WL Toys 144001 Upgrade: THe cleanest ESC Install and cooling improvement

For those that upgrade to a much larger ESC in the WL Toys 144001 these is often an issue where the fan and or heatsink of a larger ESC fouls against the shell in the stock position. If you don't want to change the shell and don't want to jack it up I have a solution for you.

Although I recommend the 2838 brushless motor/30a ESC upgrade in this article for the 144001 for general bashing, speed runs require much larger ESC that typically have fans installed. In this particular build I used an 80A Flycolour lightning ESC that, although compact, fouls against the ceiling of the 144001 shell. Because this build is for road only I didn't mind a cutout in the shell but wanted it to be tidy and discreet. The easiest way I found to do this is as follows. Remember, click on an image below to embiggen and see all of the pixels

Mount your new ESC in it's final home and use 3m VHB or double sided foam tape to stick it down hard

Remove the top deck. Consider an upgrade to the aluminium top deck when you are there which adds important rigidity as the stock one is very flexible

Now the important part. Install the body on the top deck with the standard mounts, clip it in. the body and deck will flex to allow the ESC to fit.

Look closely where the ESC is fouling on the body - in my case the heatsink/fan assembly. Sketch around this area with a marker or even a pencil

And another angle

You can see my pencil marks here which I used to guide my cutting. ​Get a sharp knife, clench your teeth and cut! Be careful not to slip!! If you stuff up, replacement shells with wings are only $8

Reinstall the shell as before an see if it fouls in any other places and repeat as above. Don't have anything poking out that couldn't handle a scrape when your car flips, specifically silicon wires

Reinstall the top plate, enjoy the fact that the body is still low profile and in this case the extra cooling

That'll wrap it up for this very specific guide, next article to follow will be the speed run build you see the parts here in. For ALL of my 144001 articles, the most updated source is always the one linked in the blue box below.

Thanks for checking out my article and please let me know on my facebook page or in the 144001 group if it worked out for you. I've created a reference page below for all of the 144001 articles I've published here:
144001 UPGRADES - EVERY ONE OF MY GUIDES HERE.

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