RE: Robitronic Mantis official topic
Unfortunately, this thread has had very little activity/response so I've had to answer my own questions.
A body that fits excellently is the ProLine SHIFT for the Mugen MBX6T. It is narrower than the Mantis body so if you're running nitro, this may be a concern. I do think however, that an exhaust pipe should still fit inside the body. You may be able to determine this by looking at the photos of this body as it's mounted on the Mantis in my KillerVolt thread.
As far as diffs are concerned no, other diffs do not fit. The internal parts should (I don't see why they wouldn't) but as far as swapping out the whole assembly (diff case and gear) no. The Robitronic diff cases are slightly smaller than Kyosho and possibly others as well. Although a Kyosho diff seems to fit, it ever so slightly rubs the housing and I believe that the slight rubbing would become excessive as the truggy is driven and jostled around. The Robitronic diff case measures 17mm from center to center between screw holes and the Kyosho and Losi measure 18mm center to center between screw holes.
I never did put in Kyosho LSD diffs, since the trade I mentioned in my previous post ended up being a bum deal and the Kanai buggy I ended up with never did have the LSD, rebuilt diffs like I was told: but that's another story. For the short version of that experience, just check out my blog.
I never did like the brakes on the Mantis myself, either. There are photos on this thread (I think) as well as another as far as what I did to fix the problem with the consistent failure of the braking system to return to neutral. Basically you need a return spring (I used a rubber band) and a stop to keep the brakes from going past the neutral position. I've found the pic and included it below for you.
I have not actually messed with the problem of how badly they seem to fade when used heavily or the drag issue. If I had actually kept them instead of converting to electric, I would have started with roughing up the discs with coarse grit sand paper however, this would only agitate the drag you have been experiencing. Other things I would have pursued would be to find another pad or disc material that is more conducive to actually stopping the vehicle; re-designing the actual brake assembly since it does not effectively use the servo's torque (I have seen a pic of someone's mod somewhere...maybe youtube?). Still, none of these would address the drag issue.
My final and most competent solution would be to design a caliper/fixed disc system much like those found on a bicycle and using an actuator or solenoid of sorts to engage it. I may actually fabricate this modification if my Mantis doesn't stop effectively as an electric.