I got the Baja bug..

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tujuhbintang

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Hey there everyone, i'm Rahman. I've just ordered a KM Baja KSRC002, the 30.5cc version with the nylon bits. I have to say i'm stoked, i've been wanting one of these so badly for the past couple of years now, finally able to afford one albeit barely.

I'm from Brunei, quite a way from most of you guys. I am seriously envious of what you guys got over in North America & Europe: dedicated R/C tracks, R/C parts easily available, machining equipment and stuff. I had to pay thru the nose to get my Baja shipped to where I am, $151.00 and that's not including import tax, 20% on the total cost. The R/C scene here is not too bad i suppose, but the majority of the peeps here either play EP drift (as I did, once upon a time) or Nitros (as i did too), so I can't just pop out to the shops and get something easily.

A bit of R/Cing background on me: used to play EP truggies, crawlers and drifts, also had a short stint with a nitro, a 1/8 Kyosho 777 running an OS Racing .28. But nitro costs are waaay too pricey here, plus the hobby shops charges an arm and a leg for parts. I'm a basher by nature, but am relatively clueless when it comes to the technical bits. I do like to tinker, but my experience when it comes to fixing or modding an engine-based R/C is laughable, to say the least. Used to have a buddy whom I depend on for my nitro, but work and everyday life got in the way, came to the point where i just left my $1500 buggy with him. Too finicky and far too fragile for my liking.

Sorry for such a long post, just wanted to thank you guys for making this forum and bothering to put up infos and details for mods and fixes, useful for a total newbie like me (i actually read ALL the threads on the KM, all the way to the first page :D) and looking at the scene here in Brunei, I think i'll be quite on my own :sleep:

Is it okay if I scream here like a banshee on fire if i need help? :lol:
 
Aye, i'm sure i will. Props to u personally tho Lan, ur posts helped me a lot in choosing: i hd some trouble deciding to go with either KM or HPI, but your views + your awesome General Lee rocked my world.

At least, the one with 1/5s in it :D
 
thanks bro. the quality of the KM's seems to have gotten better since i got mine, and the biggest sell point is fact if you barter a bit with Dan u can usually get one from his ebay store for a lil less than ebay add states. the T1000 i got ebay add was like 830 something round that, after chatting with him and makin counteroffers, i got mine for 735 therebouts. hpis run ya over a grand stock. so really its a no brainer, KM, buy money saved can be invested in upgrades, if just up to what hpi runs ya, and you end up with a tuffer truck than stock hpi is, and cool thing is most km's already come with upgrades that hpi don't, again no brainer.

if ya don't already, invest in a good quality set of allens for the truck, and before ya run it pop the air filter off check inner filter for oiling, if no oil, buy some and oil it. if you area is dusty, get a pullstart and air filter outerwears for them.

and prolly one of the biggest things to check on before running is that diff is full of oil, which means u will have to do a partial teardown in back to get trans case out and open it to get diff out and open it.

just do these prep things and it will last longer for ya. you can do some upper top side alloy upgrades, if ya want, if its got the nylon a arms your in good shape, mine doesn't but i have a full set of RPM arms for backups if i break a a arm. some folks have said the stock servos have failed on them, mine didnt but i upgraded to 5755 and 7955 hitech servos. oh and one other very important thing you DO need to get, is a killer Bee appropriate for the radio, if its the stock flysky brand, a Version 1 KB will work.
 
I just screenshotted your reply dude :D i got some Hudy drivers from back in my Nitro days, planning on getting some other stuff too. I lost a lot of my stuff, freak accident involving a gas tank blew my workspace apart. No insurance, so yeah. Sad day for me. Anywayy...

Where i live its usually hot and wet, tropic temperate climate means i need to pay a lot of attention to my engines & motors. Not sure if I can get the proper oils for the diffs and shocks; i might have to use commercial variants not related to R/Cing. I'll be shopping around tho, if i don't find anything useable i guess i just have to bite the bullet and (gulp) import a lot of stuff.

But then, I knew what I was getting into anyway, I know myself very well, I'll end up making my Mastercard weep electronic tears before too long :D

Imma build me a rig that can withstand all sorts of abuse :D
 
Thanks RSM, i have no doubt. Loving the blue on your ride tho, i have been agonising over what colour scheme I should go with on my Baja (dyeable nylon parts! OH MY :w00t:), I've usually done up my R/cs red and black.

But that blue... dang. :lol:
 
tujuhbintang said:
Thanks RSM, i have no doubt. Loving the blue on your ride tho, i have been agonising over what colour scheme I should go with on my Baja (dyeable nylon parts! OH MY :w00t:), I've usually done up my R/cs red and black.

But that blue... dang. :lol:
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Thanks!!!!!!!!! that the fun of the R/C world go with the colors you like best.
 
rcspeedmart said:
Thanks!!!!!!!!! that the fun of the R/C world go with the colors you like best.
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Lol, definitely. I'm a scaler by inclination, but i'm probably not going to go for ultra-realism like i did my Tamiya FJ40... Just wanna build a buggy that can speed over lava if need be :D
 
Lan-Ed-Tul said:
if you do have any hobby places that are carrying rc stuff, i think you mentioned there are, they should have the diff oil, or can get it for you.
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Aye, i'd have to check. Would diff oil for 1/8 scale diffs work as well for the diff in the 1/5s? I was rather concerned about the sheer size difference becoming a factor in mechanical fluid choice. If they don't make a difference, I may be able to scrounge up some diff oil and shock oil too...

If there IS a difference, I'd probably need to wring my local hobby store supplier's neck, so that he'd stop charging me so much to import stuff :D
 
tujuhbintang said:
Aye, i'd have to check. Would diff oil for 1/8 scale diffs work as well for the diff in the 1/5s? I was rather concerned about the sheer size difference becoming a factor in mechanical fluid choice. If they don't make a difference, I may be able to scrounge up some diff oil and shock oil too...

If there IS a difference, I'd probably need to wring my local hobby store supplier's neck, so that he'd stop charging me so much to import stuff :D
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Firstly WELCOME TO LSF.

Second, all oils and greases in LargeScale are generally substantially thicker - shocks and diffs - than in small scale like 1/8 !!:D:)

Al.
 
I run 10K diff oil in my 8th scale truggy and buggy rear I use the same 10K diff oil just more of it LOL and shock oil Just more of it LOL in my 5th scales with no problems.
 
atom3624 said:
Firstly WELCOME TO LSF.

Second, all oils and greases in LargeScale are generally substantially thicker - shocks and diffs - than in small scale like 1/8 !!:D:)

Al.
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'Terima Kasih' (thank you), as they say in Brunei, for the welcome, I'm glad I found you guys :D

Aye, I was expecting that to be the case... Hmmm. I wonder if lawnmower grease & oils would do the trick? From my readings I know i can't use synthetics or silicone-based liquids due to all the plastics involved...

I once knew a dude who made large-scale R/Cs from lawnmower engines, even had centre-diffs and homemade trans case.. Unfortunately he migrated to Canada a while back, can't get hold of him now to ask.

Dang, this is going to be harder than I thought.
 
rcspeedmart said:
I run 10K diff oil in my 8th scale truggy and buggy rear I use the same 10K diff oil just more of it LOL and shock oil Just more of it LOL in my 5th scales with no problems.
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Thanks for the info, much appreciated. I was also thinking about the diff and shock oils used in motorcycles and quads, but that's totally based on a presumption. I read in Pollishman's (sp?) thread about how using 1/1-sized (:D) oils wouldn't work, so maybe a quad's diff oil, lube and shock oil might just do the trick.

Of course, that's assuming that they are mineral-based.

My head hurts :D
 
i do remember someone sayin you could use motorcycle shock oil for the shocks, not sure if it wood suffice for diff tho. think it needs to be thicker. cant recall but i think the standard weight for diff is 1000 weight silicone oil
 
Lan-Ed-Tul said:
i do remember someone sayin you could use motorcycle shock oil for the shocks, not sure if it wood suffice for diff tho. think it needs to be thicker. cant recall but i think the standard weight for diff is 1000 weight silicone oil
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Thanks man, yeah I was thinking about it, but then i got to thinking about weight. A bike's weight eclipses the buggy, and that's not including the rider. The shock oil must then be considerably thicker than what the buggy would use, no? This is an assumption on my part, please do correct me if I get anything wrong. I don't want things to go tits up (pardon) just because I got my facts twisted :D

Yeah Lan, the standard HPI diff oil is rated at 1000 weight. I've been trawling the Net for info, seems you can get up to 100,000 weight diff oil. Now, the terrain that i'll be running on is extremely varied, from sand to earth to grass to tarmac (to sky too, if I'm feeling rich enough :D), what diff oil weight would suit me best? Kinda going for a jack-of-all-trades diff oil here :lol:
 
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yah you have all different weights for the diff, the thicker you go makes it more like a positrack on a car, and deciding on which makes a difference on type of terrain your drivin on. sandy i think most use a lil heavier oil, so both wheels locks up better on sand. i think your prolly gonna wanna go with the 1000 tho.

on shocks, if you cant get any shock oils made for the bajas, then as i had read from someone else, you can use a motorcycles shock oil, i think it also have a few different weights as well.
 
Lan-Ed-Tul said:
yah you have all different weights for the diff, the thicker you go makes it more like a positrack on a car, and deciding on which makes a difference on type of terrain your drivin on. sandy i think most use a lil heavier oil, so both wheels locks up better on sand. i think your prolly gonna wanna go with the 1000 tho.

on shocks, if you cant get any shock oils made for the bajas, then as i had read from someone else, you can use a motorcycles shock oil, i think it also have a few different weights as well.
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+1 great advice the diff oil will also make a big difference in your driving style I race my 5th scale on dirt oval a huge track I prefer less sliding on the curves and better traction IMO to come out of the hole so I use 10K some racers prefer a less thicker diff oil if they use 1K on the turns it will give them a more slide like drifting and they can keep there revs up on the motor because the tires are spinning and come out of the hole so it will be just a personal preference and your driving style.
 
Lan, RSM, that's some great advice, thank you very much. My driving style (when racing of course, when i bash i tend to drive balls-out anyway :D) is a cross of drift and drag: i tend to drift when going into corners, but grapple like hell as i come shooting out. Kinda reflects my driving a car anyway: I used to do quite a bit of street racing, drift to control, then burn some rubber.

Think i'll be trying out the 1k oil first, but i have a sneaking suspicion that for my particular needs something in between 1k to 10k would suit me rather well. Think i'll be upgrading to the easy maintenance diff case (Turtle Racing, right?) so i could make some experiments.

Shocks might be a bit easier; think the motorcycle fork oil might just work. Makes quite a bit of sense too, think i'll go for the lighter weight fork oils in order to make the dampening effect suit the Baja's shocks. I don't think i'll be jumping much, it'll be mostly rough or sandy terrain. Hmmmm...

I just can't wait :D
 
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