My original and sad looking 870c

[dinglem]

So i have posted up threads about a few of my cars now, including my Works Yokomo which I rounded off my racing days with bitd. Before that i had an early 870c though, which I eventually replaced and passed over to my father to race, which he indeed did from time to time.

The car got changed, lightened and modified over the years, and was eventually partially stripped for spares. It has been pulled from the loft recently and it looks very sorry for itself. The chassis has been drilled out, but the drive train is complete, the bulkheads and motor mount have also been extensively 'dad-lightened' and the wishbones have been replaced with later items. The top plate is a Jammin Jay item.

I also have a selection of my old body shells too.

I remember replacing the Yokomo shocks almost immediately when i got this car, so the originals are luckily still in my stash pretty much as-new. I also have a fair selection of Yokomo rims and tyres available.

So.... i have decided to restore the car - or at least strip, clean and rebuild it using the correct wishbones and to reinstate the various original parts I still have in my boxes of stuff whilst keeping the dad mods in place. I think this could go together quite nicely and will reflect a nice period in my own racing history. Last thing i want to do is restore it to box new and lose that genuine racer look and the bit of 'character' my father added.

So here it is, complete with 25 years worth of dust and grime.... if you are easily offended look away now(!)

The shocker set needs a clean up, but look in pretty good shape.

Rim selection is here... all sizes and offsets, but the smaller diameter earlier ones are there, plus there is a new, unused set of deep-dish rears

I used to prefer running the narrower TR tyres on the front, and I have just managed to bag a set of the exact size and compounds i ran back then. TF5-H's and TR8-M's. I never in a million years thought I would find the latter so i'm pretty chuffed with those.

One of my old racing mates and i should also add, rivals, from bitd also had an 870c at the same time, and I have tracked him down this past weekend. He still has his car and has agreed to let me have it(!) so if i am going to do a box-fresh resto i will most likely be doing it on his car. I can't recall how modified his car was though - will report back once i have seen it, as well as updating this thread once the resto of my own car gets underway.

[dinglem]

Been a while since I made the first post above.... I am now in the process of rebuilding my Yokomo 870c to the spec I ran it during the '91 Radio Race Car Series, as I recently found a picture of it in action at one of the 1991 rounds. I had a great season with the car that year, and fortunately I have everything for it including the rims and bodyshell. I think I hit every A Final through the entire season with several 2nd and 3rd place qualifications and the odd A win. My overall standing was 3rd, an improvement over my 7th place in 1990. Looking at it more closely, it appears as though the car was modified quite a bit - my father being quite fickle about the cars running perfectly and efficiently, with as little play anywhere as possible. This is evident in the hand made tie rod end on the rears as shown here! Really chuffed to still have all of this lot as there is plenty of sentimental value involved. The chassis itself and bulkheads are still being cleaned up and I will post them up when finished, but believe me when I say it isn't one for the purists, being drilled out extensively to gain any weight advantage possible which was key when running standard class at that time. The home made alloy rims were extremely light and were attached via a grub screw accessed through a hole in the outer rim which you can make out in the front left rim in the pictures. No wheel nuts needed. The rears and deep dish fronts shown are 2.15inch whereas the other pair of fronts are 2 inch.

Dad also fitted a three point, one piece battery strap to replace the usual pair. This meant losing one post completely and the 3rd one residing beneath the Jammin Jay upper deck. Worked a treat. It also generated quite a bit more space for the electrics at the front end.

I ran Option House shocks on all of my cars, and it looks like my father also fabricated a slightly taller front shock mount with multiple mounting points. Some pretty cool mods and I am excited about getting it all back together and getting it back out on track. This was probably the car I had the most success with overall.

[dinglem]

A few more dadmods!

Bulkheads pre-clean up.

Custom front shock tower.

[dinglem]

The 3 point battery strap to save a few grams and create more space up front. Function over form!

The car was always quick - it kept up with anything in the standard class and was always right on the weight limit. We had a motor sponsor (MG) but no shop backing which most of the other team drivers had at that time, so the work my dad did on the car in his garage certainly paid off.

[dinglem]

A few mag entries from when I was racing this car....

1990

1991

[dinglem]

[Sticksnpuck]

Been a while since I made the first post above.... I am now in the process of rebuilding my Yokomo 870c to the spec I ran it during the '91 Radio Race Car Series, as I recently found a picture of it in action at one of the 1991 rounds. I had a great season with the car that year, and fortunately I have everything for it including the rims and bodyshell. I think I hit every A Final through the entire season with several 2nd and 3rd place qualifications and the odd A win. My overall standing was 3rd, an improvement over my 7th place in 1990. Looking at it more closely, it appears as though the car was modified quite a bit - my father being quite fickle about the cars running perfectly and efficiently, with as little play anywhere as possible. This is evident in the hand made tie rod end on the rears as shown here! Really chuffed to still have all of this lot as there is plenty of sentimental value involved. The chassis itself and bulkheads are still being cleaned up and I will post them up when finished, but believe me when I say it isn't one for the purists, being drilled out extensively to gain any weight advantage possible which was key when running standard class at that time. The home made alloy rims were extremely light and were attached via a grub screw accessed through a hole in the outer rim which you can make out in the front left rim in the pictures. No wheel nuts needed. The rears and deep dish fronts shown are 2.15inch whereas the other pair of fronts are 2 inch.

Dad also fitted a three point, one piece battery strap to replace the usual pair. This meant losing one post completely and the 3rd one residing beneath the Jammin Jay upper deck. Worked a treat. It also generated quite a bit more space for the electrics at the front end.

That's really cool Martin, thanks for sharing! Your dad clearly had some original and good ideas. I only wish my pit guy was as innovative and mechanically talented as he was but sadly I did not have nearly the imagination nor skills

I'd like to see how this progresses. I have a similar era car to restore as well.

Dwayne

[dinglem]

Thanks for your comments mate. You obviously have quite a nice Yoke line up there looking at the (three) cars in that photo. We stuck with Yokomo and went on to a Works '91 for the following season - see my other post relating to that car, which I also fortunately still have. What do you have planned for yours?

My father was forever working on the cars and hated any weakness or play. I just used to drive and was pretty much unaware at the time of how much he was actually changing. We always had a fast and reliable car though, and I am only now starting to realise why. I was lucky enough to gain sponsorship from UK motor guys MG, who used to send me motors every few months to race in the standard classes in the well known Radio Race Car Series. I ran in '90 - '93. Great motors, and again, I am very pleased to still have them.

Based on a bit of nostalgia I am going to rebuild this car from the '91 season. I was 7th overall in 1990, but made it up to 3rd overall the following year, based on performances over the 6 UK rounds. Probably my best year of racing. The car has no electrics (unlike my Works '91 which still has my original set up as last raced) so I feel like I can add a modern set up and go racing with this modified 870c again, so that is the plan

[dinglem]

Hello old girl... my much lightened 870c steadily returning to life, together with her (unlightened) sister car. I am building it back to my 1991 Radio Race Car Series format. As you can see from this quick mock-up the chassis and bulkheads are strict swiss cheese spec, Option House shocks all round, with the rears being shorter front bodies but long rear pistons to shave a little weight, 3 point battery strap, no wheel nuts using our original alloys, custom (taller) front shock tower plus a load more dadmods. Drive shafts to add next. Not really bothered about cleaning them too much as this is how they would have been raced....

[dinglem]

Well at least the spur gear set for this match the car!! HA!

Found these at the back of the garage today, Dadmod drilled for lightness

[Dadio]

They look race ready ,just out of interest have you compared the weight of the two cars ?

[dinglem]

They look race ready ,just out of interest have you compared the weight of the two cars ?

Yes, pretty much as we raced them. The drilled out car was my main race car from my peak racing days really. Loved it, and really looking forward to getting it back together properly and giving it a run.

I haven't actually weighed them to compare yet. Good idea.

I do know the lightweight was close to or on the weight limit for 4wd racing in the UK during the 1991 scrutineering. We did it like that for a reason! Even the rear shocks had short shock bodies but long pistons in an attempt to shave some weight.

[Dadio]

Oh I'm aware of the reason ,I have an enduring memory of coming second to a hornet after my battery dumped on the last lap of a race when I'd led easily for the whole time with my fibre glass chassis and highly modded Hot Shot ,its hard to relate to people now how hard you tried to ride the knife edge of battery life over speed and the vague nature of battery chargers in the early 80's , every gramme on the car had to be there for a reason !
Its easy to see a perforated chassis on eBay and think what a waste but it was usually done for a reason .

[dinglem]

Had a bit of a renewed interest in getting this old girl back together and up and running after having uncovered the footage of me racing her at the Oswestry Radio Race Car round in 1991.

Mainly just down to cleaning up the bulkheads and motor mount really, as they had tarnished a little over the years, as well as checking things over and digging out all of the parts which my father caringly modified back in the day.

It is interesting to see how he modified the front bulkhead, fitting steel inserts to replace the shock tower mount position upright area, which was a known weak spot. It is a pretty cool piece of work considering he did it in his shed.

A box of used UJ's has also turned up, along with a very elusive part indeed..... the hanger for the Jammin' Jay upper deck belt tensioner re-position. That part has probably been missing for around 25 years or more!

Not a car for the collector, but for me this has so many memories packed into it so i am really keen to preserve all of the changes my father made to make the car as competitive for me as it was.

[dinglem]

Tiny but critical. I have no idea why we took this off in the first place, unless it fouls on the one-piece battery strap mod. Will have to check. - it is all so long ago now.