Dave ESPI

I've been pouring through a ton of post, and most the upgrades are for the standard Baja RTR.

With the new SS being released (hopefully next week), what hop=ups can we speculate about being MUST HAVE / MUST DO to make it the best running car for abuse and least amount of down-time on the bench for repairs ?
Being it is a KIT , I would rather just replace the junk from the start and later just enjoy knowing it is a good set up for abuse ( because I'm going to trounce and thrash this beast )
I know my ***** with my FGMT, but when it comes to the Baja, I'm kind of unsure as there is a lot of "fancy parts" that really are just for customizing, but not really all that necessary IMHO ( eg: carbon fiber chassis and bling parts)

So far Since the SS is a kit, I know I wil be doing:

Shock sock covers,
Metal pull start ring,
Outerwears intake and start covers,
TGN redneck dual stage airfilter,
TGN failsafe,
Full Ball Bearing set (Also replaces diff bushings)
Spektrum dx3 TX/RX
HiTec -all metal gear servo for throt/brake. * I have a spare 805bb now. May add the metal gears ?
Klotz oil.

HAVE ALL THE ABOVE PARTS NOW.

Needs:

Battery- 4400mah hump pack, but what one...... want quality cells.
Front Shock tower- billet

Wheel extenders- did they fix the rubbing ?

Disc Brakes- Going to try to make some out of Smarttech parts hopefully.

Elkon race Clutch- <-I plan on getting this bad boy for my SS. I hate repairing stuff prematurely, so the 100.00 is money well spent IMHO

Debating on the steel or aluminum gears, and I know I will get them at some point for sure, but right away ?



Other than that, I'm not sure what really will be a surefire right off the bat NEED for replacing from the stock parts.
Perhaps the wheel extenders and upper arms for the rear ?

Will the new dif and clutch be good enough ?

Lets speculate a bit........

DIABLOTAC78

kill switch ive seen in other forum that they use with dx3.

vertigo performance

The stock air filter is fine when running an Outerwears over it, I can't see spending money on a Redneck filter when it is pretty much the same thing as the stock one.

The only thing I can see this buggy needing are axle extenders for the rear to prevent wheel rub on the A arms and a failsafe.
Contrary to what people say there are no missing bearings but adding them won't hurt in the diff and the tranny input shaft.
ABEC 5 bearing kits would be a cheap item, I am installing them on mine, the seals seem to fit better in the bearing so less dirt will get in, you can a 25pc kit (includes the 3 upgrade bearings) for $40.00 shipped.

DIABLOTAC78

i heared that hpi solve the wheel and a arm problem so there is no need for the axle extenders.

vertigo performance

HPI didn't solve the problem, they reduced it somewhat by moving the shock mount in a little but were unable to eliminate it all together.

brice_arnold

My Feedback: (6)

It sounds like you have yourself covered. There is a simple mod with the throttle linkage you can do to prvent the throttle from sticking. This happings in sandy conditions. Also you may want to consider some kind of brake upgrade. There are quite a bit of options on the market for the brakes (front and rear).

Depending on your attention to detail you may or may not go through spur gears. Some people can survive a whole year on a single plastic gear and some people will sit there and go through a handful of gears in a day. Even though the available steel gears are heavy as all get out, to me they are worth the piece of mind of not having to worry about it or deal with it.

You may also want to consider some kind of modified drive cup. Personally I have busted the inside cups (the ones in the diff). Basically the cup blows up. I welded a ring on all my cups to prevent this and so far (for more than a year) they haven't broken yet. Turtle Racing makes a complete kit with inside and outside cups and HD drive shafts. Or you can weld on your own rings.

So once you have your bomb-proof car set-up there is still one weak link that hasn't been worked out by anyone yet. That is the drive-shafts/dog-bones. To date these are the weakest link on the drivetrain for this car. Recently I went through 11 dog-bones in 2-1/2 tanks (8 were the HD dogbones, and 3 were prototypes) and I know another member that wnet through 8 HD dog-bones in one day. There is not much you can do about this, and to be honest you should be fine with the stock setup. It's when you start playing around with the engine and drivetrain that you run into problems.

Dave ESPI

Brice, any chance you could make some nice spring loaded telescoping drive shafts for the Baja SS ?

AS to the brakes, yeah I was planning on eventualy throwing some disc on it. Perhaps modding up some front blocks from a Smartech onroad car, but I'll have to get a good look at the car and see if I can just slap a HPI baja specific kit on it from a standard baja or of the front changed at all. I really saw a huge improvement in my FGMT with the brakes on the front also, and has helped keep the rear pads from needing replacement yet....... though I know I'm due as I feel it starting to become much slower to respond to brake inputs.

Perhaps some stronger tierods and ballends ? I tended to destroy them on my truck.

I'm curious to know if there is changes to the geometry on the frame of the SS from the original Baja, or if the parts are a direct swap from one car to another for the majority of it. That would really make the SS sweet IMHO as parts will already be plentiful at my LHS.

vertigo performance

No geometry changes, different colour and updated parts. The tie Rod ends are bullet proof, the tie rods are soft aluminium but I have only ever bent one. The rear camber rods are steel and strong.

FastEddy

My Feedback: (1)

I just look a quick look at the SS Manual and it seems as if the main suspension items minus the shocks are the same as the RTR.

The manual shows a bearing on the layshaft for the SS. This is what many people refer to as the missing bearing. (If its actually in the kit none of us know at this point.) Yes the bushings in the diff should be replaced with bearings be it ABEC-1 or 5. There are no ABEC-5 Kits available from any distributors or reputable retailers that I know of for 40.00. Many advertisers on this forum have several sets to choose from that are time proven and reasonably priced put out by AMS and Team FastEddy and Boca bearings.

Im looking forward to the release of the SS and building one. My hope is that it sparks an interest in the 5th scale market of those that want to build them rather then get an RTR

vertigo performance

Here is the Baja SS manual off of HPIRacing.com site SS Manual

FastEddy

My Feedback: (1)

There is also a supplement for the diff that shows proper part numbers. (OOPS!)
http://www.hpieurope.com/manuals/upd...Correction.pdf

Dave ESPI

haha Ya beat me to it eddy ! I was just going to list the UK site and mention there was an adendum to the instructions.

So if there is not any real changes to geometry, all one would have to do is upgrade the engine and shocks on a standard Baja with modified dif parts and would have the same car ?

vertigo performance

They are putting inserts in every box before they get shipped from HPI's warehouse.

badz

My Feedback: (1)

I have no wheel rubbing issue's on either one of my baja's and beat the daylights outta them. They corrected that rubbing issue long ago.

One thing I'd do for sure is redo the throttle linkage, it's pretty prone to sticking out the box, I run a different one all together with a return spring.

blackrain

what will be the street price for this new ss kit version

vertigo performance

Towers have them at $920.00 Surprisingly less than the RTR

cyclops1970

My Feedback: (5)

Dave ? im confused ? why do you need a TGN failsafe when using a spektrum dx3.0 ? it has one already

ttoks

the spektrum failsafe only works if you loose radio, if the bat go's flat your on your own.

Dave ESPI

TTOKS is correct. The scary thing is when battery power drops below 3.3 volts, the reciever shuts off and resets in 4 seconds. When it comes back on, you better pray you have had enough room and have not slammed anything.
A way to stop the truck is needed if servos loosen the control rods and return springs fail, the third channel is a good thing as a killswitch.

Foxy

Indeed, spektrum failsafe should be called 'runaway-for-sure'. Can't believe they didn't even correct this problem when they brought out the pro.

ttoks

yeah i had my 8ight T have a nice run up a 40 degree motocross berm at WOT because the batt went flat, when i get my baja i might invest in a nomadio down the track so i can have lights and a kill switch, oh yeah the baja SS is now available for pre-order here in AUS, i just put my order in, will be here is 6 weeks hopefully [8D]

cyclops1970

My Feedback: (5)

i just use a volt meter and a fully charged pack .. but ok i see what the TGN failsafe does now ..
IMO a volt meter is better so you can see numbers or levels instead of guessing and waitnitg for something too kick in , but thats just me ..

DIABLOTAC78

a failsafe and kill switch combo is nice, when the batts go low the engine shuts down. [8D]


i hope the price here in greece is same there in usa.

Osirisf16

The price "there" in Greece of course that will be more "more". But if you order it from the US, the taxes will cut off your head ( AMAN AFTA TA TELWNEIA, E DIKE MOU)

Dave ESPI

I have 1/2 my parts ordered for the upgrades, and well...... my RC hobby table is a mess.......



Putting together one of these big kits is going to take room. My job that I thought I came back to fell through, so I've been in a kind of a dumpy rut and (hence why I'm on the forum so often this past week or so) today when stressed, I decided to power clean and move some stuff around.

I'm quite happy with the results









Should have PLENTY of room now for the Baja SS build