1/6th Mini Cooper Conversion

[west0618]

If you haven’t figured it out yet, my RC world is mostly 1/6th scale. I like the detail available in this scale. This Mini Cooper is the 4th of my builds/conversions as near as I can figure in the last year. It started as a Radio Shack “toy.” And performed as a toy would be expected to. No power…ON/OFF forward and reverse as well as sluggish all right or all left steering. As it has a complete interior, opening doors, hood and rear door it was perfect for 1/6th scale figures…with a bit of work.
My first efforts went into seeing just how poorly this thing ran ASIS on 11/29/2014…man was it cold. It was sad to say the least. SEE VIDEO. On a flat, smooth surface it would run…sorta. Nearly no steering control and near zero acceleration.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2XrF85 ... e=youtu.be

Taking it apart was simple enough…only about eight screws held the body to the chassis. As with my two 4-wheel ATVs, it was simple enough also to pull out the crap steering mechanism consisting of a small brushed motor and a gearbox, replacing it with a Align DS510MG digital servo connected to the steering linkage made from two 2-56 swivel ball links with a 4-48 turnbuckle between them on each side hooked to the existing axle mount. I was able to use two of the supports for the old mechanism to hold the custom servo mount. (SEE BELOW)

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I am using the same ESC as I have in my race boat…a HK 60A brushless Car ESC w/reverse. This ESC even has a hookup for the headlights. Not really needed but a nice touch since they are there.
The drive motor was replaced with no modifications to the gearbox with a S2848 3900 brushless inrunner motor of the same diameter. The only modification here was boring out the pinion gear. Piece of cake. Honestly, as heavy as this car is, weighing in at 10 pounds 4 ounces with one of my favorite action gals at the wheel, I was concerned at this choice but Derek hit it spot on and saved me a lot of extra work by not having to adapt this gearbox to a larger motor. And it SCREAMS now. I have to be very careful indoors so as not to melt the carpet as I am sure it would melt the carpet and the cheap, semi-hard plastic wheels that came on it.

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To power everything we chose a Turnigy 4000mAh 2S Lipo battery (chosen primarily to provide the expected power needed AND to still fit in the existing battery compartment in the bottom of the car. It could not be any thicker or wider than this one and I still had to cut out a section of the compartment at one end to accommodate the length-you can see this cut out in one of the pictures) and the receiver is FS-GR3F from HobbyPartz as these are what I started all this with on my two ATVs. I also added a mount, shown in the pictures, as well as a balance plug extension so I could mount a low-voltage alarm under the rear seats. ( also shown in the pictures )

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Derek is not a fan of these but…I employed the existing ON/OFF switch and hooked it to the ESC as it does take some time to get the battery in place and secured so this eliminates any beeping or twitching until I am ready.

Since the servo was donated by Derek, the total for parts (estimating on the steering linkage parts at $20.00 which should be high but close) is $91.00. I got the Mini Cooper off ebay for $40.00.

The weather promises to get better...soon. I'll get some "after conversion" pictures and video then. The sun is actually out right now but everything is still flooded.

I had a bit of troubles with the picture upload so I hope this works...if not, I'll fix it.

[west0618]

The weather allowed for a short break in the continual rains here to get this video of the new and improved Mini Cooper.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHAuEnE ... e=youtu.be

Being out there by myself did not allow for video following the car and limited my run area to less than half the parking lot. But all in all, I think this shows the story.

[Derek]

That's awesome, Dad! Much more power!!!

[west0618]

Derek...You need to see it in person. Sandy would have a fit trying to keep up with it with the video camera. LOL

[Derek]

What are you doing tonight? I have an "unscheduled" day off from work (long story, lol).

[Stambo]

It is satisfying to take something that does not work well or at all and make a project out of it.
I did a similar thing with a cheap Nissan 350Z.
It initially ran a nicad 7.2v pack but the battery died and I just put it away.
I dug it out again when I started with FPV and made it run on a 3s lipo.
Attached my FPV gear and off I went.
Unfortunately the electronics did not much like 3s and did not last long.
I gutted it and installed a cheapo servo for the steering and found a brushed ESC to run the stock brushed motor.
Fitted an rx and now my son still has a ball with it.
I need to upgrade the steering servo as every now and then it jumps teeth and gets way out of line but it is way faster then before.
Runs about 20 minutes on my 3s quad batteries.

[Derek]

That's really cool, Stambo! I'd like to do some ground FPV. That could really be some fun! I gave my Dad one of my Align DS510mg servos to be used for the steering on his Mini. I imagine it will suit his needs quite well. I think Dad has a 2S 4000mah pack in his Mini. I'll bet he can get some great run times.

[Tony]

Missed this thread, that's a great mini now... Well done DD. (D's Dad).. Could you mount the camera on the mini itself....

[Derek]

I'll talk to Dad about getting a camera onto the Mini. I do know that he's looking for an inexpensive camera to mount inside the Mini that would show the drivers perspective. He isn't comfortable buying a Mobius because of the price so, if he works out a camera mount for inside the Mini, I'll let him borrow my Mobius.

[Tony]

Yeah, good idea, be cool to see a drivers view of it in action

[Harper88]

Superb conversion.