B-MOW's VS4-10 Phoenix Portal

[SloDon]

Hi B-MOW71! Just started looking at Phoenix builds and found your thread. I’m going to order one of the next wave which I hope will be in by the end of the month.

I haven’t gone thru your entire thread yet, will do so soon.

I will probably have some questions for you!

Glad you are feeling better!

SloDon

[B-MOW71]

Originally Posted by SloDon

Hi B-MOW71! Just started looking at Phoenix builds and found your thread. I’m going to order one of the next wave which I hope will be in by the end of the month.

I haven’t gone thru your entire thread yet, will do so soon.

I will probably have some questions for you!

Glad you are feeling better!

SloDon

Hey Don, thanks! Congrats on the Phoenix! Hopefully they'll be back in stock soon. Can't wait to see what you have planned for it.

Fire away on the questions when you have them. I'll do my best to answer!

[SloDon]

Originally Posted by B-MOW71

Hey Don, thanks! Congrats on the Phoenix! Hopefully they'll be back in stock soon. Can't wait to see what you have planned for it.

Fire away on the questions when you have them. I'll do my best to answer!

Started on the build last night. Just reread your build thread looking for any gotcha’s. Your Phoenix really turned out great!

Let’s how I can do….😁

[B-MOW71]

Originally Posted by SloDon

Started on the build last night. Just reread your build thread looking for any gotcha’s. Your Phoenix really turned out great!

Let’s how I can do….😁

Thanks Don! I appreciate it!

Hopefully you can find some good in this build thread. I did see your pics on IG of you starting the build. Looks great so far!

[B-MOW71]

New cool item added to the Phoenix!

Ordered a couple whip antennae from Bad Andy at Twisted Tree RC. Cool little springy whips for my Phoenix and GK-Ecto rigs.

He has many different style whip tops to chose from. Also can customize the color and to the length desired.




I decided to go with bright yellow smiley face on the Phoenix to add a little color to it. Can’t wait to see it in action out on the trails!








I mounted it to an existing screw in the cage where the rear taillight is mounted.

[B-MOW71]

Did a quick test session and photo shoot with the Phoenix in the backyard. Man this rig is sooo smooth! It seems to just glide over the rocks! Shockingly it was fairly quiet doing the slow crawling. These VFD trans tend to be on the loud side, but this trans is much quieter compared to my VS4-10 PRO.

I took a short video so hoping to get it up on the Tube. I did post a short clip of it on the Gram if anyone's interested.

Pics below:

[twade984]

Looks awesome Brian


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[B-MOW71]

Originally Posted by twade984

Looks awesome Brian

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Thanks Tom!

[B-MOW71]

Took the Phoenix out yesterday for it's first true voyage on the rocks. I've read many posts and here and on the social about how well the Phoenix is out on the rocks and trail, but hadn't had the chance to find out for myself until now. I can now say that I am also one that thinks this rig is great on the rocks!

With no brass or added weight, I was highly impressed with what it was able to do. Very stable and predictable and climbed very well. Even with the higher COG with the portal axles, it was able stay upright on stepper grades than I thought it would be able to do.

I wheeled it against one of my former rigs that I recently sold, Traxxas Sport (Chassis Kit), and I was shocked that the Phoenix was able to outperform the TRX-4. My old Sport was outfitted with every piece of Samix brass in the front and Samix alum in the rear. The Sport is and always was a very capable rig, but the stock Phoenix put a hurting on it yesterday!

I think the only upgrade that I would like to do to this rig is purchase the Vanquish brass front portal covers if they ever go back in stock. That will be the only brass I think it will need and the only I plan on adding to it.

The other mod or remod or upgrade is removing the Castle Mamba X and Slate motor and replacing it with a Hobbywing Fushion PRO. I was extremely underwhelmed with the performance of the Mamba X. I haven't driven this system in a couple years and forgot how smooth or not it was. I recently have been spoiled with the smoothness and low speed control of the Fushion PRO in my other rigs that when I drove this Mamba X, I found that it was struggling to start up as smooth as the Fushion. The Mamba just doesn't have that really low speed startup like the Fushion does, IMO.

Almost forgot to mention, I stole my wheels and tires off of my VP Portal bundle kit build and installed them on here. I didn't think the Pro-Line Trenchers would have any chance for grip with mud packed in the the tread. Plus, I think they look pretty good on here!

Anyways, pics of the fun yesterday!

Fresh new look without rock damage. The first gouge is gonna hurt!












She got beat on and gouged pretty good, so now to get'er cleaned back up for the next run!

[twade984]

Looks like a good time Brian. Rig looks great as usual.

I was also impressed how stable and predictable my first Phoenix portal was, even with the somewhat top heavy body


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[Steven McKay]

Glad to see you having fun in the rocks. I should be able to finish up my painting Wednesday and find some rock this weekend.

[indybama]

Looks like a fun day out. Id love to try out some of them OH rocks with my v3 phoenix. One of these days, i want to pick up some of the portal covers as well. Thats one thing i think would improve these rigs. The mamba x is a great esc, but the mamba micro x2 is alot smoother i think

[B-MOW71]

Originally Posted by twade984

Looks like a good time Brian. Rig looks great as usual.

I was also impressed how stable and predictable my first Phoenix portal was, even with the somewhat top heavy body

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Yeah it was a good time. I too was impressed. I thought for sure the big top heavy body would limit the performance. I was wrong!

Originally Posted by Steven McKay

Glad to see you having fun in the rocks. I should be able to finish up my painting Wednesday and find some rock this weekend.

Yeah, looks like good temps today to paint a body. Gotta get it done, Spring and warmer weather is just around the corner!

Originally Posted by indybama

Looks like a fun day out. Id love to try out some of them OH rocks with my v3 phoenix. One of these days, i want to pick up some of the portal covers as well. Thats one thing i think would improve these rigs. The mamba x is a great esc, but the mamba micro x2 is alot smoother i think

I agree, the brass portal covers is just what it needs.

Back in the day when all I ran was the Mamba X, I thought is was smooth. I used to brag on it. But now that I've ran the Fushion PRO, my mind has been changed!

These Ohio rocks you see in these pics are usually wet and greasy. Got lucky, these rocks were dry and no mud or slime in sight! I would love to get down south and try out your rocks!!!

[indybama]

Originally Posted by B-MOW71

Yeah it was a good time. I too was impressed. I thought for sure the big top heavy body would limit the performance. I was wrong!




Yeah, looks like good temps today to paint a body. Gotta get it done, Spring and warmer weather is just around the corner!




I agree, the brass portal covers is just what it needs.

Back in the day when all I ran was the Mamba X, I thought is was smooth. I used to brag on it. But now that I've ran the Fushion PRO, my mind has been changed!

These Ohio rocks you see in these pics are usually wet and greasy. Got lucky, these rocks were dry and no mud or slime in sight! I would love to get down south and try out your rocks!!!

Well, cmon down brother! Me n a couple buddys try to get together atleast once or twice a month on the weekend. ECC is in may... I wont make it wed thurs fri, but ill definantly be there that sat n sun. Its may 18-21, always alot of fun, tons of people, n rocks n trails for miles

[Pabs]

Cool looking rig, like the antennae placement.

My Driver could do with a smoke too, what did you use to make yours, a parts tree or something else?

[B-MOW71]

Originally Posted by Pabs

Cool looking rig, like the antennae placement.

My Driver could do with a smoke too, what did you use to make yours, a parts tree or something else?

Thanks Pabs!

I honestly can't remember what I used to make his cig. I think it was just a piece of white round plastic scrap that I had laying on the bench. I do remember that I used a red and orange Sharpie marker to color the ends of it. And I drilled a tiny hole in his mouth and attached it with a small dab of E6000.

[indybama]

Drill a tiny hole all the way thru it n get one of those rc smoke machines lol

[B-MOW71]

Originally Posted by indybama

Drill a tiny hole all the way thru it n get one of those rc smoke machines lol

Nice idea bama! May have to do that!

[B-MOW71]

As mentioned previously, I wanted to add the Vanquish brass portal covers to the Phoenix to give it a little more front end weight. Placed the order for them with Amain Hobbies. Decided to use Amain this time because there was one other item that I needed to pickup that finally came back in stock. The other item will be mentioned in one of my other build threads soon.



Anyways, back to the brass portal covers. Man these are big and heavy!! Excellent machining as always from VP! The weight of these should give me the front end weight that I was looking for.













Here is a look at the weight distribution before the install. This is with a battery. Nevermind the dirt! I haven't even cleaned it yet from the last outing!









And a before pic showing the stock portal cover.













One thing I noticed and it may be hard to tell in the pic, but the bearing doesn't seat flush in the bearing cup. I was worried that the cover wouldn't tighten down all the way. At first when I installed the screws, the axle shaft would not turn, but after I loosened the screws and then retightened them, the axle shaft turned smoothly. Odd, but seems to be ok now without any binding or rubbing. Just thought I add that in case someone else runs into that and thinks it is a problem.









Install pics. These portal covers fit very nicely and fit perfectly with just a little gap between the wheel and cover. VP did a great job on this design. I am using 350 hubs on these wheels. I read on the social from the guys at Vanquish that the smallest hubs that can be used is a 350 hub since the hubs sit inside of the brass. Smaller hubs will not fit unless some of the brass is removed.

















And the final weight after the install. I can say holding the rig in my hands with the brass covers installed, I can definitely tell there is much more weight up front. Can't wait to get it back out on the rocks to see how it performs.

[Steven McKay]

Nice, have them on my list of addon's. I did notice that the same bearing your talking about doesn't look completely seated in the stock covers either. When you screwed it down the first time maybe it seated them better. And thanks for the tip on the hubs. I might wait until I have the covers before I buy hubs for my new wheels.