Innocent Villain IV to Villain X sleeper.......

[gsbuickman]

The Hpi gt550"s are actually re-branded 19T Johnson boat motors, and designed to run 4s power. They have faster top speed & way more torque than the traxxas monster 550 used in the villain ex & the erevo. It should make for some sweet holeshots :-) .

[gsbuickman]

Kool, the Hpi gt550 motors are here. I also got 1 of the steel pinion gears in, unfortunately its too small in diameter to be of use as a drive gear. I could put the 28t spur gears on the motors. That would double the prop speed, but it would lose considerable low & midrange power.

For now I'll run the nylon gears. I'll look into upgrading the drive gears, drive shafts, bearings & u-joints to 5mm.
I got the motors mounted & the gear mesh nice and snug . now I am waiting on servo rod boots, the ESC & floatation foam.

[gsbuickman]

Hello everybody

Bugzilla found the Astroflight 212D ESC while unpacking, I got that paid for, so it'll be on the way soon. I shopped around trying to decide on a matched pair of motors. I finally settled on a pair of 19T hpi gt550's. They're actually rebranded Johnson 550's....

I also ordered the Villain ex water cooling kit to keep the new mills cool.
I bought 2 stainless 3.175 to 4mm u-joints, as well as a pair of Robinson racing 28T steel pinions, to replace the stock plastic junk. I picked up some out drive linkage boots too. Time to wait for the big brown truck. Yes Wetter,I picked up mos of this at RC Boys inSLC. They have a fleabag store

[Wetter]

Flea bay

[gsbuickman]

Well I got the speed gems2 motors in today. They're supposed to be 13tx3 31,400kv platinum's . one of them is for sure. The other one may be because it looks like they painted the can black.

If not, its an Onyx 14t x2, 29,000kv. I may need to find either another onyx or platinum for a matched pair. Another fleabay roll of the dice

I am fond of speed gems, but I may have to find another alternative ?......

[gsbuickman]

Definitely have to seal the outer real well or it'll be no end of grief. Now I remember working on one of these, back in the day.

.

Exactly my thoughts Slash, I didnt take the time to seal up my last nodded villain like I should of. I had it out on the water when I hit a dead spot & lost signal. It started taking on water, & within 10 min. it was submarined, with only 2" of the bow bobbing outta the water

These ride with the bow up at about a 30° angle & the outdrives, stuff tubes & steering linkage unmerged below the rear deck plate. I don't want to make the same mistake again, so I'll replace the steering linkage boots with the updated style. Then I'll fill the hull cavity with liquifoam.

It'll add weight & bring the bow angle down a Lil',so it handles better at higher speeds, plus it'll never sink if it does take on water .

[srislash]

Definitely have to seal the outer real well or it'll be no end of grief. Now I remember working on one of these, back in the day.

[gsbuickman]

I put a bead of cement around the stuffing tubes, where they meet the hull, inside & outside the boat. I loaded a new tube of marine grease & filed the stuff tubes. I let it set overnight, and I just tub tested it. I let it float for an hour & a half. When I checked it, it was still riding high. It did have about 1 cup of water in it, most of which as in between the hulls. I guess I need to seal the rudder tabs & replace the servo rod boots.......

[gsbuickman]

Alright, now were cooking'

I got the out drives installed and everything spins free. Much better than the factory oilite bushings, a pretty substantial difference in rolling resistance.

I still need to fill the stuff tubes with marine grease to stop he spinning shafts from pumping h20, but my grease needle will handle that.

I have 2 Speed Gems 2, epic modified motors on the way to upgrade the 20t stingers. I'll have an Astroflight 212D ESC soon a well. They'll handle 5s power, but I plan on my 4s thunder power packs

[gsbuickman]

OK, I got the stuff tubes trimmed to the right length. I popped the lat 2 bearings in place, slid the drive shafts home, & remounted the nylon drive gears. The nylon's will be changed out for metal gears later.

[gsbuickman]

I popped new bearings in the out drives, slid the new octura shafts home, and got the X447's mounted. I put a bearing in 1 side of each stuff tube, and ran them thru the hull and seated them in the motor mounts. This way I could mark the tubes with a sharpie, So I could trim them to the correct length.

I want me he stuff tubes to stick out of the hull about 3/16" of an inch. That way I can run a bead of cement around the stuff tube, on both sides of the hull to seal it up

[Wetter]

i am sure you'll repaint that-------------------------r i g h t ?

ya know i have every damn tool on the planet except i do not have uni- bits, there you go again
Harbor Freight has em', always meant to buy a set when i need extra holes in elect. panel boxes.

[gsbuickman]

OK, I stepped out on the balcony with my morning' cup, and found an am delivery from the big brown truck. Now i can continue with my villain X. Project .

I used my uni- bit set and zipped out the old bushing seats in the outdrives, for the new bearigs. I also used them to bore the holes in the back of the hull out to accept the new 11/32" driveshaft tubes. I also used a uni-bit to get the cut on the motor mounts started..

I switched to an 11/32 bit & opened up the motor mounts to also accept the new drive tubes. I expanded them all the way to the wall on the motor mount. I chose to lseave the wall there, to act as a retainer, to keep the new bearings in place.

I'll tell ya, a good uni-bit set is a must. I tend to use it more than my bit index. No I didn't do the blue paint on the back of the hull, the dude I got it from did .

[gsbuickman]

Hiya Wetter

They seem a little rare and hard to come by at times, but I am amazed how many of these are still kicking around . I was kicking myself for letting my last one go, so I started searching for another one. About 3 months later this one popped up in craigslist's toy section. I traded the guy a stock Aquacraft Hammer ep for it .

I've been tearing things apart to see how they work since I was a kid. I always modified whatever I had to, to make it better or faster, wheels, tires, batteries, motors, gear sets, props, chassis etc........ Eventually I want to twin my mean machine cat, with twin 2030 ul-1 setups & stingers. I am half tempted to power it with a pair of 19.2v or 24v lithium ion drill batteries ..

[Wetter]

you got me lookn' for one, hard to find.
a few on e-bay but i am not a fan of the site myself.
any ways nothin' like the old days , use to use my 9.6 volt cordless Makita batts. in a kyosho mono build in the early 80's.
aw! the memories.