Tomy Intruder racer build

[Delorean]

Hey dudes

About 5 years ago I learned there was such a thing as a Tomy Intruder and since that time I’ve wanted one. After a few attempts to find one over the years I finally scored an NIB Tomy intruder and 2 weeks later, a new built Adonis came my way (it never rains but it pours). So the plan is to build a racer for our vintage racing here in Australia.

The Premise: Firstly let me say 2 things, this thread wont be for the purists or the people that want everything preserved in bubble wrap forever, however in short, the intruder will stay NIB as much as possible and the Adonis will be built into a racer using a lot of after market parts, parts from other manufacturers and parts I get specifically made for it. From all my reading about the Tomy, it appears that most dudes who drove the car in the 90’s had to use parts from other cars to keep the thing running, my build will revolve around that sort of thinking with the aim being to produce a Tomy intruder racer that has parts on it that can be replaced more easily, for example, I read that kyosho steering knuckles fit the car. What I’ll attempt to do is log each part that I use that’s not original and keep a list at the bottom of this post so it can be a bit of a resource for anyone else who wants to build a runner Tomy so if you know of any parts that transfer across, please post in here and I’ll put it as a part of the list

The plan: After a few years of light running, the Tomy will be retired to the shelf, so I want to preserve as many of the original parts as possible, so I’ll get all the fibre lyte chassis and shock tower/steering plate parts, repro body/undertray/decals and I’ll run yokomo wheel adapters with the Kose universals I just picked up from Jet Hobby. I’ve got a mate who is able to make simple parts like arms so I might see if he can use the original ones as a template and run the repro arms too though I just scored a NIP set of arms which can keep as a backup. Because the car has already been built, it already has self tappers but I’ll switch them out for hex screws.

There are a couple of other things I’d like to see if I can sort out, potentially I’d like to run 3mm belts as I’m not sure how long the originals would last and im more likely to be able to find replacements, so I’ll be looking into if the xpress main shaft/pully and diffs are transferrable, which will also give me more spur gear options and I just want to run direct drive full time 4wd, no torque splitter or one-way (I will also look into yokomo as I read that the yokomo diff is a direct drop-in), then it will be a case of finding the correct belt for it, I’ll also look into finding suitable replacement rear belts. I’m a fan of the whole Tomy “Red” theme they have going with the box art body being red, the shocks, the wheels and the driveline parts, this will be carried into the rest of the car too, so the Kose drive shafts I have coming are red, all of the Xpress stuff I consider to be like repro parts as they are all made from the original Tomy designs, they have a lot of red parts such as ball studs and pillow balls which I will try and utilise too.

My question is mainly to those who ran the car in competition back in the day, how fragile is the car and what bits? It seems like Tamiya hubs may work on it (I read an Intruder Ex thread where Tamiya hubs were use but I know the arms are longer on the Ex) so I can use them instead, but what about things like bulkheads. I’ve had a look through the box and checked the parts, the people at Tomy appeared to be very focussed on keeping the car light, the bulkheads are all milled out where they deemed extra material isn’t needed, the magnesium motor mount weights nothing etc. are the bulkheads an area of concern? Any other potential areas I should be worried about?

To add some context to the questions, I am an experienced racer, I know how to build a reliable/tough car and I know how to take care of one on the track and I’ll be racing it in the stock class which uses Johnson 540 motor silvercans as the control motor so its not like I’ll need to build it to cope with a 7.5 turn brushless


I know all of this means it wont be quite a full Tomy when I race it but at its heart it will be one and when its time to let it rest, hopefully all its bits will be in nice condition for it to go on display with any silverware it earned in its time

Anyway heres some pics of the cars, the NIB intruder box is in excellent condition, its tucked away safely for the moment and pics of the adonis
I just had a good look aver the Adonis, wow the car feels light, I know its got no electrics etc but I can tell it’s a light car, the body shell is very thin, its been cut pretty well, it will be a good shelf queen body. I’ll weigh the car as it is, then I’ll tear it down to nothing and start looking for suitable option parts, I’ve read that the kose drive shafts aren’t very good, I’ll make sure to Loctite the screw in it and running 540 shouldn’t stress them too much

The build will take place over around 6 months I'd say, it needs to be ready by the beginning of September for our annual Vintage festival in Sydney

Cheers and sorry for the long read

Mikey

[tiger1]

I was a top car in 1991 in Hong Kong onroad buggy

[OptimaZe]

Awesome buggies! Very nice score!

[naushad]

That's a nice example of an Adonis you have there. Finding parts for it is difficult to say the least! Aftermarket hop ups were made by gpm I think and some other oriental rc manufacturers. You may find some compatibility with yokomo yz series parts? Fibrelyte do most of the chassis parts. You can use yokomo dogfighter 2.2 wheels. The Kose red anodised drive shaft are ok - the anodizing isn't that durable and you have to thread lock th shaft and axle before use otherwise they come apart. The belts are thin from what I recall. The planetary diff is a funny thing but I think you are going the right way with a Mabuchi-type motor. Maybe you should change the shocks from the stock plastic.

[Delorean]

Thanks for the tips mate. Yeah the 540 shouldn't stress the car too much. I'm planning on getting ball diffs into it either from a period yokomo or xpress parts. And definitely I'll be running different shocks on it. The kose universals arrived and they look pretty trick. I've got a mate with a bunch of yokomo parts so I'm going to start testing some parts and belts for fit before I pull the car totally apart

[alien3t]

would be cool to know what xpress parts work. I just picked up a box of store left over stock TOMY parts, same store has a ton and a ton of xpress kits, and parts and owner built cars left.

[Delorean]

Yeah I'll definitely update the thread with what works as a substitute

[rccars4sal]

You can run the adonis pretty hard. What breaks are the plastic suspension related bis. Hit a wall, or curb, and watch the unobtanium plastic bits break like a plastic model.

There was a guy in UK, who was going to list a bunch of tomy parts but apparently never did. Ive got same 2 cars,, the standard and the adonis. Both mine are used and abused though.

[wydraz]

Hi all,

I'll be following the thread

My love for the Tomy Intruder series started a couple of years ago, since then I've had and sold:

2 new build Intruders
1 new build Intruder EX
1 rough runner Intruder

I still have:

1 runner Intruder
1 runner Intruder EX
1 new unbuilt Celica (Adonis based)
1 NIB Adonis

I struggled with parts and spent time with a friend in the USA modelling bulkheads to 3D print until alien3t came along with a treasure trove for me

Bear in mind that unless FibreLyte have updated their drawing, their rear shock tower needs modifying if using the kit wing mount.

I have the RTC on my runner - odd why they decided to only have the rear wheels slip but it's on there. I also have some alloy arms, towers and C hubs but haven't fitted them.

I'll post some pics of my cars once my photobucket decides to play ball.

Oh by the way, I scanned my original Tomy Intruder and Intruder EX decals and sent them to Nathaneal of MCI Racing so the repros are now available on eBay.

Cheers!

Dan

[wydraz]

As promised:








The Adonis and Celica pics are from the web, others are pics I have taken.

[DemZ]

Sorry for interrupting but I'm new to the forum so i thought i would get some advise from some tomy intruder fans, I'm currently looking for a brand new unbuilt intruder and have come across a brand new one that hasn't been built but they are asking $1500 and I,m wondering if that is a fair price, being the only one i can find i have no prices to compare it to so i thought i would ask here, Thanks in advance your advise will be greatly appreciated,

[JamieB]

I'm not going to pretend that I am an expert but that seems to be the price these cars are listed at which I think is stupidly high. Fair enough they are extremely rare but the price seems to be just too high. But if its the only one currently for sale, and maybe one of only a few unbuilt examples in the world then you will need to pay the price the seller has listed the car for or try and bargain.

A built example unboxed recently sold for £300 (almost). I paid £100 for my boxed one in 2012 so would expect around that appreciation for a boxed example, surprised an unboxed example went so high.

If you go the money, buy it, look at it every day and enjoy.

[wydraz]

I have a NIB Adonis I will sell for half that!

[Coelacanth]

Sorry in advance guys, but I just had to mention it. All this recent commentary on the Tomy Intruder kept reminding me of this part in the old movie, Top Secret:

[youtube]hXqLWqCqDHc[/youtube]