Old Meets New

[3illmesmart]

I decided to reward myself with an electric toy. Looked at MCD, but super pricey new and rare use, in Canada, I decided to convert.

I ordered the Rovan kit off Aliexpress. I hear stories of no stock, but I can usually find what I want on there. Decided to put it in the new Rovan 4X4 I got, so pulled the motor and got ready. Well, the new baha is way wider and the kit wouldn't fit it, so back together. Just got the ESP motor in my original Baja 5B SS, so didn't want to mess with it. next option, I bought an OE Baja a few years back to use as snowmobile parts. Since I am going to be happy with the 3D printed snowmobile, I was thinking of selling this, but the chips fell. Started putting it back together from the bin.

The Rovan kit came complete, and other than the servo horn, everything fit perfect.
56112 780kv Brushless
WP-BL200 ESC 200A
Have 8S 5600mah battery on the way

Have most parts from the Baja, plus the kit. Wheels and body will be sketchy for a while.

 

[cmbscx10]

Very cool build. Even though I'm in So Cal i am interested in the snowmobile details as well

 

[3illmesmart]

I put this all together, but the radio was not right, the motor was too small and I redesigned some parts. Just waiting for pins for the front A arms to complete rebuild.

https://www.largescaleforums.com/threads/3d-printed-snowmobile.29444/post-369035

 

[3illmesmart]

I put the Rovan wheels on. I had to try these and guess what, first time out the rubber spin right off the rims. I contacted the seller and they said, crazy glue it. Should have been done from new, not my job, but I had some. Will see if the work on here.

 

[3illmesmart]

Not an electric guy, so this was way out of my scope. The battery charger I bought new last year won't charge this massive 8S battery. Never occurred to me, but I assume these batteries have jumped ahead of charger tech? When I checked, most chargers only do up to 6S, so not enough voltage even. Some early 8S had 2 sets of leads, which I could charge, but now need more voltage and a bigger balance plug.
I did order 2 4S on a special a couple of weeks ago, and a new 8S charger this week, so see which shows first.

 

[Seandonato73]

at some point, you'll just grab a big charger and power supply. I really like my i-charger, it's an older model but I'm sure the newer ones will be great.

 

[3illmesmart]

Wow, it's been a good 30 years and I haven't broken anything Baja. This week 2X! Part of the problem is that it coasts so good now, I think because the brake is gone. The other problem is I am in a smaller space now. I think I will add engine drag, now that I watched a video on the ESC set up.

This thing is insane. It will smoke the tires on any surface or at any speed. First off, the Chinese wheels were useless, didn't grab on anything. Switched to spikes. Didn't help much, but a bit. Neither had any grip on the road and I really don't want to tear up my road wheels. I had a few 17 tooth pinions, so I made 1 work and swapped out the 14 tooth that came with the kit. I have a 21 tooth on order. The 17 helped a wee bit again. Since I couldn't figure out the ESC when I was doing mt first testing, I used the radio. At 30% it is manageable, but this is kinda slow, but will still spin the tires.

Will be interesting to see how it runs on 4S, when they come. I am seriously considering putting this in my 4WD Rovan so I have more wheels gripping.

 

[Seandonato73]

Electric power can be crazy, I converted my savage xl years ago and then for years spent all my time looking for diffs/buying used stuff to keep it running, really need to keep the punch dialed down till the speed gets up.

 

[StretchMaK]

I run the baja in my sig on 8s and it is nuts.