Kraton Speedy's probably OCD Kraton Build

[Speedy!]

I'm sure this will probably be mild compared to what some of you guys have done. This is my first RC in many years, but I love to tinker and have a bit of mechanical ability so we'll see how it goes.

RC Stuff starts about 6:45 if you don't care for the other blabber. Got parts in boxes ready to go and first mod will be fitting a Notorious body as I'm not a fan of the stock Kraton Chevy Silverado look.

Kratorious

The top 10 things I've learned as a newbie:

 

[SrC]

I have been doing RC for 35 years. And this nice video made me feel like when I drove my first RC rig.
I love my Kraton also. Their is a slight learning curve with any new RC. Wrenching RC will never a problem for you. This is right up your alley. I wrench my cars also. Was a Toyota Tech for 8 years myself. Nice 4-Runner there.
Thanks for sharing.

 

[3d-rc.myshopify.com]

Welcome to the Arrma world. You are going to love it.

 

[Speedy!]

Thanks! Yeah I love that 4Runner. It's been probably the most reliable vehicle I've ever owned. I've replace one oxygen sensor in 20 years, that's it other than fluid changes and like I mentioned it's supercharged and has been for 15 or so years. More than doubled the horse power.

I'm actually enjoying the RC much more than I thought I would. I had been thinking of getting something for a couple years and finally decided to pull the trigger sort of as an early Christmas present to myself. Messing around with it has been a LOT of fun and I spent last night starting work on the Notorious body. I'm a bit of a perfectionist so being able to focus on the small details is therapeutic.

 

[SrC]

I feel the JT- vin Toys were the best back then.
I got an new HL Ltd in '06. One Alt. and O2 change in all the years. Running strong. Never burns a drop of oil between 5k changes. M1 since its first O/C at 1k miles. Religious.

 

[Speedy!]

I went to once a year oil changes some time ago (can't even remember now) and oil analysis still looks fantastic even with the water/meth injection doing it's thing for mo powah 4Runner was seeing 7K-10K miles a year when I was going to the office, now it'll be lucky to see 3K with me working from home. I run Penzoil Platinum or Mobil1 whichever is on sale. Oil analysis showed them to be very similar. Same formula for the Hellcat as well and even with drag races mixed in the oil analysis looked great and that car is right around 1000HP now.

 

[SrC]

Same here, I was given an office take home car, for about 5 years, 1 yr changes for me also. My '01 Avalon is my other driver.
Blackstone results were great for me also. But Tranny oil always showed high acidity since day 1. (T-4 fluid) I guess normal?

 

[SrC]

I drove my friends Hellcat. Track mode. OMG. The stick and clutch was butter smooth. Beautiful fast shifts.
The most powerful car I ever drove. Hands down.
He runs his at a track in NJ. Monmouth.
I was a big Mopar Direct Connection guy back in the '70's. Steet racing. Probably a while before your time.
'69 Charger. Shouldn't have sold it obviously.
Was Dad's car. Rarely used at all. Garage kept till I turned 17 and got my Drv. License. Then I unleashed it.

 

[Speedy!]

Ha! You definitely shoulda kept that 69' Charger LOL.

The M6 Hellcats have an interesting gear ratio that allows them to hit 200MPH but really hurts them where they're most at home which is the drag strip. I had a 2009 Challenger (built motor, supercharged, the works) that was a M6 and just struggled to compete with the auto, so when I got the Hellcat it was an A8 and I never looked back. With the paddle shifters it's really the best of both worlds. I may build a Shelby Cobra one of these days and that car would be a manual fo sho.

 

[Speedy!]

Ok, so after a few days of research here are my plans for now:

Notorious Body modded to fit the Kraton chassis. Am I the only person who buys two bodies, one to send and one to keep nice ?

Protection - I need some front and rear bumpers. Looks like the Kraton EXB front is the ticket and an RPM Rear, thanks to @Infraction666 for the 411 on the rear fitting no problemo. Then some roof skids tastefully placed.

Add some DBoots BF tires/wheels from a Notorious. I may paint the wheels brass monkey in color.

Work the diffs a bit. For starters I'll make sure they're topped up, then longer term looking at some EXB LSD for front and center and convert an EXB LSD to open for the rear. Anyone know if the EXB center is a drop in replacement on non-exb Kraton?

In there somewhere a custom light package. I need some ideas on that one. The Polocreation ones look pretty slick for the front of the Notorious body. I need to start a thread on lights for ideas, searching has found a few random ones.

 

[Speedy!]

Parts are starting to show up. Now that I'm getting some practice driving I can tell the diffs definitely need some work. I'm gonna try some 30K in the front at first maintenance and see how that does, and plan on doing the servo saver shim deal as well.

 

[Speedy!]

Parts list thus far:
-Notorious body - mods in progress pics coming
-Kraton EXB front bumper
-RPM bumper for the rear
-ARRMA Wheels for the wing
-Proline body skid plates
-Backflip tires as spares
-Some paint for customizing the wheels
-Picked up some 30K diff fluid to try in the front stock BLX diff as a test
-Kraton EXB front, center, and rear LSD diffs
-9/16 Snap rings for the servo saver
-Reinforcing the body a bit with some drywall tape and Shoe Goo
-LED light system with plans to have it controlled with the A/B buttons on the TX
-Custom made mud guards

I'm gonna need some mud guards and maybe other protection sooner than later. I live in an area where it's damp a lot this time of year so where I run the vehicle can kick up some mud and wet dirt. Took it out the other day to a Soccer (friends across the pond call it Football I think) and it looked like the back half of the truck was in a mud bog. I'm surprised the side skirts don't extend back a bit further, so I may look at doing something there to keep dirt out of the back of the truck.

My attempt at some customization of the Copperhead 2 wheels thanks to the idea from @Sandracer_NL. Not quite as good as his, but look pretty good. I used a Duplicolor tire pen from a previous project and I think I need a new one for the paint to be a bit smoother. I just wonder how long it'll last at speed LOL.

 

[Sandracer_NL]

Parts list thus far:
-Notorious body - mods in progress pics coming
-Kraton EXB front bumper
-RPM bumper for the rear
-ARRMA Wheels for the wing
-Proline body skid plates
-Backflip tires as spares
-Some paint for customizing the wheels
-Picked up some 30K diff fluid to try in the front stock BLX diff as a test
-Kraton EXB front, center, and rear LSD diffs
-9/16 Snap rings for the servo saver
-Reinforcing the body a bit with some drywall tape and Shoe Goo
-LED light system with plans to have it controlled with the A/B buttons on the TX
-Custom made mud guards

I'm gonna need some mud guards and maybe other protection sooner than later. I live in an area where it's damp a lot this time of year so where I run the vehicle can kick up some mud and wet dirt. Took it out the other day to a Soccer (friends across the pond call it Football I think) and it looked like the back half of the truck was in a mud bog. I'm surprised the side skirts to extend back a bit further, so I may look at doing something there to keep dirt out of the back of the truck.

My attempt at some customization of the Copperhead 2 wheels thanks to the idea from @Sandracer_NL. Not quite as good as his, but look pretty good. I used a Duplicolor tire pen from a previous project and I think I need a new one for the paint to be a bit smoother. I just wonder how long it'll last at speed LOL.

Looks pretty good to me

 

[Speedy!]

Got the body done. Was much simpler than I expected. Got a Kratorious now I tried not to trim any more off the body than absolutely necessary. I like this a LOT better.

 

[Speedy!]

Made up some mud guards last night. Some cardboard to build a template, plastic bucket lid, sharp knife, and a couple small button head screws and washers and viola.

 

[Speedy!]

I didn't like that the guards I made left the diff cups exposed, so V2.0.

 

[Speedy!]

Got some tall side skirts from a Notorious to go a long with my home made mud guards. This honestly seems like a no brainer and I'm shocked the Kraton doesn't come with the tall ones as stock. Seems that would also make parts cheaper for ARRMA etc, but oh well. The tall ones definitely seal off the compartment MUCH better. Everyone says they "bolt right on" and technically that is true, but there's a ledge at the rear and some careful shaving with a trusty dremel and sanding barrel makes it fit perfect.

 

[Speedy!]

Ok, I need some advice. I picked up some LSD diffs from an EXB model Kraton. I got front, center, and rear. I plan to setup the rear to the "minimal effect" LSD configuration based on what I've read on the forum.

I also picked up some diff fluid to do maintenance on the stock BLX diffs. I bought this before I knew about the EXB ones being LSD. I'm tempted to try the 30K fluid in the STOCK front diff for grins before going to the EXB diffs so I can compare. Is that just gonna be a waste of time?

 

[Speedy!]

I've probably got 6 or 8 packs through my Kratorious now and figure it was coming up on time for some diff maintenance. I had previously pulled the front diff to take a peek to see how the fluid looked to make sure it was filled and surprisingly it looked fine as came stock in my BLX Kraton. However, when I disassembled the EXB diffs I bought, they were definitely a tad low on fluid. It appears the diffs are assembled dry, and then filled through a small plug from ARRMA, so not sure why some are OK and others are not.

Anyway, last night I pulled the front BLX diff again to try the 30K fluid out. The stock 10K fluid was pretty nasty. Not sure what makes it turn gray, perhaps wear on the gears? As you can see it was filled properly from ARRMA.

I'm gonna play around with it a bit with the 30K in the front diff today, then I'm gonna swap over to the EXB diffs.

BLX Front Diff as came stock:

EXB Diff as you can see it's low on fluid. All three were filled about the same and I topped them up.

Having both diff types side by side there are a LOT of differences.

 

[Monster Dork]

The grey dust is just your gears wearing in. They go from dull to shiny. It's a good thing when new and can happen when re-shimming. The EXB will eventually show even more gray and shiny flecks, since the LSD plates break in together as well as the gears. Just change the fluid and drive on, you're normal!