Mini 8ight t

[martin34]

Hi guys.I am looking for a good little car for over the park with my son.I know the mini 8 t has been out for quite a while now but is it a good buy for £185 new?

[capri-boy]

3 hours ago, martin34 said:

Hi guys.I am looking for a good little car for over the park with my son.I know the mini 8 t has been out for quite a while now but is it a good buy for £185 new?

 

Not really.  Chassis itself isn't bad - diffs are a known weakness though - electrics are under specced - needs a bigger motor.  If it's that sort of scale / design you like consider the LC Racing EMB truggy - though you won't get the truggy version in the UK atm - it shares most of it parts with the other LC EMB's - SCT / DT / Buggy / MT but has a longer 2850 motor to offset the extra work of the bigger wheels (losi take note).  It's not cheap though, and will prob add £50 to the losi price.  The other LC's are much cheaper - and 1/14 buggy with on road wheels makes a fun, fast tarmac racer - the emb buggy is on offer at RCMART at the moment, with free shipping - 

 

http://www.rcmart.com/axial-wraith-stage-silver-p-61594.html

 

RCMart are renowned for their inventive customs declarations too.... though if customs do pick it up it'll add £25 ish (inc handling) to the bill.  Still cheap.  Schumacher are the UK distributor - the buggy is a very popular racing choice and current uk micro nationals winner.  LC have also just announced a factory conversion kit (lwb chassis plate, shell and wheels mostly) to convert buggy to truggy.  

[martin34]

Thanks for the reply mate.Is the losi really that bad even if running the stock NiMH battery and maybe an occasional 2s run?It won't be doing any crazy bashing,just running on the grass in the park?

[capri-boy]

1 hour ago, martin34 said:

Thanks for the reply mate.Is the losi really that bad even if running the stock NiMH battery and maybe an occasional 2s run?It won't be doing any crazy bashing,just running on the grass in the park?

 

It's not terrible nor insurmountable.  Upgrading the motor isn't expensive - iirc Losi warn new buyers now to change the stock pinion if moving from nimh (included) to a lipo.  That alone speaks volumes to me.  You can heat treat the diffs too, should much improve the reliability.  There used to be a good aftermarket scene for the losi's too - exotek being one company making bits.  Fwiw LC's EMB design owes a lot to the mini8.... 

 

I bought one not long back, wanted the LC but couldn't find the extra cash.  Never used it, sold it as regretted not getting the LC (I already have LC Buggy, MT, SCT and DT).  Did lots of research after selling the losi and quite glad I did.  Given the choice I wouldn't buy the Losi, I'd either save for the LC if I had to have a 1/14 truggy or look for a different option.

[burton]

Wow this is the perfect thread, just looking into getting the Losi as had the brand years ago, xx cr etc. 

 

Are there any other manufacturers for this size scale or is it worth going to a slightly smaller? Do races still happen with these and is there a good upgrade path for these and smaller?

[martin34]

I am still swaying towards the losi if I am honest.The parts support is one of the biggest pros and I have a traxxas brushless motor sitting here that is ment drop rite in I think.If not the exotek big bore motor mount will sort that.Hmmmmm.

[capri-boy]

On 4/2/2018 at 08:21, burton said:

Wow this is the perfect thread, just looking into getting the Losi as had the brand years ago, xx cr etc. 

 

Are there any other manufacturers for this size scale or is it worth going to a slightly smaller? Do races still happen with these and is there a good upgrade path for these and smaller?

 

Micro racing is fairly popular, though it's mostly buggies as far as i'm aware.  Local clubs may run truggy classes, and some will no doubt let you run truggy along side buggy etc.

 

Racing scene had been dominated by the Carisma GTB for a while - belt driven, very much track orientated.  The LC Racing EMB started making in roads, and is much more robust an all purpose RC - I used to bash mine on the skate park and race it at weekends.  The EMB, driven by Phil Sleigh, took the last nationals.  

 

Carsima only make a buggy in the GTB, though their older GT14 chassis (saddle pack design, shaft driven, not great parts support) has been used as a TC and MT.  Losi sell the mini8 as a buggy, rally, truggy and desert buggy (don't think there's others but I'm not 100%).  Being a Horizon brand there were (may still be) Vaterra branded mini8's with minor differences. 

 

LC have the EMB, it's in it's 3rd iteration and about to get it's 4th - minor rolling changes - diff internals / body styles and now soon improved arm design (slightly thicker - more for rigidity - old ones didn't break ).  They sell truggy, rally, TC, buggy, SCT, MT and desert buggy - and mooted a racing truck based off the TC but nothings appeared yet.  They differ in SWB / LWB chassis - most of the other parts are the same (truggy uses bespoke rim design to get the truggy style on buggy arms).  Basically two versions of most of them - a RTR with plastic chassis, shock towers andshocks, and a KIT (either prebuilt or pure kit) spec that has metal chassis, shocks, towers.  They've muddied the water a little as different markets got different specs - German (ie) RTR cars used to be UK kit ones, whereas our RTR's we're the plastic spec.  They also now sell a brushed version beleive it or not - perhaps a cynical attempt at maximizing profit - the brushless ones  went up in price and the brushed are barely cheaper than the old brushless RTR's.  In the UK Schumacher are the didtributor - though they only carry the buggy now.  Spares are cheap and easily sourced.

 

Hope that helps!  Any questions feel free!

[martin34]

Thanks for all the info mate.The 8ight t has turned up.Its an impressive looking little truck but I am going to keep it for my birthday.A present to myself.I have shims and rpm ball cups on order and from what I have read an exotek carbon top brace and steering plate thingy are also good upgrades.

[b_hawk111]

8 hours ago, martin34 said:

Thanks for all the info mate.The 8ight t has turned up.Its an impressive looking little truck but I am going to keep it for my birthday.A present to myself.I have shims and rpm ball cups on order and from what I have read an exotek carbon top brace and steering plate thingy are also good upgrades.

If you want a stainless steel screw set for it I can do you a deal on a cheap one still got bolts left over from the last kits I sold! 

[zerokalvin]

I have owned the Losi Mini 8ight-T since it was released. Make sure you read the manual and break in the differentials. Its a love hate relationship with this car, when it is working its amazing to play with, its really dialed in, just like an 8th scale Truggy. But its weakest points are the differentials, absolutely garbage. Even though I shimmed my differentials from the get go, I managed to ruin 4 of them and they aren't cheap to replace. We hardly jump our Truggy and still managed to chip teeth on the differentials. I was told by Horizon Hobby that the V2 version of the differentials is supposed to use better material but I am still waiting for my order of V2 differentials to arrive.

 

Other than that, I have had issues with the ball ends coming loose from the knuckles, hubs and carriers. I have no idea why because those are plastic but I went ahead and upgraded those parts to GPM aluminum parts and used thread lock, no more issues after that. The stock shocks are great, depending on how high you plan jumping the Truggy you might consider getting some stiffer springs and changing the oil. Of course like others have mentioned, if you want to get the most out of this chassis you will have to upgrade the motor. I replaced the stock motor with a Velineon because it was a direct drop in. The stock motor over heated with a 2s battery while driving on artificial turf therefore I had to replace it. The Velineon does get hot when bashing in thick grass otherwise it does fine if geared correctly.

 

Make sure you cover the gaps in the spur gear cover, although it seems like its a good fit there is a little gap and pebbles/dirt will get in and break the teeth of your plastic spur gear. The stock tires work well but will wear out quickly so you might want to source some new ones with a 12mm hex with the appropriate offset. You might want to upgrade the front hinge pin holders to aluminum, I damaged mine by nicking the wall while exiting a corner, I didn't think it was that big of an impact and at slow speed as well, but the plastic brace did not last. 

 

That is all I can think of right now.

 

ZK

[martin34]

Thanks very much for all the info mate.I didn't know there was V2 diffs available.I will shim mine and see how it goes.If not good I will look into the v2's.Any ideas on the gearing?I think I read somewhere about 16/60 with the traxxas motor but I could be wrong?I think I am confusing the gearing with the buggy.I think with the truggy it's a 12t pinion with a 2s?

Edited April 8, 2018 by martin34

[martin34]

On 06/04/2018 at 15:50, b_hawk111 said:

If you want a stainless steel screw set for it I can do you a deal on a cheap one still got bolts left over from the last kits I sold! 

Thanks mate but for now I am only buying a few essential bits but I mite take you up on that in the future.

[b_hawk111]

7 hours ago, martin34 said:

Thanks mate but for now I am only buying a few essential bits but I mite take you up on that in the future.

No worries! Just go easy on the standard screws as they are made of cheese! 

 

[martin34]

What would be a decent and not to expensive ESC to run with the traxxas motor? Something like a hobby wing and I will only be running 2s.