Australian RC Forums banner

My Alloy Beast - FG Baja RWD

36K views 229 replies 13 participants last post by  sperera 
#1 ·
WOOOHOOOOO!!!!!! ;);););)

My Alloy FG Baja RWD has arrived!

Im at work so not allowed to open the box :(

Ill take some pics tonight and get it up tommorow. The baja is second hand, fully rebuilt by a mate who spent over $6K, most of its elcon. Ill get a list of the upgrades shortly.
 
#2 ·
It's running the original G260 Zen with modified and strengthened VRC pipe, ADA billet manifold and billet fan cover, pull start handle and outwares on filter and pullstart.

All suspension arms are elcon with extended kit in the rear and full marder billet conversion in the front with extended axle blocks - it's much more stable with the wide stance!

Rok RC wheel wizards (HPI adapters)are fitted with white rovan rims.Also got bulletproof elcon drivetrain with FG billet spur carrier and FG gears throughout, elcon diffbrake is fitted also. FG billet viscous diff is fitted and just had fresh 60K oil.

Nutech alloy rear shock brace and beautiful top end Lauterbacher shocks on all corners.

FG ball drive cups and elcon extended ball drive shafts are used. FG alloy rear uprights and M/T plastic front uprights are fitted - these are the only ones i found reliable - the alloys always came loose and ended up stripping.

It's got an alloy RACE radio tray and alloy FG servo saver with Hitec 5665 Steering servo with alloy horn and 5645 throttle/brake servo with alloy and VP4600mha battery pack - will not come with radio or receiver.

Custom front cage section with Integy roof scoop. Steel rod ends have been used throughout the entire car.

Its got heaps more upgrades and a massive bag of spares but you get the idea, no expense spared on this one. Great find in my opinion.

I need to work out some braking on it and get myself a spekky receiver before I can run it, hopfully wont be too long.
 
#4 ·
yeah I tried to keep it hush :D

this thing is a beast mate, cant wait to bring it out.
 
#5 ·
ok so unpacked the box last night and WOW, this thing looks SPECTACULAR!

so strong and purposful. I installed my spare spekky receiver, this one glitched a long time ago in my FG MT and I havent used it since, but for some bench testing should be fine.

Hoping to find time to start sussing out some braking for it tonight, might take me a few nights though.

Massive box of spares, alomst enough to build a stocker LOL.

Can wait to fire this thing up!





 
#6 ·
and here's a few more pics.





 
#7 ·
and lucky last.

 
#9 ·
thanks, much appreciated, so far i couldnt be happier with the purcahse.

spent some time mounting the cliper assy (pics below) and to be honest i cant see this working very effectivly at all without some serious mods.

main concern with the brakes is pushing it by hand the caliper arm is only a couple of mm off touching the clutch bell! using a decent servo with torque this arms is going to touch the bell, cant be having that!

im going to need to try and fabricate an arm for it I think. no way i cant bend this one, dontt think the cliper is adjustable but going to pull it apart just to check.

also finished putting the front rims together.

started it up for the first time in garage last night, man that VRC pipe is LOUD! sound very snappy!




 
#11 ·
certainly is, arrive the other day and just trying to get it set up for first run.

im going to put a proper braking kit when the funds allow but for now the rear brake is good enough.

i cant run the std layshaft brake either because of the elcon gear carrier.
 
#12 ·
Ok so i pulled the caliper out again last night, found a grub screw on the arm, removed the arm and saw the shaft that pushes the two pads together. It only had one flat spot where the grub screw secures the arm onto the shaft.

So I got out the dremel, made another flat spot on the shaft and repositioned the arm, now the contact point where the pads squeeze the disc the arm is no where near the clutch bell anymore.

To finish it off all i need to do is make up my own linkage from arm to servo horn. im thinking bike spoke wire is prolly the same stuff so see if I can find one of those lying around somewhere.
 
#13 ·
just ran two tanks, man this engine is awesome! so strong throught the rev range.

I couldnt get the original carby it came with to idle even, so I put my 668 off the 4wd on it and that fixed it up. got some clutch shoes off stu, their very low so im still looking for a pair if anyone can help me out.

but damn this engine was screaming!

its got severe understeer so I might try my hostiles on it and see if that helps. touch the throttle while trying to turn and it ploughs straight foward.

This was at ordish rd though which is hardpack and very slippery, the 5b's seems to struggle to even go in a straight line but the fg had none of those problems. this is going to be a track weapon once I get it to where I want it.
 
#14 ·
Here's a couple more pics of the brake linkages im trying to make work.

Ive decided to put a plastic sleeve over the cable, main reason is to make it more rigid. what im trying to do is use a cable for flexibility but keep it rigid enough to push the caliper arm back when im not on the brakes.

Its not working. cable still has too much flex and i havent adjusted the length right as its bugger all braking.

Im confident the elcon caliper can be made to work and work well, i just need to keep tickering until ive got it better.

Just not sure if I should give up the cable idea and go back to a rod?



 
#15 ·
found some welding rod at work, going to see what I can knock together in my lunch break, stay tuned for more pics.
 
#16 ·
ok spent my lunch break in the workshop and here's what ive done.

had enough of trying to get the cable to to work so grabbed a welding rod and shaved the edges with a grinder so the (dont know what there called) end stopper thingys fit.

its a steel rod so the beds you can see had to be done in a vice. overall im quite happy, gave it a 5 second test and seems to lock up easily on concrete floor, give it a good test tommorow.




 
#17 ·
Thats bodgie. I.m going to Kelletts in the morning would u like me to see if they have that extension piece for the servo arm. And what u could do is modify that arm by bending it up a bit with the oxy then u will get a straighter pull. That brake set up has bushes so it should be strong enough. The welding rod will become weak.
 
#20 ·
thanks for the feeback fella's much appreciated.

previous owner had a rod that ran through the clutch bell carrier but its been touching the clutch bell, and eaten a part of the original rod, so i didnt want to make the same mistake, or what i thought to be a mistake anyway.

seano thank you very much for the offer, i will kindly pass on it for now though.

with regards to your comment about the rod bending into servo horn (thats what I think your commenting about anyway) i dont understand the issue on this, original rod that comes with the RTR has same 90 degree bend into servo horn. because the rod is so rigid I didnt see a problem to this, if you think im wrong please tell me as maybe ive missed something.

ran 2.5 tanks through the beast on sat.

man im loving this thing, had a few mild rolls, no damage, one of them the wing folded in half but then flexed back to normal
it was the slipperiest and dustiest ive ever seen it, 2wd struggled to come out of the corners and I looped it many many times, but that due to lack of talent on my part and slippery conditions. I just couldnt keep up with the MCD LOL.

gave it a strip down and bath last night, going to get it all ready for this weekends club meet.

Heres some action from saturday.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTwcIYtXes0&feature=player_embedded
 
#21 ·
did some more work last night getting it ready for the weekend (first club meet).

finished putting the radio tray back in (didnt add any o rings yet, i want to get some alloy tubing to completely re-do the radio tray mounts), re-did my failsafe, notice that when failsafe kicks in it went 50% throttle, not 50% brake! DONT WANT THAT!

put in a new clutch, while taking the bolt out of the braket for the pipe that goes into the clutch bell carrier the braket just fell off the pipe, must have knocked the weld off on my last run when I had a couple of rolls. bit surprised coz the rolls were soft.

i need to find a welder locally to get this back on. the pipe still has 2 outher mounting brakets so ill still run, just maybe take it a bit easier until this is back on.

also finsihed fixing the rear rims, last run the innder beadlocks ripped out, not surprised the way this engine is screaming LOL :D

 
#22 ·
ok finished putting everything back together on the beast last night. all cleaned and ready to get dirty again :D

now got a new rovan clutch with 8k spring in it, and fitted my hostiles, going to run the bow ties on my 4wd.

here's a pic of it all clean and ready for action :D

 
#23 ·
OK there's something strange going on with both my receiver batteries. if anyones followed my 4wd thread they know what im talking about.

basically it seems to drain allot of mah with bugger all useage.

after the weekend, after running 2.5 tanks in it, I charged it at 0.8amps (safe in my opinion, VP Racing 5 cell 6volt 4600mah) and it took about 1200mah. that seems pretty normal to me.

anyone during the week I did some cleaning, took out the radio tray, put it back in, maybe had power to it for 10 mins so i could check my EPA when I put the radio tray back in and thats it. I charged it again last night at 0.5 amps and it took 2200mah and I had to turn it off as I was going to bed, it was still going!

the receiver battery in my 4WD, same brand, same specs, does exactly the same thing.

WHY???
 
#25 ·
I buy all my bits from chequeredflagracing.com.au.

he is Australia's only liscenced FG importer and knows his stuff. I know the owner (Colin) personally and have been to his house. I couldnt speak highly enough of his service and is a top bloke in general.
 
#26 ·
just got a delivery from a mate, sent me some padles and rims.

never run paddles before, should be interesting :D

 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top