MPH Challenge

[Double G]

I also figured out a way to add a 4th gear in the transmission if needed
That extra space is all I need to add the gears needed for a 4 speed. I’ll save that idea for a rainy day.

I see what you did there...
Why stop at four? How about five?

[mike-susieq1]

man he is building himself a monster. seems like snook can build himself a 1:1 car and have that thing fly. the 3 gear tranny was impressive and now can make a 4 speed that is something else. my only concern is will the engine's put out enough for a 4 speed if you were to make one. only time will tell what snook man has molding in his mind.

[08kgraves]

as long as he gets the gearing right it will have enough power for a 4 speed transmission...........

maybe not the brakes to stop it vary vast but sure will have the power to go lol

[Snook Man]

A 4 speed would only be as a last resort. The 3rd gear ratio I now have installed in the 3 speed should be sufficient.
If I were to use a 4 speed with this build I would probably not even use the transmission housing and make my own. I could then position the input shaft to a better suited location.
I could squeeze the modified stock housing in a Tmaxx though. I’ll probably do it one day just for giggles.

[2010450x]

I like that Snook has so much mechanical genius, and that a 4 speed t maxx is just fun for him....lol

[Nitronaught]

A 4 speed would only be as a last resort. The 3rd gear ratio I now have installed in the 3 speed should be sufficient.
If I were to use a 4 speed with this build I would probably not even use the transmission housing and make my own. I could then position the input shaft to a better suited location.
I could squeeze the modified stock housing in a Tmaxx though. I’ll probably do it one day just for giggles.

What you do for giggle many of us rack our brains on the how to's loll

This is probably the most interesting TMAXX project I've seen in years next to Popeye's puller.....

[Snook Man]

What you do for giggle many of us rack our brains on the how to's loll

I try to make those as understandable as possible There won’t be too much of a Maxx left after I’m done with it.

With all the changes I’ve made so far, I figured I would make a few more.
Since I now plan on using the XO-1 tires/wheels for the rear drive which caused me use a smaller spur gear and by narrowing the rear width to under 12 inches the body height/width and rear suspension all needed a change order.
The narrower and lower the body is the better for wind resistance.
With the smaller spur I can lower the body to where at least ¾ of the engine head(s) will stick out and add a body post to the top of the transmission housing to keep the body from being compressed.
The stock rear tower was just too high to lower the body any more so I mocked up an aluminum tower and set the shock mounts to where I wanted them. I also changed the hinge system for the rear body posts somewhat.
The changes will now allow the body height to be only 5 ½ inches off the ground in the rear (not including the spoiler) at rest and 4 ½ inches when fully compressed. Hopefully the XO-1 tires will not balloon anymore than an 1/8th of an inch, I’ll see when they become available.
With the body sitting that low I will have to come up with some fancy plumbing for the air filters.
I have an idea of mounting two small boxes with seals and foam inside to the bottom of the chassis with strategic openings in the chassis under the boxes to let air in. Sort of like a water intake on the bottom of a boat hull.
I think I’m just about ready to start cutting the aluminum for the chassis plate.

I need to fancy up the tower, make some custom shock standoffs and use a light weight aluminum hinge for the finished version. As it is, it’s lighter than the stock tower and posts.

[CumminsDriver]

What about these?

http://ipanemasports.com/MonsterSlicks.aspx

If you are wanting to keep MT size tires they would be the way to go. I believe they go for about $70-80 a pair from what i read on another forum.

[Snook Man]

I checked those out when they posted about them becoming available. Too wide, too much offset (they only come pre-mounts) and too heavy for this application I believe.

[2010450x]

I can't wait to see this thing all done snook.

[TRXnewbie21]

Quick question Snook, How do you figure out where to drill the holes in your Aluminum to precisely make the holes perfect? Like Engine mount holes, Tranny holes... the ones that have no room for error? do you draw a paper template then transfer it over?

[08kgraves]

exact measurements about 4 times before you dirill probably, a paper templet, and center punch every hole first. thats what i do before i drill new holes in my aluminum

[Snook Man]

I use a bunch of different material to make templates for the holes that need to be exact. Starting with heavy paper, then rigid plastic and then cheap 1/8 inch aluminum making any needed adjustments along the way.
Most holes I drill free hand ( no template) on the drill press with good lighting and a clamp on magnifying glass ( I’ve been known to wear 2 pairs of glasses when sitting at the drill press )
I use a digital caliper to lightly scribe an X in the aluminum where I want the hole, then with a short bit I drill it on the press making sure the bit is plumb/square with the drill press deck.
Hole patterns like engine mount locations I use a template clamped or screwed to the piece of aluminum.
I don’t use a center punch when drilling aluminum, it is easy to get the punch off center of the mark and once punched the drill bit will follow the punch mark.
I start by making sure the piece of aluminum is square then scribe precise center lines, all other measurements/scribe lines can then be taken from the outer edge of the piece or from the center.
One thing to remember when drilling aluminum is when the drill bit initially bites the metal if the bit is off from the mark it is hard to make an adjustment. The more bit sticking out of the chuck the more apt the bit will be to wander.
Oh...practice, practice, practice always helps.
Measure twice, drill once

[Al Morancy]

Snook, very cool thread, I just read through it, I'm glad I did that work to my buddy's truck and came in here for some help, or I wouldn't have seen it, Awesome work, I love the out of the box thinking, something else to follow on here now. Thanks man, now you got me scraching my head on a couple of things. Very Cool.

[Snook Man]

Time to start the actual build.

1st I needed to address a few issues with the rear end.
I was able to shave off a little more of the a-arms for a better fit of the dog bone axles.
I also needed to find a stub axle that was a little longer than a stock 3.3 stub so that I would have full insertion of the stub into the drive cup.
I cut the plastic yoke off an old 2.5 stub axle and found that the steel stub was a few mm’s longer than the stock 3.3 stub. I then had to remove almost all of the collar on the end of UE 5mm drive cups to fit closer to the inner wheel bearing so to allow the wheel hex pin to protrude through the carrier far enough for the wheel hexes (hexes will be replaced with the trx splined hexes when I get the XO-1 wheels).
I shimmed a brand new BL emaxx diff and used trx cups on the outputs and a modified UE cup on the input pinion.
I found a light weight aluminum hinge and designed it so that the shock standoffs I made would secure it to the shock tower and mounted the upper portion of a rear body post mount to the hinge.

Once everything was assembled I spun the diff input with a 14.4 volt Dewalt motor and a gear system to test. If my calculations are close, the diff and axles were spinning close to what they need to be for 115mph with almost 0 vibrations.

Stub axle modification


Body post hinge system


Assembled with spacer that fits between bulkheads and chassis deck.


The transmission mount/chassis braces will be made next. I can’t even think about cutting the chassis until I have the rear end, braces, transmission and idler block assembled as a unit.

[08kgraves]

im honestly just in shock and awe almost every time you update things, not even gonna lie

[2010450x]

+1 Graves. I am also in awe of snook's mechanical genius lol

[Chris1594]

This is coming along great Snook

[Snook Man]

After a busy couple of weeks I got some time to work on some parts.

The idle block design was giving me a little issue during testing I had to work through. I’m using the stock (4909)Tmaxx 3.3 forward output gears in the idler block; the stock roller bearings for those gears were wearing the aluminum shafts the bearings/gears ride on. I changed the design to use standard 6x10x3mm flanged bearings on both side of the gears. I had to remove the lip on the gears to insert the bearings on one side.

After some intense testing with a spur gear chucked in a drill press to turn the idler gears against some resistance, I’m pretty satisfied the idler block will now work well.





I also rough cut the chassis braces/transmission mounts.
They just need to be drilled and tapped, deck height adjusted and cleaned up a bit.



The idler block will also have an attachment bar added to the front to secure a chassis brace from the front bulkhead to the block, and the block will be attached to the chassis braces/transmission mounts making a continuous brace from the front bulkhead to the rear bulks.




I should have time to finish the braces and idler block this weekend so I can start cutting the chassis from this. The main chassis deck will be 3.18mm thick with the side plates being 1.85mm thick to help saving on weight.

[Nitronaught]

Oh my!!!
Seeing an update on this project just made my day..... The Idler block looks excellent, you do some nice work Snook!!!!!


I see triple digit speeds in the future...

[naturalstrike]

very nicee +1^

[Double G]

Snook vs XO-1 for pinks.

[davidemaxx]

haha i agree^



awesome project snook! looking good! what the weight of the car if i may ask?

[naturalstrike]

snook... haha , snook spits at the xo-1, haha i could see him beating it though

[mike-susieq1]

snook... haha , snook spits at the xo-1, haha i could see him beating it though

top speed i can see Snook beating the XO-1 but not in take off, since the XO-1 is AWD is has a better take off, Snook once it gets going then will catch up quick and pass it not by much as he would be getting low on gas by then but i see him going faster than the XO-1 for sure.

[davidemaxx]

are you going to use a violator tank?

[willyb26]

Wow! Amazing Snook. I just spent the past hour reading this entire post.lol. Can't wait to see this monster of an rc fly at (over) 100mph!!

[08kgraves]

nice.......... very nice............ cant wait to see it run on video though

[Snook Man]

what the weight of the car if i may ask?

A close estimate on weight with 2 BB engines and body, RTR with fuel it should be very close to 7.5 lbs… 32 inches long, 11.75 inches at the widest point and 6 inches in height at rest (5 inches at full suspension compression) that’s not including the rear spoiler which will be adjustable to find the best down force to drag position.
It’s hard to tell the weight precisely until I get the X0-1 wheels/tires and the lid made from lexan but it should be less than 8lbs for sure.

No way will this have the take off speed of the X0-1; but it should be close to the top speed if it stays together and on all 4’s

I will be using 2 small fuel tanks similar to the Nitro 4 Tec, or smaller depending on how much run time I get with the engines.

[454_72_4x4]

2 BB engines? Big Block? I thought you were gonna use 3.3 engines. Did I miss a page? LOL 3.3 are considered small blocks, right? (Yea, I'm still new to nitro... LOL)

Been watchin this build since I found this board. Cool is all I can say!

[454_72_4x4]

What do ya use to cut the chassis and braces snook. They look nice so far!

[Snook Man]

2 BB engines? Big Block? I thought you were gonna use 3.3 engines.

I am designing the chassis so that I can basically use whatever engine(s) I want.
Single SB (small block) or single BB (big block) or dual SB / BB

What do ya use to cut the chassis and braces snook.

I use a table saw or chop saw to cut the straight cuts where possible and a jig saw to cut the intricate cuts, then I clean up/finish the edges with an oscillating drum sander and an assortment of carbide dremel bits chucked in a drill press.
Its time consuming, but I get a lot of satisfaction when it comes out right. It’s a stress reliever for me to sit in front of a drill press for an hour or two



I managed to fit the idler block to the chassis brace/transmission mounts and the braces to the rear bulkhead so everything is a solid unit.
Once this is screwed to the chassis plate it should make for a nice stiff chassis with little flex.



As of now there is no adjustment of the idler block to the spur gear but if needed I can make other plates for the block and slot the attachment screw holes to set the mesh if I change the size of the spur gear.

As it is, it spins very nice with just the right amount of lash between the 4 gears. Click below for vid.



Now I can finally start laying out the chassis plate.

[08kgraves]

looking good snook!

[1979chevy.]

Excellent job machining the aluminum! Looks (and is) professionally done.
Why did you make the main chassis braces so thick? It may just be the pictures
playing with my eyes.

[Snook Man]

Everything looks heavier on camera

The braces are ¼ inch, that doesn’t leave too much room on either side of the 1/8th inch through holes for the transmission mounting screws and the 3mm tapped holes for attaching to the legs to the chassis, the bulkhead plate and the idler block to the braces.
They are about 2 mm thinner than a stock chassis brace and about 1mm less than most aftermarket aluminum braces.

Braces cut from this.

[1979chevy.]

Oh ok, yes they do look a good bit thicker than that haha.

[kuskye25]

your just teasing us with these little 20 second videos...

[stallion 63]

I am designing the chassis so that I can basically use whatever engine(s) I want.
Single SB (small block) or single BB (big block) or dual SB / BB


I use a table saw or chop saw to cut the straight cuts where possible and a jig saw to cut the intricate cuts, then I clean up/finish the edges with an oscillating drum sander and an assortment of carbide dremel bits chucked in a drill press.
Its time consuming, but I get a lot of satisfaction when it comes out right. It’s a stress reliever for me to sit in front of a drill press for an hour or two



I managed to fit the idler block to the chassis brace/transmission mounts and the braces to the rear bulkhead so everything is a solid unit.
Once this is screwed to the chassis plate it should make for a nice stiff chassis with little flex.



As of now there is no adjustment of the idler block to the spur gear but if needed I can make other plates for the block and slot the attachment screw holes to set the mesh if I change the size of the spur gear.

As it is, it spins very nice with just the right amount of lash between the 4 gears. Click below for vid.



Now I can finally start laying out the chassis plate.

[Snook Man]

Main chassis deck cut. I may have a roller by the weekend

[mike-susieq1]

not bad, coming along, likeing the design of this ride. wait till everything is put on this, man your making me want to build something like this but i dont have nearly the skills you have to build something like this or the equip either. what are you gonna do with this when its all done and you hit the 100+ mark your aiming for?