Let's start off by saying that this setup is for racing or experienced enthusiasts only. If you are just a “thrasher” you shouldn't need to
perform any of these modifications, but I'll leave that up to you to decide. All of these modifications can be reversed, so if you don't
like the setup, you can always go back. And you may be limited by the size of your electronics. All of mine are really small, so this
works for me.
The first thing I did was to remove all my electronics, then the upper deck. I took my Novak XXL receiver and GM V12 ESC out of their cases
and covered them in heat shrink tubing. This is not hard to do, but if you use your Micro for more than racing – don't do this. It doesn't
save that much weight and increases the potential for damage to these parts.
I then took the 5cell 2/3A NiMh battery pack, and removed the heat shrink. I reconfigured it into a modified hump pack. If you look at the
pictures, you will see what I mean. All the cells were positioned along the centerline of the chassis. To keep that fifth cell as low as
possible, I spaced the two front most cells slightly to allow the fifth cell to drop down a little. Keep and eye on the spacing between the
rear most cell and your motor. Make sure to leave around ¼ inch so they don't hit when the rear suspension is articulated. The battery was
shoe-goed to the chassis. I don't really see a need to change batteries considering I will only be using 15-30% of them per race.
Now it was time for me to reinstall my electronics. The receiver was mounted on top of the servo, and the ESC was mounted on top of the battery.
The pictures illustrate this best. All battery and motor wires were soldered direct. On the battery, I put a 90' bend on the wire before soldering.
After the wires are soldered to the battery, there is now a tab for me to attach my charger.
The upper deck now goes on top of the front and rear bulkheads. Depending on the size and placement of your receiver, you may have to notch the
upper deck to allow you to plug your ESC and servo into the receiver. Before you mount the receiver, you should test this for fitment. Also,
the stock antenna mount will be in the way. I decided it was best to mount the antenna closer to my receiver, so I hacked the stock mount off.
You will have to trim the upper deck if you want to keep the stock antenna mount.
I chose the Viper body because it's the widest. Remember that commercial, “wider is better”? Well that holds true to r/c's too, so the last
thing left on the chassis was to set all the wheels to their widest position. I decided to keep my chassis at 150mm and just cut the Viper
body to fit. This extra 10mm gives me more room for the batteries, and should help keep the Micro a little more stable over the 140mm setting
the Viper is supposed to use. I now have the longest and widest Micro currently possible. This should be the optimum setup on a track designed
for 1/10 scale sedans, where most Micro's will end up being raced.
When you cut the body, don't cut the rear wheel wells out. I took the left over lexan from the front wheel wells and positioned them between
the rear wheels and the inside of the body. After careful placement, I traced the scrap lexan onto the body to mark cutting lines for the rear
fenders. I didn't stop their either. I took off another ½ inch or so off the bottom of the body. This allowed me to lower the body even more.
If you decide to do any of these mods, please plan them out very carefully. And if you aren't comfortable with any of the steps, don't do them.
And as always, everyone's driving style and equipment varies, so your results may vary as well.
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