E firestorm thread
11-15-2007, 01:01 PM
#48
Tech Elite
Thread Starter
iTrader: (1)
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Bristol, England, United Kingdom
Posts: 4,857
Trader Rating: 1 (100%+)
i recommended one to a freind, so i hope its good 
11-20-2007, 07:54 AM
#51
Tech Elite
Thread Starter
iTrader: (1)
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Bristol, England, United Kingdom
Posts: 4,857
Trader Rating: 1 (100%+)
go for it. you know you want to
11-20-2007, 08:13 AM
#53
Tech Elite
Thread Starter
iTrader: (1)
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Bristol, England, United Kingdom
Posts: 4,857
Trader Rating: 1 (100%+)
11-20-2007, 10:34 AM
#55
I've only had 2 runs and am enjoying it so far…though I could be saying this about any truck. I thought my steering broke once but it was just a pebble that got trapped in the chassis right in front of the servo causing some interference with the linkage. I've only collided with dry brush so far and glanced off of fist sized river cobbles resulting in rollovers. Not really any good jumps where I bash. I'll need to make a few I suppose. Only thing already there that I could catch some air on was a double jump precipitously close to a high drop-off! So all I could do was take a short run at the first one landing on the front slope of the second ramp a few lenghts away. I think the chassis bottombed out on that. It was either that landing or one of the cobble-induced roll-overs that dislodged the ESC from the chassis. It was originally fastened with some kind of double sided tape so I cleaned off that residue and used some outdoor 3M mounting tape to secure the ESC back to the chassis.
A friend who raced Losi stadium trucks years ago inspected the E-Firestorm and was impressed with the suspension, chassis layout, and overall build quality. He also thought it looked very durable. He was impressed that this package only cost $179.99. He had been checking prices out on-line for stadium trucks as well to get back into the hobby and is now sold on the value of the E-Firestorm. He will be getting one soon.
A friend who raced Losi stadium trucks years ago inspected the E-Firestorm and was impressed with the suspension, chassis layout, and overall build quality. He also thought it looked very durable. He was impressed that this package only cost $179.99. He had been checking prices out on-line for stadium trucks as well to get back into the hobby and is now sold on the value of the E-Firestorm. He will be getting one soon.
12-05-2007, 05:56 PM
#56
Sorry for not reporting back guys, I've had a lot of midterm exams and papers due, and now finals are coming up quick. I did finally get the truck and raced it, so here's my observation report:
First and foremost, this is a very durable truck. I got caught in a couple of pile-ups, even got in a direct high speed front collision. The Sportsman Buggy class did not have enough participants, so they were thrown in with the Truck guys. In the middle of the second heat, one XXX BK2 took a jump at a bad angle, and jumped right into the straightaway that I was going near full speed on. The E-Firestorm pretty much plowed it aside, the BK2 broke his front arm, the E-Firestorm went well on its way. From the sound of the impact, I know for certain my T4 would have at least broke something. I believe the HPI's durability is derived from its soft composite material, unlike the stiff and brittle composite/graphite material found in the T4s and XXX-Ts.
The RTR electronics are adequate, and shows no sign of overheating throughout all 3 heats and the A-main. The 15T Limit ESC is very similar to the Dynamite Tazer 15T, and offers good forward/brake throttle profile, and does not snap into reverse immediately. While the closed silver can motor is advertised as a 15T, don't be too excited, as it runs more like an average 27T stock motor with a 7.4V LiPo battery. I tossed out the RTR radio in favor of my 3PK, but I'm pretty sure the radio is based off of the Futaba Magnum Jr., so it's your typical AM radio. The servo, which is a re-badged Futaba S3003, does the job, but don't expect lighting fast steer or insane torque.
The E-Firestorm's suspension is setup for bashing, so it has fairly stiff springs that is suited for crazy jumps. Because of this, the rear of the truck gets a bit upset when landing a jump, and I easily solved this by switching out the stock springs for AE's silver front and green rear springs. Much better. I also backed off the shock collars a bit, as they gave the springs a lot of tension. Either ways, the truck took jumps quite well, and require very to little throttle work to keep it balanced in the air.
The HPI tires that came with the E-Firestorm works quite well on loose dirt surface, but on hard, packed dirt, the compound is a bit too hard. My track consisted of a mainly hard, packed dirt, and the truck will spin out easily if I got too aggressive in a turn. Someone with a Rustler that had Proline Bow-Tie M2s gladly lend his rear wheels for me to experiment, and the truck hooks up a lot better. While the front stock ribbed tires were a bit hard, they worked well enough for me not to switch to softer Prolines.
The transmission, while not as race-oriented as AE's Stealth transmission, works well and I was extremely surprised on how quiet it was, considering all the internal gears are metal. Many may notice the truck has a spider gear differential instead of the preferred ball differential, but don't knock it until you've tried it. I was skeptical as first, but as the race night progressed, I was surprised on how well it worked. I found the E-Firestorm willing to take the inside corner well, although it took some time getting accustomed to. In addition, the spider gear differential made the truck less frantic on bumpy track conditions and jumps, although acceleration out of the corners was compromised to a certain degree. Power was transmitted to the rear wheels through steel dogbones, and had zero play and wear by the end of the night.
While the E-Firestorm's chassis design was more or less mimics a T4, the body post design holds up much better than the T4, and shouldn't be prone to breaking unless the truck was landed upside down from a 25 feet jump. One of the things that made this truck stand out from the crowd was the tribal body and black six spoke wheels. I ended up getting the blue body, and many racers complimented on how sharp it looks.
Well, there you have it. Unfortunately I didn't get the chance to try out a lower turn motor, but regardless, I felt that this truck can be a good racer with some modifications and setup time, and I'd like to see HPI releasing an optional ball differential for this truck. Well worth the $180 price; it's nice to see something on the race field besides a XXX-T or a T4.
First and foremost, this is a very durable truck. I got caught in a couple of pile-ups, even got in a direct high speed front collision. The Sportsman Buggy class did not have enough participants, so they were thrown in with the Truck guys. In the middle of the second heat, one XXX BK2 took a jump at a bad angle, and jumped right into the straightaway that I was going near full speed on. The E-Firestorm pretty much plowed it aside, the BK2 broke his front arm, the E-Firestorm went well on its way. From the sound of the impact, I know for certain my T4 would have at least broke something. I believe the HPI's durability is derived from its soft composite material, unlike the stiff and brittle composite/graphite material found in the T4s and XXX-Ts.
The RTR electronics are adequate, and shows no sign of overheating throughout all 3 heats and the A-main. The 15T Limit ESC is very similar to the Dynamite Tazer 15T, and offers good forward/brake throttle profile, and does not snap into reverse immediately. While the closed silver can motor is advertised as a 15T, don't be too excited, as it runs more like an average 27T stock motor with a 7.4V LiPo battery. I tossed out the RTR radio in favor of my 3PK, but I'm pretty sure the radio is based off of the Futaba Magnum Jr., so it's your typical AM radio. The servo, which is a re-badged Futaba S3003, does the job, but don't expect lighting fast steer or insane torque.
The E-Firestorm's suspension is setup for bashing, so it has fairly stiff springs that is suited for crazy jumps. Because of this, the rear of the truck gets a bit upset when landing a jump, and I easily solved this by switching out the stock springs for AE's silver front and green rear springs. Much better. I also backed off the shock collars a bit, as they gave the springs a lot of tension. Either ways, the truck took jumps quite well, and require very to little throttle work to keep it balanced in the air.
The HPI tires that came with the E-Firestorm works quite well on loose dirt surface, but on hard, packed dirt, the compound is a bit too hard. My track consisted of a mainly hard, packed dirt, and the truck will spin out easily if I got too aggressive in a turn. Someone with a Rustler that had Proline Bow-Tie M2s gladly lend his rear wheels for me to experiment, and the truck hooks up a lot better. While the front stock ribbed tires were a bit hard, they worked well enough for me not to switch to softer Prolines.
The transmission, while not as race-oriented as AE's Stealth transmission, works well and I was extremely surprised on how quiet it was, considering all the internal gears are metal. Many may notice the truck has a spider gear differential instead of the preferred ball differential, but don't knock it until you've tried it. I was skeptical as first, but as the race night progressed, I was surprised on how well it worked. I found the E-Firestorm willing to take the inside corner well, although it took some time getting accustomed to. In addition, the spider gear differential made the truck less frantic on bumpy track conditions and jumps, although acceleration out of the corners was compromised to a certain degree. Power was transmitted to the rear wheels through steel dogbones, and had zero play and wear by the end of the night.
While the E-Firestorm's chassis design was more or less mimics a T4, the body post design holds up much better than the T4, and shouldn't be prone to breaking unless the truck was landed upside down from a 25 feet jump. One of the things that made this truck stand out from the crowd was the tribal body and black six spoke wheels. I ended up getting the blue body, and many racers complimented on how sharp it looks.
Well, there you have it. Unfortunately I didn't get the chance to try out a lower turn motor, but regardless, I felt that this truck can be a good racer with some modifications and setup time, and I'd like to see HPI releasing an optional ball differential for this truck. Well worth the $180 price; it's nice to see something on the race field besides a XXX-T or a T4.
12-06-2007, 05:43 AM
#58
I would imagine the diff is or can be sealed and that tuning can be done with silicone fluid. I did have a Jato at one time and it used shock fluid (as opposed to the thicker diff fluid typically used in 1/8th scale) for its gear diff.
Pretty seriously cinsidering looking into one of these. I know of at least one person that will be racing one of these at a new indoor track opening up in my area; looking forward to seeing it in action.
Pretty seriously cinsidering looking into one of these. I know of at least one person that will be racing one of these at a new indoor track opening up in my area; looking forward to seeing it in action.
12-06-2007, 09:15 AM
#59
My suspension seems a bit soft right now and pretty good for absorbing rough terrain without being too bouncy. I actually had to raise ride height a bit to allow for more shock compression before the chassis would bottom out this past weekend. I've run about 10 battteries through it in some fairly sandy and dusty conditions so perhaps my shocks are starting to show some wear…or maybe its all just broken-in now? There may have been more damping when I first took it out of the box.
There's races scheduled for this weekend in my area but the weather may interfere with that…I was hoping to be able to race for my first time and see what other people think about the truck. When the races are run, this weekend or later, there will be at least two E-Firestorms racing since my friend did get a red one for himself.
This past weekend I replaced the stock radio gear with 2PM-2.4G. Works fine with everything else stock. Cut the antenna straw into a short piece (about 3 inch) and a long piece so I could use the short piece as a post in the normal location, then taped and zip-tied the longer piece to it with the bottom opening about 1.5 inch above the chassis. This way I could run my FAAST reciever's attenna pretty close to the stock location without putting a sharp 90 degree kink in it (Futaba cautions against sharp antenna bends for that reciever).
The axle cups are greased and do attract a lot of dirt. I just picked up some Sullivan's Dry Ice so I'll clean up and relube those cups this weekend.
It does have a sealed differential so it can be tuned with heavier weight diff fluid, of course that’s not by any means a quick adjustment!
There's races scheduled for this weekend in my area but the weather may interfere with that…I was hoping to be able to race for my first time and see what other people think about the truck. When the races are run, this weekend or later, there will be at least two E-Firestorms racing since my friend did get a red one for himself.
This past weekend I replaced the stock radio gear with 2PM-2.4G. Works fine with everything else stock. Cut the antenna straw into a short piece (about 3 inch) and a long piece so I could use the short piece as a post in the normal location, then taped and zip-tied the longer piece to it with the bottom opening about 1.5 inch above the chassis. This way I could run my FAAST reciever's attenna pretty close to the stock location without putting a sharp 90 degree kink in it (Futaba cautions against sharp antenna bends for that reciever).
The axle cups are greased and do attract a lot of dirt. I just picked up some Sullivan's Dry Ice so I'll clean up and relube those cups this weekend.
It does have a sealed differential so it can be tuned with heavier weight diff fluid, of course that’s not by any means a quick adjustment!
12-06-2007, 03:22 PM
#60
I decided to take a peek inside the gearbox today.
All you need are 2.5mm and a 3mm hex drivers.
Six hex screws removed, the whole gearbox comes right out. With a little practice, anyone can have it off the truck in half a minute.
This picture also reminded me of something else -- the screws that goes through the shock cap and the rear shock tower. These screws are a little longer than necessary, and as a result, they will stab through the body and tear it. Either replace these screws with something 2mm shorter or get a dremel and do away with the excess length. This will keep the body looking nice longer, and will not cause the body to snag the screws when it is removed.
Anyways, four 3x15mm screws and one 3x12mm screw holds the gearbox halves together. Nice to see the gears pre-lubed and holding up well. the differential also has a 0.2mm shim on each side, so don't lose those.
Gear differential exposed. Indeed, there is a semi-transparent rubber or nylon seal, so the differential can be filled with oil or grease without leaking. Yay! I have a bottle of HPI 1000wt. oil that came with the Baja 5B, so I'll use that at the moment.
I took it for a quick spin outside, and it hooks up much better. Acceleration from a dead stop feels snappier, and the truck feels more aggressive in the cornering department. I'm quite happy. I suggest you guys start with 1000wt. first, and if it still isn't good enough, go up. I'm sure everyone will be happy with either 1000 or 2000 wt.
All you need are 2.5mm and a 3mm hex drivers.
Six hex screws removed, the whole gearbox comes right out. With a little practice, anyone can have it off the truck in half a minute.
This picture also reminded me of something else -- the screws that goes through the shock cap and the rear shock tower. These screws are a little longer than necessary, and as a result, they will stab through the body and tear it. Either replace these screws with something 2mm shorter or get a dremel and do away with the excess length. This will keep the body looking nice longer, and will not cause the body to snag the screws when it is removed.
Anyways, four 3x15mm screws and one 3x12mm screw holds the gearbox halves together. Nice to see the gears pre-lubed and holding up well. the differential also has a 0.2mm shim on each side, so don't lose those.
Gear differential exposed. Indeed, there is a semi-transparent rubber or nylon seal, so the differential can be filled with oil or grease without leaking. Yay! I have a bottle of HPI 1000wt. oil that came with the Baja 5B, so I'll use that at the moment.
I took it for a quick spin outside, and it hooks up much better. Acceleration from a dead stop feels snappier, and the truck feels more aggressive in the cornering department. I'm quite happy. I suggest you guys start with 1000wt. first, and if it still isn't good enough, go up. I'm sure everyone will be happy with either 1000 or 2000 wt.