Slash 4x4 Rally Conversion

[matgyver]

Ok so I posted some pics of my version of a slash 4x4 rally car a while back and was asked by a couple of members to do a build thread. I'm not big on creating build threads it's not that I don't like them I actually read a lot of them on here and on other forums it's just I would rather read someone else's than make one. Never the less I will quite babbling and show you the build.

Purpose of Build: The purpose was to build a fun scale looking rally car that I can bash on 3s and not care if I tore it up.

Rough time frame to build conversion is 1 1/2hrs. All I used was a bench grinder and a dremel.

The build started as a box of parts for a slash 4x4. Much like Traxxas I find a lot of things I can make out of one platform. I really don't think there isn't a type of vehicle I haven't made one into. I bought the Kyosho DRX clear mitsu body and a set of Kyosho wheels and tires and bolted them on. Trouble was the DRX body is obviously not as wide as the slash. This is what I ended up with picture below.





So how do we fix this you ask? WE CUT!!!
First I eye balled how much to cut off the rear A-arm and ground it down to my desired length and got out my trusty drill and drilled an new hole for the rear hub carrier pin. Since I really wasn't going to be showing this off (I guess until now) I didn't make everything look all pretty my main concern was functionality. below is a comparison of a stock A-arm and the shortened one that I made. Sorry I don't have a measurement of how much I cut off. Honestly it's all in what you are putting on for wheels. Mine are a little shorter so that if I change a body or wheels I can use different hex hubs to adjust the wheels backspacing.



Then came the axles



Here is a pic of the rear completed. For the links I just cut down the rears a little so that I could turn them in far enough. On the fronts I was able to just turn them in and not have to cut anything.





Same thing in the front. Cut the A-arms once I got my desired length I cut the axles. The front didn't require me to cut the links I was able to jsut turn them in. You do need to grind or cut off the top mounting hole on the c hub though to clear the wheel.





Next came the body posts. These in the pics are actually for the new body I just got and not the original mitsu body. The concept is still the same. For the front I used an aluminum servo plate I had made for a scx10 project and and a traxxas body post mount from a slash 2wd i think. The body posts were ground down to near flush and then screwed to the body post. I am a huge believer that if you buy a RTR painted body then you need to make new body posts to line up if your stock ones don't. I can't stand seeing extra holes in a body.



The rear body posts were from the same traxxas body post package. To get the height I needed I used a small piece of aluminum and bent it to a 90 degree angle (sorta I basically used a pair of pliers and prayed that it was good enough when I was done..lol). Yes they aren't the sturdiest but I am actually going to make new ones out of xo-1 or summit body posts. Something a lot stronger.



I have a basic set up in it for electronics (really stuff just laying on my shelf that needed a home). I used one of the newer version castle sidewinder esc's and tacon 3500kv motor with stock traxxas servo. I only run it on 3s and beat the crap out of it!! Oh and a modified proline undertray.



So here is what she looked like with the original body.





And here is what she looks like now with the new body and wheels.

[gdb85]

Nice!

Better representation of a Rally car than their (Traxxas) new offering!

[Creepy Inc.]

Originally Posted by gdb85

Nice!

Better representation of a Rally car than their (Traxxas) new offering!

X2

[team_guahan]

very nice setup. thanks for the build thread. time for me to get to work..

[Szczerba]

Awesome modification/transformation of the Slash 4x4 into a Rally beast!

[KauseKaos]

Looks real good

[matgyver]

Thanks everyone for the kind words. I'm glad I could share another perspective of making a rally car out of spare parts. Don't get me wrong I will be buying a DRX (had to get the ken block wr8 first though) but didn't see the need to right now because this build serves it's purpose x10.

[alexchen86]

Wow sure as hell looks better than my Slash 4x4 conversion!! Although I wanted an 1/8 not a 1/10

[matgyver]

alexchan86 how can you consider that 1/8th scale? You didn't change the dimensions of the vehicle. You simply mounted a body made for 1/8 scale onto a 1/10 vehicle (which we all know that isn't correct size if you do the math). That would be like me mounting a 1/5 scale body on my stock wheelbase slash and saying its a 1/5 scale vehicle. Either way everybody is entitled to their own opinion of how they determine scale sizes. This is way bigger than my HPI WR8 and it's also considered 1/10 scale.

Nice car.. I looked at bodies like yours and found a place overseas were you can get ones just like this but really was drawn to the scale look and dimensions of the Kyosho body.

[pastimesteve]

Hi Matgyver -- thanks so much for posting this thread! I have a question for you. Did you try to switch to Slash 2wd rear arms to narrow the track? I'm just wondering if that would have narrowed things up without having to modify the 4x4 arms?

Thanks,
Steve

[matgyver]

Nope didn't even look at any other option because I had 2 sets of the 4x4 arms from other builds. Generally I wouldn't even use the stock arms because they are very fragile but because I was reducing the overall length the "blocky" style was perfect. I would have probably used RPM ones but they didn't have straight edges were I needed to drill holes.

Honestly I think since traxxas uses these on multiple cars now they should just give you an extra set when you buy the car. hehe

[subspd]

So it looks like the wheel base works stock?

[matgyver]

For the most part. The body is a little shorter but I was able to trim out the rear wheel wells to get it to match up for the most part. It really depends on the body also. I think the subaru body fits it a lot better than the mitsu body did though. Not that the dimensions of the wheelbase are different on either one it really has to do with the styling of the body and the wheel well openings.

[doc.hamilton]

Sweet conversion! I'm looking into converting my MERV into a rally car. Only body I've found so far is the proline (in 1/16th)... not sure about tires/wheels either (yet!)

Cheers,
T

[matgyver]

Originally Posted by doc.hamilton

Sweet conversion! I'm looking into converting my MERV into a rally car. Only body I've found so far is the proline (in 1/16th)... not sure about tires/wheels either (yet!)

Cheers,
T

Not sure what your fabricating skills are but if I was going to convert a 1/16 scale merv I would slightly stretch the chassis and use and normal 200mm 1/10 rally body it opens up a lot of choices. That's just me though.

[doc.hamilton]

Thanks Matgyver! My fab skills are woefully inadequate... We'll see what happens this winter when I build a D90 kit. I have become quite adept at tearing down, fixing and rebuilding my Ridgecrest.

Cheers,
T

[rocksteadily]

what is the new width of your front end? hex to hex?

[matgyver]

I will have to get that for you. I will try to post it tomorrow.

[matgyver]

Here's a quick video of the car. Found a cool place that I can drift and hill climb at! lol

[gabehunt]

nice! subbed your channel also

speedwiegands dog?