Going brushless

[Preacher]

I recently dug out my KM Baja after about 4 years of sitting in my garage. I have decided to convert it to brushless. I ordered and received that motor and esc. I ordered the Rovan conversion kit, but there are fitment issues. What is everyone (if anyone is still doing this) using for the conversion kit? I would love to have the CC conversion kit, but it is long discontinued.

 

[Rceverywhere]

Hpi just re-released the baja 5b, they have gas and electric rollers, no rtr's but maybe you could find a part to help you??? There's guys here with them, what is your fitment issue?

 

[Preacher]

The hole spacing on the engine mount is 25mm but the hole spacing on the motor is 30mm. I have it mounted but it won't allow for much adjustment. The top plate (where the esc) sits doesn't fit flat. I may use some small washers and set it up about quarter inch for more clearance.

 

[Rceverywhere]

Oh dear! Must be options for motor sizes, maybe rovan has one? Quarter inch sounds like alot, may put extra stess on the bolts, if you can show off your rig and a close up on your trouble spot with pics, something must be possible

 

[Preacher]

Already talked to Rovan. They used to offer an adapter plate, but not anymore. I have dremeled out the mounting slots in the mount plate to allow me to bolt up the motor. When I get the new pinion gear, I'll test fit everything to make sure I have the proper mesh.

 

[Rceverywhere]

We just love pics, don't be shy. Soon there may be more responses as guys on the forum live worldwide and may still be sleeping, working or wrenching

 

[Preacher]

As you can see, everything is kinda mounted. I'm going to drill a hole in the top plate to route the wires from the motor to the esc. The only way to mount the fans was forward. They will be pulling hot air off of the motor towards the batteries . As you can see in the second pic, I used washers to set the top plate higher for a little more clearance. Any advice will be appreciated. I'm new to all of this and not used to having to modify parts to work. But looks like I have no choice.

 

[Rceverywhere]

OK.. I think that will be fine. That top plate is non stressed and just holds the esc I think. I don't have an electric baja, just a gas one. But I've seen a few pics to have that idea. Hopefully one of the guys can confirm or correct me.

 

[Preacher]

I thought about your idea of using flux parts. I looked at the mounts and how they attach to the rear chassis. Looks like the gas and the flux use the same rear chassis. Now I just need to find someone who can tell me what the hole spacing on the mount is. If the spacing is 30mm then I'm going to order the mounts used in the flux. Since this is a winter project, I'm in no real hurry.

 

[Preacher]

Been looking for the motor mount from HPI. Looks like I'm going to have to order it from Europe. The other parts are available in the States. Just not the mount.

 

[StretchMaK]

fid racing has a kit for around 90 bucks i think, has all the parts to change over to electric. See them on ebay.

 

[Preacher]

Thanks for turning me on to that vendor. I took RCeverywhere's suggestion about using 5b flux parts. The gas and flux have the same rear chassis. I have ordered all of the parts (some from Europe) and everything should be here next week and I should be able to get that part of the project done.

 

[StretchMaK]

I put one of the HPI kits together last winter and went with the "FLUX" version. A lot more options on places to run it.

 

[Preacher]

I put one of the HPI kits together last winter and went with the "FLUX" version. A lot more options on places to run it.

Same here. When I had the gas engine I had to choose when I ran it because of the noise. Now that I'm going brushless, I can pretty much run it anytime I want.

 

[Preacher]

I ended up ordering the motor mount plate from a vendor in the Netherlands. I finally got notice (after a month) that it cleared customs here in the States and is on the way. When it arrives I can proceed with the build.

 

[Rceverywhere]

Man, that's a long wait! At least you found one and it's coming. I have a truck on back order from hpi at my lhs. Fingers crossed that it comes. Bit worried about hpi, don't like the thought of them disappearing

 

[Seandonato73]

Wouldn't be rhe first time they did....

 

[Preacher]

My mail ran and finally the motor mount arrived. It has been over a month. I can't imagine what customs was inspecting for that long.

 

[Preacher]

Thanks for the suggestions, Rceverywhere. This was definely the right direction when converting to brushless.

 

[Preacher]

Happy Thanksgiving to all!!

Decided I would go out and do a little work on the 5b while the wife prepared dinner. Got the whole rear end and transmission back in and got ready to slide the gears on, only to discover that I have the wrong lay shaft (the electric one is shorter). Now I have to take everything apart again when the new lay shaft arrives. What a bummer. The only good thing is that now I'm also going to upgrade the transmission case.