Ecto-1

[mmatthews]

Hoping for a ride height somewhere in there. I'll know more once I see the body.


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[mmatthews]

I went ahead and replaced the gear set in the rear axle. Not sure what I did but, it's fixed now. I saved the old set. I still think it's just a bur on one of the teeth. Axles are already to go now.






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[mmatthews]

Got the body.






Trimmed the body.




Went ahead and got the body mounts done.






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[mmatthews]

Ssssoooooo........... I'm thinking prerunner. I never planed on building a "crawler" so, leaning in the direction of an ECTO-1 prerunner. Keep the solid axles, do some trailing arms out back, and maybe a spare mount in the back. We'll see what happens.


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[mmatthews]

Did some trimming for the rear wheel wells.








I don't like the fo lake pipes. The problem is, cutting them off will make the door bottom look funny. With them remaining it gives an unwanted "notch" in front of the rear wheel well. I'll figure something.





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[mmatthews]

Note to self. You forgot to wire in the BEC. That is all....


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[mmatthews]

Started on the lower links.





Got the wheelbase set. 1'-1". I am happy with the wheelbase. Looks like WB shafts should work.




Going to do some thinking on how to set up the top links. Going to do a little studying.



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[mmatthews]

ECTO-1 is sitting on its own suspension. No more duct tape for this ride. Finished the upper links tonight.







I'm liking how it looks with the body. Ride height looks good. It'll be a touch lower when it's done.







I still need to adjust the front axle pinion angle a bit. I'll also play with shock mounting locations. Going to need to get softer springs. Really need better shocks but, I'll work with these for now. I'm thinking the rear portion of the frame is going to get cut off. I need to lose about 1.5" of frame channel to allow the axle to travel up more.
It's getting there.


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[mmatthews]

After looking some more, I think I'm going to mount the servo on the axle. The body will cover it pretty well, make things simple. Also looked at some tube to cover the links. Since I'm not planning on doing any rocks with this rig, I may use some aluminum tubing I saw at the hobby store. Smaller outer diameter than brake line. Used a long male / long female for the rear drive shaft, should work well. Going to need spacers under my motor to help with clearance for my rear link mounts. Tomorrow's goals: mount servo, wire BEC, make battery mount, cut frame rails, maybe cover the links.....


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[mmatthews]

Put some aluminum tubing around all the links.



Trimmed a little off the back of the frame. Needed a bit of clearance for travel.



Got the servo mounted and steering linkage made.



Suspension is all done and snugged down. I still want to play with shocks. I also would like a trailing arm set up down the line.





I also wired up the BEC. Had to stop for the night. I'm going out to dinner to celebrate my five year wedding anniversary. Hope to build a battery mount, mount the motor/trans as well as install driveshafts this weekend. Getting closer to paint.....


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[mmatthews]

Made some headway on the ECTO-1 today.

Made a battery mount. Wanted to keep it low and forward. I'm happy with the results.






Needed some clearance on my rear suspension link mounts. The can hit the rod ends. I also needed some clearance for the drive shafts. I decided to make a motor mount and center the trans outputs. This resolved all my clearance issues as well as put the shafts straight down the middle. I'll need to adjust the front pinion angle a bit more.







Making the changes meant I would need to adjust the electronics placement as well. Made a little mount and put the receiver box up high. The box will be visible through the back window. I'll end up painting it to look like a fuel cell.








It's getting closer to paint.





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[Szczerba]

Nice. Looking good so far. What type of rig is going to be? Trail rig?

[mmatthews]

Originally Posted by Szczerba

Nice. Looking good so far. What type of rig is going to be? Trail rig?

Thanks. No trails, more of a TF2 puller / Prerunner. Something with a little speed to chase the kids down the street. Better shocks, rear tailing arms.... Just want to get it together now and upgrade later.


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[Szczerba]

Originally Posted by mmatthews

Thanks. No trails, more of a TF2 puller / Prerunner. Something with a little speed to chase the kids down the street. Better shocks, rear tailing arms.... Just want to get it together now and upgrade later.


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Gotcha cause I was going to say moving those rear upper links lower down at the chassis was really going to hamper climbing ability. But you're good to go if it won't see the rocks.

[mmatthews]

Originally Posted by Szczerba

Gotcha cause I was going to say moving those rear upper links lower down at the chassis was really going to hamper climbing ability. But you're good to go if it won't see the rocks.

No rocks. Just some dirt, grass, sand, street. Just something fun that looks cool. Always liked the ECTO-1. Thought it would be fun to try and build a 4x4 version. Not looking for a "performance" rig, just something cool (cool to me at least).

[mmatthews]

Wanted to fill the areas between the frame and body. Stop a little bit of stuff from getting tossed into the body.





Made some lake pipes.




Made a prerunner style front skid.






Made a spare tire mount. It also fills some dead space from the end of the chassis to the end of the body. I'll get a matching spare down the line.






Went back and added a stiffener to help support the spares weight.



Pile of parts getting ready to file and sand.



Wife said "the carport is not a paint booth". As long as the overspray doesn't get on the motorcycle (yes it stays covered), then it looks like a paint booth to me.



Well I'm getting to that point where I'm going to have to dive into the paint on the body. I really want to pull off the red fenders with silver trim. Going to use liquid mask for the first time. I'm scared..... Hold me.....


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[17dean]

I have confidence in you bro to keep them hands steady! Looking extra good and thanks for the motivation to start my new project as well. Best of luck to you bro!

[mmatthews]

Originally Posted by 17dean

I have confidence in you bro to keep them hands steady! Looking extra good and thanks for the motivation to start my new project as well. Best of luck to you bro!

We'll see. I'll give it a try for sure. New blades, steady hand, and luck....


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[Szczerba]

Looking good. Liking all the custom fabbed bits. If you go to sell them tars, let me know!

[mmatthews]

Originally Posted by Szczerba

Looking good. Liking all the custom fabbed bits. If you go to sell them tars, let me know!

Hell, I still need one more myself. I also need another Landy wheel. I hate having to buy 2 tires and 4 wheels just to get a spare. That's what I ended up doing for the TF2 as well.


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