D3MON
Hardcore RCTalk User
been awhile since i had posted what i was working on and now that the truck is almost done figured now would be the time to post. will add pictures when i get them on my PC.
The Start-
after i got the evaders up and running and had the fiance learning the ins and outs with it she was wanting a Nitro MT to run with my MGT and LST, and wanted a 4wd as most of the places we go to bash are really loose and hard to control 2wd on.
After a bit of perusing ebay, we found an AE MGT 3.0 for sale for a price that was too hard to pass up on.
the truck was pretty rough, front diff case shock tower mounts were broken and held together with a Zip Tie, slight crack in the chassis, bearings were toast, much of the 2-speed assembly was missing/removed/modified as the previous owner had home fab'd up a electric conversion out of some sort of construction joist brace, strange forward only lockout was drilled into the top of the transmission. it did come with some Traxxas Big Bore shocks though so was happy about that.
The Assesment and Parts -
first day we got it went over the truck cleaning it up, getting all the mud off, assessing what was broken or needing replaced. after quite a bit of searching, slowly started buying parts necessary (finding the parts was 3/4 of the battle.) managed to find most of the parts off ebay including 90% of the 2 speed assembly, but could not find diff cases and shock towers, so ended up finding them for really cheap through integy and went ahead and got those. for some reason it was near impossible to find spur gears aside from a set in Germany but was having a hard time coming to terms with spending 30$ or so for shipping. ended up finding 2 pairs at Thobbies.com (guy was super helpfull, even went out and pulled the parts to confirm they had them in stock.) i did end up having to purchase the clutchbell from the ebay store in Germany as i was unable to find one in the states.
The Rebuild-
after receiving all (or so we thought) the parts, got to putting everything together. ended up taking about 4 hours on the front diff as when the shock tower mounts broke off, it exposed the diff gears. which in turn caused alot of debris to enter and moisture. luckily nothing was damaged too bad (looked like it may have been test ran once before they shelved it so very little physical damage) and the surface rust came off easy. screws and bearings were too far gone though, but was expected. went through, shimmed the diffs, (i was pleasantly surprised with the fitment quality of the integy diff cases.)
we ordered some integy hub carriers as well as i read a few reviews on forums that they held up well. bearings are quite a bit larger on the integy piece, but the bigger bearing took up too much space and the pin wont go through the axle. (going to get a second set of axles to put on a lathe and make work).
final piece of the puzzle was figuring out an engine. initially i was intending on putting either the Fantom FR15 engine, or one of the DTX .18 engines from the evaders. found out a bit late that they both have the same incorrect type of flywheel type. they both utilize the "small Flywheel" piece, which keys to the crankshaft. and that key makes it impossible to just put a collet and flywheel to make it work.
(the "small Flywheel" pushes the clutchbell to far to line up with the spur gears.)
at this point knew it was going to be a new engine in store, but trying to find a decent priced .18 engine with SG style crank (preferable, or short style pilot type) and a rotary carb was proving to be difficult. after some research i found that it was quite simple to convert the truck to a slide carb which widened the options, and bypassed some peoples issues of the bellcrank assembly sticking when returning to idle. (and not requiring more parts to be ordered.)
was debating back and forth between the HPI G3.0 (which i later learned came in a rotary carb configuration anyway), dynamite .19 Mach 2, or SH .18.
ended up going with the HPI G3.0 the SH would require use of a pilot shaft, and the dynamite would require some sort of starter mechanism to be purchased.
the throttle linkage proved to be really simple, bought some dubro linkage rods (think 2-56) and linkage accessories and got to making it work. was a bit difficult as the linkage to the break needed to be long enough, but not too long to where the end would push against the battery box.
the process took about 3 months or so of tracking down parts, re-assessing what was needed and waiting on shipping.
Currently-
still in the mail is a 2-speed shaft brace, body, and spur gear cover.
it was intact enough that i did break the engine in and man does this G3.0 fly on this truck.
from factory though, the LSN was very lean, which i though was weird. couldnt get it to idle so went through and double checked the needles and idle gab and got it back to idling ended up being about 3/4 turn lean.
will try to post pics tonight.
The Start-
after i got the evaders up and running and had the fiance learning the ins and outs with it she was wanting a Nitro MT to run with my MGT and LST, and wanted a 4wd as most of the places we go to bash are really loose and hard to control 2wd on.
After a bit of perusing ebay, we found an AE MGT 3.0 for sale for a price that was too hard to pass up on.
the truck was pretty rough, front diff case shock tower mounts were broken and held together with a Zip Tie, slight crack in the chassis, bearings were toast, much of the 2-speed assembly was missing/removed/modified as the previous owner had home fab'd up a electric conversion out of some sort of construction joist brace, strange forward only lockout was drilled into the top of the transmission. it did come with some Traxxas Big Bore shocks though so was happy about that.
The Assesment and Parts -
first day we got it went over the truck cleaning it up, getting all the mud off, assessing what was broken or needing replaced. after quite a bit of searching, slowly started buying parts necessary (finding the parts was 3/4 of the battle.) managed to find most of the parts off ebay including 90% of the 2 speed assembly, but could not find diff cases and shock towers, so ended up finding them for really cheap through integy and went ahead and got those. for some reason it was near impossible to find spur gears aside from a set in Germany but was having a hard time coming to terms with spending 30$ or so for shipping. ended up finding 2 pairs at Thobbies.com (guy was super helpfull, even went out and pulled the parts to confirm they had them in stock.) i did end up having to purchase the clutchbell from the ebay store in Germany as i was unable to find one in the states.
The Rebuild-
after receiving all (or so we thought) the parts, got to putting everything together. ended up taking about 4 hours on the front diff as when the shock tower mounts broke off, it exposed the diff gears. which in turn caused alot of debris to enter and moisture. luckily nothing was damaged too bad (looked like it may have been test ran once before they shelved it so very little physical damage) and the surface rust came off easy. screws and bearings were too far gone though, but was expected. went through, shimmed the diffs, (i was pleasantly surprised with the fitment quality of the integy diff cases.)
we ordered some integy hub carriers as well as i read a few reviews on forums that they held up well. bearings are quite a bit larger on the integy piece, but the bigger bearing took up too much space and the pin wont go through the axle. (going to get a second set of axles to put on a lathe and make work).
final piece of the puzzle was figuring out an engine. initially i was intending on putting either the Fantom FR15 engine, or one of the DTX .18 engines from the evaders. found out a bit late that they both have the same incorrect type of flywheel type. they both utilize the "small Flywheel" piece, which keys to the crankshaft. and that key makes it impossible to just put a collet and flywheel to make it work.
(the "small Flywheel" pushes the clutchbell to far to line up with the spur gears.)
at this point knew it was going to be a new engine in store, but trying to find a decent priced .18 engine with SG style crank (preferable, or short style pilot type) and a rotary carb was proving to be difficult. after some research i found that it was quite simple to convert the truck to a slide carb which widened the options, and bypassed some peoples issues of the bellcrank assembly sticking when returning to idle. (and not requiring more parts to be ordered.)
was debating back and forth between the HPI G3.0 (which i later learned came in a rotary carb configuration anyway), dynamite .19 Mach 2, or SH .18.
ended up going with the HPI G3.0 the SH would require use of a pilot shaft, and the dynamite would require some sort of starter mechanism to be purchased.
the throttle linkage proved to be really simple, bought some dubro linkage rods (think 2-56) and linkage accessories and got to making it work. was a bit difficult as the linkage to the break needed to be long enough, but not too long to where the end would push against the battery box.
the process took about 3 months or so of tracking down parts, re-assessing what was needed and waiting on shipping.
Currently-
still in the mail is a 2-speed shaft brace, body, and spur gear cover.
it was intact enough that i did break the engine in and man does this G3.0 fly on this truck.
from factory though, the LSN was very lean, which i though was weird. couldnt get it to idle so went through and double checked the needles and idle gab and got it back to idling ended up being about 3/4 turn lean.
will try to post pics tonight.