black mamba

I finally have the engine, but now I can't decide on what gearing to run. I have a standard 3rd gear 3spd and 17/47 gears now. I have the XL 16/52 gears on my desk if needed. I *think* I want to put the 16/52s on because 2 of the 3 sets of tires I have are Terra Pin height. The "baby" Dirt Bonz are the smallest and I hope would be tolerable with the deeper 16/52 ratio. Then I realize the K5.9 and my current Axial .28 have very similar RPM curves and max RPM, so that has me thinking I should stay with the 17/47s because the overall performance right now is great. I don't really need the added gear multiplication of the deeper 16/52s considering the 5.9 is a torque monster, so the 17/47s would dampen the low end hit some without giving up much, if any performance on the low end. Any thoughts from those that have this engine with the ratios I'm pondering? Right now, my gut says to just go with the 16/52s.

16/52=3.25 17/47=2.76

BudBud

If you are ging to run Terra Pins, you will want that 16/52. [8D]

black mamba

I settled on 16/47, for now, which is 2.93. If that doesn't make it happy, I'll throw the 52 spur on. Time to hit Ebay for a steel 49 just for giggles. Man, in the pics my truck is really starting to show its age. Maybe I'll pick up a new truck when the XL SS comes out. Or maybe not because I love the old style Savages. Oh yeah, the Axial .28/.32 pull starter screws right on. That also means the K4.6 pull starter also fits. The Axial .28/.32 Roto Start also screws right on.

rcnitrohead

You just can't beat the old style Savage look, they looked so rugged and mean. My fav body was the 21 shell, and the LTD was awesome for it's time.



Tom.

BudBud

Tom, I agree with that old chassis plate design, it just looked big and bad! I really enjoyed the reflection of the plates when the truck was a long ways off too.

Sports, inquiring minds want to know of you have fired up your new Bad Boy yet? They seem to have a bad high speed lean problem, but they flat pump out the torque!

That 086 really woke mine up! I drove my new stocker yesterday and it reminded me why I went pipe hunting with the first one. Bud

rcnitrohead

I really miss it BB, I still have the old parts to go back to the old design if I wanted to, my Savage has been out of order since my cousin bent my FLM engine plate to hell. I sent out the messed up plate, brace, and a money order out to FLM for warranty, and the post office damaged my package and the plate/brace/screws fell out, I got a letter back from FLM with the money order today. I hope they step up to the plate and still give me a warranty[&:], since I did have to pay for 85% of the products and shipping. Heres my good old setup, nothing better than a good old jug of the worlds best fuel and the worlds best basher from 2006.

Tom.

black mamba

I didn't have much time today as I spent most of the day getting ready for a BBQ this Sat, but I did get a tank through it before it got dark out. Man this engine is TIGHT, TIGHT.....loosening the plug is mandatory unless you want to rip up your pullstarter. This is the first HPI engine I've had that has such a tight pinch. Maybe the Roto start can muscle through it, but there's no way a pullstart will. Anyways, before I even fired it up, I leaned out the HSN 2 hours and opened up the idle a little.....it was perfect as the truck drove around nice and didn't stall out once. The LSN and the dreaded MSN were untouched and will likely stay that way. So far, so good. I did get partially into the throttle a couple of times and it wanted to rev, but I held back. Only one tank of fuel ya know. Tomorrow I will try to get a couple of more tanks through it and then get to leaning it out while the weather is nice and cool. Did I mention this thing gulps fuel? Wow. On that note, my driveway has a ton of oil streaks up and down it-the wife will be more than thrilled tomorrow morning. LOL. I usually break my engines in at the ball field where streaks aren't even a passing thought, but time wouldn't allow that today. As far as the initial performance impressions, the low end slingshot throttle response it has, even when rich, really shows that this thing is making the 86 oz.in of torque XRC says it is. It also appears to like the 16/47 with the Dirt Bonz, but I haven't had a WOT death run yet to say for sure if that ratio is where I will stay. I've already decided that I won't be running my Losi Claws or Terra Pins anymore, as I will be staying with the shorter Dirt Bonz because it handles much, much better with them than the other two. All in all, it appears to be a bit more engine than the turbo'd Axial it replaced, and that makes the money I spent worth it. That Axial was a real solid engine that never, ever let me down and it always seemed to make more power than it should've.....which always got me into some heavy, heated debates here on RCU in the past. It hurt my chest to pull it out of the truck, for good this time, but it will stay in its Ziploc bag for future use because I don't think I'm done with it yet. The kid down the street is talking about selling his nice T Maxx because he just got a girlfriend and has no time for RC now. LOL. Can you say big block transplant? [8D]

black mamba

The LE is my all time favorite Savage. It was the inspiration for the mods I did to my S25 back in the day, of which all still remain on the truck to this day. I always wondered why HPI didn't put the .28 in it, but even without it, it was a very fast Savage. It had a true 39-40mph top speed......which was the fastest at the time and is still fast today. Up until a year or so ago, you could STILL buy a brand new, in the box, LE from Stormer Hobbies. Every once in a while, one will pop up on ebay and sell for good money. I think HPI needs to come out with another LE Savage based on the X 4.6 RTR with all of the XL stuff, minus the Terra Pin tires and long TVPs. [8D]

BudBud

I have four Axials and I have been in the middle of some heated debates too. I have two 32s that have been just super...what's a front bearing once in a while? [8D] Supertib is right though, you are so close to a Picco 28 that it is really hard to recommend the Axial 32. I still like the torquey-smokey [link=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCdVeHZuyCw]old turd[/link] though. Bud

black mamba

Well I have 5 tanks of Byron's GEN 2 30% through it now and I'm calling it broken in. I've nailed it a few times and it is a very strong engine. The gear ratio, tire size and 3spd are all perfect. Good thing I took off the shock preloads to soften the suspension, because this thing would constantly be on its lid otherwise. I did have a casualty though-the pullstart came apart. Against everything I have ever said here on RCU, I went out and got a Roto Start for it..................because that was all Hobby Town had in stock.

edit-After a few more tanks, I may change out the HPI tuned pipe to the Dynamite 086 pipe I've been reading about to fully exploit this engine.

BudBud

[link=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yH9zai7zAKI]Yeah! Now you are talking![/link] It will continue to improve over the next gallon or so, it is pretty impressive for a RTR engine. The white truck is the Picco and the red truck is the [link=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbfEt9pks5U]5.9[/link]. In the video, the 5.9 looks like it is actually out running the Picco. The 5.9 still has a three speed and the Picco is a two speed. The Picco has enough rpm to make up the difference and will edge it out in a drag race, if the Picco is warmed up. My son would let it set there and idle, letting the big chill set in. Then he would have his hands full in a drag race. They had a blast with them and I did too..... just a spectator that day. [8D] Bud

black mamba

I love all of your videos! I have to start making some of my own.