AYK Buffalo Basher: Done!

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Coelacanth
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AYK Buffalo Basher: Done!

Post by Coelacanth »

I finished repairing and improving my buddy's Buffalo last night. I know it kind of looks a bit cobbled-together, but keep in mind it's for a runner/basher and he's not concerned about looks--just improved performance. I'll call it "FrankenBuff". :lol: I replaced many of the open ball-ends and tiny ball-studs with 4.8mm ball-studs and cups. I re-positioned the ball-ends on the steering linkage to eliminate the really bad bump-steer that was plaguing the car when I received it. I increased the tension of the spring on the servo saver as it was way too sloppy. That and the servo horn ball-stud I added removed almost all the slop from the steering.

I replaced the AYK front monoshock with a Kyosho Gold front shock. I reinstalled the ESC/receiver opposite to the way my friend had it; with the ESC on the floor between the frame rails and receiver on the small top deck. This should lower the center of gravity and improve handling while making everything look much tidier.

The front wheels are some unknown wheels that pargu2000 sells on eBay, they're a perfect fit and I was able to re-use the Buffalo's stock front bearings (4 x 8's). The tires are Schumacher spikes that happened to fit those wheels perfectly. The rear wheels are some 3Racing narrow 2.2" crawler wheels that I was able to mount after installing some clamp-on 12mm hexes onto the axles. The wheels are all positive offset, which is necessary because all the typical wheels out there these days go inwards instead of outwards, and are obstructed by the Buffalo chassis components.

The front camber links still have slop but there's nothing I can do about that without upgrading the plastic steering knuckles with something better. I don't really think it's necessary as the suspension works ten times better than it ever did. 8)

One item that was broken was the little plastic piece that the motor guard plugs into and bolts onto the rear of the chassis between the rear arms. That part apparently breaks all the time, but it isn't that complex in appearance, I figured I could fabricate something to replace this part.

However, I have to give all the credit for the idea to RedScampi; Gary figured a two-armed servo horn might work. I had one lying around and decided to put the idea to the test. I reamed out the inner 'teeth' of the horn with a 6mm drill bit, so that the aluminum tube fits inside nice and snug. I cut off the excess of the servo horn arms. Surprisingly, the 2 inner-most holes practically lined up PERFECTLY with the mounting holes in the frame! :shock:

The substitute part fits just beautifully and if it breaks again, well...servo horns are cheap as dirt. However, I imagine upgrading it to an alloy part would be much more bulletproof, but I didn't have an alloy two-armed servo horn. It might not even be necessary anyway.
Attachments
MotorGuard1.jpg
MotorGuard1.jpg (84.65 KiB) Viewed 3034 times
MotorGuard1.jpg
MotorGuard1.jpg (84.65 KiB) Viewed 3034 times
MotorGuard2.jpg
MotorGuard3.jpg
Buffalo_Done1.jpg
Buffalo_Done2.jpg
Buffalo_Done3.jpg
Completed projects: CYANide Onroad Optima | Zebra Gold Optima | Barney Optima | OptiMutt RWD Mid
Gallery - Coel's Stalls: Marui Galaxy & Shogun Resto-Mods | FrankenBuff AYK Buffalo | 1987 Buick GNX RC12L3

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Re: AYK Buffalo Basher: Simple motor guard fix

Post by RedScampi »

Wow Marc, it worked like a charm! Nice craftsmanship! I got the idea by looking at the original part on my Buffalo then started rooting around in this big box of random parts I have that I swear I'm going to sort someday. Nicely done on the rest of the car too!
Gary

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Re: AYK Buffalo Basher: Simple motor guard fix

Post by Mr. ED »

I saw traxxas 1/16th E-revo wheels and tires in the LHS. They use 12mm hexes, appear to be 2.2" and have real good offset.
And there are different designs avalible from traxxas, J-concepts.
Take a look at the ofna crt.5 wheels too.

Those crawler wheels are too heavy for high speeds and strong accelerations.

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Re: AYK Buffalo Basher: Simple motor guard fix

Post by Mr. ED »

By the way: it looks like those front wheels could be from Jamara: Valiant II
Image
The writing on the box is Korean, so it makes sense Pargu has these.

Ther rears appear to have a nice offset also, good-luck hunting

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Re: AYK Buffalo Basher: Simple motor guard fix

Post by Coelacanth »

These are the front wheels. You could use Tamiya Fox wheels but you'd need to fit an adapter or buy special-sized bearings, as the Buffalo has 4mm axles. I'm not concerned about the wheel weight because his car will be a basher, my buddy is more interested in reliability than racing. :)

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/hobby-world-1-10-2wd-buggy-front-wheels-kyosho-tamiya-/140489300748?pt=Radio_Control_Vehicles&hash=item20b5d09b0c
Completed projects: CYANide Onroad Optima | Zebra Gold Optima | Barney Optima | OptiMutt RWD Mid
Gallery - Coel's Stalls: Marui Galaxy & Shogun Resto-Mods | FrankenBuff AYK Buffalo | 1987 Buick GNX RC12L3

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AYK Buffalo basher

Post by Coelacanth »

I'm almost finished resto-modding my buddy's Buffalo, which he'll be giving to his girlfriend. I got the TBG repro body & wing painted, here's a test-fit. I first need to seal the paint-job underneath before I bolt on the wing and roll-bar body mounts.

I needed to make a front bumper extension to make room for when front spike tires are mounted.
Body_TestFit1.jpg
Body_TestFit2.jpg
Completed projects: CYANide Onroad Optima | Zebra Gold Optima | Barney Optima | OptiMutt RWD Mid
Gallery - Coel's Stalls: Marui Galaxy & Shogun Resto-Mods | FrankenBuff AYK Buffalo | 1987 Buick GNX RC12L3

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Re: AYK Buffalo Basher: Simple motor guard fix

Post by Coelacanth »

I just had a great idea...those blue alloy beadlock rings just clash too much, the color doesn't really match anything else on the car. I think I'll deanodize them and polish them up.
Completed projects: CYANide Onroad Optima | Zebra Gold Optima | Barney Optima | OptiMutt RWD Mid
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FrankenBuff - Done!

Post by Coelacanth »

Finally finished this almost never-ending project for my buddy and his girlfriend today. I've had this car for more than a year and a half, a good part of that was trying to find a way to mount modern wheels with off-brand axles, buying parts that should've been the perfect measurements only to discover HPI header cards had specs incorrectly marked (after buying 3 sets and all being nowhere close to the header card specs, even HPI reps were dumbfounded--what a waste of time that was!), and doing a lot of custom work to make a close set of axles work, and then a good part of it was pure procrastination when it came to painting the body. :oops:

Tonight, I wrapped it up and I'll be bloody glad to do the "unveiling" and see their faces--and get this out of my house for once and for all (hopefully)!

I deanodized one pair of the blue alloy beadlock rings and gave them a good polish, but decided not to polish them up as glossy as I usually do, because I figured they would contrast nicer with the chrome plastic wheel inners, which are already shiny enough.

I cut down the front body mount because it stuck up more than an inch after the body was mounted, no idea why. :?

I also did some ESC tests, plugging my 7.4V LiPo up, and this thing goes like snot with the Le Mans 360 Gold installed. I hope my buddy & his girlfriend don't trash it! :shock:
Buffalo_Done1.jpg
Buffalo_Done2.jpg
Buffalo_Done3.jpg
Buffalo_Done5.jpg
Completed projects: CYANide Onroad Optima | Zebra Gold Optima | Barney Optima | OptiMutt RWD Mid
Gallery - Coel's Stalls: Marui Galaxy & Shogun Resto-Mods | FrankenBuff AYK Buffalo | 1987 Buick GNX RC12L3

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Re: AYK Buffalo Basher: Done!

Post by Hcp22 »

Looks great! :D
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Re: AYK Buffalo Basher: Done!

Post by GoMachV »

I agree, looks great!
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Re: AYK Buffalo Basher: Done!

Post by AYKBOBCAT »

Very nice! So you found a way to mount exes on the rear shaft? Did you think of taking a picture of that? I haven't touched my bobcat for a long time but I'd be happy to know how you did it... Nice work!

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Re: AYK Buffalo Basher: Done!

Post by REMJ666 »

It looks really good...Hopefully they don't tear it up...
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Re: AYK Buffalo Basher: Done!

Post by Coelacanth »

AYKBOBCAT wrote:Very nice! So you found a way to mount exes on the rear shaft? Did you think of taking a picture of that? I haven't touched my bobcat for a long time but I'd be happy to know how you did it... Nice work!
I do have some pics, but let's just say it was a righteous pain in the ass. Different axles, different bearings, requires wheels with negative offset, requires some slight grinding on the insides of the swing arm bearing holes to accept the slightly larger bearings...ayiyi. It wasn't fun.
Completed projects: CYANide Onroad Optima | Zebra Gold Optima | Barney Optima | OptiMutt RWD Mid
Gallery - Coel's Stalls: Marui Galaxy & Shogun Resto-Mods | FrankenBuff AYK Buffalo | 1987 Buick GNX RC12L3

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Re: AYK Buffalo Basher: Done!

Post by justinspeed79 »

Beautiful car. Nice work. 8)

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Re: AYK Buffalo Basher: Done!

Post by Dadio »

Necro post , looks nice , by had to have a peek when you said you'd done one .
If a jobs not worth doing then its certainly not worth doing well.
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