Jason Maxamps.com
03-26-2009, 06:22 AM
Now these are things that are required nor do they need to be done. But if your going to run say a CC Monster 2650 motor in your EX-1 or any other short but large diameter can motor you may consider doing these little mods. The first is to mill or grind the motor pocket in the chassis to the point that it almost reaches the Left front steering post. That will ensure that your motor doesn't sit on the chassis which if the chassis flexes enough it will break the motor mount screw heads of either in the motor or the mount. The second thing to look at is to move the front chassis brace over to the other side of the front drive shaft. This can be done very simply by flipping the upper steering plate over so that the mount screw hole is now on the other side. Then simply bolt the brace to that hole get it lined up and mark the chassis through the hole in the bottom of the brace. Push the brace to the side, drill the hole, counter sink the hole on the bottom side of the chassis and screw the brace down. Done. The third thing to do is to either buy the F8T narrow receiver tray or cut back the stock EX-1 tray. I cut back the stock EX-1 tray for the pictures. Once you have that cut back you can remount your receiver. I can't remember which Spur gear I have in here but with the 13T pinion and the 2650 motor I have about a 1/16th of an inch between the motor fins and the center diff out drive cup. I would guess a 12T pinion would not work which makes me think I have the 44T spur. I would think then with the mods that if you had the 46T spur that you could possibly get down to an 12T pinion for sure and possibly an 11T even if needed. The last and fourth thing I changed was the battery tray mounts. Continued removal of the battery tray on the left side for pinion changes causes the plastic in the screw holes to wear out and they become useless. I found some 4MM thin steel blind nuts. ( Don't Use cheap aluminum ones) I heated them up with a lighter and pulled them into the plastic. With them heated up they melted very nicely down into the plastic so that they were flush. Simply drill the chassis holes to work with a 4MM screw and counter sink the holes and your set. The very last thing I did with the trays was to add a foam filler to the tray to level the bottom off. I noticed that my soft packs had actually started to conform to the step in the tray. I have talked to some other EX-1 owners and they have done the same after noticing the packs getting reshaped as well. Like I said these are not required changes but may be some you may want to think about. Total time to do them would be say maybe and hour. The hardest would be grinding the chassis motor pocket out. I would suggest having a machine shop doing that part for you with a mill perhaps.
-J
-J