Murder Beetle

[zomboided]

Got this beauty from the bay a few weeks ago, partly to get the box and the metal bolts in the spot lights for my OCD resto of my shelfer beetle, but also because I wanted to build a mad runner!

Was in ok condition, some corrosion going on and some pretty evil gunk around the gear box. The front nose has had the spot light tabs glued back on (one has already snapped off...), so I'll be using the body as my runner rather than sell it on and get a re-re blitzer.

I got a grey chassis because I want to 'murder it out', all black/dark grey. I also wanna fix the weak points so that it's more reliable.

Here's where I started at today

And here's where I got to

Have moved the steering servo to be more central, which means I need to make some new steering arms. Am also thinking about making a reinforced plate on the front bumper so it doesn't snap when the wheels impact. I've also got the stronger CRP rear suspension mounts, which seem much better

[i_am_scarecrow]

Looking good. I started on my rebuild yesterday too. I'm Interested in the central position for the servo, how far have you got with the steering arms?

Any more pics of the hop up parts you are using?

[zomboided]

Cheers! I'll take a bunch of pictures of the parts/mods as I go through the build. Here's a list of the parts I've currently got :

CRP 1622 : Rear suspension support, bolts onto the chassis in 3 places and seems much better than the standard piece. If you're running your beetle, I would totally advise getting these.

CRP 1627 : Front tower support/cross brace. Requires CRP 1624 to mount towards the rear and I can't find that, so I'm gonna have to fabricate something to attach it to the rear of the vehicle.

Ebay metal cross brace between the body posts. Seems heavy and not overly strong! Not sure if I should just use the plastic one and brace it some how.

Tamiya 53908 : Frog re re universal shafts.

Kimbrough 201 : Mid size servo saver

Savox 0231MG : Wanted water proof and torquey

The servo isn't quite central as I didn't want to drill to many more holes in the cross members that supports the servo for fear of weakening it. I've moved the servo over by one hole and made a new hole so that I can properly bolt it down. I've put on the servo saver and mounted the ball joints on the underside otherwise the angle of the steering arms would have increased further. I'm going to build the front wheel assembly next and then take apart the existing steering rods and use some 3mm threaded bar to make new ones. At the moment I think I'll be measuring how far across I've moved the servo and using that, and the length of the existing ones as a guide.

After bracing up the body, I'll focus on the gearbox. There's a bunch of advice about how to strengthen it, but I'm gonna have a think about it when I get there. I definitely want to run a hot motor through it, just don't know if it'll be brushless or something more like a Super Stock BZ. I'm not sure the chassis will handle a brushless too well in all honesty.

[i_am_scarecrow]

Sounds like a good plan. I'm going to run my gearbox stock for now and see how it goes with a sport tuned motor. I was looking at the crp 1627 on Ebay, like you I couldn't find the other part they attach to so a bit of diy modding may be needed there.

[zomboided]

Made a bracket to strengthen the front bumper/wishbone mount and trimmed up the servo saver so I could still use it as a brace across the tower.

Mounted front bumper and all fits good.

[zomboided]

I'm trying to brace the middle of the gear box to stop it separating. To do this, I've swapped the solid axle of the motor cog for a brass tube and used bushings and bearings to space it out (will be all bearings now I've mocked this up)



This will allow me to run an m4 bolt through the middle with a nyloc nut on it. The bearings will be just shy of the gear box plate so I can use a couple washers to pull everything in snug.



Any thoughts on whether this will work or not? I plan on strengthening the rear of the box around the diff too.

[SteveU30]

What you're doing is similar to OldFrogShot's famous screw mod, see here for more info:

http://www.tamiyaclub.com/showroom_model.asp?cid=24674&sid=3142

[zomboided]

What you're doing is similar to OldFrogShot's famous screw mod, see here for more info:

http://www.tamiyaclub.com/showroom_model.asp?cid=24674&sid=3142

Yup, was aware of that, thanks Steve. I'm trying to directly brace the gearbox sides through the other large gear on the box rather than the diff 'internals' though, which is what I think that mod is doing?

[zomboided]

Got some new shocks today, along with the bearings and shims that I got earlier in the week. As my Hotshot needs some new bits, it's time to work on this project again

[zomboided]

Gear box built with bolt through the centre and attached to the body. Rear shocks also built to a stiff setting. Might have to change the approach I'm using to mount the rear shock when it comes to working out how to mount the chassis stiffeners...will see

[zomboided]

A dull update, but spent some time on this today. Got the steering arms working with the new servo position. Cut 8mm off of one and cut the thread further down. Then I made a new one out of 3mm stainless rod.

Then I popped in the Super Sport to check my gear box mods worked and everything seems whizzy!

Big problem is that I thought I had the metal Frog swing arm mounts, but I didn't, so had to order from foreign...sigh. Parking this one for a couple weeks whilst they arrive and going back to the Hotshot

[Terz1]

Good work! Got to say I love the monster beetle. I've got a vintage blackfoot with the exact same gearbox and I think I need to do the same to fix mine. It seems to run fine when held off the ground (wheels spin fast) but as soon as it's put on the floor it just crawls everywhere.

Look forward to see what you do next.

[zomboided]

Fitted the rear arms with Frog metal parts, the universal shafts, rear alloy wheel adapters, the CRP suspension brace (partly...) and the rear body mounts with alloy upgrade.

Then after this was taken I threw in my spare ESC and gave it a quick run around the kitchen :-) Gotta work out how to create some aluminium pieces to mount the strut. It's gonna rock!

[zomboided]

Made a cardboard template

And then built two braces using 2mm plasticard.

Body is now gaping around the windows slightly, but I think I can trim the body posts a little to fix that

Need to design the cross piece to support the front braces properly now

[jeekelemental]

This Beetle is huge! I love it.

[emory70]

Nice build. I'm thinking about one myself. My first hobby rc was a Monster Beetle back in 87. It was painfully stock, and I never broke anything. Eventually I had the JG shock mounts, CRP skid plates, and a full Thorp ball diff and dogbone conversion. Never had more than a stock motor. Ran the thing 5 minutes with the Thorp and broke an axle. Pitched the whole conversion back into the parts box and went back to stock.

[Chooch]

Made a cardboard template

And then built two braces using 2mm plasticard.

Body is now gaping around the windows slightly, but I think I can trim the body posts a little to fix that

Need to design the cross piece to support the front braces properly now

Any more updates on this vehicle??

Is it completed? How is it holding up? Pics?

[zomboided]

Any more updates on this vehicle??

Is it completed? How is it holding up? Pics?

Still a work in progress, fluctuating between my vintage shelfer beetle shell, my Blackfoot 3 4x4x4, 2 Baja Kings and numerous other things....will get back to it

[Chooch]

Ahhhh, I got one of those too, my Clod...

Was thinking of doing a black frame, but then I saw the grey on eBay so thought about going that route, then saw yours and was just wondering how it finished up if it did...

[zomboided]

Revived this project today after mheald sent me his lovely gearbox mod (cheers man, they're perfect!)

I had also picked up a set of Axial links that a dude on eBay sold me along with a full CRP brace a few months ago. He'd been using them as a chassis brace, which I thought was a great idea.

Test fitted both, but my batteries are all too flat to test it out! Reckon this project is back on now!

[Frog Jumper]

What are those green bars???  The Axial Links???  Do you have a part number???

Thanks,

Terry

 

[zomboided]

The markings on them are 6x101mm A30, which I think translates as a high clearance 101mm lower link with a 30 degree bend.  I don't think these are Axial pieces, but check out AX30445 and go from there.

You'll also need a rod end to attach it to the chassis.  I'm not sure what size, but I can measure later if you need me to.  I also used a brass spacer on the inside and a washer and nut to hold it tight up against the chassis rail.

[Frog Jumper]

5 hours ago, zomboided said:

The markings on them are 6x101mm A30, which I think translates as a high clearance 101mm lower link with a 30 degree bend.  I don't think these are Axial pieces, but check out AX30445 and go from there.

You'll also need a rod end to attach it to the chassis.  I'm not sure what size, but I can measure later if you need me to.  I also used a brass spacer on the inside and a washer and nut to hold it tight up against the chassis rail.

 

Thanks man!  Once I win the lottery, I can play with those parts!  Ha!  I have the CRP front shock brace on my Bushy D, but I was curious how you did yours...

Terry