Land Rover LR3 build

[Stburr91]

It seems there's several LR3 builds going right over at RCC, so I thought I'd join the party.

I found a Rastar Land Rover LR3 pretty cheap on Ebay. This body will fit on the X-Trail chassis nicely.

Here's the specs

Rastar LR3 body
X-Trail chassis
Axial tranny
Axial axles with heavy duty lockers, and straight axle adaptors.
HiTech MG 645 servo
55 Turn Intergy motor
Mamba Max ESC
DuraTrax Evader shocks with soft springs.
Elite 1500, 8 cell battery pack

Some shots of the LR3. Check out the killer flex.





I'm opimistic that I will be able to use some of the interior, but that will require cutting out some of it to fit the tranny and motor in. I may have to cut so much out, that it may not be worth using the interior.

I got the chassis to the roller stage. I won't be using the plastic links or the wheel and tires, they are just for mock up and testing.





I know some people don't like the evader shocks, but I've gotten very good performance from them in my other X-Trail.

Here's a flex shot.


Here's a shot of the body. It's 18" with a 11.5" wheelbase.


I hope to have time tomorrow to start hacking up the interior to see if I can get the tranny and motor to fit.


More to come.

[Rockbound]

Re: Land Rover LR3 build

nice! great looking start!

loose those plastic links!!

[Crawln Coles]

Re: Land Rover LR3 build

That thing has alot of flex for a 1.9

[Stburr91]

Re: Land Rover LR3 build

nice! great looking start!

loose those plastic links!!

Thanks.

The plastic links, wheels and tires, are just for the mock up.

That thing has alot of flex for a 1.9

Once everything is bolted together tight, and the body is on, it won't be 5" anymore. More like 4"-4.5" of flex.



I started cutting the floor of the interior so that the body would sit low enough. The tranny and motor come up through the floor near the front seats. It looks like I will be able to use the interior for this build, but it will take some fudging.

I had to cut a lot of the floor out.


I also had to cut the front seats.





I still need to put a new floor in, and cut the center console to fit. I also need to cut a hole in the back compartment and build a box to enclose the ESC and radio.

The wheelbase ended up being 11.5"

Here's what the body looks like on the chassis.



More to come.

[Rckcrwlr]

Re: Land Rover LR3 build

Looking good...

[Crawln Coles]

Re: Land Rover LR3 build

Looking good...

Yes it is

Now you need to get some styrene and patch up that floor. It comes in different thicknesses & is easy to work with if you haven't before.

[Rockbound]

Re: Land Rover LR3 build

very nice!!

[Stburr91]

Re: Land Rover LR3 build

Looking good...

Yes it is

Now you need to get some styrene and patch up that floor. It comes in different thicknesses & is easy to work with if you haven't before.

Thanks guys.


I don't have any styrene, and I've never use it before, so I'll be using aluminum.


I'm not going to have much time to work on this project this week, but I will try to do at least one little thing everyday, and update this build thread.

I bent up some aluminum for the floor, and cut the center console to fit around the transmission.

Here's the interior, nothing is fastened in yet.


More to come.

[Rockbound]

Re: Land Rover LR3 build

anxiously awaiting updates!!

[Stburr91]

Re: Land Rover LR3 build

anxiously awaiting updates!!

I'm off of work today because of the rain, so I should be able to get a few things done.


I have a question for you guys, what do you think about these tires and wheels? I wasn't thinking of using these wheels, but I kind of like them. Do you guys think the tires are too big?

[Stburr91]

Re: Land Rover LR3 build

I got a few more things done today.

I figured out where the all of the electronics are going, and got everything to fit. I had to cut more of the floor out for the radio. Man, there's not much of the floor left.

I pretty sure I'm going to use the black HPI stock car rims. I think the rock stompers are too big, so I ordered some new RC4WD Out Croppers. The aren't much smaller than the stompers, but they may work. I can't wait to see what these new tires are like, they sure look sweet in the pics I've seen of them.

On to the pics of today's progress.

You can see where the electronics are going.


Here's all the holes closed up.


The back seat covers the radio, antenna and shocks.



Here's the battery tray for my 8 cell split pack. It's bolted to the chassis.


More to come.

[Rockbound]

Re: Land Rover LR3 build

i think it looks sweet with the stompers. i dont think they are too big, might need a little more lift though.

you need to save room to mount your servo on the frame to look like a real drag link, will your battery mount tray be in the way?

looking good. cant wait to see it finished!

[Rckcrwlr]

Re: Land Rover LR3 build

This thing looks familar...

[Stburr91]

Re: Land Rover LR3 build

i think it looks sweet with the stompers. i dont think they are too big, might need a little more lift though.

you need to save room to mount your servo on the frame to look like a real drag link, will your battery mount tray be in the way?

looking good. cant wait to see it finished!

I don't think I can mount the servo on the chassis (no room).


The build is dead in the water until I get a new radio. I just can't stand the TQ3 I have anymore, the thing glitches unless I stand the antenna straight up. It's been that way from day one. I've tried everything to get it not to glitch. My cheap ax-10 RTR radio is better than that POS TQ3.

It's time for a new radio.

Rckcrwlr,

I might have to steal that roof rack from you.

[Stburr91]

Re: Land Rover LR3 build

Ok I haven't updated this a couple of days. I ran into a couple of snags.

First, my radio is giving my problems, I decided to upgrading to a new radio, so I'm waiting for it to arrive. Second, I need to touch up paint the floors for the interior, but the paint I have is the wrong color, so I can't fasten the interior until I get it painted.

The only thing I did today was play around with a way to use magnets to mount the body. These are rare earth magnets, so they are very powerful, so I'm hopeful that this idea will work. I don't want to have to use screws or posts and clips, I hate messing with that stuff on the trail.

I screwed a piece of metal to the body for the magnets to stick to, and the brackets will connect to the chassis.


More to come.