Turbo Optima V.O.N.A.T.S. racer

[kaiser]

thanks to bigjeepz i'm the proud owner of this turbo optima with a belt drive conversion:



this car will be a racer in the 2012 vonats classics class.

so far i've ordered:

body and decal set from marwan
gold rear plate with heatsink from pargu (just had to have it)

i'm thinking about some other gold bits but will wait for the car to arrive before i spend any more $$ on it.

back in the day i had a mid, but always lusted over a full option rear motored optima.

[soniccj5]

Looking forward to getting lapped by you with my Sand Scorcher in 2012.

ED

[kaiser]

Looking forward to getting lapped by you with my Sand Scorcher in 2012.

ED

they should break out the classics class like a vintage road race, different classes on the track at the same time.
so it wouldn't be too hard for the oldies like the scorcher or hoppers to podium.

edit: then again look at what brandon did with a frog and a falcon.

[Seabass]

I am glad to see you are excited about this car. I will be sure to watch this thread to see the end result. If everything works out I hope to be at the Vonats this year and will get the chance to see the buggy run.

Jake

[Bormac]

Great to see this car of Jake's go to good use.
I have been building up a couple old Optima's and you'll need to be certain that you have a 'hardened' final pinion gear on the top layshaft. The original alloy item was pure rubbish. They might as well have made it out of cheese

[kaiser]

good to know. i remember an ultima at this years vonats having trouble in that area.

[VintageCat]

Great to see this car of Jake's go to good use.
I have been building up a couple old Optima's and you'll need to be certain that you have a 'hardened' final pinion gear on the top layshaft. The original alloy item was pure rubbish. They might as well have made it out of cheese

Is this true of the Optima Mid as well?

[Coelacanth]

Great to see this car of Jake's go to good use.
I have been building up a couple old Optima's and you'll need to be certain that you have a 'hardened' final pinion gear on the top layshaft. The original alloy item was pure rubbish. They might as well have made it out of cheese

Is this true of the Optima Mid as well?

The Optima Mid has a different system involving a plastic final pinion and shaft with a cross-pin.

[kaiser]

the optima came in today, i'm very pleased.

the body from marwan (ships from dubai) also came in today and it looks great! thats some fast middle eastern shipping!

[kaiser]

can someone school me on the gears?

i see a bunch of thorpe gears on the bay, underdrive, overdrive, pargu has an alloy counter gear.

i know the stock gears are rubbish, what would you choose to run on our tight track @ rchr?

thanks.

[Coelacanth]

can someone school me on the gears?

i see a bunch of thorpe gears on the bay, underdrive, overdrive, pargu has an alloy counter gear.

i know the stock gears are rubbish, what would you choose to run on our tight track @ rchr?

thanks.

The stock gears aren't rubbish; only the soft aluminum Final Pinion Gear is weak. Pargu's gear is no better. You'll have to try to find a Hard Final Pinion gear or you'll be constantly replacing the aluminum ones. They're not easy to come by, I'm afraid, and you'll probably pay $15 or more just for that one gear, when you DO find one. I bought one from transamman on here a while back, and saw he had another listed on eBay for $15. Might send him a PM.

I don't know about the Thorpe overdrives/underdrives, I've never used them. I also know some people talk about changing the spur gear to one with a different pitch so you can use modern pinion gears, but I also have read that it's really not worth the effort. The cars work great with the stock gearing and a hard final pinion gear.

Another must-have IMHO is a torque limiter gear. This was a standard part with the Turbo Optima, but the regular Optima just used a gear with a solid shaft. The limiter gear acts as a slipper and has a beefy spring on it, and a brass-colored reverse-threaded lock-nut on the other end.

EDIT: More info on the limiter gear here:

http://www.rc10talk.com/viewtopic.php?f=56&t=23790

[kaiser]

thanks for the info, transamman has one on ebay now, i'll go grab it.

edit:

got it!

[kaiser]

anyone know where i can find an english version of an optima or turbo optima manual?

[ROH73]

http://www.retromodelisme.com/manuel_page/139/turbo-optima-kyosho.html

[kaiser]

thank you!