OK, I've purchased a Mamba-25 with a 5400RPM/volt motor. (I decided not to go all out for the 6300 or 8000 motors figuring they are too powerfull for my current needs) I also purchased a XRay M18, but I'm having second thoughts about the M18... I kind of really had my hart set on a RC18T, but they are not widely available at this time, and a bit more expensive if you ultimately figure you don't really need all the electronics, radio, etc that come with the RTR RC18T... I also am brand spanking new to 18th scale in general, so I'm not entirely sure how much modification may be nessasary to mount a Mamba-25/5400 in various 18th scale vehicles...

I have some desire for a BRP V2... being that it's a mini pan car, I'm sure it has potential to be one fast carpet racer... What does it take to put one of the Mamba-25 and motors in one? Are pinions readily availabe for the shaft size and/or do the stand up to the potential abuse of the big power? Also, what about the pod, is there room for the motor and/or what kind of modifications are nessasary...

As I said, I have a XRay M18, that I haven't yet opened... I was under the impression that it reqiures no real mods to run the Mamba-25/5400 motor combo... it comes with 4 pinions, presumably that fit right on the brushless motor's shaft... Is this all actualy true? Does this motor fit right in the M18?

Then there's the RC18T... same basic questions... Does this Mamba brushless motor just screw right in? Do pinions exsist that will handle the extra power and/or fit the shaft? Is there any real draw backs to the RC18T other then they are hard to get right now?

Personaly... I like the idea of the RC18T because I feel I can drive it in more places then I could drive the 'road' cars... I do have a basement I could layout nice smooth track in for the cars... but there is a great deal of appeal to being able to run the truck in the driveway, shag carpet, or ozite...

Please someone help me figure out what to do... perticularly with regard to how much trouble it might be to run a brushlesss Mamba motor in the various 18th scale vehciles... Thanks in advance.

To put the Mamba in the SC18V2 you will need the #325 rear pod conversion. Our pinions will fit right on the motor shaft. You will also want to get the ball diff. On the other ?? got Me!

The pinions that come with the M18 will fit on the Mamba,,, However, there is no flat spot machined on the shaft,,,, I did my own,,, And the pinions are plastic, but come with ONE setscrew, that MUST be screwed into the pinion first to form the threads before installing on the motor.

Find out the distance between motor screws for the motor in the RC18T by asking Associated or someone who has one to measure it. Then you can find out the length of both motors and determine if there is space for your brushless motor.
Only a few have gone brushless on the V2 that I'm aware of...
MicroRacer, Bud and I think SG1 have them in their V2 or modified cars.

The RC18T can be had if you are patient for a backorder.

Otherwise, the V2 is going to be quick out of the box and better sorted than the Xray M18 on carpet or asphalt and will handle the higher power with fewer $ invested in the chassis and components.
You need the V2, a ball diff, and the 325 pod plates for handling the Speed 300/Big Block sized motors.
The Great Planes T370 motor is cheaper and a smoother motor for the BRPs than the other Mabuchi 370 sized motors I'm told.

The RC18T is pretty well engineered and is faster out of the box than the Losi MiniT. If you have your heart set on it you should follow your heart...within reason.
In Cleveland area on carpet tracks the RC18T with a set of BSR/BRP foam tires the stock RC18T has beaten brushless Mini T setups.

Well I wound up keeping the M18... partly because i had it in my hands... partly because it's looking more and more like the RC18T is not going to be shipping again till the end of the month, but also because I don't need or really want all the electronics that come with the RC18T and the cost associated with those items.

The BRP V2 will be on my future list, as will a RC18T if/when they are available as a kit...

I installed a hacker with a mamba 25 and it smoked the rear tires if you didnt feather the throttle. I ended up making wider tires all the way around and it ran better. You could nail the throttle & it was gone running straight. Cornering suffered with the wide rear tires though.

Next mod will be mid-motor. After I try the WWS pro with the new Ball Diff & sway bars.

I wanted to keep this thread informed of my findings with my Mambe-25 and my M18 XRay... I posted a pretty detailed description of what I've found so far in a thread related to the M18 itself...

Bottom line is that the Mamba-25 and a 5400kv motor on five 2/3A cells is more then enough speed and power for anything usefull in a 18th scale car. I have very little to no experiance with these 18th scale and brushed motors, but in my M18 at moderate timing on moderate traction, full throttle is not really even useable. I haven't had it on a high grip (ozite with foams and paragon) track yet, but I'm confident that at top speed this thing would be a handfull for anyone.

I can see almost no practicle use for any motor with more power then this Mamba 5400Kv motor has in a 18th scale car. I don't consider some insane speed attempt to be a practicle use by the way...

The throttle response is very smooth, very easy to control my M18 even on moderate traction surface... but anything more then about 3/4 throttle is basicly just crazy fast. It does seem to run quite well between 10% and 75% throttle and the response is very smooth and linear... I can only assume that the throttle between 76 and 100% is just as smooth, but I really havnen't been able to operate in that range for more then a few seconds, as my M18 is basicly balistic at those speeds, however I do not notice any abnormal bump in power at full throttle, it's just way more then is useable in my M18.

Two huge tumbs up for the Mamba-25 and 5400Kv motor... As far as arternate motor to choces... if anything, I'd probably choose a less powerfull motor rather then more powerfull for my needs, but then that doesn't fit with your typical RC junkies Timm Allen attitude... More POWER Arrrgh, Arrrgh, Arrrh...

See project stupid fun for the ultimate in Tim Taylor tool time attitude!!!!