Overland Tips and Tricks

[DAMZer]

Please list any tips or tricks you have actually used or concepts you think would work to make the Overlands more reliable or more competitive.

[DAMZer]

I'll start it off with this tip:

If you run the O on anything but carpet, you need to watch out for small debris getting sucked in through the motor can cooling vents. This is problematic of any unsealed electric motor in an "off-road" environment.

Solution: tape a small rectangle of coffee filter across the can vents. Make sure you keep the vent areas covered only with the filter and not sealed by the tape.

Other solutions are: tacky wrap often sold at sporting goods stores as tennis racket handle wrap or use a thin foam strip across the vents.

I've experienced several small stones entering the "Sealed" drive train. Haven't gotten any since applying the solution.

[GiantScale]

Does the motor get hotter with less air flow?

thanks

Mike

[Goblue]

Does the motor get hotter with less air flow?

Yes it Does!

[DAMZer]

Warmer but not hot as long as the vents will still allow some air flow, just not dust flow. The trade off in gear train longevity and reduced maintenance is worth it.

[GiantScale]

A coffee filter is very fine. Wonder if a water fauset screen would allow better cooling yet protect from the bigger stuff. Im not to worried about dust. Just sand, staples etc..

Mike

[DAMZer]

Careful with metal!

[GiantScale]

Some fauset screens are nylon..

Mike

[Free_Style]

those screens have lots of uses if you know what I mean:D

[DAMZer]

Back to topic please!;)

[Russ]

Hmm... not really a tip, more of a "did you notice"...

The headlights are predrilled for 3mm LEDs and they have removable inserts in them? At least they are on the landcruiser, dunno about the Pajero.

[DAMZer]

Pajero, same same.

Looks like a little innovative design and or marketing input.

We must sell more light kits!

[MitsuEvoVI]

I know this is an old thread, but I thought that now that more people have had their overlands for a while they would have tips and tricks.

1. Tape down the top part of your stock shocks to prevent dirt from going in.
2. If you are going to open your servo box. have patience and pay attention to what you are doing. It's more complicated then the mini-z's
3. plastic dip your antenna.
4. Don't do too many wheelies

[arch2b]

1. keep your overland working well and it will do so for you!
2. get the alloy idler gear if you wheelie happy
3. (repeat) don't open the servo pod unless your willing to spend some time getting it back correctly. doing so upside down (the servo pod, not yourself) is easier to reassemble.
4. don't be afraid to push your overland...have fun with it. your bound to break something at somepoint so consider it a foregone conclusion as the stock plastic is easy to crack/split/break

[warnoffroad]

I have a little tip that I havent told anyone about, but it makes your gear box run much smoother and causes less wear on your main gear. All you do is take a little snip of paper and put it inbetween the motor and the motr pod so the gear mesh isn't so stiff. I have noticed a major difference in its free wheeling ability and overall power. I use 1 or 2 pices at the most.

[NOMOTORLIMIT]

Here's my tip: Don't go offroad with you OL unless you are ready to rebuild your transmission, servo, etc.

Last time I went offroading was fun, but the price to pay after that was not.

Steering: survived, and very little dirt got inside the housing.

Transmission: All the gears were worn out. Looked as if it was sandblasted. The gears were worn out, due the the dirt grinding between them.

Chassis: Because my OL was kicking up dirt all over the place, it got inside the chassis. All the dirt was accumulated under the PCB, nearly a 1/4 oz or maybe more.

look at the pics of two GPM Idler gears, and you'll see one looks really bad.

It only took me two offroading runs to wear out the GPM gear. (right)

[arch2b]

as much as i run offroad...mine has never gotten dirt in the servo pod, maybe some dust inside the chassis and i always disassemble the motor pod, clean it and reassemble. no worn parts yet!

although i am not pushing with the same amount of force either;) . your wear and tear might be contributed to by your fuzion setup...it's not as simple as racers. might be the price you pay for having all the power you want at the push of the throttle, hehe. still, i think it's more than worth it! just keep replacement parts handy, which is a good tip for all overlander's.

[NOMOTORLIMIT]

arch2b,

I tried having the same speed as the stock or a little faster, by adjusting the EPA (end point adj.) on my M8, but the fun just wasn't there. I didn't get a lot of action, compared to when I have my EPA all the way. But I love the Z racing action, and I'm gonna set the Overland aside for now.

[arch2b]

nml,
i can understand...like having a sports car and driving like a grandma;) .

well, just don't forget your overland;) , you've given us some good stuff to see/read.

on a side note, when/where will kai's testing results be available...if this is the same testing you were refering to earlier? i always like stats.

[NOMOTORLIMIT]

The results are already available, but it's up to Kai to post the videos. We did videos of each run, and my Fuzion motor, compared to minizracer.com was close to 2 mph faster than MZR. It doesn't sound like a lot, but on the race track, believe me, it is. In scale, that's 56 mph faster.

I have to email MZR regarding the Z130Sbb to exchange it, because the performance of the Z130Sbb dropped drastically, no matter how much I cleaned it. I never opened the Z130Sbb because however way I clean my FUZION motors, is the same way I cleaned the Z130SBB. And that's by spraying motor cleaner towards the comm. When my motors drop in performance, I'm able to restore original power by simply spraying it with motor cleaner. Z130SBB don't seem to respond well to this method. And the only other option is to open it up. But that's a hassle.

I even added comm drops, but the power it once had when it was brand new, simply won't come back. So, I'm going to return his motor and ask for a replacement, if he allows. This is probably just a unique case, and I'm sure a lot of people are happy with the Z130Sbb.

Another reason why I haven't asked Kai to post the results is because I just came out with a new one, which is the SuperSonic Pattern Wound or SSV.2. I don't plan to introduce this to the market the way I normally do, which is announcing it in the Motor Tech Section. I simply have arranged for minizworld.com to carry my motors. I'm not sure if Dave would want to carry it as well.

As we speak, with the Z130SBB in the condition that it's in, my Fuzion motors remain faster, but I strongly believe in giving it another shot. Maybe the motor (Z130SBB) I bought simply is a unique case. It doesn't hurt to do another test.

Philip from PN racing will be joining us on our future G2G's so, he can run his motors vs. all others.

Don't get me wrong. Akura2, Blind, and even Kai said the Z130Sbb is pretty good when they first saw it run, but they haven't tried nor seen it in it's present state. It really decreased in performance a whole lot, while my motors pretty much remain the same. So, I'll email mzr.com and hopefully, he'll let me exchange it, because I feel that this is a unique case. If it happens again, then there's definitely a problem. That's all.

And plus I made changes in the way I wind my motors, which is why I haven't been posting. I am finalizing it, so that people won'tb be complaining that I keep coming up with new ones every month (a bit exaggerated, but a good point).