Turbo Optima build - Project Barney: Finished

[Coelacanth]

I like the green and purple colour combo, do you know if Pargu still does the Optima chassis plate sets in the different colours?


Keith

Thanks Keith & Matt. As far as I know, pargu will anodize any of the alloy parts he sells in any of the common colors for a few extra bucks. He offered to anodize a full set of his wheels for only $8.00 more (I didn't want them anodized though). These purple & green colors are from Don Martin in USA though, he uses a different dye system I think. His colors are outstanding.

[keithrc]

I've been talking to Don, I'll be getting him to some parts for me soon. His gold colour looks very similar if not the same as the Option House gold parts. I've seen some gold shocks that have been re-aono'd and they look too dark.


Keith

[HKS_TRD]

One thing to keep in mind is the kyosho anodising is not always consistant. I have a few sets of brand new Kyosho gold shocks and they are not all the same shade of Gold!

[EvolutionRevolution]

One thing to keep in mind is the kyosho anodising is not always consistant. I have a few sets of brand new Kyosho gold shocks and they are not all the same shade of Gold!

Light gold, dark gold, their blue parts have the same problem, light blue, dark blue, and sometimes it's on purpose and sometimes not.

[Coelacanth]

I finally got around to fabricating a bumper for this car. It just didn't seem right to simply slap on the stock Optima bumper, because it's so far from stock. Barney deserves something original and unique. I wanted a bumper with a little "attitude", something that was better suited to this beast. I liked how my design worked for CYANide, but needed something more robust. I based the Barney bumper design off of my CYANide template (top of last pic) but bought some 3mm thick Kydex, which is thicker than the stock Optima bumper.

I'm almost finished...I just have to drill a couple more holes ahead of the square opening, add a few notches at the bottom to clear those 2 bottom frame rail screws, heat-gun it to give it an upward angle, and lastly, heat the "teeth" and bend them upwards.

[naushad]

If you ever race Barney, i pray for the marshall!

[Coelacanth]

LOL I doubt I'd ever be able to get this car in a real race. No matter which class I'd choose, it would probably break a dozen rules.

[Coelacanth]

I finished the bumper tonight. I even filed a shallow angle on the inside leading edge of the square hole so the bumper will fit nice and flush on top of the front diff bulge, just like the stock bumper does. I drilled a pair of holes so in addition to the usual rear-ward mounting holes on the frame rails, it mounts to the front 2 holes of the chin undertray. This is how the JG Mfg. aftermarket bumpers are mounted. (The JG bumper, however, has a more simple, rudimentary design; it's just a straight, flat piece of Kydex forced to bend in a curve around the diff bulge, and looks like crap when you see it from the bottom.)

I didn't want to use the Optima's usual honkin' big center bolt to mount it right against the front of the chin piece because that just ends up bending it all to hell in a front end collision.

After bending it in the usual place and bending up the "teeth", I made sure the larger 2.2" tires wouldn't make contact with full steering, and all looks good. The reason I even included those teeth was so that I could bend them at an angle such that the bumper would deflect from rocks & big bumps, just like the stock Optima bumper has that bent-up leading lip.

After all was said & done, it's significantly more sturdy and more rigid than the stock bumper, but it has to be because this car is quite a bit heavier than an Optima. And now, Barney actually has teeth.

[naushad]

I must say that's looking real nice! Well done. Time for a nice shell methinks!

[Mad Racer]

Very nice job on the bumper Marc.

Well done as always.

[Coelacanth]

Thanks guys! The shell should get painted in a couple weeks, I'm out of town for most of next week on business. If it turns out how I envision it, it'll be a doozy. I just hope I've learned enough from my mistakes with the first 2 of the threesome to do it proper.

[Coelacanth]

I'm near the end of the road with this project. The body's painted and protected (hopefully enough) with 3 or 4 coats of Duplicolor Crystal Clear and even some Shoe Goo in some of the Optima's weaker body areas, like the front body mount, sides, and the area surrounding the rear shocks/tower. I have a few minor tweaks before I turn him loose, I think the wing needs a slight bit more angle. I'm aiming for the green lines edging the wing to be more or less horizontal.

[Optiman]

That is one nice Optima, congrats!!!!!!!

[OffCamber]

Have been waiting to see the painted body. Nice job. Very appropriate.

[Coelacanth]

Thanks for the comments, guys. Well, I did a stoopid today...I spent about an hour twisting & bending a new wing wire, until I got it just perfect...but this wing is almost symmetrical front-to-rear and a bit hard to tell which is the front or rear without paying attention to the paint, and long story short--after it was aligned just right, I realized the wing had the wire mounted backwards. (facepalm smiley would've been perfect)

So, off to make another wing wire. (It would be a lot easier if the wing buttons & holes, that were already drilled when I got it, were the same width as the wing tubes, but the tubes are about an inch wider apart than the holes so I have to do some rather finicky bending after the wing is already mounted on the wire.) Arggh...