MRC Scaler Conversion (Land Rover LR3)

[tycoonman]

Figure I should start posting this over here. I'm sure it's nothing new, but it'll be my first in this genera of RC.

I'm converting a LOSI MRC Pro into a 1:10 Land Rover LR3, one of my all-time favorite vehicles. Wheelbase will be 10.5" in the end, but I want to trim the chassis as little as possible to allow for future extension.

Before:










Steel before bent to chassis shape:




Larger (than stock) 85mm aluminum shocks I found for $6 online/pair with trimmed Axial springs:





Found some HPI touring car wheels that look most like LR3/4 wheels with the 6-spoke design:





Currently on stock tires, but plan to change that:






Alternate shock mounting place to allow for wider chassis (still need to thread 'em):




Salvaged some 4mm steel rod from a yard sign for the lower links:




This was taken today... chassis painted with nylon tranny mount in place:






Thanks for checkin' it out! More updates are to come.

[Dave_In_Florida]

I'm getting ready to start an MRC based scaler myself. I'll definitely keep an eye on this thread.

[tycoonman]

Small update. Shock mounts mounted now, but have to install the new, shorter, hardware. Servo mounted, and spacers for the shocks are in the works. The stand-offs just came in, so I still have to trim 'em down.

[tycoonman]

Shock mounts all straightened up now and mounted. Upper links mounted as well, and placed tires on as a test (no wideners in place yet). Comin' along!

[Titus]

coming along nicely. going to keep en eye on this one. Very neat work i must say.Keep it up.

Cheers
T

[tycoonman]

This warrants an update. I would call this a roller now!

[tycoonman]

New driveshafts came in, and fully trimmed what needed trimming. Mocked up here:

[MICHIGAN CRAWLER]

This thing is looking cool! What body do you plan on using? What type of metal did you use for the chassis?

[tycoonman]

Thank you very much! I plan on using a 1:10 New Bright Land Rover LR3. I hear they're $40 at Kmart ($50 online), so I'll have to check it out soon. The chassis is a plain steel tube.

http://img202.imageshack.us/img202/8119/img0267ex.jpg

[MICHIGAN CRAWLER]

Originally Posted by tycoonman

Thank you very much! I plan on using a 1:10 New Bright Land Rover LR3. I hear they're $40 at Kmart ($50 online), so I'll have to check it out soon. The chassis is a plain steel tube.

http://img202.imageshack.us/img202/8119/img0267ex.jpg

Well this thing should look really cool with that body! Thanks! I will have to try that when I am building my micro chassis, just on a smaller scale! lol

[tycoonman]

I decided to make my own aluminum wheel wideners as opposed to buying some, so here's what I've been up to:


Angle ground the aluminum down to the right size of 12mm, and and found how long each widener has to be (21mm).








Easy to find where to drill




Desired width




With mocked-up wideners

[tycoonman]

I stripped the whole things down and welded the frame together. Also welded the shock mounts on too. This takes 8 screws and nuts off and makes it seem a lot cleaner (and stronger).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEuFxe7NLDY

Still need wheel wideners.

[BurningMaverick]

That body is going to look tight on there! Can't wait to see it!

[boneskid1]

it looking great so far as it has come, but did you use the stock screws to mount the shocks to the axles?

[tycoonman]

Originally Posted by boneskid1

it looking great so far as it has come, but did you use the stock screws to mount the shocks to the axles?

No, I replaced as many of the stock screws as possible. There were total junk. I moved the shocks to a different slot for mounting as well.

My number one lesson thus far is: don't use 1/18th scare axles to make a 1/10th scale truck!

Anyhow, I'm happy with it so far. Today I'm going to try to work on a panhard bar and get a bit more narrow driving in... and weld on some chassis wings.

[tycoonman]

Wideners came. Very exciting to see this thing so... wide! It looks like a real RC now. Tested on some very rough dirt and it's very stable.

After:




Before:

[tycoonman]

New power-train and made some headway on one of the side bars (not finished yet, though). The servo mounts appear to have gotten lost in the mail somewhere. New axle cases were ordered, and I also have a juicier LiPo on its way.

[tycoonman]

Second side bar is still drying but complete nonetheless. Also added some thin ABS to the side bar (will on the second one, too) for electronics mounting.







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On the body front, the body came and looks great. Working on painting it now. Color is British Green, and I'm going to have to get another can today to finish it up.

Custom decals also arrived (obviously the E30 plates aren't for this car).









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AND, since I'm staying brushed I invested in a no-name Chinese ESC. We'll see...

[tycoonman]

So close!

Body mounts completed now. I said I would be ordering another can of paint with my other Tower order but they were out of stock, too, when I went to order. I'll have to order one from an lhs now to pickup whenever I get around to it.

Today I spent a great deal of my time driving this thing. It was a total blast! Also drilled out the axle pin holes to fit beefier axle pins that are the same size as the ones that fit the wideners to reduce the awful wobble I was getting. The stock MRC pins are supper thin, but I'm now running Traxxas pins.







New ESC and lipo should be in any day. More power for sure. Tonight I'll go ahead and apply the Velcro to the inside of the body so I can at least run what I have now.

[tycoonman]

This thing's basically done now. All that I have left is shock adjustments and adding weight to the side opposite of the battery. It drives extremely well and is a blast! Since I'm waiting for a new lens I bought a little HD camcorder for the interim to get some footage.