Not just another Fox Resto...!!

[CNA75]

I have recently come back to the hobby with a view to restoring my beloved Fox - the car that I had when I was 11 - to its full glory. However, this time this project is not going to be just another resto, it going to involve every hop-up I can find for this car to turn more into a racing car. I intend to keep the car as primarily a shelf queen but to bring to full running order so I can take it out once in a while. Having purchased a number of new parts, I have assembled the chassis with suspension, minus the gearing, drive shafts and electronics. This is just to get to a base starting point from which to now deviate. Here are some pics of my base build:

And here are some of the Hop-Ups that I have at the moment. I am still awaiting some more to arrive (e.g. thorp dog bone conversion, duralmin wing) and continue my search for all others that may be of interest. The wheels are aluminium and are in the exact same style as the original Fox wheels. All aluminium parts (including the wheels and the anodized nerf bars) will be subjected to my polishing kit in order to achieve a natural polished aluminium look:

Hope you enjoy, and I'll update the thread as the build progresses.

[joeh51]

the fox is one of my favorite cars and yours looks like it will be sweet.

[aconsola]

Looks like fun! I love to see a collection of parts like that ready to get put onto a "super car". beware the slippery slope:

You will find that if you collect enough hop-ups that you get different manufacturers aftermarket versions of the same part, can't use both ont he same car, so one chassis will not do. Then it looks too good to actually run, so you buy a third to run with just a select handful of hop-ups. By this point you're feeling nostalgic and decide to do a boxart build which will be a nice contrast on the shelf to further show off the hopped-up cars.

[CNA75]

Looks like fun! I love to see a collection of parts like that ready to get put onto a "super car". beware the slippery slope:

You will find that if you collect enough hop-ups that you get different manufacturers aftermarket versions of the same part, can't use both ont he same car, so one chassis will not do. Then it looks too good to actually run, so you buy a third to run with just a select handful of hop-ups. By this point you're feeling nostalgic and decide to do a boxart build which will be a nice contrast on the shelf to further show off the hopped-up cars.

Ain't that the truth..... Costly business this hobby!!

[Mr. ED]

Nice collection of NIB hop-ups. Curious about that paranoia part; what is it?

The coolest Fox I remember seeing had fully DIY fiberglass chassis : sand-wich style.
Do you plan on putting some home-made parts in your mix too?

[CNA75]

Thanks. To be honest, I don't have the tools or the skills to include homemade parts. And I wouldn't trust myself to get it right + I'm looking to use period items only to keep that vintage feel.

The Paranoia part is an adjustable ball diff, like the thorp equivalent. I put it together as I couldn't resit doing it before everything else! Great part and, with my nip thorp dog bone conversion, will sort out the transmission a great deal. There's one on Ebay at the moment I believe, although priced a lot higher than I got mine for (also on EBAY)...

[Mr. ED]

first time i see that paranoia part. I wonder what else they had in their catalog.
I've never seen a catalog of their products and only seen a couple parts: for gas-kyosho's, the optima mid, and yokomo yz10's if I recall correctly.

Why not try on the home-made parts? If it doesn't work out you can still go back to the parts you allready have. Believe me there's no better satisfaction than to see something you made yourself, even if the finnish is not all perfect.

[RETRO R/C]

Great stuff! I have been hoarding parts for a long while on the fox as well. I will be very keen to see how yours turns out.

I also have the Paranoia ball diff. They made a few parts for different cars ED - eventually I will get around to doing a list of them!

Dont forget to do the progress piccies - really looking forward to this build of yours.

cheers

Darryn

[shodog]

That should be a foxy fox when it's done.

[Brandon G]

Have you got the dual front shock conversion in your collection of hopups?

Where did you get the Aluminum wheels?

This should be a killer car when done.

[CNA75]

Have you got the dual front shock conversion in your collection of hopups?

Where did you get the Aluminum wheels?

This should be a killer car when done.

Yup, I have the JG dual front shock conversion kit to which I will (hopefully) be fitting the blue You-G dampers (which will also go on the rear to keep the colour co-ordination). The aluminium wheels came from Fleabay. They were sold as NIP parts for the Wild One but they will fit the Fox too and, once polished, I reckon they should look great and compliment the (soon-to-be polished) aluminium dirt burner wing which arrived today!

[CNA75]

Ok. Just a quick update on this build. I have this weekend been able to dig out my polishing kit and have put it to task on my Dirt Burners aluminium wing, Dirt Burner aluminium front uprights and You-G rear shock mount. Wheels have yet to be done - I'll need to high grit wet/dry paper to get these to a suitable polishing point. Here some pics:

Here are the Dirt Burner uprights. On the left is the polished item and on the right is the item as it came NIP:

And here is the Dirt Burner wing put together, with its aluminium mount and the rear shock mount. All look nicely polished and ready to be mounted in due course:

Next time I will hopefully have done the wheels, nerf bars, anti-roll bars and the remaining front upright.....will keep you posted!

[CNA75]

So....it has taken me quite some time to progress this build but having just had some time off work I have managed to complete it. Much of the time was taken up polishing all the aluminium bits such as the wheels, resistor covers, nerf bars, rear shock mount, anti roll bars (front and rear), and front uprights. Polishing time was probably more than the build time itself. Anyway here's the build as it happened in chronological order:

1. First the wheels were polished - this took a while but the end result is quite unique, I think, for a Fox:

2. Next came the installation of the electrics. These were taken out of my existing Fox which I had from when I was 11 years old. That car has a broken chassis and many worn out parts so I've used it as a donor car where necessary in order to keep this build as a "restoration". Hence all the electrics (Accoms Techniplus) have been removed from the old car and installed into the new chassis. As you can see, it is quite a tight fit. It is also not something you want to get wrong as getting back into the Chassis once it has been put together is a pain in the @***!

3. Then it was time to move onto fitting my first hop-ups. These were (i) the Parma adjustable front suspension arms - adjustable for caster and camber - and (ii) the Thorp front uprights (polished):

So the above should assist with fine tuning the steering - i.e. oversteer and understeer - and add some strength to the front end.

4. Now came the bit I was really looking forward too as it is so unique for the Fox; the fitting of the JG Dual Shock Conversion Kit. I have never seen a Fox with the dual shock conversion fitted. Having mounted the fibre-glass mounts and made up the You-G Shocks I noticed that the pre-drilled holes in the shock mount were too high for the You-G Shocks. This is because they were designed for Kyosho long shocks. However, I was adamant that I was going to fit the You-G Shocks because of their quality and their colour scheme (which, being blue, suits the Fox). So to fit these shocks I had to drill an extra hole into each shock mount at a downwards angle so that they would fit correctly. The end result is what you see below:

[CNA75]

Some more pics of the dual front shocks mounted:

5. Now onto the gear box and the fitting of the Thorp dog bone drive system and Paranoia adjustable ball diff. Ball races are used throughout the gearbox (as with the rest of the car too). Here is a picture of the rear inner thorp axles fitted to the gearbox:

....and here is pic of the Paranoia ball diff fitted. It's adjustable by way of the srews in the side which adjust the pressure of the pressure plates either side of the balls:

....and here is a pic with the gears assembled in the gearbox, which is ready to be put together:

....and to complete the Thorp dog bone assembly with rear suspension:

You will notice that in the last picture above I have also fitted the CRP aluminium rear shock mount which I have polished up....

[CNA75]

6. Next job is to fit the rear You-G shocks and mount the rear end to the chassis. I really think the You-G shocks are top quality - a bit heavy but the cylinder, piston and springs display top quality and the adjustability of the spring rate is achieved by the threaded aluminium shock collars:

...with rear end mounted to chassis:

Note the Thorp front bumper fitted too - much more sturdy that the original - perfect for putting up with those other bad drivers on the race track....

7. So it was now time to fit the CRP front sway bar. This required trimming away some of the flange of the chassis that rises up towards the front end from the main chassis box. I also trimmed down the area where the screws hold the front sway bar mounts as the mounts are fitted between the top half of the chassis and the bottom half of the chassis. Holes had to be drilled into the lower front suspension arms on either side so that the adjustable track rods could be fitted: