HPI, Losi, Futaba: a Hattrick!
Three brands, three breakages…
I went racing today, touring cars, outdoors at SHMCC. My aim of the day was to play with the set up of the Tamiya TRF415MSXX, I have removed the roll bars, and wanted to try it without.
I stiffened up the springs a little, and it generated a lot more grip than with the rollbars, much more stable. A little too stable, I was struggling to get it to turn in, but some fiddling with springs, droop and roll centres and I think I sorted that.
But, the day was marred by breakages. I seem to have damaged my Losi Xcelorin 17.5 brushless motor, it ‘went soft’ the last time I used it. But first run today and it was great, strong, fast, everything seemed fine. But 2nd, 3rd and 4th runs were ruined. A solder connection came off in run 2. Run 3 I thought it was a sensor lead. Run 4, it confirmed that it was the motor, it would do 5 laps, then come off the track too hot and no longer working. That’s dead then.
I borrowed an identical motor for run 5 (final 1) and that ran fine, so the speedo was okay, thankfully. I borrowed another brand of motor too, a Trinity DUO 17.5, and that was very strong indeed in run 6 (final 2), and had a great race, popped in a 19 lapper, no mistakes and a nice close race with someone using an identical motor.
The final run of the day I did half a lap and it stopped. Closer examination and it looks like the Futaba receiver isn’t working.
And then, I took my HPI E-Savage, and a friend broke the rear differential! It’s supposed to be a weak point, so I’m surprised it’s not broken before now.
Still, I had a good day!
Written by simon.
HPI E-Savage Lower Shock Mount Mod
On the e-savage forums there’s some excellent info about improving the lower shock mount.
As I had all the shocks off I thought I’d do it, even though mine haven’t stripped out yet.
It’s basically involves putting an M3 bolt from inside the wishbone to support the shock.
I made a video showing what I did, a slightly different version to how it was described on the forum.
Written by simon.
E-Savage + Snow = Sensational!
I’ve just been out in the dark with my E-Savage in the snow.
It was amazing, some fantastic drift action, a couple of inches of snow being no bother at all for 14 cells. The whole thing fills up with snow inside, but it just kept going till it dumped…
I’ll now wait for my neighbours to moan about me spoiling the pristine cul-de-sac powder, it’s looking rather well used now! I’ve probably caused a highways hazard or something.
Written by simon.
HPI E-Savage Shock Rebuild
I rebuilt my shocks, mainly because the stock shock seals don’t work, and also I wanted to shorten them a little to reduce the suspension travel and lower the truck to improve handling.
8 shocks took quite a while, but they’re done now. Not pefect, there’s some air in them, but they’re fine for bashing with. I have a pet hate of building shocks and waiting for the air to come out of them, I keep meaning to get a shock pump!
Video (long) showing how I rebuilt them:
Written by simon.
Alloy Servo Horn
Following on from my post about breaking my E-Savage steering, I’ve got hold of an Integy Alloy Servo Horn.
It’s pretty big, bit the main thing about it is that it’s split, and clamps on tightly to the servo output with two screws. No more stripped horns…
