tekno v4 or losi e conversion for 8ight 2.0?
 

my local indoor track has briefly mentioned the possibilty of indoor electric 8th scale next winter season, so if they decide to do it i plan on converting my 8ight to electric for the winter.

so my question is, is the tekno v4 kit really worth the extra $40 over the losi conversion?

If your planning to switch between nitro and electric it would make it much simpler to do so with the dedicated e chassis you'll get with the tekno kit. You also have the option to run mechanical brakes with tekno. You'll also get a layout that has been designed to balance out, rather then shoe horning bits wherever they fit. But I'm not biased.:blush:

Yeah I really like the tekno kit and I'd love the new chassis, but I'm not sure I wanna spend the extra for it. I'll have to break out my scales next time I'm at the track and weigh someones 8ight-E and see how balanced it is and go from there, since that'd be the main deciding factor. I don't plan on using the mechanical brakes, I'm more used to driving electric so the lack of brake bias for tuning won't be an issue.

I don't like the fact that Tekno places the motor on the chassis and not on the center diff assembly. Also the long shank pinions is not a great idea IMO. too much stress on motor bearings. Traction drive and elctri-clutch, don't get the idea of that either.

You want simple, what's more simple than using you'r existing chassis. It may look like an afterthought, but it works. And the balance is fine.

Never been a fan of mechanical brakes in electric cars either, I like the K.I.S.S. approach.

I got into electric because it's fun, and requires less maintenance. I don't want to check for brake fade and clutch shoe wear.


I'll admit I'm extremely biased. I've never held a Tekno product in my hands.

I have used the Losi conversion in my old 8ight 1.0 buggy and now in my 8ight T 2.0 and I am very happy with it. It looks factory, uses up all of the holes in the chassis and if I need to replace something in it my LHS stocks the parts. If you do decide to go with the Losi conversion just make sure you use the little motor support, otherwise your motors will keep coming loose from the mount:( I found that out the hard way. lol, live and learn

I would recommend against the support block on the Losi conversion, even the factory racers say that. In extreme flex it will force the spur/pinion mesh to change.

If you use a good locktite on all screws around the motor, it will not work itself loose.

Since v3 the buggy could use standard pinions.. no long shanks.

The tekno motor mount system works fine and provides a lower COG to boot.

No tekno kit requires mechanical brakes.. it's an option

The use of the traktion drive is also optional and a good one.

With the traktion drive you don't need mechanical brakes or you can use them, your choice. The traktion drive helps tame the initial torque of a brushless motor on your entire drive line (diffs, shafts etc) making everything last a LOT longer. The traktion drive can be tuned allowing more power to the ground, I'm not sure how much more 'kiss' that could be :P swapping out clutch bearings every now and then I wouldn't consider much in the way of maintainance. Again if you don't want that, just run any standard pinion and be done.

Either setup will get the job done, the tekno has a much lower COG with the battery actually recessed into the chassis and weighs a little less. At this point both have very similar layouts and features if you run direct drive with a standard pinion.

yeah i plan on running direct drive. i'm leaning more and more towards the losi conversion just cuz it's cheaper and the benefits of the tekno conversion don't really apply to me. i've got some time to figure it out and to buy it, so money probably won't end up being a factor. there's so many things about both of them that i like, but both also have their cons as well.

The problem with the Losi conversion is that the battery sits very high. The Tekno has a much better COG with the battery sitting closer to the chassis.

how much lower is it though? if it's only a couple mm i'm not convinced that's a reason to spend the extra, i'm just gonna be club racing with it. i'm not planning on taking it to a regional or national event.

Well, I went from my 2.0 with the Losi Conversion kit to the Tekno V3. After driving both versions, I thought the Tekno version handled better. I thought it was worth it, but that's just me. The Losi Converted 8ight still handled well, so you will be okay with it.

yeah the more i think about it the better the tekno kit sounds. the chassis has about 5 gallons or so on it so i'm sure by the end of the season it's gonna be needing replaced and a new race roller chassis is almost as much as the whole tekno conversion. i'm planning on buying a brand new race roller for next summer season anyway to run nitro so i can have both electric and nitro.