Harley Designed Venom Chassis Build

[Boover]

Originally Posted by PSW

Good Job Boover, Looks great all mounted up.

Any reason for not putting the upside down V bar section in the front windshield area? I think it would look cool. Also any plans to to primer/paint the cage?

Honestly I just wanted to get it all put together! I think I still will probably do the windshield braces as well as a couple others in the rear. I just wanted to get it all together first. Only reason for not doing windshield braces would be to try to slide Spawn interior in through the windshield. That's what I'm working on now.

[Boover]

So I got the electronics mounted in to go test out the new chassis. Had some fun doing some hill climbs and some light crawling with a few friends. Too busy driving to snap any pics, but overall I'm very happy with how everything performed! My stock motor is getting tired. The extra weight is helping accelerate it's death I think. It got pretty hot along with the ESC actually. So now I am at the point all Wraith owners reach where we have to make the call on which motor we want to run in our money pit. Torn on if I want to go more crawler or more basher... Watching my buddies with their Yeti and Twin Hammers make me want to go fast, but it's fun being able to just creep over things they have to bash through with speed. I like everything I've read about the Holmes motors, so I guess I just have to decide what direction to go and give him a call. Running stock spawn 32p gears and all metal axial trans gears. So I'm confident in that portion of my drivetrain. Decisions decisions... Enough rambling. Pics!









Just test fitting the interior there to see if its a possibility.

[Boover]

Should I just order a poison spyder body and slap it on there? Proline Bronco body?? Cut the lid off of my Spawn and just rock that??? I am being so dang indecisive... Please throw some opinions at me!!!

[Sevastra]

You need to go run it and ensure you're happy with the layout before deciding on a body. Never know what kind of tweaks you'll want to make till then. (Shock mount height, etc etc.)

I'd be curious to see a Baja bug body on it.

[PSW]

Poison Spyder body!

[Boover]

Originally Posted by Sevastra

You need to go run it and ensure you're happy with the layout before deciding on a body. Never know what kind of tweaks you'll want to make till then. (Shock mount height, etc etc.)

I'd be curious to see a Baja bug body on it.

Here's a question for you. If I wanted to run a slightly shorter shock how much would that hurt crawling performance? It's almost low enough now, but I'd like just slightly lower.

[Sevastra]

Originally Posted by Boover

Here's a question for you. If I wanted to run a slightly shorter shock how much would that hurt crawling performance? It's almost low enough now, but I'd like just slightly lower.

You might lose some belly pan clearance, but overall you'd gain stability. A lower center of gravity is a good thing, hence why so many Wraith owners run their rigs in droop.

Take your shocks off and prop up your skid with blocks and etc until you get the ride height you want. Measure it, then try and find a shock that has that measurement as it's mid range between compressed and un-compressed. Should give you the desired ride height with plenty of adjustability. (I'd guess you'll be needing a 93mm shock after looking at your mounting locations. Measure to be sure.)

[Boover]

Well I ran it as it was til I finally smoked the stock motor. So I ordered up a 13T crawlmaster expert from Holmes Hobbies. Got it in the mail yesterday which motivated me to get the paint done on the chassis. Picked up a can of rustoleum and went to town. Pretty happy with how it came out.

[Boover]

It's hard to tell but the silver has a cool metal flake look to it.

[Sevastra]

Looks great, very nice work!

I should really learn to braze so I can clean up my sloppy welds. Really looks clean like that, almost aluminum.

[DzrtRyd]

That came out great. Props to you and Harley! That's motivation to get a few projects done in my shop.

[Boover]

Originally Posted by Sevastra

Looks great, very nice work!

I should really learn to braze so I can clean up my sloppy welds. Really looks clean like that, almost aluminum.

Originally Posted by DzrtRyd

That came out great. Props to you and Harley! That's motivation to get a few projects done in my shop.

Thanks guys, I'm stoked with how it turned out.

Went out and bashed it pretty hard today, but I didn't get as much run time as I'd hoped because the new motor was getting pretty hot. Initially when I hooked up the motor I had considerably more speed in reverse. So I flipping my axle gears around and straightened that out. Running 56/12 gearing on the motor on 2s. I didn't think I'd have much of an issue just running to 2s. I guess I'll go to 56/10 or 11 and see how that goes? Any suggestions?

[Sevastra]

Cheat and get a motor heatsink / fan combo?

I know some of the Holmes motors like a certain gear range, just don't know what it is for your motor.

[WesTX]

How much tube/rod did you use to build this chassis? trying to get an idea of how much to order.

Thanks,

Wes

[PSW]

Cage turned out great Boover, do standard body panels fit on it?

[Harley]

The painted chassis looks great, nice work all around. You make a decision on panels?

[Boover]

Originally Posted by WesTX

How much tube/rod did you use to build this chassis? trying to get an idea of how much to order.

Thanks,

Wes

I used probably three or four 3 ft sticks and a couple 4 ft sticks. So maybe 20ish feet. A lot of it depends on how many bends you mess up and that kind of deal. I just bought mine at Tractor Supply and Lowes locally.

[Boover]

Originally Posted by PSW

Cage turned out great Boover, do standard body panels fit on it?

Originally Posted by Harley

The painted chassis looks great, nice work all around. You make a decision on panels?

I have not decided on body panels yet. My Spawn body would work decently if I cut the roof off. I have honestly just been running it without a body right now, rock bouncer style. But I do still plan on trying to make some when I get some down time. I don't have any standard Wraith panels to test fit, but I'm sure they could be made to work.

I did manage to put a small bend in the upper "windshield" frame rolling it down a decent sized pile of rocks...

[Boover]

So I am still having heat issues with the motor. Dropped down to a 10t pinion (56 spur). It is significantly slower that with the stock 12t, but still having just as much trouble with the motor getting hot. Still just running 2S also. I don't know if its just the weight of the rig or what... Any suggestions?

[magoo]

Really nice result you came with!
Could you get it outfitted with a hood and body panels?
And could you get rid of your motor heat issue?


I'm interested in building this one too and if you don't mind, I would like to have a few measurements from the finished result.
I have a rock bouncer 2.2 that I built from brake line too and would like to compare the size.

I'm interested in:
- wheelbase
- chassis length
- chassis width at the dooors
- chassis width at the roof
- chassis height (including the skid or not?)
- nose width (at the shock mounts?)

Also, I could not find if you used 3/16" or 1/4" tube.
This seems to be 3/16", but given it's probably on the 1/8" scale side, it could be 1/4" too.

Thanks