Granite 3S BLX Build - 'Berta style.

[archer]

Hey,
So I picked up my granite just before Christmas and have been tinkering with it since.

Here it is when fairly new, first thing I did was broke the stupid rubber body clip retainer (fixed with green zip tie as pictured)
You can sort of tell it's sitting a little wonky here, first trip out one of the front shocks unexpectedly disassembled itself at the rod to base. Thankfully ARRMA Warrantied it.

I was impatient and drove it while I was waiting for the new parts to come in, right into my neighbors truck tire. so here's the carnage...

So I grabbed a replacement set of front suspension arms (in hindsight I should have opted for the RPM long travel arms, since I'm leaning toward that now... but that's beside the point)

I checked the gear mesh and did the velcro mod on the power module since I had some kicking around

next up after noticing some damage to the body I did the Shoe Goo & Drywall Tape mod.

That was okay ish, so I went down the rabbit hole and decided to add the Outkast Wing mod. I also installed RCAWD "upgraded aluminum big bore shocks", and a dust cover.

I can not recommend those shocks at all, they were advertised as coming pre-filled with oil (they were not, no big deal.. just unexpected) and compatible with the full ARRMA 3S BLX lineup, yet the springs are so soft that even with almost maximum preload from less than a two foot drop it chassis slaps. I've reached out to RCAWD to see if they can supply stiffer springs for these shocks, otherwise they're going back.

Finally my warrantied shocks came in, so I put the OEM shocks back on!

My friend 3D Printed me a roof skid plate so I installed that, and I purchased the body post protection skid things from ARRMA as well.

This thing has been a blast so far. Lots of fun to tinker with, and much cheaper than full size projects!

Ended up getting my step son a Vorteks for Christmas, my friend got his son a Vorteks as well, and he ended up getting himself a Big Rock so we built a ramp and documented it somewhat.

Here's a pic of my step sons Vorteks with my Granite and my old Tamiya TT-01 with classic EG Honda Civic Body that I've had as a shelf queen for the past 15 or so years.

I guess I can only post 15 files. more to come!
Here are the rest of the ramp build photos:

 

[🇺🇸 DΞזΞפּ 🇺🇸]

Looks great Man

 

[RCbuzz]

Very nice write up, thank you! That ramp looks like trouble

 

[GRC]

Here it is when fairly new, first thing I did was broke the stupid rubber body clip retainer (fixed with green zip tie as pictured)
You can sort of tell it's sitting a little wonky here, first trip out one of the front shocks unexpectedly disassembled itself at the rod to base. Thankfully ARRMA Warrantied it.

I can not recommend those shocks at all, they were advertised as coming pre-filled with oil (they were not, no big deal.. just unexpected) and compatible with the full ARRMA 3S BLX lineup, yet the springs are so soft that even with almost maximum preload from less than a two foot drop it chassis slaps.

Never pull out the body clips using the rubber retainers, they are there just to prevent losing clips. If you pull the rubber, they'll snap all the time.

The shafts coming out of the rod seems to be a common issue since the V3 came out.

I haven't used the RCAWD shocks, but most shocks will chassis slap from 2 feet and that's fine. I never tested it when I used stock shocks, but now I have the stiffest Arrma springs on Tekno shocks and they chassis slap at around 20 inches. So, I'm not recommending or criticizing the RCAWD shocks, but you should know that chassis slap at 2 feet will occur with almost any shocks.

 

[archer]

Putting the oem shocks back on, they are noticeably stiffer and don't slap at that distance, or at least not as badly. I contacted RCAWD and they were unable to provide me with stiffer springs so they've refunded me, I'd still recommend them if you can get the ones that have the proper stiffer springs and understand they don't come pre-filled.