M.Beetle Performance Report!

[Galliano]

Well, after fully restoring my monster beetle I decided to upgrade the motor (after fitting new half shaft set and BB's all round). Thanks for everyones advice on the motor, and patiently explaining the difference between winds and turns etc!!

I have just had my first run using a Tamiya Super Stock Type R on tarmac and then some grass.

On tarmac it totally flies, crazy top end and very good acceleration. In fact its a bit too much top end with the suspension set as it currently is, old oil in the shocks so even softer than normal i think. Trying to think how stiff to go and still have decent off road performance. Any tips?

On grass its a huge improvement too, though not as noticable and i dont have as much wheel spin problem as i do on tarmac.

What i really need now is a nice dirt area where it will be at home, not to grippy in the corners as on tarmac it rolls at full speed.

So to sumarise, if you are thinking of an upgrade from the stock 540 in your MB/Blackfoot, a £16 Super Stock Type R of ebay made me grin like an idiot when i first fully pulled the trigger!

Next plan, buy a Sanyo 2400 pack and see what the punch is like....

[mr_pushrod]

Out of curiosity, who did you get the Type R stock motor from?

[Galliano]

Ahh thats the only negative aspect of the story, bought it off a guy called Alexlihahaha who has been discussed at length in the ebay forum. Took about 2 1/2 weeks to arrive, bad communication adn then it came in a brown paper bag with tatty box. The motor was new and fine, but poor packaging and poor delivery time.

Would steer clear in the future, though am not going to give him a negative rating as he gives a neg back in retaliation, even after i paid him within 30 mins of winning item!!

[mr_pushrod]

Yeah, he seems to be rather infamous on this club! Just curious because I bought one off monique.r.store in April and still haven't got it. They aren't replying to email either......

[mud4fun]

I bought 2 Super Stock type RR's off Monique.store and they arrived within a week. However, shortly after I bought mine monique vanished from ebay and was no longer a registered member. I paid £16-20 each for the Super stock RR. I also got 4 Dyna Run super touring motors, I think they came from monique_store and I had no problems with them either. Paid £25 each.

The Super Stock RR is quite a nice motor but tends to scream a bit. I prefer the Dyna Runs which are twice as torquey. The SS type RR is 23 turn though against the Dyna Run at 13.

[Galliano]

A 13 turn is more torquey than a 23x1 SS Type R? Well just when i thought i was getting a grip on this whole motor thing!! Why is that mud4fun?

[mr_pushrod]

I paid £16 for mine, waited a couple of weeks and then emailed. They told me they would try to track the item but I have heard nothing since. I have sent 2 follow up emails as well.

[GPZ1000RX]

When it comes to motors, perhaps I should have added a qualifier to this statement:-

"Fewer turns or more windings = more revs and less torque."

The above is so if all other factors remain the same!!!!

The other factors are the strength of the permanent magnetic field:-

More magnetism = more torque/less revs

Also

More advanced timing = more revs/less torque (and loads more heat!)

There are many ways to change all of the above which I won't go into here but It's entirely possible to get more revs and more torque by adding more money, hence a 27T stock produces far more of both than the silver can kit motor because they cost £27 rather than £13!

The same applies if you buy a £60 full on modified, it will out perform a 27 stock in both respects if you don't get too ambitious with the wind, you may even find that it gives the same run time too.

This is because you just bought the best.

Hope this helps to clear the confusion.

[mud4fun]

Gearing also helps, I run the Dyna Run with a very small pinion, it revs high anyway so I don't lose too much in top speed but the smaller pinion/lower gearing generates even more torque.

The 23t motor revs less so needs a slightly larger pinion to achieve same top speed this then creates less torque.

To further increase power I also use 8.4v packs which the Dyna Run performs better with than the Super Stock. The DR doesn't get as hot because of a better design.

The MB/BF is limited to a single pinion size (10t I think) which works well enough with the Super Stock. I run a Super Stock in my Bush Devil too, the Dyna Run is too powerful for that gearbox, I did try it and it suffered very high wear rates and other problems.

[GPZ1000RX]

Yep, the better design of the dyna run is probably to do with a much stronger permanent magnetic field, this increases torque and reduces heat. It may also have a hand wound armature, which also gives slight improvements in torque and revs. Of couse all of this costs money!

The caution, as mud4fun says above, is that a lot of Tamiyas don't have gearing that can be easily changed to suit different motors and/or are not able to handle the extra torque and speed anyway. I've heard and seen quite a few budget road car gearboxes get destroyed by over enthusiastic novices bolting a hot motor into an otherwise standard budget Tamiya.

Even if the car survives mechanically they often don't complete their first race meeting due to the extra speed causing more and harder crashes which eventually break the car!!!

[Galliano]

LOL GPZ, well i can testify that the extra speed in my monster beetle is hard to get used to. Would adding thicker oil to the shocks/stiffening the suspension help the cars high speed handling characteristics?