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HPI Bullet Flux ST Build Thread.


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So, I'm new on here and @Zannu said I should do a build thread as I'm doing a lot of changes to my HPI Bullet fairly quickly.

 

I bought it about a week ago, a used HPI bullet ST flux in good condition, all working nicely, bit of a tatty body shell but didn't pay anywhere near new price for it so I was (and still am) very happy with it. I had an HPI E-Firestorm Flux a few years ago, and sold it to get money for my first car. Well, I've missed it since and always wanted a Bullet so thought I'd treat myself.

 

Anyway... here it is.

 

dd2wef.jpg

 

So, the car came with a 3S LiPo battery. It had also barely been used, so was in great condition. I thought I'd take it out for a spin. I had read everywhere online about the hubs being a weak point, so planned to upgrade them to the alloy ones, but thought a few goes with plastic hubs would be fine. Took it out for a little spin in a car park, went over a couple of speed bumps, had some fun with it and broke both hubs within around 15 minutes. So now it looks like this...

 

2e2h75j.jpg

 

Not quite what I had planned, but an excuse to upgrade sooner, and do some mending at the same time. Straight away after the crash I inspected the damage... both hub carriers broken, one hub broken. The side with the hub broken, the wheel and whole hub actually flew across the car park, so the bolts for this that attach hub to hub carrier are lost somewhere in a car park, along with the little metal sleeves.

 

I immediately ordered alloy hub carriers in orange for the front, and alloy hubs in silver. Then, with @Zannu Kindly helping me find the parts that were missing and sending me invaluable links, I ordered the metal sleeves along with a few spares, and some stainless steel bolts for the hubs where they bolt to the hub carriers. I also ordered some spare bolts for any other areas of the truck with the same size bolts, just for a nice stainless steel upgrade.

 

I then ordered some alloy arms in silver for front and back, and a couple of alloy braces for it. So, more updates to come when parts begin to arrive and I can get upgrading and fixing...

 

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Looking very good. Nice that you started this build thread and hopefully you will find it helpful.

Those stainless bolts are always a good upgrade. I have quite a lot, both tapered and normal in a variety of sizes.

Keep us updated and good luck with the fixes.

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Alloy hubs and hub carriers turned up yesterday along with the new HPI sleeves for the hub carriers as one was lost when it fell apart. I got M3 stainless steel hex head bolts to replace all the bolts with on the hubs/hub carriers which I'm glad I did as the top of the hub uses a tapped screw, which doesn't work with alloy so I replaced it with a bolt. I made sure to use Locktite on every bolt to ensure they don't come undone. Anyway, on to a picture, very happy with it.

 

2db6yjq.jpg

 

Now to wait for the alloy arms to arrive, and some of the braces, but meanwhile time to take it out to test the new hubs.

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Looking very nice. Hopefully they will hold up much better than your previous plastic ones. Just one bit worth checking, at least after your first few runs. I would double check those bolts are not coming loose. Easier to quickly check after each run then get halfway through a go and have one drop out and also loose the bushing (depending on how you have them)  Guess how I know.

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On 07/12/2017 at 22:43, Zannu said:

Looking very nice. Hopefully they will hold up much better than your previous plastic ones. Just one bit worth checking, at least after your first few runs. I would double check those bolts are not coming loose. Easier to quickly check after each run then get halfway through a go and have one drop out and also loose the bushing (depending on how you have them)  Guess how I know.

Ah okay will do, they're all in with Locktite so should be alright hopefully.

 

Took it out for a run yesterday, steering was miles off and then dogbone/driveshaft popped out one end. Pain. Fiddled last night and think I've got the steering setup now so it's all straight and equal, and put the dogbone back in again.

 

Adjusted the endpoints on the steering too, as the wheels could hit the bumper when turning on full lock... now the dogbones won't ever fall out and the steering is much better. Win!

Edited by ethan1996
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Alloy braces turned up yesterday so fit those. Orange of course! Pictures to follow... Also replaced all the bumper bolts with stainless, and most of the brace ones with stainless bolts too as self tappers don't work in the alloy parts. Alloy arms have also arrived, debating fitting these later - mixed reviews on them!

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3 minutes ago, ethan1996 said:

Alloy braces turned up yesterday so fit those. Orange of course! Pictures to follow... Also replaced all the bumper bolts with stainless, and most of the brace ones with stainless bolts too as self tappers don't work in the alloy parts. Alloy arms have also arrived, debating fitting these later - mixed reviews on them!

With the arms I woudl give them a go, but if you break them or other parts don't be too suprised. Keep the plastic ones areound so if you do have issues you can switch them back. I have neve had an issues with the plastic ones on my mental Bullet, so I see no reason why to change them, but if that is what you want do it. I know it is nice having bling on your car.

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2 hours ago, Zannu said:

With the arms I woudl give them a go, but if you break them or other parts don't be too suprised. Keep the plastic ones areound so if you do have issues you can switch them back. I have neve had an issues with the plastic ones on my mental Bullet, so I see no reason why to change them, but if that is what you want do it. I know it is nice having bling on your car.

Main reason is just for the bling with the arms to be honest. I kind of like the black ones now though - don't want too much alloy.

 

I always keep the old parts as spares anyway, just incase haha.

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  • 1 month later...

Right, been a while... since I was last on:

 

- Tried the alloy arms, preferred the black on orange look so put the plastic ones back on. Sold the alloy ones.

- Driveshafts kept falling out again and again even with o rings, over 5 or 6 runs probably only did 300ft, just whenever I went and steered a decent angle they popped out at the wheel/hub end.

- Bought GPM CVD driveshafts and fitted these on Saturday, initial impressions they are much better and highly recommend them. Cope with full lock and stay firmly in the cup at the diff end, so hopefully this should fix my problem.

 

Next to take it for a test spin, and try the CVD's to make sure they've made it reliable!

 

Pics to follow...

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