Brimod Shocks get "the treatment"

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Coelacanth
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Brimod Shocks get "the treatment"

Post by Coelacanth »

These shocks were installed on a parts car I received from flipwils11. I didn't recognize what they were when I bought the 3 parts cars and lot of mostly Kyosho parts, I just thought they were some unusual aluminum shocks. After some research, it turns out that they're rare and quite desireable Brimod shocks. They looked dull and listless and I stuck them in a Ziploc bag for a good while, my plan was to clean them up and possibly polish them. Since my other build is in limbo pending the shipping of some parts, and I had a free evening, I got myself motivated to work these shocks over.

They were all intact, in pretty good condition except for the white presumably stock ball-ends with captured balls. I found that Kyosho ball-ends were an almost perfect swap, but I kept the originals for future re-sale. I cleaned them by first spraying with WD-40 then brushing with a toothbrush, then dumped everything in a plastic yogurt container filled with Dawn & hot water, gave it a good shake (rather like James Bond's martinis) and rinsed everything off. Nothing I tried, however, would clean up some discoloration between the threads in some places.
BrimodShocks_Before.jpg
I then wet-sanded the bodies and top caps with 600-grit until they were a nice and consistent-looking satin finish. I broke out the rotary tool with a couple polishing disks, some rubbing compound, and went to town. I was impressed with how quickly they polished up to a nice shiny gloss! I then gave the spring perches the same treatment. I didn't bother polishing the knurled adjuster rings, though.
BrimodShocks_After1.jpg
BrimodShocks_After2.jpg
I then reassembled them with 30-weight oil. The rears are leaky but the fronts are nice and tight. I didn't bother with replacing O-rings but that's probably what the rears will need, when their future owner receives them. I did all the hard work already. :P

These might just be the prettiest used Brimod shocks you'll ever see!
BrimodShocks_Polished.jpg
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Re: Brimod Shocks get "the treatment"

Post by Bormac »

Oo La La..... :mrgreen: Really great job you have done on what could be the rarest (not to mention desirable) set of dampers out there Marc. I for one appreciate you going to the trouble and sharing this with us.
-Jason.

Still known as- bormac

My collection-http://www.tamiyaclub.com/showroom.asp?id=10980

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Re: Brimod Shocks get "the treatment"

Post by V12 »

It´s interesting Brimod shocks are getting into the public now again. :D
For a long time I have not read anything, I think most people won´t know this brand.
When I had my PB Mini Mustang I soon was after some better shocks and got a set of them trough a friend who was importing them from England. I think the Brimod had been also some of the first threaded shocks.
BTW maybe one month ago there was an auction on a set of such Brimod shocks, went for ...... 305$ :shock:

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Re: Brimod Shocks get "the treatment"

Post by Coelacanth »

Thanks guys, they're definitely an interesting design, and work quite well. I learned you have to keep pressing your thumbnail up against the black O-rings while screwing down the caps, as they tend to want to push down outside of their little groove and risk getting squished in the lower adjuster ring threaded section. I still think Kyosho Golds and the internal diaphram design works better, though. If I acquire another full set of scuffed-up Golds, I'll deanodize them and polish them like this. 8)
Completed projects: CYANide Onroad Optima | Zebra Gold Optima | Barney Optima | OptiMutt RWD Mid
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Re: Brimod Shocks get "the treatment"

Post by ASC6000 »

I had both sizes new back in the day, they had so much stiction I never used them and don't remember what I ever did with them. There are some short ones on ebay now.

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Re: Brimod Shocks get "the treatment"

Post by Lonestar »

they sure do look jolly good :mrgreen:

in terms of technical design, what is so special about them, however?

Thanks for enlighting me
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Re: Brimod Shocks get "the treatment"

Post by jwscab »

judging by the fact that these are pretty old (comparatively), I'd say there weren't too many threaded adjustable shocks back when these were available for 1/10 scale. I could be wrong though. otherwise, they look pretty standard to me.

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Re: Brimod Shocks get "the treatment"

Post by Coelacanth »

Other than that and the bleed screws in the caps, they're pretty normal. But those features were quite unusual back in those days. :)
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Re: Brimod Shocks get "the treatment"

Post by Lonestar »

Coelacanth wrote:Other than that and the bleed screws in the caps, they're pretty normal. But those features were quite unusual back in those days. :)
Interesting, thanks :)

I've always wondered who was the first manufacturer to do threaded shocks... In 8th scale the earlier I found was Garbo, the Gepard already had them in 85. See pic of my new built one ;)

Image

Bleed shock caps are cool... did these come before the yokomo's???

Thanks for sharing!

Paul
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Re: Brimod Shocks get "the treatment"

Post by ron »

Lonestar wrote:
Coelacanth wrote:Other than that and the bleed screws in the caps, they're pretty normal. But those features were quite unusual back in those days. :)
Interesting, thanks :)

I've always wondered who was the first manufacturer to do threaded shocks... In 8th scale the earlier I found was Garbo, the Gepard already had them in 85. See pic of my new built one ;)

Image

Bleed shock caps are cool... did these come before the yokomo's???

Thanks for sharing!

Paul
Man those Garbo shocks are neat and so is the car/buggy? I love the ball joints and looks like they can be tightened or loosened. I really dig the brimod shocks, really scale like and must work great. I would think RC really started at 1/4 or 1/5 scale but took off at the 1/8 scale all around, since 1/8 scale is big enough to implement all those scale like functioning designs. With 1/10, you are overdoing it cause it is constraint by size, plus it is prone to a lot more damage than larger scale RCs, so simple and robust designs are called for. Thus is whats going on with todays RCs, I guess. That's why the vintage stuff is so higly sort after. I have collected an assortment of 1/8 scale stuff to build a 1/8 buggy and I am thinking along the same lines of the Garbo rear arms. Gonna use Tamiya avante aluminum rod ends, they are 1/8 scale compatible :mrgreen:

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