Took the truck apart and put in the new engine, air-filter and other goodies. For a full review of the truck out of the box, click here. But now, on to the pics and info!

Powerplant UPGRADE! New Engine, Pipe and Filter

First picture shows the truck without its shell to show off the new upgrades. A Hyper .21 8-port engine fits right into the chassis without any modifications (I was unable to use a Dominator 3-shoe clutch because of the flywheel offset though).

A stock manifold is used but the stock plastic pipe has been upgraded to a RB86 tuned pipe. The pipe looks scratched up and it is! It was the first pipe used on the Dominator and has already completed several tours of duty. In fact, it originally used to be a black pipe - the scratches looked so bad I removed the black paint with a dremel and polished up the pipe as best as I could. If you think the scratches don't look good now, you should have seen the pipe before the work! lol! The second pic shows how I attached the new pipe.

The air-filter has also been upgraded to a Kyosho 2-stage unit. This filter doesn't look too bad and should do it's job well. Of note is the inner foam for the Kyosho filter - it's the finest stuff I have ever seen!!! Should keep the dirt out very very well.

Picture 4 shows a top view of the engine area. It is cramped in there!!! The TVP chassis plates are very nice but this is the downside - tight spaces. Getting a hand on the pullstart can be quite a challenge especially when the engine is hot. On the upside, the Savage is one of the neatest looking nitros I have ever seen. Everything just has it's place.

I also upgraded the stock throttle linkage. For pics and info of that, click here!

Maxx Basher Body

Here's the shell I used for for break-in and my initial bashing - a Maxx shell donated from my hardly-run Emaxx. Not too shabby looking if you asked me! lol!

Click here to go on to Phase II!

Back To Top