Mix & match: Kyosho Le Mans motors

[Coelacanth]

Has anybody here done any parts mixing-and-matching with their Le Mans motors? Due to size restrictions with the limited space in the motor pod of the RC12LE I'm building, I decided to put a Le Mans 480S motor in there. I won't get into that too much in this topic, that's over here: http://www.rc10talk.com/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=35541.

I had two 480S motors, both with decent cans, stickers and blue anodized can end, but both of them had pretty bad blue endbells. As the 480S endbells are plastic, a lot of them get dinged & melted by running & bad soldering. A while ago, I bought some NIP parts, including a 240SB commutator. I also had a leftover gold aluminum endbell from either a 480 or 360 Gold. So I got to thinking, can I put the 240SB comm in the 480S can and top it off with the nice gold alloy endbell?

I disassembled the 480S, took out the comm, and it was the exact same length as the NIP 240SB comm. I installed the 240SB comm and shimmed it to remove the bit of play, and installed the 480 Gold endbell. It went together perfectly.

I haven't tested it yet, but it spins nicely and otherwise appears to be good to go. I'll upload some pics in a couple days, I won't be home until the weekend.

Have any of you other Kyosho or motor gurus done any similar mixing-and-matching with the Le Mans motors? What were your results?

Are the magnets inside the 480S can the same as what you'd find inside the 240SB can? Other than the color of anodizing, the dimensions are exactly the same. Will my hybrid "Le Mans 2480SB Gold" perform like a 240SB?

Looking forward to hearing some of your experiences.

[tamiyadan]

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[Coelacanth]

Thanks Dan, some great info there. I think you meant an excess of torque moving from the 480 to the 240SB...the 240's had gobs of torque. The 480 Gold and 480S...not so much. One of my buddies ran a 240SB in his Turbo Optima back in the day and that motor was a beast, competition for the best mod motors of that time. They were 4-minute motors while the 480's were 8-minute motors.

I really have no idea what to expect because this is going in a totally different direction; a hot 1:10 offroad motor going in a 1:12 onroad car, but powered by a 3.7V LiPo. It'll be interesting to see how it runs.

[tamiyadan]

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[Coelacanth]

Here is how it turned out...480S can, brand new 240SB comm inside, and gold end-bell, from either a 360 or 480 Gold. New wires, 3.5mm gold bullet connectors and condensors soldered on. I'll call it a Kyosho Le Thing. Should be interesting to see how it runs in a 1:12 onroad chassis with a 3.7V LiPo (half of a saddle-pack)...