Rallyfinnen

Welcome! I read your posts (before ordering the Rovan) about missing parts for the Rovan's you bought as a kit. I thought these problems were ironed out since they are now assembled, but nowhere did I find the other problems you mentioned.. If I had known, I might have ordered another car, probably the KM.. But maybe that is no better..?
From what I heard about KM, the plastics are better (some claim comparable to HPI), and there is a major difference in the flexibility and feel of the KM arms I received.

It's the same for me, and I hear that some of the HPI models are the same. My theory about this is that 'three is a crowd'
With one bearing in each end of the shaft, there can be no binding/strange loads on the bearings when the chassis is flexing during jumps etc. A lot of force could be applied to the gear-case with three bearings if the chassis is flexing. Given the strenght of the Rovan plastics, I want to avoid this.. Well, I might be wrong..
However I replaced the seal with an old crank seal I had lying around to keep the dirt out.

I'm not sure what pins you mean? The ones on the output shafts on the diff? THey were sticky for me too, and did not align with the hole in the case, so I had to open up the hole to get it out.. Can't understand how they got them assembled in the first place? Brute force?
When I assembled the diff I might have tightened the screws too much, because two of the flages on the diff house came straigh off.. Another alternative is that the material sucks..
I ordered a KM diff housing.. maybe that also needs to be tightened using fingertips only..?

I dont care much about colours, it will all be covered in dirt soon enough However I think the KM covered clutch cover seems robust (and heavier than expected). But, that is my only axperience of KM alu.

So the Rovan engine is no good either?
I have it apart, and the machining/plating seems a bit funny on the upper edge of the transfers, but in general it looks lika any chineese rip-off engine.. not perfect but useable
What problems have you experienced with the Rovan engines?

I ordered the KM engine case and fan cover to replace the broken Rovan case (was not sure the Rovan and KM halves would mate, so I ordered both KM halves)
Hope that will work..

Kostenko

I was allready warned about the Rovan engines on several forums.
So i toke CY engines from Taiwan which are also used on every HPI baja and just called Fuelie.
Km plastics are supposed to be better then Rovan and most people can confirm this.
And quality from KM alu is not so good if you can bend these parts so easy?
Or is it my strength that is way out of limits

Rallyfinnen

I'm sure you're right about the KM alu.
I have not found the info about the Rovan engines, could you maybe post a link where I can find a summary of the engine problems?
Maybe also good to have everything collected in this thread as a reference to those seeking info about Rovan's.
And, by the way, is this a problem with all versions of the engines?

tonystott

I gave my Rovan heaps of running over the weekend and have had NONE of the problems others seem to experience. All my orange bits match in colour, none of the plastic parts seem brittle, the aluminium parts seem as hard as a rock, and the Rovan engine does a great job.

Please don't get sucked in to replacing parts which work perfectly just because others have experienced problems. Only replace stuff when it lets you down. Life becomes much easier then!

tonystott

Sorry double post

JohnnyGreed

In other terms: Their QC is way out... It should not be like playing the ****ing lottery when you buy something?!

tonystott

Do you have a Rovan Johnny?

Kostenko,
I would also like to see links to where problems have been reported regarding Rovan motors.

I think we have to separate the horrendous problems experienced by the owner of the thread, as that motor damage is way beyond a QC issue. I am reminded about the Jaguar owner in UK who spent ages trying to track down a mysterious rattle, and eventually (I seem to recall) the factory gave him a new one, and then dismantled the noisy one. Eventually they found, inside the door sill, a nut welded to a thin piece of wire, which banged when ever the car hit the slightest bump. Beside it was a note: "you found it then" (or similar). Some b*stard worker's idea of a joke, or he was somehow p!ssed off at his bosses...

JohnnyGreed

I use to have one. But i sold it. It was ok. But there is a problem when you order something and everything is smashed to pieces at the arrival, as in Rallyfinnens case. Rovan have not taken their responsibility when the offer him some spare parts to fix it. When I buy something i use to expect to get it in one piece... At least when I buy new stuff?

Rallyfinnen

I think the comments on alu was for KM (since i mentioned that i got a KM enclosed clutch cover)
I'm not the type that replaces stuff just for fun or bling, but if I think I see a weak spot while the car is in pieces I try to fix it instead of waiting unil it breaks. Usually one failure leads to other parts breaking too.. A clutch holder made of brittle plastic is a thing that might cause a nice chain reaction in broken parts (clutch, clutch bell, gears etc and even a bent crank and blown piston in worst case -I've seen that happen) so I decided to replace it with the KM alu part since that was so cheap, and I was ordering from the KM supplier anyway.

Since the engine is apart, I'm also curious if there are any known weak spots that I sould have a closer look at.

I have a FS buggy too, and that one had a lot of issues to be sorted out, so I have learned the hard way!
But that's another story, let's try to stick to the Rovan bajas in this thread

93octane

My Feedback: (9)

Sure hope you can get it all straightened out with rovan, thats just not right!! cant believe the plastic is that brittle!!

Rallyfinnen

I still have no updates about my car, still in pieces waiting for shock pistons (no clicks in the Rovan adjustables, and the stop is broken in at least one of them, so I ordered HPI adjustable pistons instead).

I replaced the broken Rovan crank case with a KM case, and that had two small shaft seals, so I'm also waiting for another small shaft seal before I can start the engine.

My brother has still not received his Rovan that he ordered almost 2 months ago.
He has been in contact with Lily, and she says they will return the money as soon as they have confirmed (something, don't know what) with EMS who is shipping the car. I think he will be happier without it..
He's looking at getting a HPI SS from the US instead, since prices over there are around 50% compared to Europe!

JohnnyGreed

Interesting! Any thoughts of where to buy that SS? Got a friend of mine who was thinking doin the same. Problem is the taxes and **** here in Sweden. Cheapest Baja Ive come across so far is 839.$ But with the shipping and taxes I dont know if its really good business. Keep us updated!

Rallyfinnen

Time for another update..

I ran the Rovan once in the snow (and nothing broke! ), but decided 4wd is the way to go as long as there is snow. So I have been running my FS instead, and that works perfectly in the snow! (finally got all the bugs fixed on that clone)
I will post an update later when the snow is gone and I get a chance to see what the Rovan can do.

My brothers experience with Rovan is another disaster, the car has not arrived, and he has not been refunded either! (he ordered it in the end of November if I remember correctly)

I found a good deal on a MCD here: http://www.mogatech.de/shop/index.php?a=4127⟨=eng

So I ordered that one (figured the offer won't last long), and I will sell it to him when/if he gets his money back from Rovan so he can afford it. He has a good engine & radio that he can use, so I only ordered the rolling chassis. Worst case, I have to keep the MCD myself

Rallyfinnen

To finish the story about my brothers order, he got his money back last week for the car that was never delivered. So, I guess for him it was a lucky ending even if it took some time (three months from order).
Hopefully I can do some driving with my rovan soon, when the snow and ice has melted away. I've been able to squeeze 3,5kw out of the rovan 29cc engine on the dyno this far, but now the main bearings need to be replaced.

Rallyfinnen

I have now driven the Rovan for the first time. I was filming a lot, but most of the time the mini-camera was covered, so i was just leftf with a short clip to post.
The end result after driving abt 30min was a broken rear rim, leaking shocks and a damaged shock-shaft. No major crashes, the rim was definitely 'over sensitive'. On teh shock shaft the crome plating was coming off.. I sanded it down and will try to use it again..

Here s the short video(boring footage, I know..):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unFPgMoaQuQ

Rallyfinnen

Just a small update here again.

I have done a few short drives with the rovan now. I have broken all the rovan rims by now (in abt 60min of driving), upper front wishbone, front support for roll-cage, a couple of beadlocks (when rims broke). I have been gradually replacing them with KM parts, and none of the KM plastic parts have broken while the rovan parts kept breaking. The cylinder on the 29cc also split in two pieces, i think i widened the intake a bit too much..

Here is a video from a short test (not with the rovan engine though):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rE8Mr7TeBQ

sparky 25

geez, the rovan plastics really are brittle, broken rim from a couple tumbles,

the stock width baja rolls over alot, i have fitted a set of darksoul type axle extenders to mine,

they widen the baja by about an inch all round and makes a huge difference to the stability,

your engine is making good power, what pipe you running?

Rallyfinnen

I modified the Rovan pipe, made it shorter and smoothed out the transition between header and dffuser cone, made a huge diffrence in power/power band. (graph below)






I'm thinking about widening it too. It got better when I softened the shocks and lowered it a bit though.

Here is another video ending with some more broken plastic:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCZEiZyqt7o

jigawatt

Um, yeah... for you guys complaining about the suspension arms, go here and solve the problem once and for all: http://rpmrcproducts.com/products/HPI/5BParts.htm

Rallyfinnen

Yes, the plan is to replace the fronts with rpm arms soon.

sparky 25

I see what you mean about shortening the rovan pipe,

the rovan pipe normally extends beyond the rear wing, above the rollcage before bending into the expansion chamber,

having shortened the header the pipe now it is re-routed under the rollcage and tucks in behind the rear shock?

this is how my km baja rear pipe fits.

dc2 man

sparky what do you know about anything you dim wit.....


watch what you say to me

sparky 25

Another pointless post from the one and only retarded spammer and baja expert dc2man!!!

dc2 man

hey man your not living too far from me dont forget that.

sparky 25

Look dan dry your eyes,

don`t threaten me or anyone on here.

you spam the ****e out of this place and id say alot of people are about fed up with you.