 |
 |
Main Menu |
 |
|
 |
 Home 
 Members
 Community
 Statistics
 Files & Links
 News
 Other
|
|
|
|
Random Product |
|
|
|
User Info |
|
|
|
Link to us |
|
|
|
Advertisement |
|
|
| |
|
 |
Blue Groove Concepts Dual Offset Wheels
|
|
|
As soon as I heard about reviewing dual offset wheels I was pumped about being the one to put them through their paces.
Lets start with looks. 10 spoke wheels with the ability to be flipped around to change the offset. Before seeing them run the spokes look thin and fragile. In order to run them on my savage axles, I had to use the included hardware which includes four hex plates to fit behind the nut, and 4 17mm hexes. Unfortunately the 17mm hexes didnt fit over the savage axles. Luckily I had some 17mm aluminum hexes from HPI laying around and they fit into the wheels perfectly. So I decided to wrap them in Proline Badlands tires and bolt them to my savage. My savage has FLMs extended LCG TVPs so with the extra inch of offset wheels I expected the truck to stay planted without a problem.
There was still about 6 inches of snow on the ground when I first tested the wheels but the roads where dry. So I figured Id try some cornering and launches from a dead stop. Ive run offset wheels in the past and the handling was excellent and thats exactly what I got from Blue Grooves wheels. The wide stance from the wheels and extension from the ch***is kept the truck controlled and planted from hard launches on the pavement. So far Im very pleased with these wheels.
Once the snow cleared up I set up some ramps in the front yard and began to really test these wheels out. Jump after jump of WOT p***es jumping half way across my yard, they held up! Not one crack or chip. The ground was cold so I expected some of the hard hits and cart wheels out have done some damage but there was none.
Im strictly a basher so I put my trucks through their paces and Blue Grooves wheels kept right up.
-MX
|
|
 |
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
Savage 4.6 RTR Review
|
|
|
HPI was good enough to send SC a Savage X 4.6 to do a review on, and after a few hours of bashing it and a couple weeks of club racing, I feel I have gotten a good feel for the truck.
The new F4.6 fired right up and idled beautifully through 2 tanks sitting on my break in stand. After a couple trouble free tanks doing some slow to mid speed circles and figure 8’s I put it on the track bone stock for the RC Pro-series event that was held at my local track.
A few changes were needed for the track:
1: The stock tires while being excellent for bashing around the yard and on a gravel driveway just didn’t have enough bite on the hard packed clay track. I found that the HPI Dirt Bonz worked very well with a little loose fluff on the track even when water was added to keep the dust down.
2: The shocks are too heavily sprung for a rough track. I removed 1 spring from each corner and all the preload spacers, and changed the shock fluid to 25wt oil. This lets the truck stay in better contact with the ground over the rough stuff. I tried to fit a sway bar to the front end, but none that were in stock at the LHS would fit. The bulks and lower arms have holes to mount a sway bar, but I cannot find one on HPI’s site. A sway bar may not be the answer, but the inside front tire is lifting going through corners, and I would like to try one to see if it helps.
3: The grease in the diffs was not heavy enough for racing. I opened up the easy access diffs and put 30,000 in the front, and 20,000 in the rear. This may be a bit on the heavy side, as the truck does push a little, but it is very predictable. Total time to open up both diffs add oil and reassemble was about 30 minutes. About 1/3 the time it would take with the old diff set up.
4: The stock dual disk brakes had awesome feel at first, but after only the Pro-series race, and 1 club race the disks shredded. Gluing the edges of the disks may have helped keep them together, but I was not able to get my hands on another set.
The easy access tranny is also a great improvement. Changing a spur gear takes about 10 minutes total time if you are replacing the same size gear. The top of the tranny comes off with 7 screws, and the spur shaft is in your hand. If you change spur sizes you will need to loosen up the motor and reset the mesh.
I did not use the stock radio gear, as I was going to be participating in a large race with over 200 entrants, I wanted the flexibility of my Synthesized gear for the race. I have used HPI’s radio gear in the past, and there is not a problem with it. I used the stock gear with my Savage .21 for an entire racing season with no problems.
Sadly, I am not able to say much more about the F4.6, as my receiver pack broke while landing a jump, the impact drove the throttle servo open, and the truck landed on its roof. The engine was wide open for about 30 seconds wheels in the air. I need to get a new piston and sleeve for it. I had about ½ gallon through the engine at the time, and for being so fresh, I was impressed with it. The front wheels were lifting easily on the track, I had to feather the throttle coming out of turns to keep them down. This engine shows great promise.
A week or so after the big race, I took the truck over to tbills place for some bashing. We set up a medium sized jump, and proceeded to put a hurting on the trucks. The RTR X 4.6 took everything I could throw at it. Badly landed jumps, and hard rollovers. I managed to keep from running head on into anything, but other than that I abused the truck pretty hard.
Over all, HPI has managed to up the racing capability of the Savage while maintaining its bash-ability. The X 4.6 RTR is a step forward in the evolution of the savage in my opinion.
After writing the bulk of this review, and having not yet posted it, The 2007 Northeast Bashfest came around. I took the new X 4.6 RTR to that and really handed out some punishment. After a full day of backflips, long jumps, missing the take off ramp completely, and other abuse, the only things I broke were a couple dog bones, a minor little bend of the TVP under the fuel tank, and 1 after market engine.
Bashfest Aftermath Thread
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
HOT BODIES CVDs & CLAMP-ON HEX HUBs
|
|
|
I received my Hot Bodies Mega Travel CVDs a while back, but just recently had time to install them while doing a complete tear-down and cleaning. While i was at it, i replaced all the drive cups also.
The Hot Bodies CVDs are some of the nicest well made CVDs i've ever seen. I chose the HB over some of the other Manufacturers CVDs because they are steel. My experience with Titanium CVDs has not been favorable at all. The Titaniums wear very quikly, so for this reason I decided to give the HB a try. While I was at it, I installed the HB clamp-on aluminum wheel hub hexs. I decided to install these, because if i remove a wheel while out running my truck i don't have to worry about the hex coming off and possibly losing a drive pin. These Hexs clamp to the axle via a small 2mm bolt and stay put when removing a wheel.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Spring Covers
|
|
|
|
A well over looked area of our trucks are the shocks. We take the time to bleed them properly and make sure that they have just the right oil weight and spring preload, but thats were most of us stop. The rear shocks take the worst beating, particularly the right rear. They get fuel and oil blown all over them from the exhaust, and what makes this worse, is the fact that dirt will start sticking to the shock shaft causing premature wear. As the shock does it's job all that dirt starts to pack on the bottom of the shock where the shaft enters. All that grit becomes abrasive and starts to wear on the shaft, o-rings and some even makes it's way in to the shock. Have you ever rebuilt a set of shocks and wondered how come the fluid was so discolored? Well it's because we don't protect them and dirt has gotten in to them. Not good. Now the dirt starts to wear on the shock internals, such as the shock piston and shock body.
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
![[News Feed]](images/powered/feed_20_news.png "News Feed"){kind=small}
![[Forums Feed]](images/powered/feed_20_forums.png "Forums Feed"){kind=small}
![[Downloads Feed]](images/powered/feed_20_down.png "Downloads Feed"){kind=small}
![[Web Links Feed]](images/powered/feed_20_links.png "Web Links Feed"){kind=small}
![[Validate robots.txt]](images/powered/valid-robots.png "Validate robots.txt"){kind=small}
Guest(s): 240
