Frozen72
Posts: 3109
Joined: 11/10/2006
From: Asheville, NC, USA
Status: online
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This isn't my guide but I found in on a different forum and it was very helpful.
The Ultimate Mini-T Guide
Well the question has been asked many times, what upgrades should I get? So I thought that I would make one thread that answers this question and can turn your mini-t or mini Baja into a racing machine
The first upgrade that I would recommend getting is a good battery pack and charger for a battery pack there are many options out there but the pack that I would recommend would be either an IB1400 pack or an Elite 1500 pack. You can find the IB 1400 pack at Tower Hobbies while the Elite packs are made from cheapbatterypacks.com. While you are upgrading the battery you should also upgrade the connectors from the stock HPI micro plugs to the Deans Ultra plug. Upgrading to the Deans Ultra plug will allow a better connection from the batteries to the ESC and creating less resistance. While you’re shopping for a battery you also want to look for a decent charger to give your packs a better performance. Some very good chargers are the Piranha AC/DC, the Prophet Plus, the DuraTrax IntelliPeak series. If you plan on upgrading to a lipo pack later on you may want to get a charger that can charge all types of batteries such as the Triton JR., Triton 2, Duratrax ICE, or the Dynamite Ultra AC/DC.
–NOTE- If you get the Triton JR., Triton 2, Duratrax intellipeak, or Duratrax ICE you will need an optional power supply. These range in prices from $20 – over $150. A good $20 power will get the job done easily though.
Battery Packs-
IB1400 pack: http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXMUE5&P=7
Elite 1500 pack: http://cheapbatterypacks.com/main.as...rer=3&model=20
Chargers-
Piranha AC/DC: http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXCLD5&P=ML
Prophet Plus: http://www.dynamiterc.com/Products/D...ProdID=DYN4036
DuraTrax IntelliPeak: http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXHJB5&P=7
Triton JR.: http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXMAH9&P=ML
Triton 2: http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXMAJ0&P=ML
Duratrax Ice: http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXHDJ1&P=7
Power Supplies-
Novak Black Box (5A): http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXDDD9&P=7
Novak Black Box (9A): http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXKNY2&P=7
Pyramid Power Supply: http://www.millionbuy.com/pyrps8k.html
The Next Upgrade that should be purchased would be the BRP chassis brace and the RPM wide front bumper. These two parts can help protect the chassis in the event of a crash, and the RPM plastic is near indestructible. Both of these parts can be purchased from Tower Hobbies for a very affordable price. EVERY MINI-T/ BAJA should have those parts!! Weather you bash your truck or race it.
RPM Wide Front Bumper: http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXHCD8&P=7
BRP Chassis Brace: http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXGZK1&P=7
Bearings, Bearings, Bearings (Mini Baja owners won’t have to worry about this part) Bearings will give your truck a smoother ride, help it run smoother, and give it a slightly higher top speed. Not only that but upgrading to bearings can also help lower the heat on your electronics.
Bearing Set: http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXGGY4&P=7
The Next stage is the Suspension Upgrades I will recommend that you get some oil filled shocks ASAP! These will greatly improve the handling of the truck making it not so bouncy. A very good set of shocks are the GPM shock set. These shocks are super smooth and allow for precision tuning do to them being threaded. I will have to steer you away from the Losi shocks because they tend to have leaking problems.
Here is a link to the shocks: http://www.thetoyz.com/cart/thetoyz_...6624&cat_name=
Finally to the motor a good upgraded motor to get while using the stock motor is the Orion Baja motor. This motor will give a noticeable increase in top speed and acceleration, overall giving it much better performance over the stock Motor. Another good motor to get is a Graupner Speed 300 6volt motor. This motor will also give a noticeably better acceleration and slightly better top speed but I would recommend the Orion Baja over this, but for a cheap replacement the Graupner will do just fine. While we are at this stage in upgrading the Mini-t I would strongly recommend getting a set of pinion gears. These cost about $4.00 but can help prevent you burning out your new motor. I would suggest getting gears that range from 10 teeth to 16 teeth.
Orion Baja: http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXFWS4&P=7
Graupner Speed 300: http://www.hobby-lobby.com/speed300.htm
The next Stage in upgrading your Mini-t is to upgrade the drivetrain for your future upgrades. The parts that I recommend is the MIP CVD’s, Losi, or MIP ball Differential (they are both equally good) MIP dual disk slipper, and the MIP light weight top shaft all of those parts will pretty much make your drivetrain bulletproof, and now you won’t have to worry if you plan on racing, or upgrading to a brushless motor here are the links to those parts.
Ball Diff.: http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXGZM2&P=7
Top Gear for the slipper: http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXGZM3&P=7
MIP CVD's: http://www.thetoyz.com/cart/thetoyz_...8037&cat_name=
Dual Disk Slipper: http://www.losipartshouse.com/servle...er-cln-/Detail
Now we are at the stage to upgrade the electronic system… for the Mini-t you will need to get a new ESC/Receiver/Servo, while the Baja only needs a new Servo. For the Mini-t I suggest getting a Novak XRS ESC, Quantum micro 2 ESC, or a Futaba MC230cr ESC (with those ESC’s you can use any motor for a mini R/C car regardless of the motor limit), A Team Associated receiver, and as for the servo there are quiet a few choices depending on if you want to modify the chassis to fit a larger servo. For drop in servos I would get the cheaper but still good hs-55 servo, or the more expensive, yet much stronger HS-65MG. the HS-65MG is much better then the stock or the HS-55 because of the metal gears that make up the mechanism of the servo, thus making it less prone to breaking. For servos that require chassis modification I would suggest getting the HS-85MG –NOTE- with the larger servos some battery packs may not fit!!! There is a great guide on fitting this servo in the chassis located here: http://www.beatyourtruck.com/project-MINIT-stage2.html
Here are the links to the electronic upgrades:
Novak XRS: http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXGNG5&P=ML
Futaba MC230cr: http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXUY13&P=ML
Quantum Micro 2: http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXLXS1&P=7
Team Associated Receiver: http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXPCA2&P=7
HS-55: http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXTX42&P=ML
HS-65MG: http://www.servocity.com/~servo/html...y_feather.html
HS-85MG: http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXN685&P=ML
By now you are bound to have bent a linkage it happens to us all to correct this problem I suggest that you get a set of GPM Titanium turnbuckles and you should no longer break turnbuckles While you are also upgrading the turnbuckles you may also want to look at the steering assembly and you may notice some slop in it. To help fix this upgrade to an alloy assembly, and alloy knuckles all around. Also an upgrade that isn’t really a necessity is a c/f chassis. This will eliminate chassis flex, and it will also look nice - NOTE- with most of the c/f chassis you can only fit 6 cells. Here are the links
GPM turnbuckles: http://www.thetoyz.com/cart/thetoyz_...8230&cat_name=
Steering assembly: http://www.thetoyz.com/cart/thetoyz_...6891&cat_name=
Alloy front Knuckles: http://www.thetoyz.com/cart/thetoyz_...6546&cat_name=
Alloy Rear knuckles: http://www.thetoyz.com/cart/thetoyz_...6893&cat_name=
C/F chassis:
Integy chassis: http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXKUD4&P=7
Here we are the final stages of the upgrades here is were the brushless/lipos come in On to lipo batteries for these packs you will need a LIPO CHARGER!! if you charger with a charger for nimh charger you will cause the pack to vent and can possibly start a fire. Some good brands for lipos are thunder power and apogee. I suggest getting a two cell lipo to start out with and then getting a three cell later on. There are also lipo based packs that have a safer chemistry they are called limn packs. Limn packs weigh about 3% more then the traditional lipo packs, but they can be punctured without starting a fire. If you plan on using a lipo/limn pack without a brushless motor you will need a low voltage cutoff device. There are a few different ones depending on how many cells are in the pack. A good cutoff device is either the Novak low voltage cutoff, or the Apogee LOA. A common question when researching lipo/limn packs is what is a balancer, and will I really need one? A balancer is used to give each one of the cells in a lipo pack equal voltage a good balancer is the Equinox balancer from Great Planes. I use a balancer about once every two weeks just to keep my packs at an even voltage. It's not really necessary but I would recommend at least owning one to even the voltage every now and then.
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RE: Official Mini-T Thread - 
