Turbo Optima mid SE

[Lavigna]

Really great build. It looks so good now. The platinum shocks have always been some of my favorites. I like how you have more shock showing.

I'm jealous of your anodizing skills. I have soo many parts I need anodized.

[radioactivity]

Shocks are back to stock form for now.

I haven't felt the servo was up to the build.
So I ordered a Spektrum, a pretty one.
It"s size should help with alignment to the servo saver.
way more torque and speed than the placeholder Futaba that is in there now.

Anodized a servo horn to match the rest of the car.
I didn't know if the bright orange could go with the blue-teal but somehow it does.

Chuck

[radioactivity]

The fit is really nice. I will shorten the horn to servo saver a bit.
Really good alignment as well.

Chuck

[XLR8]

Looks fantastic Chuck. The colors do work together well.

Ya know, at some point the chassis will be finished and you'll probably want to cap the project off with a nicely painted body. Unfortunately, that means covering most of the car making it appear to be just a nicely restored but otherwise ordinary SE.

I know you're planning to display this car so this is one that I'd be very tempted to leave the body clear so folks can appreciate all that amazing anno work.
I don't have any RC's on the shelf with a clear body but I also don't have any with a chassis that awesome.

Anyway, it's just a thought. Keep up the great work!

[radioactivity]

Thanks Doug

You are right, with the body on there are only hiints of what lies below.
Clear or transluscent would be cool but for now the body will probably stay the same.
I 've got a couple of paint schemes in cue but not sure which car gets what paint.

Chuck

[radioactivity]

Don't really know why I started this today but decided to work on the Platinums.
They just don't feel right.
Maybe I got the wrong oil. I don't know a centistoke from a centipede.
I know the rear springs originally were mediums ( whatever a medium means ) and there are firm on now.
So I replaced the orings and polished the heck out of the shock shafts both inside and outside.
These orings are supposed to be super slippery, not sure about that though.
The polishing was probably more effective than the orings.

Chuck

[RichieRich]

So, all that work and you got minimal improvement? I could never get those things to work right.

[radioactivity]

Not really work but still trying to get them better.


Chuck

[radioactivity]

I don't think I'll ever get them right Not sure if anyone did.

I did run the Platinums for a couple seasons back in the day.
Never finding any real advantage with them.
These are super sluggish on rebound (27.5w oil) with hard rear springs and medium fronts, thats what the car came with.
These do have the 1 slot pistons. I always ran the 2 slot pistons. I also ran 1 oring and silver springs, the soft springs.

Before replacing the orings I polished the sub piston. They looked perfectly shiny but when polishing but a brownish looking residue was removed.
The inside of the sub piston was by far much worse.

Will have 2 slots coming but need to find the elusive tiny orings first.

But they have a distinct look and a novel approach to adjusting the damping characteristics.\


Chuck

[juicedcoupe]

Those sound perfect, for a shelf car.

[LoCoCNC]

Awesome post! But I have to say the Gold's would look better I believe.

[radioactivity]

Couples of smalls today

The idler was an attempt to minimize excess play in the rear gearbox.
This idler is slightly larger than the Pargu.
Also switched back to the Kyosho main gear pinion and removed the Thorpe.
The Kyosho was also slightly larger than the Thorpe.
All in all about a 50% reduction in backlash.

The servo saver spring is pretty nice.
I stumbled across these springs looking at other TOMSE parts.
Everyone else probably knows about them but me.
The spring took nearly 90% of the slop out of the steering.

Chuck

[radioactivity]

Back into the shocks again.

Got some of the tiny o-rings that seal the inner shaft to the outer tube installed. A couple of the shocks showed signs of a small leak.
Polishing the inside of the larger shock tube is important.
Went back to the original large orange o-rings. The large white o-rings were getting too tight on the shock shaft.
And I added a shim to the inner shock shaft between the floating valve and the top of the inner shock shaft.

The shock " variable damping adjustment" is, in my way of thinking, quite aggressive.
A small turn of the adjuster can make a large damping increase on the rebound.
I can't think of an other shock configuration that restricts the rebound.
Several aftermarket configs alter the compression stroke not the rebound.

Anyways this thin shim, .3mm, still retains some rebound damping but no where near the original.
Overall, in my opinion, a much smoother shock emulating more the feel of a modern shock.
I had tried a .7mm shim and it was way too much.
A very small addition with a large change.

Chuck

[TheDiamondOne]

Yep, they are really cool shocks but rebound dampening being adjustable really makes no. It should have been the compression instead. Oh well.

[RichieRich]

@radioactivity If I'm reading your post correctly, a small adjustment, using the shim between the floating piston and the head of the shock shaft, makes the rebound much better?