I will mention that I went ahead and purchased another full set of VP Pro's tyres that are currently on offer at Apex Models. 10.99 a pair is a bargain!

The rim plastics are very flexible which fits my application, and the tyre treads are awesome! the first set I tried was the Condor XX, and I have yet to try out my new Turbo Trax set.

What begins with 'T', ends with 'N'. and spells T.E.K.I.N?

Any guesses?

Tekin T8 Motor

http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/6554/cimg0003pf.jpg

http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/8496/cimg0005pc.jpg

http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/1336/cimg0006cw.jpg

Isn't it just beautiful...

haha, but seriously, it's a great looking motor, it feels very well machined in your hands and weighs a fare bit too!

The model we have here is the 1900kv buggy motor.

New shell:

http://img808.imageshack.us/img808/287/cimg0012n.jpg

http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/3320/cimg0018z.jpg

Here we have the tekin motor fitted in the caster buggy. I was hesitant to whether or not the motor would fit, as caster USA stated a value on their website for motor sizes which seemed way too good to be true. Sure enough, I was wrong. (thankfully)

http://img855.imageshack.us/img855/3661/cimg0021c.jpg

http://img834.imageshack.us/img834/3489/cimg0022gr.jpg

http://img51.imageshack.us/img51/2614/cimg0029hx.jpg

http://img684.imageshack.us/img684/4065/cimg0030x.jpg

http://img692.imageshack.us/img692/6071/cimg0031n.jpg

Last but not least, we have my new set of VP Pro wheels and tyres. These are the "Turbo Traxx" treat pattern and so far have out standed the condor XX on every surface. Not to mention they hardly wear at all.

http://img694.imageshack.us/img694/9690/cimg0027o.jpg

Visit my youtube channel for a short overview of the new motor, and running clips on grass, + my thoughts as I drive.

I will mention a couple of things about the diffs.

I did tear down F/C/R diffs to clean and replace factory grease with losi diff oils designed for the Eight-t. I have had a quick run around with it and it seems to transition allot smoother and more quickly with the new oils. Though a more thorough test will be needed to conclude the differences.

Replacing diff oils was a first for me, so I was a little hesitant in doing so. Coming from a first timer, taking the F/R diffs out were a bit of hassle, it meant for around 12 screws to be taken out which was the easy bit. Putting the diff casing back in however was a little trickier. Though I suppose all 1/8 buggies are just as complex.

The centre diff however was a doddle. It too 4 screws from the top, and two from below to remove the motor mount, and boom, the top plate was off and you could slide the centre diff out to do maintenance. (Very impressed)

So today I got some running footage of the new Tekin T8... Which can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wn44ldeEgU8

If you watch the whole video, you will see that I did manage to break a front arm on the buggy. This was a Mugen MBX5R Arm, but it did hit pretty hard. (unfortunately the video doesn't show that very well)

I went to the BMX track first thing this morning, packed a bag of tools and of course the buggy and cycled for around 10 mins until I arrived at the location.

It's a great place to bash, and would be even more of a blast if someone else was there to enjoy the jumps with their RC kit too.

I got around 10 mins shooting before the buggy landed on it's lid and a dodgy solder connection came unstuck. GRRR

Went back home, sorted it all out and got some more footage between the unpredictable rain showers that were striking throughout the day. Also GRRR (Bloody weather) GRRRRRRR

Check the footage out, it came out pretty good, I was testing the durability of the shock towers and the arms, when flipping the buggy in slow motion, towards the camera.

Cheers

Nice. Caster already is producing new front lower arms. They have some beefier areas that should make them stronger. Will see how they hold up on my buggy.

Cheers bud,

Yeah, I have seen the new caster arms, I think they are a softer material and mean to be better!

I will just fit either mbx5r arms from mugen, or the mbx6 one's if they fit but i'm pretty sure they do.

Runtimes...

From a fully charged 5000mah 4s 30c discharge Lipo from Turnigy. I got 32:15 mins from first 15 mins on short grass racing around cones, and the 2nd 15 mins or so doing full speed runs down a road.

I am very pleased with the Tekin motor giving me a ton more runtime from the same pack! Win win with Tekin for me!

I think on track, running consistently, I could get 40-45mins per pack. Amazing!

I will be heading down to the track on 31st of July, The track has been slightly altered, so we will see how the new layout goes!

Check back for some more info in the up coming weeks!

Came into an issue today with the caster front, stock drive shaft popping out. The cause of this was when under heavy braking on grass, the nose would dive down enough to make the angle of the dogbone tight enough for it to pop out.

This did happen twice before I did something about it.

I figured the reason was because the shocks were travelling too far at the front. So I took apart the two front shocks, and added a bit of old fuel tubing from my nitro's to act as a stopper. (around 10mm long, with old fuel tube, as it usually looses its elasticity over time & stiffer the better)

I did this to both shocks, and have used the buggy for atleast an hour after doing that slight mod, and they seem to be holding up!

However I have got some new hardened diff outdrives for the centre and front diffs on order with Russ @ FWM, as the centre were a bit chipped too.

Stocking up on mugen arms for a visit to the nene in a couple of weeks, though hopefully I won't need them as they're does usually tend to be huge rocks around the track ;)

I have also ordered some mugen mbx6 wing stay mounts because I snapped one of those and having ali ones will be better because I usually use them to hold the buggy when walking somewhere.

Also some ali wing washers to replace the plastic (not broken, just prefer ali ones)

Some more velcro for the battery straps, and another set of EC5's for the new battery I will order very soon.

Check back in a few days for some more info.

Video below of todays little run around with the caster: (update soon)

I can't help but wonder, for all the fixes you did to the caster if you would'nt have been better off getting a MBX6Eco. Grats on the 1900 Tekin that thing is great!

I am very Impatient my friend.

If I could have waited to get a mugen, I most certainly would have.

Hi,

there is even newer Caster arms... Do not think that they are in sales anywhere...;)

But yes, mbx6 arms fits nicely. I have one 1.5R with mbx6 arms and second 1.5R with newest Caster arms. Will see how them hold up :).

Where I race there is one very good Mugen driver. If I set up Caster correctly (and it is not usual thing as I experiment a lot! I am novice and want to learn something, not just copy some setups...) I can keep with his ECO easily... Of cause there is less "sharp corners" with Mugen than with Caster... Caster is a young company with a lot to learn...

Since the last update on the buggy, I have acquired some ali wing stay mounts from the mugen mbx6 which fit a treat, and some ali wing washers to beef up the wing area a bit.

I have also fitted the hardened & lightened alloy diff outdrives center and rear, and also have some new front ones on order.

I will eventually be buying some CVD's for center to front and rear diffs, and also CVD's for the rear diff to wheels. Not a necessity but It will save some time when re-assembling the diffs into the buggy.

I have had a few problems with the buggy with gears crunching and what not. To cut a long story short, I have had each and every diff apart countless amounts of times to figure out the problem, but it turns out I had shimmed the front diff incorrectly which caused the bevel pinion gear to get eaten up.

So I have one of those on order, along with some more diff shims.

I will hopefully make it to nene valley soon, though who knows!

Thanks

Order updates.

I have purchased a small handful of things for the buggy...

2.5mm carbon chassis upper deck
Orion 3800 30c 2s hardcase LiPo's (x2 second hand)
HobbyKing 5300 30-60c hardcase LiPo's (x2 brand new)
Front diff bevelled Pinion gear shaft
Diff Shims
Front diff hardened outdrives
12awg CORE-RC Silicone wire

I will soon also be getting a new motor mount, called the Elite RC Motor mount for the MBX6, as I am assured by the guy that makes these, that the MBX6 one will fit the caster buggy perfectly.

Thanks for checking the updates out...

Elite is the bomb, how did you find out about them?

It certainly looks it!

You have one of these beautifully crafted blocks of ali?

I cannot wait to get my hands on one

I have a caster zx1 which i got when they first came out and were very unknown but its been a great buggy, ive decided to convert it to electric now as i fancy a change from nitro, Ive got all the chassis bits but its a mission trying to find the chassis then i need to decide on a motor and esc :thumbsup:

That's wicked mate, I do love nitro, but if I had to choose between the two i'd go for EP ;) Started with nitro, just prefer not having to tune needles on a race day ;) They are still awesome though, I just got a hyper 7 which is super quick!

Ya, i'm having trouble finding parts myself, though hobby shop doesnt have a problem, and can get almost anything from caster in, in a few days at a really good price!

Future World Models ;)

http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/9548/cimg0004s.jpg

http://img833.imageshack.us/img833/7233/cimg0016a.jpg

Sheered bevelled diff pinion

http://img269.imageshack.us/img269/2518/cimg0018vh.jpg

When Soft aluminium meets my trigger finger...

http://img708.imageshack.us/img708/5238/cimg0026m.jpg

Just for reference, I do have a new pit mat, a first infact. Though it's not designed to be a pit mat. It's a large cutting board which I picked up for £7 at my workplace. self healing top coat, wipes down nicely and makes it allot easier to find fallen screws.

More products coming soon

Team Orion lipo's arrived today!

http://img638.imageshack.us/img638/7274/cimg0003j.jpg

http://img717.imageshack.us/img717/1699/cimg0007ev.jpg

http://img197.imageshack.us/img197/5784/cimg0010ip.jpg

http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/5865/cimg0017r.jpg

http://img820.imageshack.us/img820/8160/cimg0020q.jpg

http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/4633/cimg0027ub.jpg

I came across these on ebay for £40.00 a pair used which is a great price I think. They are both in almost mint condition with only tiny minor scratches on the top side due to battery strap rub.

They fit very nicely with a snug width fit and about a 5mm gap end to end

Nice batteries for nice price. Do not know how much weight they have?

From pictures I see that your diff is old one. Now Caster buggy comes with helical diff gears.

Hey!

What do you mean by 'Helical'?

Thanks, I will weigh them just now :)

The weight of each pack is approx 229 grams

The helical means the teeth are not straight but curved. Only the pro kits come with helical gears what Caster call version 3 gears your kit comes with version 2.

You can see on the link the curve on the teeth

http://casterracingusa.com/product.p...1&cat=6&page=9

the engine mount you are going for looks awesome. :drool: Have you ordered it? The only thing i have noticed is it is wider than the standard caster one and will move the motor forward slightly which is the only thing putting me off getting one which is a shame because the standard caster one is poo.

Are you doing the weekends racing at Nene 20-21st August?

Ahh that's alright then, thanks for the info, I haven't had any problems so far with straight cut, so until I do, I will stick with what I got!

Yeah, the mount is what I am really looking forward to getting! Looks ace. It's going to be £75 shipped from the US though. Pretty pricey

Not racing, I will most likely be there at practise though :) Look for a big blue paint chipped van if your there ;)

I haven't got a transponder and stuff yet, and don't really get down there often enough. I may be going tomorrow evening, though nothing set in stone until i'm there ;)

If I were the one driving, I would be there every week hhaahha

Oh ****!

I have just realised that I may have gotten the hobbyshop to order me the wrong diff pinion! Grrr, i'm guessing you can't use helical & straight together? :L

Waited weeks to run the thing and now have to get another pinion...

So I contacted numerous people regarding the diff problem.

I think I have the issue solved thanks to Russ at FWM. I am picking up another gear tomorrow which should* fit ;)

Today I got the Diggity Designs Carbon upper decks which I have been expecting. They came from the US within around a week, which isn't too bad.

here they are, all installed:

http://img810.imageshack.us/img810/2057/cimg0002k.jpg

http://img705.imageshack.us/img705/8384/cimg0008yg.jpg

http://img856.imageshack.us/img856/3449/cimg0017w.jpg

http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/5864/cimg0020g.jpg

They look awesome, and the chassis is now much more rigid.

All i'm waiting on now is that crown gear and I should be up and running again.

Will report back tomorrow.

ooooh. Just checked out Digity designs this top deck you have is a new item they call it 'Flexy' (I bet it don't flex that much) I have the original on mine.

I know with the Caster america main team drivers, one liked the orginal top deck the other found it to stiff probably hence this new item you have.

Good to see there is some development going on for the Caster.

Ahh nice one! It's not flexy at all :woot:

Aaah, it's been around for a few months as i've had my eye on it ;) it's will certainly ensure that there is minimal flex though :D

Nice thread and vids mate, just read it all.:thumbsup:

I will be interested to see how you find the lipos, as I have to choose which ones I will get shortly for my Hyper 7 project, which will get simular use to yours, eg bashing! :lol:

Thank you mate :)

It's coming on just nicely :thumbsup:

Hhaa, are you going to be using dual batt trays for your hyper?

I must admit I am not sure. So far all I have done is sort out and sell my old car/cars and get a suitable Hyper to convert. I have a nitro one too, that I have had for about 8 or 10 years, but I want to keep that as a smoker.:lol:

So as yet I haven't purchased any of the electrics or conversion stuff, I have been looking at the EZ run stuff to start with, as their 150A ESC is meant to be ok.

What are your thoughts on the 1 big batt v 2smaller? I can see that two is better for racing, but for cost and ease of charging, I wondered if 1 was better for bashing.....

Cheers.

I've just had a look at some hyper 7 conversion kits, they all seem to have 1 battery tray. So in my opinion, your better off sticking with a single 4/5s lipo.

Unless you have two trays I don't really see the need, I do have a 4s lipo which I am looking to get rid of if your interested. It's the one i've used for this buggy as you've seen a few pages pack on this thread. It's slightly damaged casing so ill give ya a good price ;)

Depends on your budget, If you don't mind waiting a while for a more expensive system then EZ run, then I would do that. But if you are in a hurry then It should do fine, just watch your temps for sure.

Yeah I've recently got a hyper, they are pretty awesome :) (nitro guzzler)

Right, ok, I will have a think.

That lipo of yours is mashed! Haha:p Might still be tempted though....


Do think the running temps seem to be more based on a high KV motor? So if I potentially got a EZRun 150A ESC and a Decent low KV motor, would that work you reckon?

Sorry for the high jack, but I suppose its all sort of relevant.:thumbsup:

It's just the outer blue shrink around the cells, the cells are actually untouched (luckily) haha. It's a great pack, it's rated at 5000mah, though it actually holds over 5300. I set my charger to stop at 5300 and it stopped at CAPACITY instead of FULL which means there is still room for more charge.

I have had two stock 2000kv motors burn up on me, so never again will I buy cheap motors hehe

I would advise, get the EZRUN ESC, as they don't get nearly as hot as the motors. and get yourself a decent quality motor, whether that be castle, tekin or whichever you can find that is well known.

If your going to be running on 4s go for 1800kv - 2200 (around that area) and 5s go for allot lower kv and gear accordingly :) But 4s is good IMO as it keeps the weight down a little more and 5s is over kill ;)

Np :P

Thanks for your advise mate.

Enough of the highjack, is your car back up and running yet?:thumbsup:

I was rebuilding one of the Hypers the other day, and it looked like it had a simular crownwheel gear to the one you stripped.....:confused:

Hope it is sorted.

Not yet mate :( Still waiting on parts. Rather frustrating but what can ya do :confused:

Got some batteries from hobbyking that arrived yesterday though :) Some nano-tech 5300's took 2 weeks.

It only stripped because I didn't shim it right :) My own fault. haha, and I stripped the pinion, the crown gear is fine.

Got another blog up and running...

some pics up on there of the caster buggy that havne't been posted here if anyone's interested.

RCRacing88

Hey RCR88!

Yours must be the diff we have been speaking with Russ @ FWM about. I thinkyou must have had every single possible part, just never a matching ring and pinion at the same time by the sound of things. The diff assembly went back to Russ a couple of days ago so you should be up and running now!

Yes! :) Hey pete, thanks for sorting it all out for me! did you get the pinion that needed to fit or did you have to change the case to fit the helical gears? :)

Just been over to the shop and he told me you had sent it out. It should arrive tomorrow.

Thanks again :thumbsup:

Got the buggy up and running again! Runs awesome I have to admit!

Thanks Pete, the gears were a little tight so I broke them in for a little while going less than 1/2 throttle and they were fine after that.

The buggy's performance has drastically improved with the added carbon upper deck, and now I'm using both battery trays!

First I burnt through a pack of Team Orion 3800mah 30c packs... They were great and gave about the same amount of power and top end out as the big bad-ass 4s turnigy I was first using. When those packs ran dry, I put in the big boys... 5300mah 30-60c 2x 2s Turnigy Nano-tech packs. What a difference! They had so much more punch and allot more top end. Very pleased with those packs, they also didn't get as warm.

Definitely a keeper now i've got everything sorted out. It's one tough buggy, it did some tumblin' today!

Take a look at the buggy ripping up the grass

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tApS7_afSr8