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Just got done assembiling tougether a buggy champ. What a fun car to run! Anyone else here using theres ore are they all shelf queens? What are you running for motors? I'm looking to upgradr to something only slightly faster than the stock 540, something that the kit speed control can handle. Any suggestions? I have 2 old tamiya black endurance motors here but I am not sure they are any good.

As of now, mine is a shelf queen. But, that's just cause I haven't had a chance to go play with it yet. I will run mine, eventually.

As for a motor, maybe consider a Tamiya Sport Tuned. They're the same size as the silver cans, so it should fit nicely, they're not too hot either so it should be alright on your stock ESC. They are considerably faster than the silver can.

Is that motor a closed endbell or open because I'd like it to fit under the plastic motor cover.

It's closed. It looks pretty much exactly like a silver can, but it has a brown can and a black sticker. Should fit exactly as the kit supplied motor does, just have a little more horsepower.

I havn't built my buggy champ yet or even opened the box to look at the manual. From what I have read about the kit the silver can and sport tuned motors are about your only two choices that work in that gear case.

I'd say that's right rctenracer. The way the motor is held in place is very peculiar. To be honest, when I put mine together I really thought I had missed a step because I couldn't figure out what was holding the motor in place and what was going to prevent it from spinning around when I hit the throttle. I guess it's just held in by friction. There are no motor screws holding the motor in place. That's fine though, I would think the Sport Tuned would give the Buggy Champ plenty of speed. I can't imagine anybody wanting to drop anything much hotter than a Sport Tuned in there in the first place. I don't think I'd want to drive a Buggy Champ with a 15 turn motor, for the same reason I wouldn't want to drive a stock model T with a blown Hemi.

If you look at the inside of the gearcase there is two little pins that lock into the bolt holes in the motor to keep it from spinning. I guess I can run a open endbell mod motor by drilling some holes in the case to bolt it in and leaving the motor cover off. I will try one of thoes black can motors instead because I really don't want to alter the case and becides the car doesen't need oodles of power anyways.

I just measured a sport tuned and a dirt tuned motor. Both are the same dia. and overall lenght . You may be able to put in other motors without any modificatoins. Like I say I haven't looked at the manual. But with a mod motor will cooling be a issue. Me I'am going to use a new sport tuned that I have . Maybee order some aluminum wheel halfs from ebay. Post some pics if you get a chance.

illshou wrote:I guess I can run a open endbell mod motor by drilling some holes in the case to bolt it in and leaving the motor cover off.

This is what I did to my rough rider runner. I have an epic 17turn in it with a novak GT2 esc. The acceleration is balistic for this buggy. You may need to take the sticker off the motor to make it fit. The clearance is tight.

How does the trans stand up to the added power?

Gear box can handle the power pretty well. If you want to make it bullet proof, find the brass CRP gears.