Crawl Space's Isuzu Amigo Class 1 build (STRC)

[Crawl Space]

A while back I came across a sweet rare find in the classifieds, a radio shack amigo body, and I just had to have it! Initially, the plan was to build it up and gift it to my friend who has a nearly identical 2wd amigo as his daily driver, but I'm not so sure I want to part with it now ;-)


After seeing some cool short wheelbase builds on rcc (see iluvdirt's subaru brat) I decided to go with a STRC short chassis conversion kit. As per iluvdrt's recommendation for the STRC chassis, I'll be mirroring the tranny to reduce torque twist.

So far I have:

• Fantom Blitz 35t pro crawler motor
• Stock SCX10 tranny (will get HR aluminum gears eventually)
• SCX10 axles with beef tubes front and rear
• VP 0* knuckles
• Hot Racing clockable chubs
• Micky Thompson baja MTZ's on black pro10 beadlocks
• 12oz of lead stick-on weights for wheels
• WB8 driveshafts & universals
• Axial AE-2 esc
• Savox 1232 wired straight to cc bec

Really looking forward to this build - I plan on making it as realistic as possible with functional lights and a winch etc...

 

[iluvdrt]

This is sweet, Im subscribed. Can't wait to see how this turns out!

 

[Crawl Space]

Tried to post an update yesterday but the server was unavailable temporarily:???:

Got the beef tubes installed in the rear axle with stainless hardware.



Also, I realized the trans I bought from the classifieds has already been mirrored!



Next I'm going to get the chassis braces and shock hoops installed. As convenient as using the included hardware would be, I think I want to go all stainless for durability and corrosion resistance.

Here's the obligatory poser preview shot :mrgreen: I still need to figure out what I'm doing for shocks and servo mounting.

 

[iluvdrt]

Looks awesome!

 

[iluvdrt]

FYI the square axial light buckets will fit into the headlight of those bodies. That's what I did with the Brat to give it headlights.

 

[Crawl Space]

Thanks, that's good to know. I was thinking about the rc4wd buckets and lenses but the axials may be the answer as you say. As for the tail lights, I may have to go the rc4wd or tamiya route.

I decided I definitely want to go CMS on this build. Played around last night with a potential setup I think might work. I think I want the servo horn to be parallel with the vp knuckle for a 1:1 steering ratio (since the length from the pivot point of the knuckle to the drag-link/tie rod fixture point is the same as the length of the servo horn from the output spline to the drag link fixture point).

Here's a shot I snapped when fooling around with steering and winch servo locations yesterday.

Obviosly, the drag link is WAY TOO LONG in the picture, but I just wanted to get a feel for the geometry of the setup. I'll probably end up making a custom drag link and panhard from 8/32 all-thread. Oh, and I won't use rubber bands to mount the servos either ;-)

 

[iluvdrt]

Looks good. I'd be furious to see how that works out.

 

[Crawl Space]

Looks good. I'd be furious to see how that works out.

Don't get mad, I'm just feeling out my options :mrgreen:


Gotta love autocorrect ;-)


After looking at a few options this afternoon I'm thinking homemade is the way to go.

 

[iluvdrt]

Don't get mad, I'm just feeling out my options :mrgreen:


Gotta love autocorrect ;-)


After looking at a few options this afternoon I'm thinking homemade is the way to go.

Lol damn auto correct. I meant curious.

I'm not running a CMS. I have the axle mounted servo. That's why I wanted to see yours.

 

[iluvdrt]

I did see on FB where a guy mounted the servo with stock servo mounts and just screwed it to the rail. Then he made a panhard bar mount with a piece of angled aluminum.

 

[iluvdrt]

How do you like that frame? I think its a very nice kit. The links are perfect length to get the correct pinion angles too.

 

[Crawl Space]

That's funny, I just assumed it was CMS. I'm thinking of making my own servo mount and ordering an RC4WD panhard mount for the axle. After much research, I have a good idea what I need to do to optimize the geometry.

The STRC frame is nice and light and solid feeling. I can't wait to get the axles mounted up. My buddy wants to get the same frame now and build up Tamiya Bronco.

 

[iluvdrt]

With the location of my battery tray and winch I didn't have the room for a CMS. A Bronco would be cool.

 

[Crawl Space]

I've been stuck on this CMS problem for a bit now. My buddy gave me a CMS servo mounting plate he had lying around and let me temporarily install the hand bros. axle panhard mount to get an idea of what I need to do. As you can see in the picture, the panhard extends beyond the frame quite a bit. This is because the drag link, and thus the panhard, is a few mm longer than the kit was designed for due to my use of VP 0* knuckles since they move the link mounting point further from the servo than do his old school VP high steer knuckles. I suppose I could put a spacer between the servo plate and the chassis that would allow me to use the shorter link/panhard, but I like the idea of longer links for less overall arc in the travel (closer to 4 link travel).

I believe the resulting geometry is correct and will not cause binding or bump steer - I just need to:

A.) acquire an axle panhard mount (hand bros, rc4wd, or homemade)

B.) fabricate a chassis panhard mount

Any ideas/ feedback?

 

[iluvdrt]

I think it will be fine as long as all of the links remain paraelle. Bit I'm not an expert on these at all. Only 1 way to truly tell though.....

 

[Crawl Space]

I think it will be fine as long as all of the links remain paraelle. Bit I'm not an expert on these at all. Only 1 way to truly tell though.....

I think you're right. Plus, the body will hide the protruding chassis mount. I'm gonna do some wrenching later this afternoon and see if I can rig a temporary mount and cut off the servo plate tubes so I can test! Man, I can't wait to get this bad boy running 8)

 

[Crawl Space]

Mocking up the body I noticed the wheelbase didn't fit exactly; I measured it to be about 10 3/8"



The Amigo has a wheelbase of roughly 9.5"

As you can see here, that's about .8125" or ~ 20.64mm too long for the body.



I think the easiest way to address this issue is to cut ~ 2.5mm off each link end.

I may end up trimming the body eventually but I want to retain the stock scale wheelbase for now.

Also, the Amigo is going to be getting custom bumpers designed and built by a friend of mine :mrgreen:

 

[iluvdrt]

Wow, that's going to be a very short wb.

 

[Crawl Space]

Yup, but I really want it to look scale. Plus, it's going to be a neat challenge to make it competitive with other 10.x"-11.x" wheel base rigs. I'm probably going to put a good 1.5-2oz in each wheel with CI foams as well as under-drive the rear axle in order to keep it on all fours during steep climbs.

My buddy with mad welding skills has been working on panhard mounts for the axle and chassis. Hoping to get the chassis up and running this weekend...

 

[Szczerba]

Liking this build. The body is awesome.