1/10 Opinions please
 

I have old RC cars in the garage bought in 1985. Tamiya Frog and Tamiya Toyota Celica LB Turbo. Everything still works. Looking to replace depleted batteries (old Tamiya 7.2V NiCd), and try a different motor (current Tamiya Technipower). Considering Brushless / Lipo. There is a brushless motor/ESC combo I'm considering:

http://www.rcmoment.com/lighting-acc...EDM-RMEDM17011

Is this any good? My concern is not enough torque. Will it make my cars go?

For battery, I'd like to try 11.1. My concern is weight / size of battery. Physical size I currently have is Sub C racing pack. What size / weight is similar in 11.1? I want to see how fast I can make my car go. I'm looking at customing the Celica in so many ways. Can someone recommend a good battery or suggest a few to look at. Also a balanced charger. I don't have one and I believe the LiPo's shouldn't be charged unbalanced.

Thank you

I have no experience with that particular motor, but the KV should be enough especially with a 3S lipo.

How fast your car goes depends on your motor, battery and gearing.

As for batteries I would reccomend SMC, and I like my Hitec chargers.

Your welcome, hope you have fun with that thing.

If you have the old half-shafts for the rear end I would consider going to dogbones instead. The frog stripped the half-shafts easy enough with just the stock motor.

That motor will have plenty of torque, with a great balance of speed. The deep finned 540/3650 sized can motor is actually a 380 sized motor inside. I've had a HobbyWing version of one of those motors in a 1/10 stadium truck and it had no problems turning the tranny/tires. I believe I also had one of those no name motors in the 3000Kv range and wasn't too impressed with it's speed, but the 3930Kv will be plenty for a Frog.

Like it was said before...look into the dog bones or the universal shafts.

That's a great little motor combo, it will have plenty of power for you. I WOULD NOT recommend SMC Lipos. In my experience, they use inferior cells that are not well matched. I bought two 7200mah 2S2P packs from them, and they puffed within six months. I contacted SMC about it, and they tried to blame it on ME. Oh yeah? Then how come my three year old Gens Ace packs work just fine and have never puffed? Get Gens Ace. Stick with 2S1P packs. That means you have two Lipo cells in the pack, A 2S2P is a "2S" pack, but is made up of FOUR cells. xtra internal connections and not being able to balance each cell will cause you problems later.

I would stick with 2S 7.4V Lipo. 3S would be WAY WAY too much power for your Tamiyas. BTW, when you do go brushless, you'll have to update your battery connectors. Looks like that motor system comes with a Deans plug. You'll have to ordr batteries with Deans plugs, or, solder them on yourself.

My go to charger, the Thunder AC680 has gone up in price and isn't quite the deal it used to be, but it's a great charger. However, Traxxas, Duratrax/Onyx, and a coupl others have come out with decent 80 Watt chargers for under $75. You don't have to spend a lot.

Phil,

Couple of things. First. The cars you have are collectors items. If the celica is the same car I'm thinking of that shares the chassis with the Tamiya 959 you could be looking at several hundred dollars if the car is complete and in good shape. Second. The frog gearbox is very very weak as the sides of the gearbox are stamped steel and very thin. It's been know to fail using the stock motor and modern LiPo batteries. Without modification you will destroy this gearbox with Brushless power. Yes it can be done. I have a rerelease that I run on a regular bases with Lipo and a mild brushless system. The stock hex drive shafts are also a very common failure point so a switch to the dogbones used in the re-release will be required. I Guess what i'm saying is that you would be far better off to restore and display to vintage Tamiyas is they have sentimental value than to try to hop them up and beat on them. The other option would be to sell them and buy something modern with the cash from the sale.

As for the motor listed. The KV rating would be more than enough to push around either of your cars but I must warn you that there have been a large number of really bad ESC/Motor combos that have come out of asia lately so be cautious and see if you can find reviews of that combo. To me it looks very similar to the HobbyWing piece but at about 1/2 the cost. I have the HobbyWing unit in an Evader stadium truck and it runs great on 2S but gets a little warm for my liking on 3S.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Hobbywing-Co...-/290746530675