Vorteks Vorteks Boost unboxing and build thread 😍

[ChriswithaC]

First proper bash session since I replaced everything and she's going like a rocket
Just glad I can start using it again properly .
And the new motor is crazy quick .
Car is running. Straight as a arrow and temps with the new motor and fan set up can didn't even feel warm at all virtually no heat at all .
I'm going to GPS speed run it as this is way over 50mph now .
All in all a great session and b

ash .

 

[Mit Snori]

Hi Chris - took Vorteks out with new tyres this morning. Excellent traction, slightly gravelly, wet tarmac. Running on a 15T to compensate for extra size. Absolutely puts the power down. Best it’s ever driven I would say. Cheers for heads up on the tomahawks.

I had to strap bodyshell with Velcro to prevent some snagging - also stops some gravel getting in through flared out side pieces.

 

[ChriswithaC]

Hi Chris - took Vorteks out with new tyres this morning. Excellent traction, slightly gravelly, wet tarmac. Running on a 15T to compensate for extra size. Absolutely puts the power down. Best it’s ever driven I would say. Cheers for heads up on the tomahawks.

I had to strap bodyshell with Velcro to prevent some snagging - also stops some gravel getting in through flared out side pieces.

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Hey buddy , no worries at all , good arent they .
Same here grip levels right up there and feels planted . Love the bumper you have is that a granite bumper buddy ??? And also Typhon wing ????.
But yes from now on I think the Jetko Tomahawks MTs are my go to for this car and also the big rock when the standard tyres are burnt out .
I've also noticed with the Jetko Tomahawks they wear great.
No complaints here at all .

 

[Mit Snori]

Hey buddy , no worries at all , good arent they .
Same here grip levels right up there and feels planted . Love the bumper you have is that a granite bumper buddy ??? And also Typhon wing ????.
But yes from now on I think the Jetko Tomahawks MTs are my go to for this car and also the big rock when the standard tyres are burnt out .
I've also noticed with the Jetko Tomahawks they wear great.
No complaints here at all .

Yes Granite bumper. Thought it might protect more? Who knows?!? Hahaha - Typhon wing (a bit flappy but seems ok). I’ve also got Oktay Bumpers motor mount and Arrma steel spur gear. I’ve done the Arrma alu shocks and metal drive shafts upgrades. New amazon servo 21kg as per Pete Wiley on youtube. That’s me about done with this car I think.

 

[bukshypro]

Hey Chris, Mit and others! I ve read this whole thread!!! Nice Vortekses there you both!!! My kids got into this, cuz drones -> rc cars, then when I ve seen what a 1:16 car can do, I wanted one for myself too.

I got an Arrma Vorteks and I will want to build smth that is the strongest the 3S can handle.

You both are inspirational.

My Vorteks has no mods just yet, but stock tire flat soon, so good for street bashing. Thinking to buy new shocks.

We also go into mud quite a lot and I let my son do some crazy tiny sand gravel which evaded my car so I cleaned it as much as I could and then I installed dusty motors cover on it. don't want sand into the chassis again

I ve done a few paddings inside the car, cuz again I bash a bit harder (trying to learn backflips) and figured, the shock towers are so extremely sharp, that they ll bite out the body on bar landings.

I will post pictures later then cant wait to see your adventures too.

Btw, will be getting the Granite BLX for my son for Christmas.

edit. Actually, got some pics here I think:

 

[ChriswithaC]

Yes Granite bumper. Thought it might protect more? Who knows?!? Hahaha - Typhon wing (a bit flappy but seems ok). I’ve also got Oktay Bumpers motor mount and Arrma steel spur gear. I’ve done the Arrma alu shocks and metal drive shafts upgrades. New amazon servo 21kg as per Pete Wiley on youtube. That’s me about done with this car I think.

Hey man , yeah I think you done all needed to be honest haven't you . Yeah that granite bumper looks good on the Vorteks for sure . I might have to order one for myself I think . Cars looking sweet dude

Hey Chris, Mit and others! I ve read this whole thread!!! Nice Vortekses there you both!!! My kids got into this, cuz drones -> rc cars, then when I ve seen what a 1:16 car can do, I wanted one for myself too.

I got an Arrma Vorteks and I will want to build smth that is the strongest the 3S can handle.

You both are inspirational.

My Vorteks has no mods just yet, but stock tire flat soon, so good for street bashing. Thinking to buy new shocks.

We also go into mud quite a lot and I let my son do some crazy tiny sand gravel which evaded my car so I cleaned it as much as I could and then I installed dusty motors cover on it. don't want sand into the chassis again

I ve done a few paddings inside the car, cuz again I bash a bit harder (trying to learn backflips) and figured, the shock towers are so extremely sharp, that they ll bite out the body on bar landings.

I will post pictures later then cant wait to see your adventures too.

Btw, will be getting the Granite BLX for my son for Christmas.

edit. Actually, got some pics here I think:

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Hey buddy , thanks for the kind words I appreciate it very much.
Nic to see your enjoying the Vorteks dude , there great cars , hey and if you don't mind me saying with the surfaces your running these Jetko Tomahawks MTs wheels and tyres would suit you perfect . Do you run any other tires , we the wear pattern on the rear left looks like it might be worth going throug the car and adjusting the camber and toe in and out in it .
And do you have any plans for any upgrades ????.
Yeah I decided on the granite for my daughter for Christmas also , even though I'm opting for the boost version as she does like to drive mine slower .
Any questions I'm sure we can all help also with the Vorteks I've learnt so much from the guys here hoenstly there a massive help and really friendly , seems like Arrma has a great fan base .
Can I ask why your planning shocks first , have you had some issues with yours .
All the best
ChriswithaC

 

[bukshypro]

Hey man , yeah I think you done all needed to be honest haven't you . Yeah that granite bumper looks good on the Vorteks for sure . I might have to order one for myself I think . Cars looking sweet dude

Hey buddy , thanks for the kind words I appreciate it very much.
Nic to see your enjoying the Vorteks dude , there great cars , hey and if you don't mind me saying with the surfaces your running these Jetko Tomahawks MTs wheels and tyres would suit you perfect . Do you run any other tires , we the wear pattern on the rear left looks like it might be worth going throug the car and adjusting the camber and toe in and out in it .
And do you have any plans for any upgrades ????.
Yeah I decided on the granite for my daughter for Christmas also , even though I'm opting for the boost version as she does like to drive mine slower .
Any questions I'm sure we can all help also with the Vorteks I've learnt so much from the guys here hoenstly there a massive help and really friendly , seems like Arrma has a great fan base .
Can I ask why your planning shocks first , have you had some issues with yours .
All the best
ChriswithaC

Heya.
I realised I was bumping the bottom of the car because the shocks either leaked the oil they re tooo soft to begin with. For now I put in 2 of those shock stiffeners on every shock and it makes a huge difference. Someone also advised me that oil is cheaper than new shocks, so I ll gof or that first and see how it goes if I just change oils.

I then gotta change the servo, I think its giving up anyway. I found a cheap one somewhere which is .10s on 7.4v or .09s on 8.4v. I somehow don't trust the Amazon ones, however it would probably be easier to deal w warranty etc if smth goes wrong.

Tyres. So, I use quite huge batteries(7000-8000mah) and I think the left side of the car had more weight and hence the tyres are worn like this. I started rotating after noticed the first time the rear left went flat but then the next one started loosing thread heavily. So I asjusted the tyre angle, but then since ethat I only ran 2x 8000mah batteries in it on wet tarmac, so cant see much difference atm. Good cuz the Vorteks blx comes w double adjustable angle for front tyres. So 2x turnbuckles around both front tyres and 1x on each rear tyre.

Btw im not sure if the battery is too heavy or the angle was just slightly off. Servo, motor+ heatsink +fan and esc should also weight like 493g like the battery, isnt it?

I also noticed you also live in the UK, which is great!! Its quite hard here to get parts compared to our US friends .

Btw where about do you live in UK? My biggest challenge down here in London is that I just cant find good places to bash. Good big dirt is non existent. So thats why I went street bashing, so mostly speeding up and wheelies. And yes btw, also looking to buy tyres, but Id love to keep the same profile as stock tyres so dunno yet tbf.

 

[bukshypro]

Some pics of our little RC heaven.

You can see some of the protection I put on the shock towers and inside the bodyshell because the shock towers will cut the body out on big impact

 

[Mit Snori]

Some pics of our little RC heaven.

You can see some of the protection I put on the shock towers and inside the bodyshell because the shock towers will cut the body out on big impact

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Hey dude - love your dirt protector net. Is it an eBay special? I need one as stones regularly carve my drive shafts when they lodge between internals. I’ll be honest. I changed loads on mine without it actually breaking. The only things that actually broke before replacing was a rear drive shaft popped out. They never recover from that even if you pop them back in at the knuckle. So I put the metal upgrade ones on all around. They were about £80 I think from Arrma for the 4.

Nothing else stock has actually broke!?!? They are all in a spares box.

Putting a 15t pinion in made a difference. Longer run times. Cooler. Bit more torque at low speeds. Do that and then put bigger wheels on and you start to get a kinda Granite/Vorteks hybrid.

Like Chris I learnt a lot from the forums and tackled everything I could.

Hey man , yeah I think you done all needed to be honest haven't you . Yeah that granite bumper looks good on the Vorteks for sure . I might have to order one for myself I think . Cars looking sweet dude

Hey buddy , thanks for the kind words I appreciate it very much.
Nic to see your enjoying the Vorteks dude , there great cars , hey and if you don't mind me saying with the surfaces your running these Jetko Tomahawks MTs wheels and tyres would suit you perfect . Do you run any other tires , we the wear pattern on the rear left looks like it might be worth going throug the car and adjusting the camber and toe in and out in it .
And do you have any plans for any upgrades ????.
Yeah I decided on the granite for my daughter for Christmas also , even though I'm opting for the boost version as she does like to drive mine slower .
Any questions I'm sure we can all help also with the Vorteks I've learnt so much from the guys here hoenstly there a massive help and really friendly , seems like Arrma has a great fan base .
Can I ask why your planning shocks first , have you had some issues with yours .
All the best
ChriswithaC

Hi Chris - Still running mine on the stock narrow arms. I needed plenty of body reaming to allow articulation with these Jetkos. Are you still on Typhon arms front and back? I don’t traction roll mine often/ever due to the areas I run it I guess and I have the AVC function on the receiver so I can tame it a little if I need to. Just wondering what’s the pros and cons. I presume handling takes a hit the wider you are? But the cars more stable. I don’t use any spacers on the suspension with these jetkos. The car barely slaps when it lands now with the extra height cuz of the tyres. So it’s basically a narrow, short wheel base, relatively LCG truck. Are you still RWD with yours? Cheers Mit.

 

[bukshypro]

Hey dude - love your dirt protector net. Is it an eBay special? I need one as stones regularly carve my drive shafts when they lodge between internals. I’ll be honest. I changed loads on mine without it actually breaking. The only things that actually broke before replacing was a rear drive shaft popped out. They never recover from that even if you pop them back in at the knuckle. So I put the metal upgrade ones on all around. They were about £80 I think from Arrma for the 4.

Nothing else stock has actually broke!?!? They are all in a spares box.

Putting a 15t pinion in made a difference. Longer run times. Cooler. Bit more torque at low speeds. Do that and then put bigger wheels on and you start to get a kinda Granite/Vorteks hybrid.

Like Chris I learnt a lot from the forums and tackled everything I could.

Hi Chris - Still running mine on the stock narrow arms. I needed plenty of body reaming to allow articulation with these Jetkos. Are you still on Typhon arms front and back? I don’t traction roll mine often/ever due to the areas I run it I guess and I have the AVC function on the receiver so I can tame it a little if I need to. Just wondering what’s the pros and cons. I presume handling takes a hit the wider you are? But the cars more stable. I don’t use any spacers on the suspension with these jetkos. The car barely slaps when it lands now with the extra height cuz of the tyres. So it’s basically a narrow, short wheel base, relatively LCG truck. Are you still RWD with yours? Cheers Mit.

The dust protector is called: Dusty Motors Universal Medium+ and it fits exactly on Vorteks. Link here

Nothing broke yet, thanksfully. But I am not a hard basher and I didnt bash into things (yet). I tried a couple of backflips which all failed apart from one.

One problem I have is that the tires wobble probably because smth is loose or because of my driving style the plastic driving arms(whatever they re called) are getting loose. I am also not that good to clean the car out like you guys did, so there might be little dust etc between those things. Otherwise car drives amazing and its great fun. I did 50mph yesterday on stock gear, w/ the above tires on wet tarmac

 

[ChriswithaC]

Some pics of our little RC heaven.

You can see some of the protection I put on the shock towers and inside the bodyshell because the shock towers will cut the body out on big impact

View attachment 257630

View attachment 257631

View attachment 257632

View attachment 257633

Nice little collection you got going there buddy , I've also been looking at the cover for the car , are they good ????? , Do they still let enough air in to the ESC and motor dude ? .
What's the little 1/14th you got in the corner in orange also .

Well I've now got 3 cars the Vorteks , a soon to be Big rock crew cab and just been given as a little project this not sure of the make 1/10th touring Subaru/ rally that I'm planning on converting it to brushless with some spares I picked up or took off the Vorteks.
I love this hobby it's given me something to focus on. And the people you talk to are great and like minded .

 

[bukshypro]

Nice little collection you got going there buddy , I've also been looking at the cover for the car , are they good ????? , Do they still let enough air in to the ESC and motor dude ? .
What's the little 1/14th you got in the corner in orange also .

Well I've now got 3 cars the Vorteks , a soon to be Big rock crew cab and just been given as a little project this not sure of the make 1/10th touring Subaru/ rally that I'm planning on converting it to brushless with some spares I picked up or took off the Vorteks.
I love this hobby it's given me something to focus on. And the people you talk to are great and like minded . View attachment 257634View attachment 257635View attachment 257636

I have goals like your Subaru too. I just gotta balance how I ll explain my wife . Plus also how much these cost, haha

I ll want to build a drift car later, 1:10. For smth like your Subaru, I probably will buy a smaller 3S Infraction.
the whole reason I have those smaller cars too is here with timeline:
kids were asking for a drone, looked at gumtree, fb marketplace for used ones but mostly found scammers. then started to look on more professional websites, probably rcgeeks. They then wanted rc cars, I did the same, but again, mostly scammer offers on gumtree/fb marketplace. So somehow I went onto rcgeeks and found two, decent looking small RC cars. they were around £26 each. they worked well, the monster truck was super slow tho but the other one was absolutely fast and great, my son loved it. But then the read tyres got blocked w some sand or dirt and the car was too complicated at the time for me to take apart and fix. It also doesn't have any parts I can buy, so its a lost cause probably. I then realised, we gotta buy smth a bit better and so we went and got an FTX Tracer. its a small 1:16 size w 390 motor, but its quick enough and with some spare batteries and throttle pulled down they can play with it for 1.5-2hours. But we lost a screw and the hobby shop nor the online stores had it, so we had to order it from a not so well known store and it took like 2 weeks to arrive. I then realised, one of the tyres doesn't rotate. checked it out, took it apart, ball bearings ate some small sand and got busted. check local hobby shop, nothing. Asked them to order it, still waiting for it.
In the meantime because I bought myself the Arrma Vorteks 3S BLX, my son realised he loves this kind of power and the ability to wheelie and so I thought okay, great thing for Christmas, he ll get smth. I watched tons of youtube vids and all and found that the Arrma Granita 3S BLX will be absolutely perfect for this. I already got batteries, probably will buy another D100 v2 double charger, so I can full charge 8x batteries in ~120min minutes, or I straight buy a quad charger.
Im glad cuz it seems the Granite comes with a smaller pinion gear and that's exactly what I need for my son, big torque to wheelie and back/frontflips but small top speed.
tldr; I got some rc cars that we initially purchased, barely used. but we're fixing the 1:16 tracer and will be using that

 

[Mit Snori]

Nice little collection you got going there buddy , I've also been looking at the cover for the car , are they good ????? , Do they still let enough air in to the ESC and motor dude ? .
What's the little 1/14th you got in the corner in orange also .

Well I've now got 3 cars the Vorteks , a soon to be Big rock crew cab and just been given as a little project this not sure of the make 1/10th touring Subaru/ rally that I'm planning on converting it to brushless with some spares I picked up or took off the Vorteks.
I love this hobby it's given me something to focus on. And the people you talk to are great and like minded . View attachment 257634View attachment 257635View attachment 257636

How you don’t crack the Big Rock open I’ll never know!?!? Great self control! I’ve got the breaking strain of a kitKat when it comes to things like that!

 

[bukshypro]

@ChriswithaC , @Mit Snori !
Exciting times. ( spent another £250 FFS ). Ordered a new servo, super super fast one 0.08-0.10 sec 25kg torque. That should be shredding it. I also ordered separate oils for back and front shocks. I also ordered the Tomahawk tyres, however following some advice on another thread, and I tried and actually ordered some CRAZY GOOD Louise RC tyres from a german webshop. I don't worry about taxes either, since the total worth is like £90/100 euros. so I guess it will be fine.
Exciting times. Anything special I gotta prep to change out my servo btw? first time in my life I'd be doing this

 

[Mit Snori]

@ChriswithaC , @Mit Snori !
Exciting times. ( spent another £250 FFS ). Ordered a new servo, super super fast one 0.08-0.10 sec 25kg torque. That should be shredding it. I also ordered separate oils for back and front shocks. I also ordered the Tomahawk tyres, however following some advice on another thread, and I tried and actually ordered some CRAZY GOOD Louise RC tyres from a german webshop. I don't worry about taxes either, since the total worth is like £90/100 euros. so I guess it will be fine.
Exciting times. Anything special I gotta prep to change out my servo btw? first time in my life I'd be doing this

Think the servo saver on yours will be 23 tooth and the servo typically will be 25 tooth. So you either butcher it on (watch Pete Wylie RC on YouTube he has a video on fitting new servo to a 3S Arrma) or you buy a 25 tooth servo saver. Arrma make a red one that is 25 tooth. I just made mine fit - by forcing the 23 tooth stock servo saver on to the new 25 tooth servo hub. Afterwards (from memory) you will need to calibrate your transmitter and set endpoints and calibrate your AVC if you bother with it. Just shout if you’re struggling dude. Good luck!

 

[bukshypro]

Think the servo saver on yours will be 23 tooth and the servo typically will be 25 tooth. So you either butcher it on (watch Pete Wylie RC on YouTube he has a video on fitting new servo to a 3S Arrma) or you buy a 25 tooth servo saver. Arrma make a red one that is 25 tooth. I just made mine fit - by forcing the 23 tooth stock servo saver on to the new 25 tooth servo hub. Afterwards (from memory) you will need to calibrate your transmitter and set endpoints and calibrate your AVC if you bother with it. Just shout if you’re struggling dude. Good luck!

Ohh! Thank you, good shout. Can I order it from Amazon?

 

[ChriswithaC]

How you don’t crack the Big Rock open I’ll never know!?!? Great self control! I’ve got the breaking strain of a kitKat when it comes to things like that!

Well tomorrow I think it's going to come out of the box for a shake down and full check over , the wife's just given me the wink lol

@ChriswithaC , @Mit Snori !
Exciting times. ( spent another £250 FFS ). Ordered a new servo, super super fast one 0.08-0.10 sec 25kg torque. That should be shredding it. I also ordered separate oils for back and front shocks. I also ordered the Tomahawk tyres, however following some advice on another thread, and I tried and actually ordered some CRAZY GOOD Louise RC tyres from a german webshop. I don't worry about taxes either, since the total worth is like £90/100 euros. so I guess it will be fine.
Exciting times. Anything special I gotta prep to change out my servo btw? first time in my life I'd be doing this

Hey dude you congratulations on the upgrades, so you ordered both tyres dude ???
As for the servo saver your needing to order I can give you the link if you like from model sport that's were I got mine much easier than squishing the stock 23t on to a 25t but it can be done if you want to save a few bucks .
What servo did you go for buddy ????

 

[Velodromed]

Well tomorrow I think it's going to come out of the box for a shake down and full check over , the wife's just given me the wink lol

You remember the basics, yes?
Loctite the metal axles retaining bolt to the plastic driveshafts

Open differentials and top off with diff oil 1/8” below the top. Be careful that you don’t mess up the gasket or get oil in the pin/bolt holes.

Open up the shocks, fill them up and properly bleed.

Check every bolt to make sure it’s tight (but not to tight).

Check that the mesh is right and there are washers beneath the motor mount bolts. I usually swap them out for socket heads.

Check your spur, but don’t tighten it up all the way before you loosen it. That’s a good way to strip out the rear spur hub. Go by soft feel and test it. It’s easy to adjust on the fly by running a 2mm driver up the spur hub while it’s still installed.

I am a firm believer in shoo gooing the body. I like fiberglass concrete wall tape, which is heavier duty than regular drywall fiberglass tape. I use one tube of goo. Anymore adds more weight then I like. It’s also good to put cushioning on top of the shock towers to prevent body damage. I use cut up rubber honeycomb oven pad things.

Check all the electronic connectors. Make sure they’re tight and right.

Lastly, set your endpoints. Be very careful about doing this properly.
I think that’s it.
Oh yeah, put that thing back in the box so you can open it up on Christmas morning

 

[ChriswithaC]

Well tomorrow I think it's going to come out of the box for a shake down and full check over , the wife's just given me the wink lol

Hey dude you congratulations on the upgrades, so you ordered both tyres dude ???
As for the servo saver your needing to order I can give you the link if you like from model sport that's were I got mine much easier than squishing the stock 23t on to a 25t but it can be done if you want to save a few bucks .
What servo did you go for buddy ????

Also when you get your new tyres dude set your camber angles looking like the rear is out dude .

 

[ChriswithaC]

You remember the basics, yes?
Loctite the metal axles retaining bolt to the plastic driveshafts

Open differentials and top off with diff oil 1/8” below the top. Be careful that you don’t mess up the gasket or get oil in the pin/bolt holes.

Open up the shocks, fill them up and properly bleed.

Check every bolt to make sure it’s tight (but not to tight).

Check that the mesh is right and there are washers beneath the motor mount bolts. I usually swap them out for socket heads.

Check your spur, but don’t tighten it up all the way before you loosen it. That’s a good way to strip out the rear spur hub. Go by soft feel and test it. It’s easy to adjust on the fly by running a 2mm driver up the spur hub while it’s still installed.

I am a firm believer in shoo gooing the body. I like fiberglass concrete wall tape, which is heavier duty than regular drywall fiberglass tape. I use one tube of goo. Anymore adds more weight then I like. It’s also good to put cushioning on top of the shock towers to prevent body damage. I use cut up rubber honeycomb oven pad things.

Check all the electronic connectors. Make sure they’re tight and right.

Lastly, set your endpoints. Be very careful about doing this properly.
I think that’s it.
Oh yeah, put that thing back in the box so you can open it up on Christmas morning

Ha ha yeah that's what I'm planning on doing buddy , I'll get it all tightened and checked before running . Same with what I did with the Vorteks to be honest .
But one thing I've not tried that you mentioned is shoe goo the shell .
Now end points , could not do that with the Vorteks because the SLT 2 is comes with doesn't have the button on the group to do so .
Also any settings on esc that you would recommend changing ???? .
I'll get some goo ordered and also some fibreglass tape . Is there a particular pattern to how you applied it ??

Ha ha yeah that's what I'm planning on doing buddy , I'll get it all tightened and checked before running . Same with what I did with the Vorteks to be honest .
But one thing I've not tried that you mentioned is shoe goo the shell .
Now end points , could not do that with the Vorteks because the SLT 2 is comes with doesn't have the button on the group to do so .
Also any settings on esc that you would recommend changing ???? .
I'll get some goo ordered and also some fibreglass tape . Is there a particular pattern to how you applied it ??

Funny thing is I've ordered a second shell for the Vorteks as this one's a bit bashed to say the least .