B-MOW's VS4-10 Phoenix Portal

[indybama]

Them look purdy on there brian. Really need to get me a couple sets too. My v3 tends to feel light in the front end at times

[B-MOW71]

Originally Posted by 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.

That's what I'm thinking. I did take the bearing in and out a few times just to see if it would fit better. The hole tolerances are so precise that the bearing actually slides in like butter! Who knows, but glad all is ok now!

Unless you want a narrow look, any hubs 350 or wider will fit with no issues. I normally run 350's on all of my rigs, except for my Element GK-Ecto. It uses 475's with the Method Roost wheels to give a wider, meaner stance.

Originally Posted by indybama

Them look purdy on there brian. Really need to get me a couple sets too. My v3 tends to feel light in the front end at times

Yeah they do! Mine felt light too, so hoping these will take care of that problem. I was surprised and highly impresed though at how capable the Phoenix is box stock. I don't think I have any other rig in my fleet that has been that good on its first run.

[indybama]

Completely agree. My v3 phoenix is my go-to rig. My builders bundle portal has my orange/blue phoenix body on it now. N the BB straight axle has a stepside chevy on it, cant wait to run it

[B-MOW71]

Originally Posted by indybama

Completely agree. My v3 phoenix is my go-to rig. My builders bundle portal has my orange/blue phoenix body on it now. N the BB straight axle has a stepside chevy on it, cant wait to run it

Nice! My Builders Bundle Portal build still hasn't seen dirt! I'm sure it's going to be a beast out on the rocks when it does!


@Ballistic17 - Here's the pics of the license plate mount the I put on Thingiverse. I used 3M servo tape on both the plate and mounting to bumper.

[B-MOW71]

Spent the day in the shop tinkering with the rigs. Another mod I wanted to do to the Phoenix was add some high clearance links to the rear to help with getting the rear end over sharp breakover points.

I picked up a cheap set of stainless steel high clearance links off of the Amazon. I've used these links in the past on other builds and believe it or not, these aren't too bad for the money. I did not use the rod ends that came with them. They are very similar to the Traxxas TRX-4 rod ends and are bigger in diameter than what I wanted to use. I ended up using a set of VP rod ends that I had left over from a previous build.



Here's the before and after. New links set just under the driveshaft and should give me the little extra clearance to get up and over obstacles. I'll find out the next time I get it out.

Winter decided to show up one last time (I hope it's the last) here in Ohio, so testing is postponed until warmer and drier weather arrives!

[Steven McKay]

As always. Thanks for the tip on the balance plug jst connectors too.

[Ballistic17]

Originally Posted by B-MOW71

Nice! My Builders Bundle Portal build still hasn't seen dirt! I'm sure it's going to be a beast out on the rocks when it does!


@Ballistic17 - Here's the pics of the license plate mount the I put on Thingiverse. I used 3M servo tape on both the plate and mounting to bumper.

Attachment 402376

Attachment 402377

Attachment 402378

Got one sent to my friend that prints for me.

[B-MOW71]

Originally Posted by Ballistic17

Got one sent to my friend that prints for me.

Excellent!!

[B-MOW71]

I've been waiting a long time to pick one of these up. Finally have the Hobbywing Fushion SE motor/ESC combo in hand. I think this will be the perfect solution to fix the slow speed crawling action and to declutter and lighten up the Phoenix.

More to come soon!

[Steven McKay]

I checked out the Fushion SE motor/ESC combo, you should get good control from that and a nice low speed. Good price too.

[Axle Scott]

new to the forum.first post...i have the hobbywing se 1800 in my portal phoenix and it suits that car perfect. you are going to like it

[Ross413]

Originally Posted by B-MOW71

Spent the day in the shop tinkering with the rigs. Another mod I wanted to do to the Phoenix was add some high clearance links to the rear to help with getting the rear end over sharp breakover points.

I picked up a cheap set of stainless steel high clearance links off of the Amazon. I've used these links in the past on other builds and believe it or not, these aren't too bad for the money. I did not use the rod ends that came with them. They are very similar to the Traxxas TRX-4 rod ends and are bigger in diameter than what I wanted to use. I ended up using a set of VP rod ends that I had left over from a previous build.

Attachment 402382

Here's the before and after. New links set just under the driveshaft and should give me the little extra clearance to get up and over obstacles. I'll find out the next time I get it out.

Winter decided to show up one last time (I hope it's the last) here in Ohio, so testing is postponed until warmer and drier weather arrives!

Attachment 402383

Attachment 402384

Have a link to the Amazon links? Do you know the lengths of them?


Also, what made you go with the 1200 vs the 1800?


Thanks Ross

[B-MOW71]

Originally Posted by Steven McKay

I checked out the Fushion SE motor/ESC combo, you should get good control from that and a nice low speed. Good price too.

Yeah I'm hoping it has the low speed like the Fushion PRO. I have the PRO and love it! I did get it installed and rudely wired just to check motor direction and was pleasantly pleased at how slow the motor was turning.

Originally Posted by Axle Scott

new to the forum.first post...i have the hobbywing se 1800 in my portal phoenix and it suits that car perfect. you are going to like it

Welcome to RCC! That's great news! I do have the Fushion PRO in my Rock Pirates Interceptor Phoenix and it works flawlessly!

Thanks for stopping by. If you have any questions, fire away. Also, I have a thread made for each of my builds if you have the time to check them out.

Originally Posted by Ross413

Have a link to the Amazon links? Do you know the lengths of them?

Also, what made you go with the 1200 vs the 1800?

Thanks Ross

Here's the link for the links. They are a direct replacement for a 12.3 setup. I do not have the lengths, but they were a direct bolt on and it did not effect the wheelbase. I did not use the supplied rod ends. I used Traxxas #5347 rod ends.

https://a.co/d/hOwiUpU

I went with the 1200kv just to see how it would do in the Phoenix and also get an idea of how it compares to the 1800kv. If it doesn't have the wheel speed I'm looking for, I swap in the Fushion SE 1800kv in the future.

[justinart24]

Great looking build! I really like how you cut the side windows out

[twade984]

Originally Posted by Ross413

Have a link to the Amazon links? Do you know the lengths of them?


Also, what made you go with the 1200 vs the 1800?


Thanks Ross

Just an fyi to anybody that hasn’t used them before, they are sometimes listed for scx10.2 but they are actually for the og scx10, which means they have two front upper links, a shorter drag link (for soa) and no panhard link.

I’ve bought several sets and found many uses for them. Like Brian mentioned, I’ve used them on vs410’s and scx10.2’s, upper and lower links only. And using either Traxxas rod ends, or incision rod ends.


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[B-MOW71]

Originally Posted by twade984

Just an fyi to anybody that hasn’t used them before, they are sometimes listed for scx10.2 but they are actually for the og scx10, which means they have two front upper links, a shorter drag link (for soa) and no panhard link.

I’ve bought several sets and found many uses for them. Like Brian mentioned, I’ve used them on vs410’s and scx10.2’s, upper and lower links only. And using either Traxxas rod ends, or incision rod ends.


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Yes, I should have mentioned that also. Thanks Tom!

I normally buy them for the high clearance links and I usually do not use the drag links. I also haven't tried to use the supplied rod ends. I don't like the size of them and I assume they probably won't last long before they break. Could be wrong, but I'd rather use the Traxxas rod ends.

[twade984]

Originally Posted by B-MOW71

Yes, I should have mentioned that also. Thanks Tom!

I normally buy them for the high clearance links and I usually do not use the drag links. I also haven't tried to use the supplied rod ends. I don't like the size of them and I assume they probably won't last long before they break. Could be wrong, but I'd rather use the Traxxas rod ends.

Yes same here, although the pivot balls are good replacements for stock element plastic pivot balls


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[B-MOW71]

Originally Posted by justinart24

Great looking build! I really like how you cut the side windows out

Hey thanks!

I wanted the windows open, but didn't want to cut them all the way out. I think it works!

[B-MOW71]

Originally Posted by twade984

Yes same here, although the pivot balls are good replacements for stock element plastic pivot balls


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Good call on on the replacement Element pivot balls. Thanks, I didn't realize they were the same!

[B-MOW71]

Back in the garage working on the Phoenix. Pulled out the Castle system and the rat nest of wiring mayhem! Also pulled out the cheapy full size OD and DIG servos to replace with a low profile servo. Eventually micro servos will go in to do the shifting duties.








Here's the low profile servos that I had in my spare parts bin. Good little servo for the price and should work great for shifting.




All back together with the Fushion SE installed. I went back to the stock 15T pinion that came with the kit. I did have a 11T pinion installed on the Slate motor and thought that would be way to small for the SE 1200kv motor. As mention previously, if I find I don't get enough wheel speed with the 1200kv, I'll replace it with the 1800kv version of the SE. At the time of the SE purchase, the 1200kv was the only one that was available.

Micro servos in and calibrated. I still need to work on the OD servo horn placement and trims. I'm now not able to shift into rear wheel drive only. Not a big deal and I get to that later.

Did away with the stock battery tray. It was bigger than I needed since I've switched to a smaller battery. I had piece of Kydex that I originally had heated up and bent for another rig, but it never got used. It was the perfect size to fit on the passenger side rock slider. I used a couple pieces of 3M tape to attach it to the stock slider top piece and wrapped a battery strap around it. Solid mount and not going anywhere.

Happy with the end result. Much cleaner look with less wiring and much less weight to lug around not having the Mamba X and oversized servos.

The Fushion SE is such a huge improvement over the Castle Mamba X and Slate combo. The SE has an excellent slow startup and smooth operation. So much more control and easier to creep over obstacles. Can't wait to get out on the rocks to do some real testing and see if the 1200kv will be enough to power this portaled axle rig.