Horsetooth Badlands Wraith - Back from the dead

[dystance]

I bit the bullet and picked up the Wraith at the LHS. Super fun out of the box but I started pulling it apart after 5 minutes to find out what was going on. After a quick read, I lowered the ride height by flipping the rear shock brace, angleing the shocks back, and flipping the axel link/shock mounts. Way better and less likely to roll in fast turns. Did some minor interior touches because I wanted to loose the shiny plastic look, and also removes a seat. Just too heavy to justify. Trying to get the CG down low. Took her out to Horsettoth for a quick rundown on the rocks. Love the speed and crawls well. Obvious changes such as servo and steering setup are planned. Lots of plans brewing but it will be a slow build. I'll just pound the stock parts until they fail. THe build is named for the area at Horsetooth Reservoir that I am building this rig for. A KOH type of area with shale ridges and dune shapes right down to the water, with rocks scattered all around the perimeter, including an amazing spot that hosted a Colorado comp a few years back. When the water is down over the winter there is nothing better!
Just pics for now but as things progress, I will update.

 

[neoakaj]

Thats sweet!

 

[LDogg]

Looks great! Love the plate design on the sides.

 

[dubAron]

looks really good nice paint scheme great work

 

[dystance]

Thanks for the comments! Trying to represent CO. The stock look is too busy for me and the looks are always temporary anyway with the constant damage. Much more to come but it will be slow.

 

[crazy81]

How did you go about taking the design from a license plate? Sticker? Way good looking!

 

[dystance]

How did you go about taking the design from a license plate? Sticker? Way good looking!

Thanks!

It is just a sticker for tourists8). I found stickers that are the Colorado license plate with "Fort Collins" written on them. I just clipped the mountain strip to fit and spliced 2 togther to be the right length. Super easy and cheap. With the damage the body panels will take, I wanted to make it ease to freshen up the look.

 

[dystance]

minor update, Have been working on a few low budget mods. Fabbed up a quick set of wheelwell/bulkheads for the front and rear wheels to keep the rocks out of the interior. Just cut up some mockups on stiff paper and then transfered to some 1/16'" lexan. Front bols on with stock skin and rear is ziptied in. Also did a bit of camaflage for the rear deck. I have no intentions of adding any weight up high or adding scale stuff so I just want it to look clean and simple. For now the mesh works.

Also trying out a new hood, not sure what I think. I have another donor body I am going to try to see if I like it better. Any opinions welcome.....thumbs up or down?

 

[gabehunt]

man!!! that hood looks sick! what donated that to the wraith. looks like a rally car hood. put some working leds in there and... MONEY!! the mesh and partial deck around the shocks looks great to!! i say keep the hood."thumbsup""thumbsup""thumbsup"

 

[dwdodgelover]

Ohh, lemme guess, jconcepts dare hood? I know the hood

 

[hellbentrodder]

Looks great! Love the hood and fenderwells. Great job"thumbsup"

 

[dystance]

So Phase 1 of the modifications are almost complete. Mostly low budget mods and changes using stuff I had laying around. Bought a new lipo 2s 5200 25c by Thunder Power and a servo by Savox. Great power. I am planning on going brushless in the future but will likely only speed it up a bit as it has good speed already and I will be doing alot of crawling.

I have a buzzing noise from the servo and it seems to run warm. Any ideas on what the problem could be? Maybe isolate antenna wire better? It doesn't seem normal to get warm. Any help would be appreciated.......

Also: swapped out the shocks for some slightly longer units and compensated for the ride height by running half droop. Seems to work great as I have more travel overall and am sitting with the ability to adjust front and rear ride height by tuning the preload. Running 35wt oil but think maybe 40-45 to reduce bounce, more testing will tell. Ride height is at 2.75". Full bump is almost 1" down and full droop drops out about .75".

Made the big electronics swap, getting the battery in front and the other gear in the back. Fabbed up a rough battery holder out of black ABS plastic. Just a small tab bolted to the stock electronics box holes. Used an electronics box from the SCX10 kit because I had the room. Lots of space left up front.............Much inproved forward weight bias for crawling and should help keep the rig level in the air. Minor mod of relocating the rear lights to get them out of harms way.

Made new steering rods so it actually holds a line on the rocks now. Great improvement although I think I need to beef up the steering mount as it seems to have alot of flex with the new servo.

I think that is about it for now, maybe gonna make my own links but I will probly go with the Vanquish set.

 

[dystance]

Mor pics after the wiring and got her re-skinned. Back to the stock hood. Didnt feel right about the pther hood and this one is much better protection for the battery.

 

[gm0688]

So Phase 1 of the modifications are almost complete. Mostly low budget mods and changes using stuff I had laying around. Bought a new lipo 2s 5200 25c by Thunder Power and a servo by Savox. Great power. I am planning on going brushless in the future but will likely only speed it up a bit as it has good speed already and I will be doing alot of crawling.

I have a buzzing noise from the servo and it seems to run warm. Any ideas on what the problem could be? Maybe isolate antenna wire better? It doesn't seem normal to get warm. Any help would be appreciated.......

Also: swapped out the shocks for some slightly longer units and compensated for the ride height by running half droop. Seems to work great as I have more travel overall and am sitting with the ability to adjust front and rear ride height by tuning the preload. Running 35wt oil but think maybe 40-45 to reduce bounce, more testing will tell. Ride height is at 2.75". Full bump is almost 1" down and full droop drops out about .75".

Made the big electronics swap, getting the battery in front and the other gear in the back. Fabbed up a rough battery holder out of black ABS plastic. Just a small tab bolted to the stock electronics box holes. Used an electronics box from the SCX10 kit because I had the room. Lots of space left up front.............Much inproved forward weight bias for crawling and should help keep the rig level in the air. Minor mod of relocating the rear lights to get them out of harms way.

Made new steering rods so it actually holds a line on the rocks now. Great improvement although I think I need to beef up the steering mount as it seems to have alot of flex with the new servo.

I think that is about it for now, maybe gonna make my own links but I will probly go with the Vanquish set.

That Savox buzzes?

 

[gm0688]

So Phase 1 of the modifications are almost complete. Mostly low budget mods and changes using stuff I had laying around. Bought a new lipo 2s 5200 25c by Thunder Power and a servo by Savox. Great power. I am planning on going brushless in the future but will likely only speed it up a bit as it has good speed already and I will be doing alot of crawling.

I have a buzzing noise from the servo and it seems to run warm. Any ideas on what the problem could be? Maybe isolate antenna wire better? It doesn't seem normal to get warm. Any help would be appreciated.......

Also: swapped out the shocks for some slightly longer units and compensated for the ride height by running half droop. Seems to work great as I have more travel overall and am sitting with the ability to adjust front and rear ride height by tuning the preload. Running 35wt oil but think maybe 40-45 to reduce bounce, more testing will tell. Ride height is at 2.75". Full bump is almost 1" down and full droop drops out about .75".

Made the big electronics swap, getting the battery in front and the other gear in the back. Fabbed up a rough battery holder out of black ABS plastic. Just a small tab bolted to the stock electronics box holes. Used an electronics box from the SCX10 kit because I had the room. Lots of space left up front.............Much inproved forward weight bias for crawling and should help keep the rig level in the air. Minor mod of relocating the rear lights to get them out of harms way.

Made new steering rods so it actually holds a line on the rocks now. Great improvement although I think I need to beef up the steering mount as it seems to have alot of flex with the new servo.

I think that is about it for now, maybe gonna make my own links but I will probly go with the Vanquish set.

http://204.186.93.64/BrushlessMotors-Gen2.htm what about one of these motors for when you go brushless?

 

[dystance]

That Savox buzzes?

A high pitched buzz that sometimes goes quiet with moving the steering a bit. The warm temperature seems strange to, haven't even run it hard.

 

[dystance]

http://204.186.93.64/BrushlessMotors-Gen2.htm what about one of these motors for when you go brushless?

Looks like a good deal, $46 for the 2.2 1/10 scale. What do you know about them? Should they run ok with the stock ESC? Electronics are my week point thanks for the help.

 

[2500hdon37s]

That Savox buzzes?

yes, they are a loud servo, but they work well.

 

[dystance]

yes, they are a loud servo, but they work well.

so the high pitched whine in normal? And running a bit warm?

 

[gm0688]

A high pitched buzz that sometimes goes quiet with moving the steering a bit. The warm temperature seems strange to, haven't even run it hard.

Was asking because Craig has a bunch of savox. Thought about trying it. Thinkin now of goin Hitec whith it. If you take your car in when Craig is there. He might be able to help ya. He's a pro. at onroad cars but those use servos to. Mike is up to speed also.