Vintage RC Score - Nikko RC Alienator upgrade and speed test

Back to the Nikko RC
A little bit harder to upgrade then the Rustler and 4-Tec to use a modern 3 wire servo that involves some plastic cutting. As with the previous Traxxas, modern receivers and ESCs are all small enough to fit the place so getting those replaced was easy. Better than the 4-Tec, the battery compartment is slightly larger and can accomodate more battery options.
The motor and drive system can handle 3S power and definitely livelier but doesn't seem to get overheated.

[@BangForYourBuckRc]

Impressive performance gains with that upgrade conversion!😃😝👍🏻👊🏼

[@lesdmess845]

I've found that with all these vintage RC's that they still have much more fun left in them! I really enjoy working on them and my grandson really enjoys running them 😁😜🤜

[@JHR84JHR84]

Increible. A mi me gustaria poner un motor brushless a uno de estos para verlo volar!!!! Alguna idea para poder desmontar la transmision y sacar el motor brusher

[@lesdmess845]

I've seen this brushless conversion but I don't believe it will last long as the gears are all plastic with small teeth and low ratio. This means you're going to need a higher speed motor and/or higher cel count batteries to get more speed. The drivetrain isn't robust and suspension is spring only. Not great for a basher. You might consider putting the body on a better chassis like I did in my videos titled "Traxxas Rustler + Nikko Alienator". Good luck!

[@PJsElectricRCAdventures]

Nice conversion....very impressive!

[@lesdmess845]

It wasn't really 😉 I brought this - and a couple of others, and he unhesitatingly picked this one as soon as he saw the lineup.

[@thorhammerr7664]

That is just the Mabuchi RS-540 SH 3740 motor that is stock in the Alienator car ?. If so that's not bad for a 37 turn motor!. I always thought those stock motors in the Nikko frame buggies were the same Mabuchi RS-540 SH motors that came in Tamiya kits but they are not. The Mabuchi 540 in Tamiya kits is a 27turn. They are both slow with the stock Nikko speed control.

[@lesdmess845]

Interestingly, I got the same speed out of the 4wd Radio Shack Black Phantom at 2S and 3S even though they have two motors and appear to be smaller then on the Alienator.

[@thorhammerr7664]

@@lesdmess845 Does it use those small 360 size motors ?. If so Tamiya 380 sport tuned motor will fit perfectly as long as you have space length wise. I upgraded my Nikko Brat the cheaper second edition that had a 360 size motor with a Tamiya 380 sport tuned. Also my Radio shack Hurricane and Phantom fighter. They are a lot faster now like 3 times faster. With stock speed control too!. Next is my Black Wolf 2.

[@keanermitano477]

Great mod here. Did you also happened to replace the brushed motor with a brushless?

[@keanermitano477]

Because if you happen to use the stock brushed motor and able to run a 2s and 3s LiPo battery with modern ESC, was thinking you connected the servo power source and Motor power source to the same battery. I understood those are 2 channels and has different sets of batteries to power forward and reverse, servo for left and right. I'm planning to do the same thing.

[@lesdmess845]

I did not because I don't think the rest of the drivetrain will be able to handle going faster or getting higher acceleration.

[@lesdmess845]

@@keanermitano477 Not sure how that will be wired but I would be interested to see your results.

[@keanermitano477]

@@lesdmess845 what type of batteries were you using? My friend told me I would have a hard time on doing brushless with the old mechanical speed controller on the PCB.

[@lesdmess845]

@@keanermitano477 I was using 2S Lithium Ion pack. There are smaller Lipo soft packs that could fit too.