Kyosho MOA delete trophy truck

[turbodan13]

It all started when I picked up an HPI Mini Trophy, years ago. While it was a great looking truck, it just didn't cut it. It's now on shelf queen duties. I've been wanting another trophy truck for a while (hey, who doesn't want one?), but the SCORE TTs seem to be near impossible to find these days. I've already got a beast of a Yeti built up, so I didn't want to cut into that for this build. After seeing Rivas Concepts' truck, I knew this would be a fun project.

I won't bore you with the basics... I started with the KORP Kit, built it up and gave it a few runs to see how it worked. Not too shabby for a basic RWD MOA truck. It's a far cry from the old Grasshoppers of eons ago! As it sits now, All the rubber has been swapped out for Proline 1.9 Class 1 BFGs. Those are mounted on some Chanquish Method clones. Shocks are the stock alloy-bodied Kyosho units (which are pretty darn smooth, I must say). The rears have been swapped into the forward of the two mounting positions, with a set of 113mm GMade secondary shocks from the GOM in the rear position. Doing the position swap on the 100mm stockers gains another 8-10mm of downward suspension travel. I do feel that some limiting straps will be needed, just to keep from blowing out the driveshaft at full extension.

Power is currently an old Duratrax Onyx brushless 2S system (see also: re-badged Castle Sidewinder). It's plenty quick on 2S, so that's most likely where it will stay. The new setup is going to be a Hobbywing Xerun 3652 & XR8 SCT sensored system... staying on 2S. The truck is fairly light, by comparison, so I don't think it needs to be any faster. I do want it to live past its first run. Haha!

Transmission is, for now, or until I find a better setup, a standard Axial 3 gear unit with the front-facing output shaft cut off. Space is tight, so there's no need for an unneeded spinning bit in there. Driveshaft is just some 10.2/10.3 parts cobbled together, mainly for mock-up/positioning right now. This all drives an SSD Diamond axle, for the OG SCX10. Vanquish axle shafts, Axial AR60 overdrive gearing, Yeti open diff internals with 2M silicon diff "fluid"... which is more like glue than fluid.

Yeah, yeah... I know... a thread is useless without pics. These are just a few from tinkering with things/eyeballing parts fitment. I'll have a proper build thread going soon enough. But in the meantime, here ya go, ya savages!

[durok]

Absolutely incredible build - both mechanical mods and paint!

Words fail me.................

[turbodan13]

Originally Posted by durok

Absolutely incredible build - both mechanical mods and paint!

Words fail me.................

Thanks! The build is really just at the "will this fit/work?" stages in these pics. Aside from paint & wheels, the truck itself is pretty much box stock, with the exception of the shock setup. I've got a bunch of parts on the way so I can do a 60-70% complete chassis build from the ground up. Essentially, when the chassis is done, it will just be a matter of swapping the front end over. I'm trying to do as little cutting/hacking and using readily available parts so there's nothing one-off to worry about breaking later.

The paint was just a simple "dart" mask I found on fleabay. Maybe it's from spending too much time hanging out withthe Kontinentals down on S. Congress, but I felt a basic hot rod styling would work well.

[turbodan13]

Just to keep this rolling, here's the list of parts so far:

80% complete new donor chassis from fleabay
VP SCX10 transmission housing & Spur cover/motor mount
Incision metal gear set
VP top shaft & slipper plates
2 x 2mm alloy spacers; for the front pair of transmission housing bolts, to adjust for the slope of the chassis pan
SSD Baja Rey driveshaft (might need to shave a few mm off the female end)
SSD SCX10 Diamond alloy rear axle
SSD skid for Diamond axle
Axial OD gearing for AR60
Hot racing alloy diff housing
Axial differential gear set for Yeti/EXO
2-million CST diff "fluid" (more like E-6000 glue, than fluid!)
Hobbywing 3652 sensored 3100kv motor & 8R SCT Sensored ESC, on 2S
Proline 1.9 Class 1 BFGoodrich Mud Terrain tires x 6, with a combo of narrowed CI closed cell inners with the stock Kyosho foams as outers (seems to be a decent enough setup for now).
1.9 Chinesium Method clones, with LURC scale bolts all around x 6
Axial Yeti interior (mild triming, and it bolts right into the cage)

A second body is in the works as well. I might try the Traxxas Bronco grill mod, but haven't decided yet. Biggest hurdle in the body dept is trying to figure out paint ideas. Want to keep with the retro theme of the body, so I'm leaning towards a late 70s-early 80s Class 8 race truck. Suggestions & pics are definitely welcomed!

[HumboldtEF]

Theres another thread where some other members were working on the same kind of mods for the Rampage Kyosho rampage pro - no moa!

Just thought I'd share that.

[turbodan13]

Originally Posted by HumboldtEF

Theres another thread where some other members were working on the same kind of mods for the Rampage Kyosho rampage pro - no moa!

Just thought I'd share that.

That's the whole reason (see also: I balme them) I started this build.

[turbodan13]

The drivetrain is built and bolted in. The trans case has a pair of 2mm spacers on the front 2 bolts, to compensate for the slope of the chassis pan. The driveshaft is an SSD unit for the Baja Rey. Initial eyeballing as it moves through its range of motion seems like 2-3mm will need to be shaved off the female end of the shaft, but I'll wait until it's 100% built to make that decision.
The inner cage needed the front lower crossbar removed to clear the trans. No negative impact by doing this. The repurposed SCX10.2 steering links pass through the inner frame without any contact or fuss. They will bolt to the outside of the shock mounts (shock will mount where the brass pivot balls are), which will give a bit more bracing/support to them.
Still waiting on a set of trailing arms, and a few other minor bits, before I swap everything over to this chassis.

Disregard the Yeti arms. They were just for lining things up.

[turbodan13]

Not much happening on the chassis side at the moment... still waiting on a few bits to arrive... so a fresh set of boingers got built instead. I'm going to run 4 x 103mm Gmade XD dual rate shocks, plus a pair of 113mm secondary/bypass dampers. Piggybacks are for the front, running 4 hole pistons & TLR 22.5wt fluid. Rears will be the aeration dual rates & bypass dampers, both running 4 hole pistons & TLR 17.5wt fluid. I figure the lighter weight fluid will be fine since the overall fluid volume is nearly double of the fronts. And, since I'm a bike nerd, some RockShox logos. They totally give me an extra 10kv of power!

[soze]

Shaft conversion is definitely on my radar when I get to this project. I'll be watching yours closely!

[reden]

I salute you on a stunning build. very neat with high level of attention to detail.
Except one thing...


I would put Cane Creek on my shocks. I use them on my Enduro Santa Cruz Nomad.

[turbodan13]

Originally Posted by reden

I salute you on a stunning build. very neat with high level of attention to detail.
Except one thing...


I would put Cane Creek on my shocks. I use them on my Enduro Santa Cruz Nomad.

Well, I work for SRAM, so...

[turbodan13]

Ok, so In my haste to get this thing "standing" on its own, I forgot to take into account the length of the shock body. While the 103mm piggybacks have no issues up front, the non-piggy ones limit the suspension up-travel in the positions I have them mounted (aeration shocks in forward position & bypasses in rear-most position, giving a near vertical orientation. ) 93mm shocks should be sufficient to gain back the lost up-travel & retain the bypass dampers. For now, though, it's aerations up front & piggies out back. Bypasses will be bypassed until the 93s arrive.

Overall, shaft/joint angles are good. They're just shy of max angle, but spin freely through the entire range of travel.

I still need to make a shelf for the ESC & RX. I could squeeze them onto the battery cover, but want to keep the wiring clear from the spur/pinion as much as possible.

[turbodan13]

Finally standing on its own! Not 100%, but damn close. Cut a sheet of 3mm carbon fiber for an electronics shelf, modified the battery door so it doesn't smash the wires on my soft pack LiPos. Found that the rear tailgate from the V1 KOR body fits perfectly across the cage, so it got trimmed up to clear the trans & is now a debris shield. Rear shocks are mounted to a pair of Gearhead Wraith front shock mounts, which perfectly align with the stock mounting points. They give me better alignment & full extension of the bypass shocks; they sit closer to parallel with the coil-overs now. Limiting straps up front take about 3mm out of the down travel, which gives just enough clearance for the steering rack at full down travel... Undecided if they'll stay, or if I'll just use some small o-rings inside the shock bodies. Wheels & tries are just placeholders. I also got rid of the body clips that hold the rear cage on. Once I figured out where I wanted it, I drilled a 1.5mm hole & used some scale bolts to lock it in place. Much cleaner looking, and far more secure!

[durok]

Damn - It keeps getting better...

... and better, still!

I love the RockShox logos, making the rig totally your own.

[Szczerba]

Very good so far! I almost took of these trucks in a trade and should have! Looks like a fun build.

[soze]

This build is turning out great!

[fxman]

Dude - great work on your no-moa :-) Looks clean and paint is awesome! I initially went with the scx10 trans too but felt it was too top heavy and I couldn't get a good enough drive shaft angle with it. That's why I "hung" the trans output (of the scx10 II kit trans) underneath the chassis. Did you run yours yet? Sitting on the wheels, the angle might not even be bad?

[turbodan13]

Originally Posted by fxman

Dude - great work on your no-moa :-) Looks clean and paint is awesome! I initially went with the scx10 trans too but felt it was too top heavy and I couldn't get a good enough drive shaft angle with it. That's why I "hung" the trans output (of the scx10 II kit trans) underneath the chassis. Did you run yours yet? Sitting on the wheels, the angle might not even be bad?

Thanks! I have the trans mounted with two 2mm spacers on the front 2 screws, to level it. I also ground off the forward output shaft from the trans, since it's a RWD rig. This gives me a smidge more fore-aft wiggle room, since there's no useless spinny bits, so maybe that helped to "stretch" the angles out? I made 35º my target angle when putting it all together to be sure that I had no binding. I'd rather it find it binding by hand & fix it now, than power it up and break the driveline by finding out the hard way.

I've also switched the upper link rod ends to Traxxas TRA8278 offset ones, set up opposing each other - one up, one down. This helped to bring the upper links closer to parallel with the trailing arms, and reduced the axle tilting to about 5º through it's travel.

I'm still working over a few ideas for a different body, and making a few paper variations of different fuel cell/spare tire(s) configurations, so it will be a little bit before this thing's alive.

[turbodan13]

Well, it's been almost a year, so I guess I should probably update this thread. It's built and running, but still needs a few things ironed out before I declare it being done. Gearing needs to be addressed to give it a bit more pep, and some inner skirts/stone guards need to be fabbed to help keep debris out of the open spur gear. And it still needs paint. I've got some ideas, but still undecided as to which way to go with it.

All in all, I'd say that it's definitely a worthwhile project to do the MOA delete. It makes for a fun rig, with plenty of drivetrain support parts available, unlike the stock MOA setup. Heck, I had fun figuring out all the quirks, and even see where I could've done XYZ different/better, so there's already another donor chassis on the bench for conversion #2.

[Speedy-Triple]

nice project, definetely in my radar. I almost picked one of these last year but too many projects lined up. but maybe i should jump on it before they get discontinued. cant wait till you have this painted and we can see some action videos and pictures.