Tamiya Egress re-build

[stickboy007]

I always wanted an Egress, ever since I was a kid. So I got one as a birthday present to myself earlier this year. Won an eBay auction for a seriously beaten up Egress for ~ $300. I figured it would be better to rebuild a beaten up Egress than to spend over $600 on one that somebody else built fresh out of the box (seriously! Why ruin the fun for whoever will buy it?). I posted some youtube clips of the rebuild process (links below - 5 parts, but mistakenly made two part 3's). The only thing I changed since these photos is that I installed slightly longer turnbuckles in the rear (lunsford). I'm still working on the body and wing. Body is painted with original decals ($50 for a decal sheet is a little ridiculous, but okay), but had some trouble painting the wing. I'll have to order another wing. Also need to get some music wire to fab my own wing stay. Did some custom bits (e.g., red ball studs and locknuts) to make it prettier, but otherwise a pretty faithful rebuild.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MV_liHtAz0k&feature=g-upl

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TparF8Psm0&feature=g-upl

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckPWbS0wXzE&feature=g-upl

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUqeyvqHnc8&feature=g-upl

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1chlod5xrk&feature=g-upl

[squirrelnutz]

Looks awesome, i always wanted an egress as well but they are a bit too pricey for me

[stickboy007]

Rebuilding one is just as costly as getting a "fresh" one. I do hope Tamiya does a re-release for this.

[squirrelnutz]

If there was a re re, I would bet the price would be about $500

[kaiser]

yup, and thats why i don't own any of the cooler re-releases.
i'm not paying top dollar for a car, even as cool as it might be, that wasn't worth it back in the day let alone now.

still want one though.

[stickboy007]

I'm a sucker for nice re-releases.

[naushad]

Awesome....saw your vids aswell...bringing back old to almost new is so satisfying!

[stickboy007]

Thanks! Yes, it's good fun, despite the cost of course (although, hunting for parts is half the fun). The Avante/Egress series is a pretty interesting series. The Egress and Avante 2001 (which I think should really be called the Egress 2001, since it's exactly the same but with cheaper parts) have a longer wheelbase, but the Avante has adjustable front and rear arms. So you can do an Egress with Avante arms, or vice versa. Or you can put an Egress diff in the Avante (the Egress diff is really cool, with two thrust bearings). They're all based on the same exact gearbox, much like the Top Force and TA-01/02/Prerunner chassis are all based on the same gearbox. Lots of neat stuff there. It was fun building the Black Special and the Avante 2011, and that prepared me well for this Egress rebuild. For now, it will be a shelf queen, but maybe one day I'll run it. We'll see...

[naushad]

Hunting is expensive....

I'd like to get a black special soon...I just marvel at the engineering although the Avante isn't the slickest car on the track

[stickboy007]

I use my Avante 2011 as a runner for vintage races. Let's just say it drives nothing like a B44...this is not a car that you can just slide around like you were in an off-road drifting orgy. The biggest problem I've had with it is that it tends to wander. So you'll punch it coming out of turns, and you won't know if it will veer to the left or right. I first tried replacing the gear diffs with ball diffs, but that didn't help. Tried making sure the rear toe-in was actually toe-in rather than toe-out, but that didn't help either.

One of the fundamental problems I've had was that the stock shock/spring setup is too soft in the back. So I replaced them with Associated shocks and green springs, but then the rear was bouncing too much. Tried switching to black springs in the rear, but then the rear sagged too much. Then I tried all kinds of pre-load spacers to see if there's a window somewhere in there, but no dice. It is very hard to smooth out the rear suspension without making it sag. I eventually bought the re-released hi-cap dampers, but they didn't do much either (although they do look nice). I began to realize that one problem is that the older rims are small, and so when you mount 2.2" rims on it, the roll center goes up and the car starts driving like it's drunk. Adding spacers to the inner camber link mounting position to reduce the roll center certainly helped for hard, smooth surfaces (like the street...haha), but still doesn't do the trick on a proper off road track. I recently put downtravel limiters in the shocks, to pull the ride height down to something more comparable to a modern 4wd buggy with 2.2" rims. Haven't tried it out yet, but hopefully that will help.

I had also fiddled around a lot with the adjustable suspension arms. I tried lenthening the wheelbase through the rear trailing arm (the front ball joint can be screwed out to do this, but you need to adjuste the rear joint to keep the rear toe-in constant, which also makes the rear wider). The problem with these adjustable trailing arms is that width, wheelbase, and toe-in are all linked together. Changing one will change the others, and the compensating for that will change something else. Anyway, after lengthing the wheelbase and then widening the track by adjusting the front and rear arms...there was no difference. Actually, there was a difference...the dogbones are further out on the drive cup, which makes the drive cups pop out of the transmission case when you land a jump, and so you have to walk around the track fishing for a tiny drive cup. Not fun. Word to the wise - don't adjust the trailing arms, at least not while the ride height is high. With downtravel limiters on the shocks, this pushes the dogbones into the drive cups, and so you'll have **some** room to at least pull the rear trailing arm out and back and the front arms out. The simple wheelbase fix is to use an Egress chassis, but as I pointed out in my YouTube series, you'd have to change the entire rear suspension - it's not a simple plug and play.

Another thing that stands out is bump steer. This might be what's the main culprit. I need to start experimenting with spacers under the steering link mount on the front upright. If that doesn't do the trick, then I may just brute force it with a stronger servo.

I'm too stubborn to give up on this chassis. It may never drive as well as it looks, but I want to make it at least somewhat driveable on an off-road track. Hopefully one day I'll get there. Or I'll give up and start focusing on my YZ10s...

[naushad]

Yeah, that's my main bugbear about getting Avante...I'm just in two minds about it at present. To fork out £450 for this kit is serious money.
I'm sure the building will be really satisfying and to be honest I'm enjoying this part of rc more than driving (mainly as there is a lack of good
places to run where I live). Probably you've already done this but it could be worth just going back to stock settings as in the manual and work
on from there....even so I'd imaging there will be limiting factor and like you suggest changing whole sections of the car to something that loses
the uniqueness of the Avante/Egress...Maybe have a peak at the Vajra's setup (truck based on the Avante). I've seen a few videos on that and they seem
to handle pretty well on a dirt track and look great!

The YZ!0s are awesome machines - sturdy and built for racing...they look aggressive under the hood and on the track! Even now they seem to fetch
quite a bit...

[stickboy007]

Basically, if you want a shelf queen, it's hard to find a better one. Even driving it on the street, or on a smooth off-road track (you Euro guys like those carpet indoor off-road tracks...this should do okay there), it's decent. The track I race at is hard-packed dirt, and over time it gets rutted. Even modern chassis have a tough time with it, but the Avante especially gets thrown around. I took it to a vintage event with a new outdoor dirt track that was actually a pretty nice surface, but even with minor bumps in the surface it was a problem.

One thing that helps the Vajra is that it has a longer wheelbase. The upper and lower decks are the same shape as the Avante 2011, but they are a bit longer. It also has wider tires. These two combined should help it stay planted.

I originally had the stock setup, having only replaced the shocks with AE shocks, since the stock ones really aren't that great (single o-ring seal, narrow shock body). I think there's just something geometrically wrong, but I haven't nailed it down yet. The fact that this chassis has a shorter wheelbase and is narrower than a modern 4wd buggy, I think has something to do with it. The arms are shorter than those on a modern buggy, much like if you compare a vintage RC10 to a B4.1. I think the downtravel limiters on the shocks and some bump steer fixes will help, but I have to test it out to be sure.

YZ10s are just plain cool. I have an 870c that's a project car (I have most of the pieces...just haven't made the time to take it apart and clean everything) and recently picked up a '94 YZ10. I am tempted to take the '94 YZ10 racing, but I have no spare parts for it (arms, hubs, etc.), so I'm a little hesitant.