VONats Lazer

[Hcp22]

I have been thinking to return to US soil and VONats for quite some time now together with a other Swede. So far I haven't decided for 100%, but it leanings towards that we will do the trip. I was thinking to do 4WD as well as Classic this time, last time (2013) I only did the Classic. The other Swede will probably do 2WD and 4WD.

So in February I started to hunt down a suitable object, preferably a Kyosho Lazer that I drove back in the days. I still have my old ZX RR, but I don't want mess that one up, I want to keep it as is. So I asked around if someone had a Lazer for sale and one of my racing friends sold me a ZX R in good shape together with a broken Optima MID and lot of parts for a nice price. 6 weeks later I got tip on a junk Lazer on the Swedish "Craiglist" for $60 with lots of part to. So I text the guy and ask if it still was available and it was. From the pictures of the add it look like ZX RR.






So 4 days later it was sitting on my door step, and it was a RR.




There were lots of part from a ZX R to, which explains the gold shocks that was mounted on the car, but I found the original Equalizer shocks among the rest of the parts. I also found parts to an Optima Pro among all the parts. So I look upon it as a rely good deal, sins there aren't that many ZX RR around.

The privies owner had used a hot melt glue gun to repair the whole front end, so you could say it had a pretty stiff front... but it will be a good donor car.




As usual I went through my spare part pile from way back and found lots and lots of good parts for this build. For an example I found a CF-chassis for the first gen of Lazer's (LAW-3) that will be the base for this "Frankenstein" Lazer, it will be a mix of ZX, ZX R and ZX RR parts. So it looks like I have one Lazer to many if you can have too many Lazer's

[Coelacanth]

Nice...that looks like a fun box 'o' parts to sift through! I've always been intrigued with the overall similarities of the Lazers to the Optima Mids...I'd love to have a stash of Lazer parts to compare with my Optima stash and see what creative ideas I could come up with.

[Hcp22]

Spare parts is rely hard to find this days and some parts are almost impossible t find. The Lazer is almost bulletproof, at least I never broke any parts as I remember it. But I know that the sus holders are weak, so I have ordered a set in aluminum from Pargu. The front shock tower is another weak point, but I have a reinforce team line tower. And the rear shock mount is also a weak spot, but I have one NIP.

Is there anything else I should think of regarding the Lazer?

[stulec52]

I got one in a slightly better condition, and doing a similar build.
You don't need them as such, but there are some nice Carbon Fibre kits for the car....

I'll be following to see how this goes

[stickboy007]

Nice find!

Every 4wd buggy has its weaknesses, though. The YZ10, Lazer, and CAT2000 all have weak spots.

The primary weak spot I have found are the front castor blocks, steering knuckles, and steering rack. It does not take much to snap these if you hit a pipe. Even a soft pipe will snap one of these parts if you hit it hard enough. I grazed the inside pipe on a wide sweeper two weeks ago, and broke a castor block. The nut that holds in the friction plate for the center pulley also comes loose easily, as the layshaft does not have enough thread to really hold it down. I use a lock nut there and make sure to check and re-tighten it after each run.

The optional blue steering rack is pretty solid, though, so I'd recommend that. The front tower is easy to brace, if you simply use longer screws, so that the back of the screw hits the gearbox when tightened all the way down.

I've always been more of a YZ10 guy, but the Lazer is a really fun buggy to drive and has a TON of steering. The turn-in on this buggy is nothing short of insane, and I've found myself carrying more corner speed through wide sweepers with this buggy than with any of my YZ10s or my CAT, although they are much better over jumps (shouldn't be a problem for VONATS, which tend to have small jumps in their layouts anyway).

[rccars4sal]

One of those cars has a hyper clutch. Very nice!

[Hcp22]

Thanks for all the tips guys, especially the tip about the longer screws that hold the front shock tower in place. Now I think I have all the bases covered.

[Hcp22]

Sins I had an old Lazer CF-chassis fitting the first generation (LAW-3) I will use that. And I found a CF set for Li-Po saddle pack together radio plate that match the LAW-3 chassis on eBay.






The ball diff's that came with "junk Lazer" was in rely good shape together with two extra that was among the parts. But never the less they have to be renovated, new Tungsten Carbide balls and new trust bearings from AVID. I like AVID's bags for the trust bearings.




With wet sandpaper 600/1000 grit and WD-40 the old diff-rings was good as new if not better. After that I hock them up with drill for a couple of minutes.






New belts came from Tough Racing and they suppose to be good.






I have always had a problem using old parts when I have new parts lying around even if the old parts are in decent condition. So I took the new front and rear gear house I had in my stash.

[rccars4sal]

Hi. Im curious about the 2 black posts in front of the lipo trays. On my lazer cars those 2 black posts are a plastic 2 piece bulk head. Do the lipo trays sit flat on the chassis against the posts? I know they will sit flat if using the plastic bulk head.

Reason for questions is because I want to make sure the trays will fit on anybodies lazer mk1 car no matter what slight variations.

[Hcp22]

Hi. Im curious about the 2 black posts in front of the lipo trays. On my lazer cars those 2 black posts are a plastic 2 piece bulk head. Do the lipo trays sit flat on the chassis against the posts? I know they will sit flat if using the plastic bulk head.

Reason for questions is because I want to make sure the trays will fit on anybodies lazer mk1 car no matter what slight variations.

There is a 2.5mm plastic washer under the Li-Po trays to get the original battery posts to the right height.

[rccars4sal]

Ah yes perfect solution! It needs those plastic spacers anyway, might as well elevate the tray. O/K Thanks!