is what it is.

Cheers. 'AC'

 

[turbo27]

My dirt Rusty.

And my street Rusty.

 

[ahr43]

March is Rustler month in the workshop. Figgered I'd get a head start with a quick motor swap. Out with the 27T 540 can brush motor and in with a 27T 550 can brush motor.

Aw shucks. 550 can motor is a short shaft compared to the 540. Result is not getting full engagement pinion/spur. Proving once again there is no such thing as a 'five minute job.' Anyway, filed screw clearance notches in a 1/2" steel flat washer to act as a spacer away from the motor plate and using longer motor screws got full pinion/spur gear engagement.

Did a test run out front of the house. 50% THR for motor break in and validating the spacer install. A.O.K. Also swapped on a new FR and RR tire pair for the 33ft RC drag racing series. And the beat goes on. . .

 

[turbo27]

Thanks, Rusty. Yeah, paint scheme is a splinter pattern lifted from an online Baja racer image. Commissioned the paint job. No way I could do it myself.

Couple of notes of interest. Splinter scheme is a bugger to sticker. No matter what sticker I put where, it blends in making it hard to discern. Fair enough. So, she runs pretty much without stickers. Also, didn't realize it until later, but the colors on the splinter pattern are those of the four-horsemen of the apocalypse. Found that kinda interesting.

Basically, an open-wheel guy here. ST is good fit for what I like to do with RC. Just finishing up my first SCT and already I'm not warming to it. Just not a full-fender guy. Don't know why but it is what it is.

Cheers. 'AC'

I like the Rusty. Mine is not close to the best for sure. Kinda like it though.

Thanks, Rusty. Yeah, paint scheme is a splinter pattern lifted from an online Baja racer image. Commissioned the paint job. No way I could do it myself.

Couple of notes of interest. Splinter scheme is a bugger to sticker. No matter what sticker I put where, it blends in making it hard to discern. Fair enough. So, she runs pretty much without stickers. Also, didn't realize it until later, but the colors on the splinter pattern are those of the four-horsemen of the apocalypse. Found that kinda interesting.

Basically, an open-wheel guy here. ST is good fit for what I like to do with RC. Just finishing up my first SCT and already I'm not warming to it. Just not a full-fender guy. Don't know why but it is what it is.

Cheers. 'AC'

Rc cars are fun. I love em.

Nice rig.

I thought of getting a SCT, Got turned off by the parachute thing.

 

[ahr43]

turbo27, that's the good thing about the Rustler. A classic package, indeed and industry icon, having been in production 20+ some years. It's versatile enough to be anything the owner driver wants it to be.

My RC shop has two active, one retired and probably enough spares to build a fourth. I never tire of her. Simple and steady gets it done for me. Thanks for looking in.

 

[DavidB1126]

March is Rustler month in the workshop. Figgered I'd get a head start with a quick motor swap. Out with the 27T 540 can brush motor and in with a 27T 550 can brush motor.

Aw shucks. 550 can motor is a short shaft compared to the 540. Result is not getting full engagement pinion/spur. Proving once again there is no such thing as a 'five minute job.' Anyway, filed screw clearance notches in a 1/2" steel flat washer to act as a spacer away from the motor plate and using longer motor screws got full pinion/spur gear engagement.

Did a test run out front of the house. 50% THR for motor break in and validating the spacer install. A.O.K. Also swapped on a new FR and RR tire pair for the 33ft RC drag racing series. And the beat goes on. . .

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Sometimes I feel like you should upgrade to brushless. I do agree that brushed is old and can make the car more durable as you aren't going fast. But with me when I switched to brushless, so much more power and speed. Had fun.

Was bashing around yesterday with my slash. Went over to my uncles house. He was surprised on how fast and torquey my car was. Running a HW Max10 SCT with a 3660 4000kv motor. 23/86 gearing (pretty conservative) and still on 2S lipo! 3s lipo would wake it up for sure. Currently can get a top speed of like 40mph (guessing). With 3s I should be able to go in the mid 50s, assuming if I can drive better and keep the front end down. With SCTs, they like to catch air under the body. With my new one, did a few cut-outs so I can get airflow and when on the track, stays relatively level in the air now.

With my rustler on the other hand, basically same upgrades but running Traxxas EHD driveshafts and the stock 272 transmission. Same Max10 combo but in the 60A esc and 3652 motor. Same 4000kv too. I feel like its a bit slower. I have no idea why, can be just be my mind. But running the same 23/86 gearing. Most likely because of the smaller esc and smaller size motor.
Edit: Actually running a 76T spur so that could be why it is a bit slower. Gonna change that out to a 86T and see if I can get it back up to where it was.

 

[ahr43]

Hey David. Yeah, thanks for the tips and recommendations. You've always got good stuff. Good looking rigs you have there. My other three active RC's are brushless so kind of have a feel for what I'm missing with this Rusty. I keep a brush motor in this Rustler because that's what I ran in it new in 2002. Old time's sake and all that.

3300kv is kind of the sweet spot for me and do have a HW QR 3250Kv sensorless combo on my wish list in case I one day get the urge. And have a 17.5 Reedy sensored combo in my stash, but am not really a fan of sensored having run them for the better part of twelve years or so. Kinda grown to like sensorless now. Pretty much select a ~3300Kv for my 2S/3S applications and vary the can length depending on what kind of performance I want - long can torque or short can speed.

So, for this Rusty, at least for the immediate future, she'll stick with brush motor. Do have two 19T Reedy QuadMag motors I ran in the drag racing Rusty back 2005-2006. They pushed her out to ~30mph trap speeds at 132ft. And have the odd 17T motor or two to slip in along with a Reedy '33,000 RPM' brush motor NIB. So have options. All, however, are LiPo powered. My NiMH days are in the rear view mirror. At least there I've come into the 21st C.

 

[ahr43]

For the longest I've lusted after this Rustler VXL Prographix Body. Not long ago it went up on sale at Amain. Jumped at the opportunity to finally score one.

That and at last I had a use for that can of Tamiya PS-3 Blue lingering in my paint pallet stash. Usual practice is to back my paints with PS-12 Silver, but TRX used a white backing on the body NIB, so stayed with that. Left the rear spoiler unpainted.

Weather warmed yesterday enough for the backing coats. Giving it three days to cure then begin the stickering process.

 

[DavidB1126]

Each sticker gives the car around 20 more horsepower, just remember that
See my cars, full of stickers

 

[ahr43]

Each sticker gives the car around 20 more horsepower, just remember that
See my cars, full of stickers

ROFLOL. Yeah, 106R needs all the HP it can get. So lots of stickers. And multiple stickers cover the orange peel and runs in the paint. . .

 

[Panko75]

I thought of getting a SCT, Got turned off by the parachute thing.

I've owned a few, got turned off by the "collect dirt and grass" thing, tire rub, weird proportions, and the rattly bodyshells.

I like the build going on here, a "nice" brush motor and NiMH. Anything quicker and you'll be buying up RPM parts.

 

[ahr43]

Thanks, Panko. Shelved the 7-cell NiMH not long ago for a 2S x 6000 120C 7.6V HV Graphene Shorty. Gives the 106R lots of passes on its 33FT RC drag strip with minimal voltage drop. Keeping the NiMH around for 'vintage' runs.

And swapped in a Magnum 272R tranny not long ago. It came up on sale and makes changing spur gears soooo much easier. Oh, and yeah, do have a set of RPM HD camber links (red, thank you very much) installed along with a (yeah, red) FR bulkhead.

 

[ahr43]

RC focus car for March has been the DragSpec Rustler. Finished the TRX ProGraphix body by adding minimal stickers. Still pondering what to put where. For now leave it like it is.

JC Hotties mounted to JC Coil wheels still up front. New at the rear is a pair of P-L Prime slicks mounted to TRX chrome rears wheels. And for a bit of bling, added a pair of basher bang bars to the body using RPM camber links and TRX shoulder screws.

Went through all four shocks. Piston changes, limiters up front and damper fluid changes.

Then, got the hots for an upgrade power unit. But first, swapped in a SR315 receiver giving my GNSS Speed Meter its own dedicated power port instead of a Y-lead off the servo port - cleaning up the wiring a bit.

Grabbed a HW combo 3652 can 3250Kv sensorless and 120A ESC. It's a 2S-4S compatible. Overkill, but what the hey. All this DragSpec will ever need on2S. Just in case, have a 4000Kv sensorless in the stash. With a new ESC comes yet another battery connector. Yikes! This time a XT-60. Fortunately had two in the stash. One for the battery bullet lead and one for the charger lead. More in the mail.

Holding to 22/83 48P gear for now. Test run out front of the house with 50% THR on a 33ft course encouraging. Beginning a new no-prep outlaw drag series using only one dial-in speed of 43mph for all cars. And extending the course length from 33ft to 66ft (1/10 scale 1/8 mile). Looking to an away test at the drag site this coming weekend. Wish her luck.

Cheers. 'AC'

 

[9x19]

That looks pretty good.

 

[ahr43]

Thanks, 9x19. Fingers crossed she runs out pretty good too.

One thing I didn't have room to mention above but worth mentioning. ESC requires a programming card to change ESC settings. Retails for $12 USD. Already had one from the brush motor HW ESC that came out. Not sure it would work as brush crawler ESC had 18 or so settings and the 120A sensorless only 10.

Anticipating user needs HW provides a replacement sticker included within the ESC box. And it works! Just slap it over the existing sticker on the front of the card and PRESTO, a new programming card.

That alone gets HW a sticker placement on the body. Just have to figure out where it will look best.

Thanks for looking in and commenting. Cheers. 'AC'