brushless gt... Tubby

[sbcnyc]

been itching to finish this off since last winter, but got stuck engineering (if thats what you wanna call it) a motor mount that would tie the trans to the motor and brace the chassis... a friend pawned me an hpi bullet, that i just scrapped for hardware and as i was breaking it down, i sized the motor mount against the tub... with some creative dremeling to recess the slipper, flipping the topshaft, and massaging the case... think i got about 80% rigidity, plenty of mesh room to play with a 10.5, and centered weight, i know theres a Huge mid motor debate these days, weight balance vs suspension setup 3 vs 4 gear, motor as close to the rear center, pushing weight to the back instead of forward, side to side vs front to back batts .... bla bla bla... i think with a lot of good ol trial and error, i can set this thing up to handle, in the true spirit of a r/c hack fest project...i got a t2 with my ideal base setup i can drive head to head to have a close compare... all i know is if all the hype of mid motor leads to a 2wd that handles like a 4wd... sign me up.. i love my big buggies!!!

i put the beast 8000mah in there to give me an idea of how big a lipo to fit than size down, as i have a set of saddle packs to play with too.. i have to decide my motor, esc, battery mounting and base shock setup (i also pirated a sc10 for odds and ends including the stock box setup shocks) along with trimming up the excess and taking the rest of the orange paint from the motor mount.. and of course a t4 slipper setup... i guess this post is with the rough draft, proof of concept if you will...ill update as i further the development of yet another useless but fun project.. i welcome all constructive engineering input, suspension setup ideas (antisquat and caster in particular), and overall help in making this something that might spark some interest back into stadium truck..

[Sixtysixdeuce]

Lookin good so far!

That said, why flip the trans input to driver side? I can't see any reason for that, unless you were concerned with something hitting the back of the can. Doesn't pose an issue unless you run a sensored set-up that is non-reversible, just seems like a lot of work for ???

I have a blue tub converted to a weird short course buggy thing, I do like the way mid-motor balances, although mine is still rear-heavy with the beast of a motor mount I milled, the Reedy 550 can and the 1/8 scale rear wheels.

help in making this something that might spark some interest back into stadium truck..

Good luck with that. I still love my stadiums (not counting the aforementioned, I have five GTs, a GT2 and a 10T), but short course trucks dominate now. Stadiums are far more graceful, but also more difficult to drive well and don't take a beating as well as SCTs with their full bodies and bumpers. I have a Prolite 4x4, so I understand the appeal. Of course, I started out with buggies and stadium trucks, so that is where my heart still lies; trying to convince a newcomer is a monumental task these days.

However, if you can get one dialed in to your local track and fly around with the agility of a professional ice skater while all the SCTs are banging and flopping everywhere, you might make some headway.

[sbcnyc]

i reversed the motor due to using the tub... the big area missing on the left side of the chassis, the tub would of folded on its first landing with no nitro engine mounts.. im still not 100% as theres flex front to rear right in front of the mount, trying to figure the best way to tie in to the side as i have no room down the center... also keeping the bare chassis weight down without overloading it with bracing or my original motor mount that just was too overbuilt to be practical... im going for "springy" with a way to dial it out if run on clay....

did some research on the reverse running sensored... no difference and can be done no prob, im gonna keep it cheap for now and get another hobbywing combo but i was tempted to grab a speed passion to try, one of my first concerns, and it wasnt that much work, it also let me offset the batt to kinda centralize the weight

no way is there anything more durable than an ol rc10gt!! (ok maybe my 8th buggy) i know sooo many people with gt's... if enough of them would convert, and bring em with, we could have a demo derby the shortcourse guys would be envious of... oh wait... you guys dont drive as bad as i do?

forget newcomers, i wanna run with old fat guys who like reinventing the wheel with whatever junk they have lying around!! if a 30 yr old buggy is still a solid platform people are reviving, how about a truck you can still get all the needed parts for cheap? i think it would be a treat to walk through the pits and see everyones home brews, ive always found the custom builds way more interesting than a clean kit... i guess im just a modeler at heart, trying to fit things that arent supposed to

[Sixtysixdeuce]

forget newcomers, i wanna run with old fat guys who like reinventing the wheel with whatever junk they have lying around!! if a 30 yr old buggy is still a solid platform people are reviving, how about a truck you can still get all the needed parts for cheap?

Lol. Well, I'm not that old and definitely not fat, but I agree with using on-hand parts to create something unique that you can still find replacement bits for. That's why I built this:





Only things I bought specifically for it were the motor can, the pinion gear, and the wheels & tires.

[sbcnyc]

now thats a swap meet build!...bet you could chuck that thing off a bridge and keep going....

im trying to go for a lil more track oriented...

[sbcnyc]

small update... the real progress was finally figuring out how to brace the chassis... everything is still rough and needs some cleaning up and i can seriously hog out the stands and brace for some weight savings... but I'm happy with the base, battery is super snug and would take a sledge to pop it out, biggest plus was having a point to tie in the motor mount, such a pain to bend the correct angle without a vice, heat, proper tools... but I'm proud of what it is with what i minimal tools i have at home (vice grips are my new best friends)... wish i could play r/c at work... would be soooo much easier to fab junk

gonna pirate my t2 for base running gear today, broke a rear arm holder last weekend, even though i have another set... I'm starting to realize the availability pain in vintage... although the re-re arm mounts look like a viable standby...

anyways... happy holidays everyone... hope you got and gave... this new macbook is a total shock... so much to discover... mavericks is nuts!... like going to brushless for the first time!

[sbcnyc]

detail

[THEYTOOKMYTHUMB]

Any video available of either of these? They look like great conversions.

[sbcnyc]

got nothing done today other than laziness... ill get to the electrics this week, just a matter of pulling the guts out my t2, running video is a good idea... ill try to take the trip to the outdoor track the next decent weekend and throw some vid together... would give a good vantage to get some setup ideas...

[Sixtysixdeuce]

gonna pirate my t2 for base running gear today, broke a rear arm holder last weekend, even though i have another set... I'm starting to realize the availability pain in vintage... although the re-re arm mounts look like a viable standby...

GT arm mounts have been in continuous production for 20 years, just only in black for the last 15. There are also a couple manufacturers of alloy mounts.

RC10/RC10T rear arm mounts will not work on a GT.

[sbcnyc]

so ive FINALLY run this beast only to be slightly disappointed by a traction problem, as expected, i have a super twitchy, oversteer on throttle issue, twitchy and spinout prone on hard throttle, but if driven super careful, has some serious knife edge, goes exactly where you want, but its super super sensitive to throttle and steering,

so my setup as follows... 30w front and rear, #3 pistons red springs front, 7 limiters up front, #1 piston grey springs 2 limiters rear (sc10 factory team stock setup shocks) inner hole on front arm, outer hole on tower, outer hole on rear arm, second to last outer hole on tower, 1deg of camber front and back, top inner hole on rear bulkhead, 30 deg caster blocks (t4 25's) front arms below level, rear arms cvd's level.... i was play running on some asphalt with panther slicks, figuring i could get a pseudo feel for lets say clay blue groove type of deal, i know its hard to compare the two but i needed to shake down somewhere

should i go lighter on the oil, take limiters out, add more antisquat? springs wrong?

anyways, i was running a tiny traxxas mini revo sized 2s lipo in place of the massive 8000 venom packs i planned at first, as a basher, but it really handles well, just too sensitive to my style of driving, kinda want it to be more lazy, without adding weight, maybe thats the problem, i have no way to measure what this thing weighs but is super feather with a tiny battery..

[sbcnyc]

22t mid body fits perrrrrrfect... too bad i cant paint for squat... rustoleum primer was all i had, and i really just wanted to run... i bought 3 more bodies to do something nice when i have it worked out

[sbcnyc]

so i played with a few things yesterday and handling is getting so much better, with no fear of a wreck ruining my fun, tumbled a few times traction rolling (!!!!!) and only a front camber link popped... i decreased my front camber angle to about half a degree, moved the bottom of the front shocks out, raised my rear ride height and lowered the steering epa... also plugged in my esc programmer and turned down the timing and raised the throttle throw, think i want to take some limiters out of the front shocks, as the ride height adjusters are acting like preload and making the front end too stiff, gonna go with blue front springs too and see what happens, also debating swapping stock gt rear arms to play with hub placement, and i have a set of 1 deg rear carriers, maybe more rear toe might help... trying to develop a push, on throttle kinda setup than go back and turn up the epa, increase camber so i can have it drift drive if slightly dusty... so much fun!!!!

its geared 83, 22 and after a 15 minute full blast its warm, im so psyched on this thing, i like it more than my t2!! way more of a challenge to set up but i feel its getting faster, big plus, i can womp on it with no fear of wacking the unobtainum rear motor plate or wrecking my only set of 3 deg rear arm mounts, t2 is gonna get the right body and a clean up, to be retired on the shelf

[sbcnyc]

looooooong overdue update, finally settled as i moved, found a track a half hr away thats super pro and legit, so i started getting some cars ready for the winter season...i dug out my e buggies, and my 4wd... than i saw the gt-e and i reallllllly got that itch....

i FINALLY have a nice big, barely traveled road footsteps from my door to play! so i pulled out the gt which has been "shelved" and forgotten about, decided i want to really tweak on it so it feels good enough to try my hand at racing it this winter, i know its bulletproof, but it had some quirks, managable, but needs that extra to get that on rails feel

first off i moved the nose plate forward which extends the wheelbase just under 11 1/2'' which made it waaaaay more stable, i got bigbores for it, but there the first gen and the seals suck, i added travel limiter spacers between the center guide and orings but left the shocks a bit sticky, smooth but not as free as they should be, i have a set of 22t 2.0 shocks im going to use if i cant get these to work better, i put a set from a 22-4 on my caster s10b 3.5 and they are just butter

so i charged a pack and did some passes, im way under geared, so i swapped in a real motor for the hpi 380 motor and geared up a bit on the pinion, 10.5 tekin gen 2 with the sensorless 60 amp hpi reloaded esc.... works great for a beater, pretty smooth and my hobbywing programmer works with it so i can tweak boost and timing if i want..

22/84 gearing is where im at, has nice punch but i can still go up as everything is super cool to the touch, tweaked on the camber, and i put 3mm spacers under the rear of the front bulkhead screws, to lessen the kickup and caster... i need to figure out a way to raise the front links on the tower, using the t4 caster blocks, the link is raised on the wheel side, i get a off power push than hook kinda steering on pavement, if i brush the brakes the truck comes right around, it kinda drives like a pin it, steer, skid, throttle... if that makes any sense, i also get a slight inside rear tire lift if i steer too tight than try to nail it... ive been trying to study pictures of the 22t 2.0 and the t5m to guestimate piviot positions in relation to hinge pin to maybe clue me into what directions i should go

waiting on some paint to finish my new lid, and heres proof you can make a gte conversion look "good".... well... to me at least!

[sbcnyc]

ya know, i always wondered why my rear ride height was funky, hence why i moved the rear shocks in to get droop, a fantastic rc10 enthusiast and designer mr Niki pointed out something i never paid any attention to, i bought a bunk gt off epay that came with a bunch of rpm stuff, including these rear hubs, hmmmm.... i think i found one of my issues..... dont tell my shrink