Vintage Kyosho 'BURNS' to Brushless electric?
 

I am toying with the idea of converting an old BURNS 4WD from nitro to electric and wanted to ask around to see if anyone would know if this is possible. I know you can purchase INFERNO kits but not sure if parts of these would suit the earlier Burns car. I am happy to cut, drill and modify stuff but so long as I can get the motor mounted I can sort the rest (I think).

Any suggestions, ideas or points you'd like to raise would be very welcome.
Thanks- Jason

if you are happy to cut and drill then no problems on anything, i know the burns is a little different but i bet the centre diff mounts havent been changed that much. i did think about converting my old mugen athlete but ended up deciding to restore it instead, albiet to a somewhat used condition

I converted a USA-1 from nitro to Electric.

USA-1's motor setup is based on BURNS.

I just brought a motor mount and a battery holder. drilled 2-4 holes and done.

Search for USA-1 conversions and that would help a lot.

Thats a great help, thank you guys. I really liked the Burns back when I had it but wasn't much good with IC motors. Now days with the motor and battery tech that is around I would like to give this conversion a go.
Cheers-Jason

I recently picked up a converion kit for the MP7.5 and nothing lines up, not even remotely. Luckily the bearing ID in he bulkhead works with the OD of the centre diff bearing but now I need to fabricate an adapter plate of some kind to get this thing to fit.

Not sure if I've mentioned this to you before.

Team C do 1/8 conversion kits for nitro to electric.

You could check what they have on offer. Try rcmart. Although its a longshot they may have something that fits the bill instead of you fabricating.

check this link out. the motor mount is perfect for this one. idk if it would work out as well in the kyosho but i bought the same mount and it worked perfect.

http://www.rctech.net/forum/monster-...dget-flux.html

here are the parts I bought from hobby king. i did not have to cut the motor mount as was shown in the budget savage build. I also opened the trans, used JBweld to lock the oneway gear to the shaft, so i would have brake and reverse.



A2016T-33138 Motor Mount (1Set/Bag) - A2016T
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...ag_A2016T.html


it is for 36mm diamater L or XL motors. and you adjust gear mesh just like with the nitro motor.

ELECTRIC CONVERSION - FINISHED!
 

It's taken me a little while but I am finaly at a point where I can have this car out driving.

Keeping in mind this build was done without comp racing in mind. I wanted to build up a vintage 1/8 scale buggy and where better to start than the classic Burns. As it happend the basis for this project was a Turbo Burns that I wanted to retrofit with the earlier body and wheels.

I am really happy with the way this project has finished up and am ready to take my sons up to the park for some fun.

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i1...ps271ba3fa.png
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i1...ps2c0ebb1d.png
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i1...ps4d8d1a0f.png
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i1...psac8f42e2.png
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i1...ps8a7628e4.png
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i1...psa5177ab1.png
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i1...psb37ff739.png
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i1...ps0c5ec712.png

Kyosho Burns 4WD Brushless (electric)
 

Hi Bormac,
this thread was a huge inspiration about a year ago when I started looking into making a brushless version of the Burns myself. I just finished it last week. Noise pollution laws in Belgium have become very strict over the years and it is becoming more and more difficult to find places where one can drive or fly with Nitro. Being able to take this classic car out for a spin in the local park without worrying about the noise is absolutely fantastic. I will probably convert a run-down Turbo Burns and Turbo Inferno next.
Thanks so much for sharing your experience, I probably wouldn't have tried it myself if it weren't for this thread. :)

You can see more pictures of my "E-Burns" and my other vintage Kyosho cars on my Flickr page (click one of the pictures below).

https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2894/...1b8fe10d_z.jpg
Kyosho Burns 4WD Brushless (electric) by lexster76, auf Flickr

https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2813/...480a7616_z.jpg
Kyosho Burns 4WD Brushless (electric) by lexster76, auf Flickr

https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2892/...27d3781d_z.jpg
Kyosho Burns 4WD Brushless (electric) by lexster76, auf Flickr

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4188/...c6051377_z.jpg
Kyosho Burns 4WD Brushless (electric) by lexster76, auf Flickr

Kyosho Turbo Burns Brushless (electric), full option
 

It looks like I have caught the brushless bug. :) Today I finally managed to finish a Brushless Turbo Burns which runs on 4S batteries and a Team Orion VST2 Pro motor.

I drove it for the first time today and I have to admit it is ridiculously quick, although some of that impression also comes from the car struggling to deal with that kind of power (handling wise).
For anyone wanting to retrofit the old Burns and Inferno cars with brushless technology, I would recommend staying relatively conservative (as I did with my Burns DX). One does notice that these cars were not designed for this type of performance.

That said I am sure the car can deal with it relatively well as soon as everything is set-up properly. I will be playing around with the suspension, diff. oils and wheel/tire combinations during the summer and will post the results here.
When I started the project I knew that setup and strength would be very important so I installed the following options.:)

BS-20 Universal joint (rear)
BS-63 Stabilizer Set (front)
BSW-19 Steel Gear (53T)
BSW-29 Big Pressure Spring (Front, Hard)
BSW-30 Big Pressure Spring (Rear, Hard)
BSW-35 Special Tie Rod
BSW-36 Special Upper Rod
BSW-38 FRP Rear Shock Stay
BSW-41 Steel Shock Bushing
BSW-53 FRP Front Shock Stay

In addition to the steel gear I also installed later model Turbo Inferno diffs with BSW-1 and BSW-2 gears. I am not to sure whether this mod. was really necessary but I will run the car for a bit and will let you know. They are expensive so it would be good not to have to do this upgrade if possible.
The benefit of the later model Turbo Inferno diff. casings, is that the have a rubber seal which I wanted so I could use diff-oil (instead of grease) to fine tune the setup.

I would also recommend getting serial and parallel adapter cables. 4S with parallel will have more than enough performance to drive around the garden, local park etc.. while taking advantage of the longer battery life. When you are on a large flat surface (e.g. beach), where you have to worry a bit less about handling and hitting things you can switch to serial. ;)

Based on my experience from the Burns DX, this time I covered the entire underside of the chassis with plastic. The conversion leaves a lot of large unused holes from the Nitro components which let in a lot of dirt and water. Even thought many brushless components are splash and dirt proof I would recommend doing this.

I used the traditional box art for the paint scheme but went with a Turbo Inferno-ish light green, and self mixed dark green colors to emphasize the "green" electric power plant. As always I used Fasmask and Faskolor paints by Parma which are great.

For the purists out there, I only use badly damaged cars for these conversions with chassis and radio plates that already had additional holes in them. I would definitely not recommend using a good condition car for this as it would be a waste. :thumbdown:

Here are some pics. You can find additional pictures in better resolution by clicking on the link to my flickr account (below each picture).
Next up is possibly a Brushless Turbo Inferno and USA-1. :thumbsup:

https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2879/...f9f7fff6_z.jpg
Kyosho Turbo Burns Brushless by lexster76, auf Flickr

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4184/...b112ec8e_z.jpg
Kyosho Turbo Burns Brushless by lexster76, auf Flickr

https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2805/...ae57015e_z.jpg
Kyosho Turbo Burns Brushless by lexster76, auf Flickr

https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2841/...3a27e0ca_z.jpg
Kyosho Turbo Burns Brushless by lexster76, auf Flickr

Would either of you like to do another? I have this mint condition burns that I was going to convert but I decided to go a little newer. It was assembled but never run, has never seen fuel and has sat like that for 20+ years it is missing a few parts but what is there is in PERFECT condition. It has an uncut new in bag OEM body but I need to take pics later.

I can take more pics upon request.
Parts it needs;
radio and rx
radio plate BS-12
front plate BS-15
engine
servo's
decal set
and some misc hardware

https://goo.gl/photos/UtFvL5RGivagCcRRA

Hi,
that is a great looking car. One shouldn't use a mint condition Burns for a conversion, actually it shouldn't be used at all as they are so rare in that condition. There are lots of used Burns models around that are more suitable.

If you don't want it, put it on eBay and it will sell well, especially if you kept the box. From experience I would recommend putting it in with world wide shipping at the best price you can find as collectors are everywhere and that will increase the selling price. It might be good to wait a month or two so buyers have got some budget again after their Christmas spending. ;-)
Good luck!

Help required
 

Hi. I'm really impressed with the work you've done on your Turbo Burns. I would love to do the same with mine but I honestly don't have any idea where to start.
Could you help me out with this please?
I don't mind how you would approach this but I'm open to any suggestions.
I'm in the UK by the way.
Thanks in advance

PM Sent :-)

I haven't had a chance to use either of the brushless Burns that I made, but wanted to at least mention that even with the motorisation and batteries I have in the Turbo Burns the BSW-1 and BSW-2 setup isn't necessary. You can stick to the standard BS-14 gears and as long as they are in good condition, well greased and properly shimmed they will be fine. This will save you a lot of money. :thumbsup:

One things that does not work is oil in the standard Burns diffs, even with the paper gaskets from the later classic Inferno cars. They leak all over the place. :(

Any help appreciated
 

I recently got back into RC. My daughter got a stampede for Christmas and I was able to revive my vintage car and truck. I got the idea to convert my old Nitro Burns School and found this post.

I have already purchased and esc and brushless motor along with the inferno conversion kit as it is the burns predecessor. I am running into problems with things lining up.

Any help or advice that anyone has to help make the upgrade to the 21st century would be greatly appreciated.

This is the model burns I have.

Hi Firenight,
the Inferno kit won't work, that is the same issue that Bormac had at the beginning of the thread. The mounting positions for the Inferno were completely redesigned.
You just need a universal mount for which you will have to drill two holes, and a cheap battery tray which you can cut to size and mount to the existing holes used to mount the nitro engine.
These are the parts I used.

http://kershawdesigns.com/MotorMounts-1-8-Truggy.html
http://kershawdesigns.com/BatteryTrays.htm

The car you have is the one I have posted in this thread with the green and clear body.
Looking forward to seeing pictures of your build!

Before I forget, please don't dril holes into the chassis or cut out a ventilation slot in the radio tray if they are in good condition. There are usually plenty of old beaten up Burns cars available second hand from which you can use those parts for your conversion, and keep the original good condition parts in case you want to go back to stock at a later date.

Hi,
Which lipo tray did you use : could you send me reference or shop link please.
Thanks.
Gary from France

Hi,
it is a universal tray which I cut to size. The shop was Kershaw Designs in the US but they closed a few years ago when the owner passed away.
This seems to be identical, maybe amazon.fr has one?

https://www.amazon.com/-/de/dp/B07BR...0852140&sr=8-2

Good luck with your conversion!