Shodog's HPI RS4 original

[shodog]

I’ve been working on this chassis sporadically for the last 4 years. This car is very near and dear to me. It was my first ever touring car I bought back in 1996 and I had to really hustle and save my pennies to afford it. It's had a lot of use and most parts are damaged in some sort of fashion. Over the years I've taken parts from it for other projects and it has sat languishing in a box at least 15 years. It needs a fair amount of parts to complete it. Here is what I started with







I started thinking about what I wanted to accomplish with my original car and whether I wanted to keep it stock or to modify it. After I finished my Pro2 I was left with a lot of parts from it I could use for this chassis. I did some experimenting with the suspension arms but in the end I decided to use just the Pro2 dampers and MIP Cvd's. I'm going to trick it out the way I wish I could have afforded to do back then. Over the years I've collected a few more new parts for it.











I've spent way too much money on it but I don't care. I have only a handful of vintage cars that I've owned since new so this car means much more to me than the $25 its actually worth.

I completely disassembled the car and gave the parts I was going to reuse a thorough cleaning. I started with the rear transmission and worked from there.



One thing that was cool about this car is you could build it either 200mm or 190mm. To do it 190 you have to cut the arms down so I used a couple of washers and a bolt as a guide to cut the 200mm holes off.





I got it built to this point and lost interest





All this sheltering in place has allowed me to do some work on my long lost projects. I pulled it back out and got it built up this this point

[Gedatge]

Hi there,

Where are you finding all your parts?

Would like to hop up my old RS4 Sport.

Thanks

[shodog]

Hi there,

Where are you finding all your parts?

Would like to hop up my old RS4 Sport.

Thanks

Diligent searching on eBay and Facebook groups seems the only way to find parts.

[Gedatge]

Thanks for that. Also another question, first time I’ve seen the double spur gear setup how does that work?

[Lonestar]

Superb job Jim as usual!

The very fact that it's your own also means a lot!

The RS4 was truly the first "modern" touring car from a bespoke platform, as opposed to the other (competitive... not sure the TA03 counts ) chassis which were still derived from offroaders in the late 90's. Plus it was abso-freaking-lutely indestructible thanks to marshmallow-esque plastics (think RC10 nylons and you get the idea...). I had a Pro2 for a short while, which was really competitive out of the box, and this was extremely unusual in those times.

What body are you going to equip it with? I still kick myself for not buying the 993 version bitd...

[Lonestar]

Thanks for that. Also another question, first time I’ve seen the double spur gear setup how does that work?

It's a centrifugal gearbox, like on nitro cars. It's a mechanical/performance aberration as the very essence of a gearbox is to mitigate the absence of torque at low rev on an ICE, whereas electric motors do put out most of their torque at low rpm - but it does look cool as hell

[templeofspeed]

This is awesome, Jim. I still have my original rear gearbox RS4 Ferrari set up for 200mm. I raced it in 1996, and it's been in its box since, I guess I'll have to dig it out. I recall some RPM hop ups and the alloy shocks, sway bars, Lunsford turnbuckles, MIP CVD's, etc. Novak Tempest, Trinity Diamond 12T motor, front one-way diff. I'll dig it out of the basement and maybe get a good look over, it's still in the original box! I've been meaning to get some of my old on-road racers out of mothballs for a while... I was smart and bought spare belts and a few chassis sprues back in the day.

[shodog]

Thanks for that. Also another question, first time I’ve seen the double spur gear setup how does that work?

Each spur gear has its own one way bearing. At first the larger gear is driving the gearbox. The one way bearing in the smaller spur gear allows both gears to spin at the same speed. As it revs up, centrifugal force allows an arm to ride out on an adjustable spring. The arm contacts a pin engaging the second spur gear. One way in the larger spur allows the shaft to spin faster. They work killer during mid battery pack. They work way better with nitro motors that have the same power output till the nitro runs dry.

Superb job Jim as usual! The very fact that it's your own also means a lot! I had a Pro2 for a short while, which was really competitive out of the box...What body are you going to equip it with? I still kick myself for not buying the 993 version bitd...

Thanks for the compliments. This is one of my longest owned vehicles. So for me this car has more sentimental value than actual value. I have their original Porsche body but I also have a bunch of their other bodies to. I’m kinda leaning towards their 996 GT3 body as that’s the closest body to my 1:1 car.

The pro2 was a great car. My neighbor has mine but I since bought another from Incredible Serious which is a whole other Rabbit hole.

This is awesome, Jim. I still have my original rear gearbox RS4 Ferrari set up for 200mm. I raced it in 1996, and it's been in its box since, I guess I'll have to dig it out... I was smart and bought spare belts and a few chassis sprues back in the day.

That’s killer you still have it. You should get it running again. The Ferrari body was one on my favorites. I destroyed one during the car too fast. That nose just isn’t very aerodynamic. The consumables like tires and belts are going to be in demand.

[Lonestar]

This is awesome, Jim. I still have my original rear gearbox RS4 Ferrari set up for 200mm. I raced it in 1996, and it's been in its box since, I guess I'll have to dig it out. I recall some RPM hop ups and the alloy shocks, sway bars, Lunsford turnbuckles, MIP CVD's, etc. Novak Tempest, Trinity Diamond 12T motor, front one-way diff. I'll dig it out of the basement and maybe get a good look over, it's still in the original box! I've been meaning to get some of my old on-road racers out of mothballs for a while... I was smart and bought spare belts and a few chassis sprues back in the day.

whoa #1: RS4 355... they did have some awesome bodies bitd didn't they...

whoa #2: ToS is in da house

[winner_evo]

I couldn't help noticing the Nankai sticker on the rear gearbox side plate, how did that come about? Nankai is an old Japanese motorcyle racing leathers manufacturer (I used to own some many years ago).

[templeofspeed]

whoa #1: RS4 355... they did have some awesome bodies bitd didn't they...

whoa #2: ToS is in da house

I keep up here, just don't post or log in very often.

I'll start my own thread on my 355 RS4 and let shodog do his thing here, although his post did get me off my ass and get the damned thing out of the basement. I've got some other "Other Makes/Models" to show...