e-firestorm based buggy
 

For about 8 months I have planned and day dreamed about making a e-firestorm based buggy using some d4 parts etc. So, for the last month I have been working on it. I am pretty close to have it track ready.

My pics are a bit large, so here is a link to the album.

Project pics

I have comments posted on most pics.

What I have left to do...

1. Body
2. Proper servo brace since the blitz chassis and e-firestorm are different.
3. CVDs, D4's are 62mm and not long enough. Looking at the Team C, or Tamiya cvds
4. Motor guard
5. Electronics
6. Possibly the ECE Blitz ball diff down the road.

Very cool project. Looking forward to hearing how it runs!

Any particular reason why you chose a firestorm for your base?

Thanks.

Well, I run for HB here in the US, but we do not have a truck or 2wd, as everyone knows. It was getting old carrying a bunch of different brands of parts. I at least got my cars all metric so I could share, bearings, screws, shims and all that. So I began thinking, what if I took a firestorm and turned it into a buggy? I have d4 shocks, rear arms, hubs, hingepins, rear rims etc that I could use and would require me to carry less spares. Also, HB has some really good 2wd buggy tires. They work and wear very well on the indoor clay tracks here. After day dreaming about it for many months, I finally started on it, and here we are. I did try to use as many off the shelf parts as possible. If I did have to dremel something, I tried to do things that could easily and quickly be done in a bind if really tore up the car.

Now, I need to find a cvd bone that is about 65mm from the center of the coupling to the pin. The rest is pretty well sorted.

I have an esc figured out for this project. I would love to put an rs pro in it, but I don't have the extra cash right now. It appears the teamC buggy cvds will work nicely, just need to order them. Then comes the body. I think a b4 body will fit. I will need to cut out the back since the tower is pretty far forward. If this car works fairly well, I may try to put together a vacuum former.

I have attached the latest pic for those who don't want to go out to the album.

I am looking for ideas of a better way to do the tower and lower the rear wing.

could you find some longer wing mounts that move it farther back and make it sit lower? As for the shock tower, you might be able to find something else that will work, but I'd try it as is

I thought about mounting a piece of g10 or cf off the back of the tower, with some lower holes for the wing mounts. Right now they are spaced back about 10mm or more with some plastic standoffs.

One option, would be to get one of the aluminum rear towers for the blitz, and then cut it down, but leave enough to mount a cf tower to it.

I tried a b4 rear tower, since the front fit, but the holes did not line up to mount it. I could force it, but that would end up being a weak spot, and not look very well.

The rear tower does look a little far forward now that you mentioned it but I quickly googled a B4 chassis shot and the rear shock tower position doesn't look very much different from yours.

The only issue I think you might have with the body is that 2WD buggy shells typically fit to the shape of the car chassis and you need to find one that matches your custom chassis.

I will give the tower a go and see how it does. My next version of the car maybe be cf, if it seems worthwhile. I could then move some positions around.

I think a b4 body will fit. The shape was pretty similar to a losi body as well. I had my friends xxxcr at my house, so I did some loose measuring off of it. I do know after all the custom bodies I have seen on here and youtube, I would like to make a vaccum former this summer. Even if I only managed to make D4 under trays, it would be worth it lol.

I am waiting on parts to arrive, so nothing new going on with the car.

I tried the team c axles and they were too long.

The d4 rears are 62mm and tamiya rears are 64 and team c around 66. So, the tamiya's should be good to go. For now, I may just limit the droop so I can use the d4 rears and at least say it drove.

This project has been slowed down by helping get a club track ready to race locally and gathering up the needed items for a Ve8.

Nice work, but I'm wondering if your cut and shut chassis will be strong enough. What material are those braces made from? It really needs to be several times stronger than the original chassis, in order to support the cut section.
If I was bracing a chassis I would try and get 1.5mm/2mm ally or fibreglass plate. The thinner ally would be ideal, as you can shape it. Maybe 'L' shaped ally or 'U' channel that you could cut down the centre to make you own 'L' shaped braces . How thick was that CF? A much thinner piece of the other two could run the entire length under the battery, and give loads of security.
:cool:
I love making stuff and made myself a complete front wheel drive buggy chassis many years ago. Used a Kyosho Optima transmission, home made chassis and arms from 2.5 and 3mm ally respectively, GF top plate, Optima uprights, steering, shox, shafts. Some buggy shell or other, and got banned from the 2wd class at the local club. :lol: It could almost live with the 4x4s!

Good luck anyhoo. :thumbsup:

Your project looked pretty cool. The braces with the screws and locknuts are made of 3mm or so g10 and then 2part epoxy over the top. The outside edges are braces with cf strips about 2mm long and epoxy. I velcro'd an rb5 body on it for now. I think a b4 or losi body would fit better.

I may get to try out the car this weekend. I am about to head to a charity race in Dallas, Tx. I realized last night if I reduced the droop I could use the d4 rear bones. It is not perfect but good enough to maybe get a few laps. I will have to borrow one from my d4, and an esc from my rt5.

Pics

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_HLeOfaLeb9s/S_...2009.27.03.jpg
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_HLeOfaLeb9s/S_...2009.27.18.jpg

bjcaldwe, that buggy looks cool. nice work.
so you plan on racing at Mikes this weekend?
I may go for some race action, if i see you i woudl love to take a closer look at that car, I am really into the custom stuff.

good luck at the race.:thumbsup:

looks short but cool, let us know how well it works.

The wheelbase is about the same as a losi. It looks different since the rear tower is so far forward. I had to make some driveshafts at the track. They held up enough that I could get about a pack on the car. It is really not bad at all. Probably the best I have driven a 2wd in a long time. My driveshafts are a bit brittle, so I will have to work on them some more.

Miguel? Did you race this weekend? I was pitted on the on-road side. You should have come by and said hi. I got to run the car a little bit Saturday night after the races, and a little on Sunday before we headed back home. I hope to have the cvd situation a bit better so I can maybe actually race it.

very nice,

I want one

Thanks. It is pretty rewarding to build something and it work half way decent. If I have time tonight, I am going to work on it a bit more. I need to clear up the wiring, work on the cvds etc.

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_HLeOfaLeb9s/S_...2014.37.14.jpg
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_HLeOfaLeb9s/S_...2014.37.30.jpg
Just a few more from the weekend.

I put a sbv2 wing on the buggy and it lowered it quite a bit without having to change the mount. The buggy is ready to rip for this weekend. I may try to sneak out to the track tonight and run a pack through it. I know the Ve8 is ready for its first taste of dirt.

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_HLeOfaLeb9s/S_...2019.36.34.jpg

Some one asked about it being short. Below is an early pic of it side by side with a xxxcr.

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_HLeOfaLeb9s/S7...2021.21.21.jpg

I ordered some 64mm tamiya cvds to try from HK. Hopefully it doesn't take a month for me to get them. My homemade cvds are not as durable as I would like. Next to look at it a blitz ball diff or the mip balldiff.

My mip blitz ball diff arrived today. I have no idea when the cvds will show up. If these parts work out well, then the next step is a better fitting body.

I got to run a few packs with the buggy last night. With the mip ball diff and 64mm tamiya cvds it was a ton better. I by no means set the world on fire with my driving but I am at least as fast as I have been with other cars with no setup changes. The tamiya pins on the end of the cvds seem to be a bit smaller like a kyosho. I may build them up some with some jb weld so there is less slop.

Next project is a body. The b4 is too narrow, the rb5 jconcepts sorta fits, and I have not been able to try a losi yet. I think I will take some old bodies and cut and shoe goo them together to get the shape and clearance I need. Then I may back fill it to make a mold after I am happy with it.

I mounted an old xxx body I have had since 1999. I removed all the old decals and it fit pretty well. Now some pics. Most of are the body mounted and one showing the cvd I had made to test length and the tamiya cvd I purchased.

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_HLeOfaLeb9s/TD...2017.07.04.jpg
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_HLeOfaLeb9s/TD...2017.46.28.jpg
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_HLeOfaLeb9s/TD...2016.44.04.jpg

Nice work i waiting for action photos. Keep it up:thumbsup:

Thanks Fila.

The new blitz comes with some firestroms parts on the tree in the new white material. So, my motor guard and servo brace were white. I have have dyed those black. I hope to start getting some of the other stiffer white parts and doing the same as my budget allows.

I added some more bracing to the chassis. It was not breaking but flexing quit a bit. I only got to run it one pack yesterday in practice. I am running e8th and mod truck in a series and had to devote some time to that yesterday. I race again next weekend. Maybe I can get a bit more time on the car. I hope to race it after the summer series is over.

A friend asked for a parts list, so here it is.

e-firestorm chassis with an inch taken out of the center
e-firestorm pivot plate
e-firestorm front kickup
e-firestorm servo brace( comes in white on the ece blitz tree, then I dyed it black)
e-firestorm motor guard(comes in white on the ece blitz tree, then I dyed it black)
e-firestorm inner and outer rear pivots. Inner rear pivots, the nubs are ground off to move the wheelbase
e-firestorm inner rear hinge pins
raul garcia custom blitz topshaft to run an rb5/ae slipper slipper
mip blitz ball diff
tamiya 501x 64mm cvds ( Now using tq/ansmann 4wd buggy rear cvds and axles.)
D4 wce front and rear shocks
D4 wce lowered wing mounts
D4 wce rear arms
D4 wce rear hubs
D4 wce turnbuckles
D4 wce shock mounts
D4 wce rear outer hinge pins
D4 rear rims
D4 ballstuds
Team Losi kit xxx body (modded to fit)
Academy SBV2 rear wing ( it makes the wing set lower.
HPI purple aluminum standoffs for the battery brace
b4 front tower
blitz front top bulkhead
blitz spindels and hubs
blitz rear tower flipped and modified
blitz front hexes (custom shimming with rb5 axle spacers)
blitz transmission case, idler, bearings, and motor plate
blitz steering parts
rb5 front arms with about 1mm taken out off at the hub to fit the blitz hub
rb5 front axles
rb5 front inner and outer hinge pins
rb5 front wheels
rb5 carbon fiber battery strap, modded to fit

I ended up breaking an outdrive on the mip blitz diff. MIP graciously replaced them for free, so I am back in business. This weekend is the last race of the points series that I am racing mod truck and E 8th in. We have a one day event coming up mid October that I may try and get an actual race on this car. It has felt great in practice but I need to get it on the clock during race conditions.

I hope to get a new losi body painted up in my scheme by then.

It was a bit of a stupid move at the last points race of the summer series, but I ran 3 classes. I ran E 8th, Mod truck and Mod buggy.

The first timed run of my buggy was great. I won my qualifier by nearly a lap. The car was hooked up and with a few mistakes, there was still a ton of performance to be had.

Then came round 2 lol. My 10.5 blew up, and I had to buy a used 7.5 to make it through the rest of the day. Going from a boosted 10.5 to a dual mode 7.5 was a bit of a jump and I never got a handle on it.

I was disappointed at first, but looking back I accomplished what I wanted for the first run. The car is competitive, and it was durable. Soon I will be moving my rs pro out of it back to my d4 and will have an rs on order with my points series winnings. Then, the real work can begin.

I swapped the cvds from d4 axles and 501x bondes to team c 4wd rear bones and axles. They fit perfect. I have a new tekin rs and a used tekin 10.5 in it now. I hope to race it again soon.

Hi.
I'm new here. Just did some simple conversion lately and chanced upon this forum, didn't realize there are already people hacking up their E-Firestorms! :woot:

This is my simple conversion to share. It's only a fun car for me so the wheelbase and rear track width are not of standard 1/10 buggy specs... yet.

Looks good. I am glad to see someone else tinkering with one.

Mine is pretty good, and pretty close to the wheelbase and width of a xxxcr. I just do not get nearly enough track time with it to work on setup.

It's amateurish compared to what you've done to yours. But thanks to this forum, I've picked up many tips from your mod and they could be what I might do next, mainly to get it closer to actual 1/10 buggy dimensions. :)

So far, what do you think is the best way to join the chassis back together after removing the extra length?

I appreciate the kind words.

I took about an inch out of the chassis. I tried to use some epoxy but it did not work really well. I talked to the guy that does the sct chassis' for x-factory and this is what he said.

"I join the halves with Losi red label (thin) tire glue and carbon fiber. I don't use any screws or bolts. The key is surface area. Don't just glue it with a thin strip of CF at the joint. Also make sure you use CF strips on the vertical sides."

Mine is bolted and then I went back with a piece of g10 over the seam. If I was to do it again, I would get some thin cf and do like what I have quoted above. I would do it in the side pods and also in the battery bay.

I will have to post a new pic of the front of my car. I turned around the b4 tower, and this took the forward angle out of my front turnbuckles. I would like to make a new chassis for it, and maybe reposition some of the rear suspension mounts to change the driveshaft angle.

Thank you again. Will take note of that when I decided to split the chassis in future. Meanwhile, do put up more pictures or video clips as they come along, great for reference. :)

To try and correct the driveshaft angle, which is angled back, I removed material from the front of the d4 rear arms, and added shims behind it. I also did some dremel work to the pivot plate to allow the arms to droop.

I added .5 deg d4 aluminum rear hubs, strc aluminum motor plate, ae v2 slipper, and strc aluminum steering tack and bell cranks. The car feels pretty good, but esc problems kept me from getting any amount of runs on the car yesterday. Once I get the esc back, I will give it another try.

I got to club race my the buggy this weekend. I ran stock (13.5). There were about 30 buggies and I qualified 15th. I was in the B main and running 3rd when I lost steering on the straight and about hit some pinewood derby kids who were watching. So, I just stopped. The car jumps well, and changes direction nicely, good forward bite. But I am having a problem with droop. I just do not seem to have enough when landing off bigger jumps. There were some I just could not down side because of how they were made. I added more droop in the rear but then I had if I had a really bad tumble it would try to spit out the dogbone. I am going to put the car on hold for a bit and run a kyosho sp, until I get past a few big races. This will give me time to think and maybe collaborate with some people to come up with a solution.

I'm back to messing with my E-Firestorm buggy, and needed some opinions. :)
Right now it is having similar wheelbase and track width sitting beside a B4. But although I managed to get it to run ok and steer nicely, the rear suspensions are still the area that can do better.

I'm guessing it is due to the motor being so far back, causing very bad weight bias.
The rear arms are cut short and in stock front-sweep direction. With lighter shock damping the rear bounces about over uneven turns and can scrap the chassis at some point, with heavier damping it handle the ground better but felt like a steel plate on wheels.. I quote my bud's words.
Have tried all available oils, pistons and springs but still couldn't find the desired suspension action.

So now might go ahead and cut an inch off the chassis and swap the rear arms around. With the arms pointing rear wards, motor between the wheels, do you suppose it will be better?