From what I saw, there was a huge wheel gap on the front arch which in my book did not work. But I really liked his matte finished canvas for sure.

But then again, while I'm not a concourse type, I still like my RC cars to have a scale look and correct drivetrain to match (I am picky).

-love seeing photos of the minis we are all talking about. Thanks for posting the pic's.

Yeah me too.

Now that KA2AEV don't post much, I suppose I shall post whore my cars in the future..
Not that I have much variety like you folks.. I only drive Rover Mini's..

After a disappointing 6th place in the Mini A-Main at the Victoria WCICS last week, I did a autopsy and found this (photo attached below). Looks like a combination of the motor plate and spur gear melted and seized my bearing. I was running with what appeared to be drag brake, and I couldn't figure out why - even after re-programing the spec esc. Pulled out the motor and did a quick visual of the pinion and looked into motor-cave to visually inspect the spur. All seemed ok before the A-main.

But apparently the inside of the spur and attaching motor plate had emulsified, spun around the aluminum shaft, seized the bearing, and then proceeded to FILL the aluminum shaft and bearing from underneath!

After the race, my Spec motor came off considerably hotter than everyone else, and I was wondering why I was having a hard time holding onto 6th place, doing laps that were 1 second slower than my qualifying times.

So i have a bearing filled with melted plastic, a hollow shaft filled with melted plastic, a warped motor plate that has bonded with the above mentioned parts, and a decision between 3racing, Yeah racing, and Tamiya aftermarket replacements.

WOW!

A bit of WD40 and your golden..... yikes! Alloy motor plate FTW!

Air compressor will fix it!

Ivan

LoL @ you guys.

In hindsight, I should have run the bronze bushings. At least those wouldn't fill with melted plastic.

You had a failed bearing in it to start with, that's where your heat came from. Even if the gear rubs the gearbox case, it wont generate the heat like a bad bearing will. Bearing seized, it spins in the gear and on the shaft, heats the shaft, and....... that's what you get.

Its time for a nice blue motor plate!

Yep, I agree with axle on the seized bearing.

How often do you guys open the gearbox to lube your metal bearings? I usually do this once every 3-4 months as my idler gear goes pretty quick depending on how hard I drive. This is another reason why I think crack opening the entire chassis in half just to reach the gearbox is quite ridiculous.

edit: Actually, I lube the bearings more like once every month if I'm running it more often.

I and a few others have noticed some weird shifting of the gears (even with the alloy plate) in the 05 v2. At the end of a race sometimes, my car will be squealing with poor gear mesh. Back at the bench, all it seems to take to fix it is to loosen, then retighten the motor screws. Seems to be an exclusively v2 issue, for me. I'm on my third gearbox now.

This brings up a question. Has anyone tried attaching the motor directly to the motor plate, bypassing all the plastic bosses between the outside and inside of the chassis? You'd have to remove the bosses, but there would be a more solid mechanical mounting for the motor. The only downside is removing the motor would be more complicated. Then again, it'd be one less thing to remove to get into the gearbox.

Cheap ceramics. Run them dry.

You're very likely correct, AJ. It makes sense that the bearing had already seized before it got coated in melted plastic.

Using the Ivan method, I should just throw this back into the mini. After a few laps, the plastic will probably melt again and everything will start moving.

LoL

Hummm..!

I would check that the L/H gearbox case half isnt cracked. just been through this myself, ruined two gearsets. The VII chassis has a flaw in the design where they put the pocket for the droop screws for the front arms. Weak spot I should say. I would lever the chassis at the front and look for a crack.
Terry