Hey guys, here's my project i've been working on. I am ready to unveil it, and actually posted the info in another thread for a member who was interested in doing the same...........but this is my "official" posting. I just got back in from taking my newly modded Villain IV out for its initial test run. I have tried three different setups, all not to my liking or they just didnt work. I originally had two titans, one fried; then Dual brushless with homemade straight shafts and rudder..........good intentions but way too squirelly, then to "Titan killer" motors, great motors but one got hot for some reason, maybe binding in shaft???.... fried it,. Anyways...............to me the Villain has the best hull for handling rough water and it looks great and is a great size. I was sick of the "dual" this and "dual" that, and my gosh what a weight hog......it must have been 10 pounds ready to go. SO...........i took one drive system, put it in the middle, cut all the uneccesary weight (even the servo/reciever platform went), and installed a Castle 4600kv Mamba Motor that i had. I had to carefully consider that gearing and prop size due to the high kv motor. I went with 28 tooth spur (stock) and a 10 tooth pinion (down from the stock 14). I added an Octura x445 (down from stock plastic 447) It is SO light, and runs alot faster than the original setup could ever go. I am very happy with it. I'm running a 110 amp Scorpion 4s esc and am using a 4000mah 3s lipo. It is simplicity at its best in my opinion. Check the pics for how "uncluttered" and simple it all is..........also note the two cooling coils on the motor, each with its own pickup for "super" cooling. I am planning on leaving it alone and just enjoying running it........unless there is helpful advice offered........its very fast, probably 35-ish. Any comments are certainly welcomed.................................

Any tuning tips.............comments....................?

How is the drive holding up to the brushless?
I have this boat stock Villian EX and its hard on parts.
But then again I am jumping waves with it also.
Looks good though very good nice work

Nice write up. Photo 2 makes it look like the cooling is set too low on the transom. rule of thumb is no more than half of the tube diameter needs to be below the bottom corner of the transom. Any more is just speed robery.

Nice conversion!

Simplicity always wins in the end...

I guess I could mumble something about a coil (or two) not being as efficient as a cooling jacket, but as long as everything stays cool, who cares.

You will gain some performance by replacing the steering outdrive by a 'normal' shaft and a seperate (offset) rudder, and, while youre at it, remove the two 'brakebuckets' from the transom and use a spray pick-up, lots of water and virtually no drag.

I can't tell if the prop has been sharpened, it looks rather dull; if not, there's also something to gain there.

Regards, Jan.

Thanks for the replies..................I will address monsterbrad first and say that it is fine so far............i have a 4mm steel coupler with a u joint and just havent put it on yet, its a little shorter than the stock drive so i'll have to slide the top adjuster back also............i just havent done it yet. To be honest i have way too many projects going on right now.............i just walked back in the door from my first run of my cen Aquajet i got off e-bay for $41 bucks (new in box), i gutted it (as usual for me) and put a Hobbico outboard on it with a castle 4600kv, it really looks cool, real fast too, i'll do a seperate thread on it. SV27, i can file off the pickups just a tad more to rid my self of the "speed robbers" and i'll see if that is sufficient for me, if not i'll look into the spray pickup that Jan mentioned................gosh, i dont need any more holes in my transom, which would leave four more if i change pickups, i have like 20 it seems already. [] And, yes the prop has been sharpened, i was told to just sharpen the backside, maybe i can get the ole' razor edge on it. I did add 6, one ounce sinkers to the back, just to see if i would give me a little more "bite" in the water, i think it may have increased the ride (which was good to start with), and i want to mention the servo, it had to be moved due to the center shaft, i epoxied it to the bottom and epoxied a straight bar to it and the back, its pretty darn solid. Thanks a bunch for all the input and ideas, they are greatly valued !!!!!

Wow that looks great! There is a ton of room in their now lol. Any chance of getting some video?