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Old 2007.03.02, 04:08 AM   #1
Aurora
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My upgrade experience and advices on next upgrades?

Recently, I have gotten a new MZM(SE with bearings and Xspeed) and have upgraded it with many Al parts, mostly from GPM. And here is my current setup, and some of my experience on some upgrade combo/parts to avoid(parts with * is choosen with trial and error...)


Front:
GPM Al 'gear' box
GPM Al servo saver (oiled with many drops of trinity oil to soften it up...)*
GPM Al front lower arm
GPM Al bumper
3 Racing golden king pin
Stock toe/steering rod*
Stock knuckle*
Stock rim*


Mid:
AD band with my Ex10 (love it, can't live without it...)
GPM Al/stock combo Front shock(with blue spring and friction grease)*
3 racing front shock tower*
Stock rear shock
3 racing rear shock tower*
3 Racing golden pin for the arms


Rear:
AD stock motor
GPM Al motor cover
GPM Al
GPM Al gear box*
GPM Al gear box cover*
GPM diff
Stock spur gear*
Stock rim



My upgrade experience:

Front:
-ironically, GPM toe rod will NOT work well with its alloy front gear box, it is either too sharp at the edges(which I have sanded...but still not working) or too much friction costed at with the knuckle, even AD band servo motor should center better, it just ain't working well.

-the GPM Al servo save needs a lot of oil to soften it...don't know whether it was 'rusty' or what, but it was really really stiff to begin with

-GPM Al knuckle does NOT work well with the 3 racing king pin, don't know why. But I refuse to sand my king pin which might cost the wheel to wobble or knuckle to bind.

-GPM Al rim look super nice, but heck, it weighted like a ton. And before adding in any 'turbo', I think it is too much burden to already a heavy, heavy truck.


Mid:
-I kinda dislike how the GPM metal shock was designed, which the stock shocks allow more deg of freedom at both ends. And it will NOT work well with a 3 racing shock tower(it will only move laterally, but not allow front/back movement), but ok with the GPM made shock tower. I reuse the top of the stock shock for better movement and make it work with my 3 racing shock tower....eventually, I might buy the GPM shock tower just to utilize the whole Al shock. Grrr...

-the lower end of GPM shock does NOT work well with the studs that come with. I end up have to sand all the anodizing away from the studs to make it work better


Rear:

-GPM gear box come with 2 small metal bushing for the spur, and when I install the GPM Tit spur gear and trying to re-use my kyosho bearing, it won't fit! I end up using the stock spur gear since I like to keep the bearing


Overall, I see great improvment of centering of the front wheels upon installing the AD band board into the MZM, and right now what I have in mind is:

1) The truck feels like a ton to drive and not able to jump well, it is calling for a AtomicM@ds V2.2 board or Nelly for better performance, if I'd like to keep the 4 Nimh batt setting, should I use Evo Nelly?

2) From your experience, do you think the Al gear boxes are all that necessary? I felt like that is the major factor causing the over-weight.

3) Did anyone tried or use the 3 Racing shocks? They look more promising than the GPM ones...


Thanks for reading, hope this piece will be of help to those new to these parts.
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Old 2007.03.02, 01:00 PM   #2
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Aurora
2) From your experience, do you think the Al gear boxes are all that necessary? I felt like that is the major factor causing the over-weight.
YES, the stock plastic ones will keep breaking where the ball studs screw in and will continually need to be replaced. This is one of the main reasons I got rid of my MZM long ago. Maybe I was just too rough on it?
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Old 2007.03.02, 01:43 PM   #3
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Ninja,

Thanks for the reply, good to know that. I kept on thinking the shocks might tends to break the shock towers easily if the MZM jumps high...but it didn't occur to me that the gear box might be proned to the same problem as well. Good point.

Too rough? Nah...in other words, at least it is loved. Anyways, a little off topic--I am starting to develop my liking to the mini off-roads, and currently looking at MLST or Minizilla.
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Old 2007.03.02, 02:58 PM   #4
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the MLST is sweet, a friend of mine had one. If you run it on pavement though you gotta watch it, it will wear those tires out The twin motor setup has alot of power and speed
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those two chicks over there, not so hot. Dont get me wrong, I would still go for it, cause thats the type of equal opportunity guy I am.
I am a FIRM believer in "Run what ya brung"......Unless it's your MOUTH!!!
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Old 2007.03.03, 06:27 PM   #5
carfreak_22
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Nice setup aurora. I also have a gpm alloy servo case and found it far too heavy. For that reason, I run a half alloy (upper half that connects to suspension links) and half plastic (lower half that connects to lower arm). Its noticably lighter and the plastic where the lower arm screws into the servocase is still holding up.

It's not necesary to use a full alloy rear gearbox either. I run the stock plastic gearbox, but with the gpm alloy piece that connects to the links and arm. This way, all the weak points are covered and you aren't adding much weight.

I don't think doing this will cost you a thing because you already have the full alloy peices. Give it a shot and if you don't like it, just throw the rest of the alloy back on. Hope this helps....
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Old 2007.03.04, 10:19 AM   #6
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Ninja,

Cool, I will definitely bear that in mind if I do get one. I too have a friend that has one, and he is the one that constantly giving me incentive to get one...right now the plan is to go brushless, or even twin brushless(some day, that is if I ever become that good to controll an uncontrollable beast...); I saw one done by beatyourtruck .com and can't help but to wonder what it can do!



Carfreak_22,

Exactly my thought! And on top of that, I am starting to wonder how best to put on extra fet or even a nelly(a spider v2.1 is on its way) onto this puppy. I am confident about unsoldering the fet off and even solder some 4562 on. But the bigger fet of spider does appeal to me. With that and possibly a T2, it should bring back more life back to the truck.

Btw, anyone has any idea on how to put a spider on Adband board? It is a 2x2 by default, and don't wanna ruin it by trials.
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Old 2007.03.06, 09:53 AM   #7
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Before you add more fets, you might want to try the lipo battery if you already have the lipo charger. I use that with velco and soldered the connecting plug from the outside of the case. I didn't cut any wire or take off the power switch. This way if I want to use nimh again, I just take off the velco and the lipo battery. With lipos, it got more power and ran longer than the nimh.
I have two MZMs, both are stock plastic with full bearings and 4x2 fetted. The one with speedy 03 motor is too fast. It will wheelie crazy and the front will bounce up and down if I give full throttle from stand. The one with X-speed is more controllable. I have fun with both. I broke two servo cases and two front shock stays so far. I tried to keep them in plastic to avoid the extra weigh.
I bought the MZMs plan to running them in the basement with jumps. But with lipos and 4x2 fets, they are too fast for basement now. So I just run them with half throttle or running them with nimhs sometimes.

For the MLST, if you plan to go brushless, you might want to do more research. I switched mine back to stock motors after blowing five sets of diffs. The stock diffs can't stand the power of brushless. I tried boiled and greased the diffs and also different setting in the esc to save the trans. I used mamba/wraith 7k. It's very fast for a big truck. It hopped on grass and it's faster than my 14cells emaxx. I just hate to change the diffs after every couple runs. MLST has a new metal diffs option now but I heard people still have problems with those using brushless.

Last edited by aa18; 2007.03.06 at 10:35 AM.
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Old 2007.03.06, 01:42 PM   #8
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aa18,

When you say velco and lipo, do you mean a saddle pack which has one lipo at each side; and somehow find an archor point for the velco?

I have seen a friend simply use a Mini-Lst ESC/controller used with a lipo, and he drilled out a cavity connecting the two battery compartment. So the lipo blocks will lay sideway thru that gap. Interesting design nonetheless.

I will definitely bear your idea in mind, when I mod my truck next. Right now I notice even with ADband, the truck is so heavy that sometimes the front wheels if not center perfectly, and carfreak_22's idea probably might cure that.


Anyway, a little off-topic, I found a really good resource as how to modify the MLST to dual-brushless...yes, dual! And all the parts needed and procedures are listed in beatyourtruck.com. Their truck somehow solved the diff stripping problem in the end, so do take a look and it might be of help.

I probably will never go all out like that, but how they derive their final solution might suggest what parts to get for a single brushless or not.
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Old 2007.03.06, 03:11 PM   #9
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Yes, one lipo at each side. I use the velco like a belt wrap around two lipos. I will take a pic when I get home.
I looked at the site for MLST project. That's the Team Losi factory metal diffs I talked about. In other discussion forum, people still having issues with the o-ring and seals. I will wait a little longer till TL fixes the problem or just stick with the stock motors. It jumps very well stock but the stock battery sucks. I used 3s lipos and the truck flied with the stock motors but the motors burned out fast. I only used 2s lipos after that.
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_42...68/key_/tm.htm
Here are some pics:
Attached Images
File Type: jpg DSC06013.JPG (142.6 KB, 31 views)
File Type: jpg DSC06014.JPG (143.9 KB, 21 views)
File Type: jpg DSC06015.JPG (127.4 KB, 16 views)
File Type: jpg DSC06016.JPG (142.9 KB, 15 views)

Last edited by aa18; 2007.03.06 at 07:51 PM.
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Old 2007.03.06, 09:13 PM   #10
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aa18,

Thank you very much for the pictures, very clear and demostrative. Now I know what should be done, awesome!

Wow...that was some in depth discussion about the diff, and without the truck, it definitely make my head spin crazy. Now I am kinda worry about how the gears will hold up if I do intend to get a MLST. But a must read and must re-visit if I end up getting one.

Other possible candidate is a Minizilla, any comments on that truck? My truck buddy told me that Mnizilla is decent but with high center of gravity, it might tip over easily when driven in high speed, but it jumps better than MLST?
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Old 2007.03.06, 10:37 PM   #11
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Aurora,
You are welcome. I have no knowledge about the Minizilla. I'm sure you can find a lot of info about that truck in other forums. If TL fixes the diffs issue, MLST will be an awesome truck for brushless. MLST tiped over easily, too when I ran it with brushless but tons of fun. I missed the power of brushless in it now. I like it so much I even put a spoiler on it. I wonder if I can find some spoilers for my MZMs.
Here are some pics of my MLST:
Attached Images
File Type: jpg DSC06034.JPG (146.9 KB, 22 views)
File Type: jpg DSC06035.JPG (142.2 KB, 10 views)
File Type: jpg DSC06036.JPG (147.1 KB, 9 views)
File Type: jpg DSC06037.JPG (153.8 KB, 8 views)
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Old 2007.03.06, 11:14 PM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by aa18
I wonder if I can find some spoilers for my MZMs.
http://shop.tinyrc.com/product.php?productid=17850
http://shop.tinyrc.com/product.php?productid=17849
http://shop.tinyrc.com/product.php?productid=17847
http://shop.tinyrc.com/product.php?productid=17846
http://shop.tinyrc.com/product.php?productid=17845
http://shop.tinyrc.com/product.php?productid=17843
Just the spoilers available in the shop here. They are simple to install, just drill 2 small holes and put in a couple screws I bought the White single GT spoiler for my White Enzo ASC.
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Real Racers Do It Sideways.
PETA=People Eating Tastey Animals
those two chicks over there, not so hot. Dont get me wrong, I would still go for it, cause thats the type of equal opportunity guy I am.
I am a FIRM believer in "Run what ya brung"......Unless it's your MOUTH!!!
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Old 2007.03.07, 09:01 AM   #13
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Thank you Ninja. Too bad I just ordered the rim light kit and the servo case from the shop two days ago. I will definitely order some in my next order.


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