Thinking about getting my savage running again

[jgorm]

It's been collecting dust for 4 years because that stupid little pin in that drives the crank from the starter mechanism broke 2x. The first time it broke i broke the heads off 2 of the screws that hold on the starter mech. The next time I broke one more so I super glued the back onto the engine. The holes in the block are shot, but I bought some small taps to re-tap them. I drove a $30 rock crawler last weekend and had a blast, so I'm going to buy a redcat crawler, but I also want to get the savage working to haul ass and jump. I might just buy a new engine. How much more bad ass are the new ones compared to the old? I think my savage model was the first one they made.
-Joe

 

[olds97_lss]

Well, engines have come along as have the vehicles themselves. For an old savage 21, I wouldn't go nuts with the engine or you will need to dump more $ into to keep it going as you will start blowing diffs and axles.

Now they have the XL which has large axles, longer distance between trans/diffs and lowered trans which helps considerably with the axle angle for the centers and the outers are just bigger/beefier. The diffs are also much tougher with larger gear teeth/4 spider diffs/alloy cups. Most of that is needed to run a "hot" engine and to have it reliable.

 

[jgorm]

Thanks for the tips. Is there a modest increase in power that I can do with a new engine that wont blow stuff up?

 

[olds97_lss]

Probably a dynamite mach 28 wouldn't be too hard on it. I know my buddy ran a mach 427 (gold head from LST2) in his for a while and it did fine.

We both run LRP28's now though. His are the older style savage with machined gears in the diffs, alloy diff cases and cups with proper shimming. He's also running standard center/outer dogbones. Has held up ok. Both of his savage's were mine at one point. I did all the upgrading, then ran them for a year or two, sold one to him, then eventually sold the other to him. I went with allow cases (gear box's) to avoid flex between the ring/pinion gear once they were shimmed. This was before the bulletproof diffs existed.

Then I got the savage bug again and got a savage X. It was used and I shelled a diff my first weekend as I was breaking in an LRP28, then went with the HPI bulletproof diffs.

The diffs are the weakest part in a savage. Well, the most expensive to "fix" weak spot. I think I spent $70 on both diffs via ebay. Now, with the X diff cases that are less prone to flexing than old savage cases (gear box's), it should hold up a while. If alloy X gear box's weren't so expensive, I'd probably change them to alloy as well just because I like things reliable.

 

[hulkmaxx]

Upgrade to the 5.9 and upgrade your diffs. I am running a 5.9 in my savage 25 truck and have done both upgrades. I beat the snot outta my truck and have yet to break anything.










High Speed Low Drag:whhooo:

 

[olds97_lss]

All the bad things I've read about the 5.9, I wouldn't recommend that engine...

 

[tmaxxfreek]

My neighbor bought a brand new XL with the 5.9, it lasted a total of 3/4 gallon of fuel and it was toast, he chased tuned and fought a lean issue,after I sealed his engine and tuned it for him, he put a LRP on it and it been running since.

 

[Blindside_137]

I had a savage 21 that I essentially converted into a savage 25 with the spider gear mod and 3 shoe clutch and other things.

I ended up dropping in the S-25 engine and loved it. Then went off to college and sat for 4 years when the center dog bone fell out I never got around to fixing it, until a few months ago.

Definitely fix up your savage, but be aware that it may cost quite a bit of money to do so. I know that I need to upgrade my steering servo still which is going to run me 50 bucks. You want a new engine which will push 200.

Try to see how much it would cost to get running and decide if its worth it to fix, or just get a used savage x or something.

 

[jgorm]

thanks guys. Even though the truck is old, its still pretty new with only a couple tanks of gas run on it.

 

[olds97_lss]

If it's a 2 spider diff savage... I'd get to bidding on ebay for some replacements as your sure to fry them pretty quickly regardless what engine you put in it. The only way to tell is to take them apart and look, which is a bit of a pain.

 

[mechanike]

Yessir you sure right on that olds97_lss.i'm putting the 4spider in both diffs which is only a couple dollars but you have to remove everything!unlike the six screws on the lst-2!Big fan of the phillip head screws though!