RC Monster MBX6 Conv Kit

[BRS]

After a delay in customs and an 18quid charge this came yesturday. The Kyosho spur is not part of the kit but everything else is. Bit tight only supplying one strap I thought and whats the deal with that is it suppost to go around the tray and battery, it doesnt look big enough (no provision to loop through the side of thr tray)?

I'll let you know how I get on with it, no instructions supplied not sure what the servo plate mounts on... The motor mount looks quality

[Marvin]

Looks nice!

Should be two straps - shoot Mike an email about it.

As far as the servo mount, you use the standard plastic blocks, then take off the stock top plate, then put the new one on (with the cross for the transponder facing outwards).

[BRS]

Had a quick look at it last night and worked out where stuff goes. There seems to only be one slot across the bottom for the one strap but I will email him and see what he says.
The zippy Lipo fits "like a glove" but as I thought the strap is too short for this brick esk battery.
All the mount points on the tray line up perfectly with the standard holes on the chassis. Some screws are supplied in the kit but not most of them which is a bit odd either supply all or non at all I would have thought?

The RX8 mounts straight onto the pre drilled tray nicely, shame that the motor to esc sensor wire is so long...

[BRS]

BTW the Kyosho spur looks like a non starter as the outdrive diam must be larger on the Kyosho to the Mugen and there are other significant differences.

[Marvin]

Hmm, I'm not too keen on the one strap, but it doesn't look like it could mount anywhere else easily.

Any normal sensor wire will fit the RX8 and you can get different length ones.

I think he supplies screws that are required if you include the ones you remove from the chassis. You are right though, all of them would be better.

[BRS]

Test ran the car on tarmac this weekend....flippineck its quick!!

Looking forward to getting on the track with it...if it ever stops snowing/rainging/freezing

Well impressed with the RC Monster Kit and the Zippy Lipo seems great will post a couplr more pics tomorrow.

Only problem with such a large battery is it wont fit under the standard mugen shell

[Marvin]

Glad to see it's going well.

I always found JConcepts shells to be roomy - I used one rather than my XB808 stock shell (which had to be raised).

[jasonwipf]

Originally Posted by BRS

Test ran the car on tarmac this weekend....flippineck its quick!!

Looking forward to getting on the track with it...if it ever stops snowing/rainging/freezing

Well impressed with the RC Monster Kit and the Zippy Lipo seems great will post a couplr more pics tomorrow.

Only problem with such a large battery is it wont fit under the standard mugen shell

Ya I had that problem too. I just use a Losi 8E body. Its looks sleek and has plenty of vents for electric cooling as well. I used a smaller mount on the back shock tower (front mount from a MBX5) to get a better fit. You can get all kinds of batteries in with this body.

Yes I have my ESC mounted on my center diff, the direct air flow from the front window keeps my temps so low I do not need fans and get 5% longer run times compared to a much hotter ESC on the chassis floor. Then to compensate for 70G of ESC being so high (center of gravitywise) I use longer flatter batteries in a hyper 9E battery case or a losi battery tray that brings my 480-640G batteries 10-15mm lower than those tall brick packs. I figure bringing 75-150G 15mm lower is good compensation for my ESC being higher and I get 20Deg F lower temps due to the better aire flow vs. chassis mounted ESC where the esc is hiding behind the tall brick pack.

In the end I honestly dont notice the lower center of gravity but do notice the better run times due to lower temps

Oh, BTW More and More folks over here in the states are only using 1-2 straps anyways. We all started with the 2-4 strap stuff in the beginning and if your a big time crasher you may want that or hardcase lipos. But if your a good driver and have a secure tray 1 strap works good and is fast especially if you have to do battery changes when running 20-60 minute mains with the gas guys ( thats another reason, as 1 strap with velcro body mounts gets battery changes down from 30 sec to about 15sec)

[BRS]

Thanks for thin info Jason thats great to know. If you use a different tray and a lower battery isnt it possible to use the Mugen shell though or is the roof height then the prob with the esc on the diff?


Pics

[jasonwipf]

No I have not had any problems with my RX8 on the diff with my standard body. Its close but it does work. your pics look good, unless your ESC has heating issues i might just leave it to be honest.

Only thing on your set up I might worry about is having the wire side of the pack on the front of the battery tray/car. Hard frontal accidents and hits will put alot of force on that and inside there you got delicate tab soders, a small circuit board like thing and I always fear a hard hit could mess something up inside that end vs. the other side.

[BRS]

Until I can get out and use the thing on a track I dont really know what to expect Jason Here in the UK its done nothing but snow/rain for 3months my local club www.pdmcc.co.uk has had to cancel most of the winter rounds so far.

I'm trying to source a 8e shell but they dont seem to be available in the UK at the moment.

Good call on the battery I'll look at flipping that over for safety

[jasonwipf]

WHAT? cancel the winter rounds because of rain and SNOW! With all the man made global warming we should have plenty of warm drought ridden dry days of racing. I'm going to write Al Gore and demand he get global warming back on track!

[BRS]

Ugly (as sin, but fits the massive battery under) Mugen Duracell bread van (sorry stole your idea Marvin)





Last lap of 20min A final I'm new to electric I thought the battery was going all I needed to do was creap round half a lap to get 3rd. In fact the grub screw had come out of the pinion and instead of harmlessly falling off it went into the mount and motor and destroyed it bending the rotor shaft DOH!!!!!!!!

[steelie600]

arrrrggh that looks pretty horrific sam!!!!, lets hope you get it fixed asap cos it did look well your car yesterday. But atleast you know yer battery will last 20 mins, and NNRC is a power hungry track, so somewhere like Stoke or Preston you should easily do 20 mins with power to spare

[Marvin]

Woah, that does look nasty actually. It's always come off the other way for me...

How dare you nick my bodyshell idea - that was classic - the first!

[BRS]

Must admitt it was brilliant fun to drive Kev...I'm hooked

Switch on ..... job done

[Marvin]

Might have to change that avatar...

Glad you like it.

[BRS]

Originally Posted by Marvin

Might have to change that avatar...

Glad you like it.

Yeah a burn Amps might have to be made

One thing I did notice with the electric conversion over nitro is the brakes, I'm used to having superb brakes setup bias just as I want. With ESC brakes its a different story, I usualy have my mechanical brakes setup so I can stop the car very quickly in the first 1/4 of the stick movement. With the ESC brakes I found it difficult to move the stick so far again to stop the car. Also with running the Mugen underdriven rear gearing the brakes applied through the drive train made the rear bias too much as the back wheels go slower than the front with that gearing.

When I initialy setup the ESC can I pull the stick back only half of the travel to trick it into making the brakes work faster? And what will happen if I go beyond that half way point? Or should I set a low end point on the brake, set the ESC then increase the end point to achieve the same?

[Marvin]

You can tweak the brake strength settings, from what I recall (you have my old ESC after all) they are at about 25% strength. Stick it up in increments of 10% until you are at a 'good setting'.

[BRS]

I plugged in the hotwire before that meeting Marv and it was 65% I upped it to 75%. I dont think its the brake strength thats the problem more the stick movement required to make the brakes work. Its something I've picked up from how David Crompton sets his brakes up, like maximum brakes at only a 1/4 stick travel. Theres no real need to have to move the stick all the way it just takes longer. You have to know what your doing though as to do this you set the end point so that if you use full stick you can damage the servo/horn/radio tray

I'll try a few different things and see what works..