Topher builds a TGH/G-Speed V3

[Topher Builds]

A little bit of background here. While I’ve wanted a GC4.2 for a while now I’ve also had my eye on the GSpeed V3 and all the cool stuff the team garage hack crew is doing. Once I learned about the GSpeed v3 rails coming in carbon fiber I placed a preorder and started gathering parts. Fast forward a couple of months to now and the rig is taking shape.

Parts List:
Gspeed V3 carbon fiber chassis rails and gspeed sliders
Crawlspace comp spec stinger front bumper
Boom racing voodoo top shaft
Incision scx10ii drive shafts
TGH slotted skid and pan hard mount
TGH forward motor mount and tcase (15% OD at the transmission)
TGH Dual Servo mount
Hardcore RC Links for 12.5” wheelbase
Hardcore RC 67mm chassis spacers x5
Factory Team Bronze 90mm shocks
SSD Pro44 front and rear axles
SSD brass knuckles
Samix brass chub


Electronics:
Micro mamba x crawler edition with heyok bec soldered in
Holmes hobbies v2 puller pro stubby 2200kv
Holmes hobbies hv500v2 servo
Flysky gt5 & bs6 receiver

First chassis shots below

[Topher Builds]

Overall the build went relatively smooth for being pieced together, and there are a few things I’d like to touch on that could help someone in the future.

Unlike the Toyzuki v2.5 and the GC4.2, the GSpeed V3 isn’t available as a full chassis kit so some research and planning needs to happen to make sure the proper parts are acquired.

One hiccup I had is when I ordered links from hardcore RC there are two options for the panhard mount, one is TGH and the other is wertymade. I got the panhard from gspeed directly so I rolled the dice and picked the TGH option. However the TGH panhard mount is different than the GSpeed so when I got the links it didn’t work out. Luckily TGH managed to get me the panhard mount in a couple of days so it didn’t stall the build much at all. Once the correct panhard was on there the links from hardcore rc fit perfectly. Having used their links a few times I’m a believer, he does precise and quality work, well worth any wait.

Another obstacle is finding a top shaft. Boat shafts are a great option when you can find them but I have a hard time finding them in stock consistently so I looked for alternatives. Since I also had the GC4.2 kit on hand, which comes with the top shaft from boom racing, I googled and found a similar version on eBay that looked to have the right specs and thankfully it worked out, but clearance is tight (pic below, there’s more than it shows but not much) while still being functional. The shaft is a boom racing voodoo cvd shaft 65mm - 78mm (BRQ90279C) and came as a pair so I have a spare. I added some spacers where it mounts to the top shaft of the motor mount to take away some play and tighten up the spur gear movement.

Thankfully the TGH forward motor mount and T Case come assembled, save for the spur gear assembly. These are solid, high quality pieces with a perfect fit on the GSpeed v3. The bottom of the tcase is angled slightly to offset the lean of the skid and keep driveline angles good. The skid itself is great as well, I like that it’s slotted since you can move the t case to account for clearance which should help with different motors. As you can see in the pic below, the 3D printed sliders follow the shape of the skid and chassis rails perfectly, should be a smooth one on the rocks. The sliders I have for the gc4.2 are very similar as well.

Also added a shot of the team knk aluminum body mounts. These are handy little pieces and a good solution for how to mount a body to these types of chassis. The battery tray is the spare from the scx10.3 kit (not running the rear tray in mine) and I just did a little dremeling so it would lay flat and shoe-goo’d it to the slider.

Overall as pictured, with a small protek battery, it weighs about 3.7lbs. Haven’t settled on wheels/tires/body yet but I should have something on there by the end of the week.

Thanks for reading if you made it this far

[DukeMinnix]

Interested.

[B-MOW71]

Ohhhhh! That is a great looking build!

Looks like your building a serious competitor! That should really kick some "red rock" a$$!

Can't wait to see the wheel/tire combo you pick out!

[JatoTheRipper]

Very cool! You are a building machine.

[MaX-D]

Man I love these type of comp builds. SUBSCRIBED!

Sent from my LM-G710VM using Tapatalk

[distinctive pd]

Looks very good bud 👍

[rs10man]

Great build and write up. Their a popular choice of chassis now

[Topher Builds]

I appreciate the interest from you all and thanks for the comments I have a few more updates to share as this thing is almost ready to hit the rocks.

I slapped a body on it, pretty quick and dirty paint job as I couldn’t make up my mind on what to do and may switch it up down the road as usual. While the gladiator isn’t my favorite looking body, I like that it’s narrow and not bulky. Of course it’s a 12.3” wb and I built this as a 12.5” so it’s a little off but nothing that bothers me too much.

Wheels and tires were taken from the Capra, so they’re ssd steel 5 slots and jconcept landmines stuffed with CI lil novas. I think the 4.5” iirc. These tires really impressed me the first time I ran them, and they have the softest foams in any of the sets I have around so I’m thinking it’s the best bet for this being a lighter rig.

Also got to tuning, and troubleshooting, the electronics. Long story short, after tests and the process of elimination I’ve come to the conclusion that the sensor port on the mamba micro x is bad. I was able to use a different motor and a known functional mamba x to figure this out.

So now I have two options, send the micro back and wait for the warranty process and steal a mamba x from a different rig and run a heavier esc till the replacement shows up. Or keep the flawed micro x, knowing I’ll likely never be able to sell it easily, and run a revolver which should work fine since it’s not sensored.

I’m leaning towards the latter because it eliminates waiting, a heavy esc on a carbon fiber chassis, and the revolver is a bit lighter than the stubby puller pro, plus it’s a revolver, so there are a lot of benefits to the switch. May even get the snub nose revolver when they’re available again to save even more weight.

That’s where it is currently. I’m probably going to swap the revolver from the trx10.2 in today and hopefully run it after work or tomorrow. From putting around the floor and driving sideways on the wall it seems to have good balance, excited too see what it can do. Here are some pics.

[Topher Builds]

Swapped the revolver in and did a little bit of testing inside...

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A post shared by topher Builds (@topherbuilds) on Apr 23, 2020 at 5:21pm PDT

[Topher Builds]

Some video from its first shakedowns. So far so good, love driving it and it felt surprisingly familiar on the rocks.

[Robotboy]

Nice chassis and build!! Seems to do work very well.
I have a GC 4.2 kit on the way. Hoping it does as well as your Gspeed.

[MaX-D]

Originally Posted by Topher Builds

Some video from its first shakedowns. So far so good, love driving it and it felt surprisingly familiar on the rocks.

This thing definitely has goat like qualities. Seems like those landmines were hooking up. Very nice!

Sent from my LM-G710VM using Tapatalk

[stimpy]

Wowzers... Another great build man ��

Surprised how well the 4.25 foams seemed to work - the landlines are 4.75 if I remember correctly?...

[fomocosun]

nice build G-speed FTW

[soze]

Definitely looks like a fun build. I'll have to try one of these out one of these days.

[Topher Builds]

Thanks fellas! It was a very enjoyable build and a hell of a good time to drive. Happy with this one.

@stimpy these are the 4.5” lil novas, without the tuning ring. I believe the landmine is about 4.65” tall. It’s a little bit shorter than the PL XL tires. Big fan of it so far, of course where I was this past weekend had traction for days on those surfaces, but they’ve done well elsewhere too.

I’m tempted to do a Pwagon body for this and try my and at bobbing and dove tailing the bed, as the gladiator is a tiny bit long and it would hang up every once in a while. Might do that before the comps start back up, but seems like I have a little bit of time for that for now.

[stimpy]

Cheers man... That makes a lot more sense!!...

[TK421]

Dude, that thing is freak nasty and I love it!

Lou

[NABeast]

This build is awesome. I’m getting parts to start my Gspeed build, do you know where i can get 3d printed rear chassis brace/flat bet between the rails part that you can put mounts on for a power wagon cab? Ive seen a few guys running it, I wonder if the part is available somewhere, i dont have a 3d printer yet to print my own, even if i had the file for it.