DEAD THREAD>---OK, NOW!

EDIT: I NEED TO REPOST THIS LATTER SORRY.-----> skip down two post!

So do you want this deleted, or just let it be till you repost?

LMK

Ok lets try again:

I've been inspired by a few of the toy rc to real rc conversions here so...

I don't know if I ever mentioned it here (I think I may have) but a year or two ago I bought a 1/6 scale Tony Stewart RC made by Team-Up. I bought it expecting it to be crap but at least look good on a shelf in the garage. I didn't even bother charging it for probably six months or so after getting it. Then one day when I was bored I decided to try it...it was way better than I expected. For anyone unfamiliar with these cars they are 34 inches long, weigh about 15 pounds and go an honest 20mph (I checked by having a friend pace it on his Kawasaki). On a full charge they have enough torque to spin the massive rubber tires.

Anyway, I mentioned it a friend who visits twice a year on average, he mentioned he had a "big" RC car too and he'd bring it with him...it turned out to be a FG 1/5 scale car; bastard. Anyway, it was a lot faster (duh) but with his lack of driving skills I could keep up sporadically. Anyways, It got me to thinking, what would a few minor upgrades do to this thing? I played with the idea and then, like most of my ideas, I forgot about it...until today.

I was moving some stuff around and got tired...I am getting old after all. I was sitting there looking at this big car and the ideas started flowing again. The car runs on a 12v nicad battery, I expected the motor to be some huge canned industrial engine, but from what I can see it looks to be a generic 540! Sort of like the silver can Tamiya motors from a few years ago. So upgrading that should be easy... It looks like it has metal gears! but mounted in a plastic housing but they seem to be on a flat plastic piece so maybe I could cut an aluminum or mild steel piece to hold them. The receiver/esc is a circuit board, but the electronics could stand upgrading anyway...not that they don't work, it's more of the giant dork-like feeling you get standing there with a bright orange plastic air ratchet as a transmitter. The steering servo looks to be a standard servo. The biggest downfall is the huge injection molded chassis, and of course a totally un-adjustable suspension.

I have another project in the early planning stages but I think this could be a simple upgrade thing that will not take up that much time, so, I think I need a plan for upgrading, I'll know more once I get things actually torn apart, but for now I'm thinking, start with a stronger motor. then the electronics, then if it perks it up enough to make it worth the effort a brake-line tubing frame that uses the stock suspension (for now anyway), or maybe I'd be better off using a fiberglass sheet, CF would be great but a budget buster.

I'm thinking it could be pretty cool once I add some power and cut some weight. Any thoughts on the idea?

Some stock photos:

OK, part two...I know it's before most of you have even seen part one, but what the heck, I'm on a roll.


I started to tear this down to get some idea of what to do, then my idiot brother called and wouldn't hang up so this is as far as I managed to get. The car has roughly a 17-4/5 inch wheelbase (hub to hub), I say roughly because I was using an old 12inch wooden ruler and talking on the phone as I measured. It's track from outside to outside of the tires at least in the rear, but it "looks" the same in the front) is 11-3/4 inches. Overall length looks to be 34 inches from the front of the giant cheesy plastic bumper to the back of the equally cheesy rear bumper.

SO pictures (please remember I was on the phone and using auto focus...but more because I'm lazy than the phone thing).

For an idea of scale the car on top is a Jada diecast 1/24 scale (but its the biggest damned 1/24 scale I've ever seen, I was thinking bigger until I looked at the box):



The bottom with the battery door removed (10 cell nicad):


The top (yes, I know it needs cleaned but I figured why clean it before tear down?):


The rear pod (gearbox, suspension, motor...):


Motor and rusty spring:


Other side rear, no rusty spring:


Front suspension from bottom, bizarre servo saver setup... it's clear plastic?):


Front top (focused on tire...arrgh):


But what amazed me most was the intricate, no, delicate work on the board...I think and electronics update is in this cars future. Although in Team Up's defense I can't complain about how it works, It seems about as accurate as most stock hobby grade cars...just massively bigger:

The good news is that it has a replaceable fuse, so I should be able to push the power input without cooking the board...well, if the fuse works quickly enough...:


So, that's what I have so far. I'm thinking with the lenght of the chassis plate being around 20inches or so (17-4/5in wheelbase) I might price carbon fiber after all...then when I realize how much it will cost, I'll think of something else. I like Ripper's idea of polycarbonate, but I was wondering if anyone has played with polypropylene? It can be welded with a plastic welder but I cant tell from the specs how rigid or heavy it is...crap scientific numbers.

Any ideas or input will be appreciated...btw I'm planning on taking my time and keeping the cost down(if I can).

i think we had some polypropylene at school, it was pretty heavy stuff, tho it was like 1/2 in thick and i think we had some in different weights, i'ld try fiberglass over like balsa thats crazy light, then use balsa or basswood braces, you can make a great chassie that way...
as for the motor, GO BL yah,

the lug

I think eventually brushless would be good, but for now I'm trying to keep the cost down. I'm thinking of doing an aluminum tube chassis, it should be strong enough and the place I plan on running it most is big and open so it shouldn't be running into a lot of solid objects. Well, not all the time. Ok, not hard anyway.

did you check the travel on those shocks it looks like they have two "bodies" so you get like 1/8 in of compression, i had that on a crap shack RC, it looks like you may have the same deal, just pointing that out, idk if you noticed it or not...

the lug

Yeah, they are defiantly headed for the trash can. I don't need a bunch of travel but it would be nice if they were actually shocks. I'm thinking something from a Truggy might fit, the problem will be finding the right spring.

The biggest problem to starting the build right now is that I'd like to get some baseline times, I'm thinking a flying 176 feet to measure top speed (88 feet per second is 60mph so at 60 it would take 2 seconds...at 20mph it would take six seconds). Then maybe a 200ft drag...Then a set length oval, maybe 60ft straights with 40ft turns. That way I can measure any progress against stock. Of course it's snowing, and even after it clears I need warm pavement so that I don;t have to factor traction into the numbers.

This is a sweet build man! I have a couple brushed motors if you need em, PM me if you want more info

Cool, it will be a while until I get to that stage, but I'll let you know when I get that far. Right now I'm thinking of taking the easy way out and using a composite chassis, I was looking at CF but it's way to expensive for that size. Polycarbonate plate with an aluminum tube roll cage. I want to keep the nascar tube frame idea, but making the chassis out of aluminum might be too weak. I'm planning one putting together a basic box out of aluminum tubing, attaching it to the front of an old chassis, and then raming it into a curb. Then I'll know which way to go depending on how much damage there is. Well, that, and I think crash testing sounds like fun.

Crash testing if done requires a vid LOL!

Yeah, thats what I was thinking...I wish I knew what happened to my video camera, I hvaen't seen it since I moved...

LOL, we all loose something when me move. Its just one of the risks...

Well, I'm gathering the stuff so that when it's warmer out I can dive right in on this build...but until then check out "Project Armageddon." It's a bit more manageable for a winter build.