Original SWB CAT

[dinglem]

Well thanks to winner_evo I managed to get hold of an original SWB CAT, which was very very complete. Whilst it had been widened at both ends and had a geometry change at the front-end over the years, all of the original parts had been retained and came with the car, so I have spent the last day or so returning the car to the original SWB spec. the only parts missing are some screws to retain the front anti-roll bar and also the two screws for fitting the narrow steering rack (the locktite on the wider rack fitted was so strong the screws simply sheared-off when trying to undo them). These bits are on their way to me now, so will be fitted in the coming days.

I had forgotten how terrible these cars are to work on - HA! Pretty pleased with the result though. I have used the prototype Brimod shocks as per the boxart car, as outlined in a separate thread on here, nd also added a period set of gold Gisom rims. The paint scheme was a nod towards Raborn Racing, a company I have a bit of a soft spot for. The grey bumper appears to have had the lower front corners trimmed a little - I personally love the look so have retained it for the build.

It will be receiving a Demon 16Triple motor and a Demon ProKing ESC shortly.

[XLR8]

Congrats on finally landing a SWB CAT. The car looks awesome!!
The SWB can be a challenge to drive but it will hone your driving skills. Any plans to take it to the track, perhaps for a few solo laps?

[dinglem]

Thanks, pleased to hear you like it. As with all of my cars this will get raced, just as it was designed to do. We have a great vintage scene in the UK and the SWB has a suitable class where it can hopefully be competitive.

[aakoskin]

The paint scheme is really nice. Heh, I even started to think of Microsoft logo, almost there.

[Dadio]

It would be really interesting to drive your car back to back with my PB Mustang as they were developed so closely , my friend has an XLS Re Re but I'd love to see how yours measures up .
Oh its looking really good , sort of forgot to say ... the evils of drink !

[dinglem]

I think it is going to look really good sat next to my XL when that is finished. Those two will also make for a good comparison on track i think.

[dinglem]

Managed to pick up a very very early Demon HT for the SWB this week. I was after one of these pre-Sagami motors for this car, including the rare DEMON stamped endbell. These date from 85-86 so perfect for when the swb was released, and very rare, especially in this condition. The HT is a 27T Single.

[Dadio]

The Demon 27 HT that was the motor I used in my hotshot ! Loved those motors but the bushings wore out really fast , two or three weeks then replace but they were great when on form ,perfect for a 4x4 I think that's what they were marketed for , from what I heard the bushings were very low friction but that meant they also wore out fast , must have had 4 or 5 of them , still have an utterly trashed one in my tool box but its beyond redemption

[winner_evo]

Managed to pick up a very very early Demon HT for the SWB this week. I was after one of these pre-Sagami motors for this car, including the rare DEMON stamped endbell. These date from 85-86 so perfect for when the swb was released, and very rare, especially in this condition. The HT is a 27T Single.

I have a couple of those motors, those are really too early for a SWB CAT if you want to be totally period correct. The 3 piece Demon motors were released inline with the CAT

[dinglem]

I have been trying to research the timings on these actually, and i found an old race report from Sept '86 where Andy Dobson won using a CAT, and four of the other entrants were using the Demon Mr.T, which was the same era as the HT. I know Nick switched to the short-lived V1 red end plate Sagami can in late '86 and was advertising the 'normal' black can V2 Sagami by early '87. My red base plate example was the motor used by Rory Cull in his Hotshot during the 1987 season, so for yhe above reasons i was happy to go with the HT for this build. I agree it was out earlier than the SWB release however.

[dinglem]

Nov 87 introducing the red base plate HT version.

The early SWB CAT review in the same mag was from Aug 86, which included the non-threaded Brimod shocks, so it was those two dates which lead me to the silver Yokomo can version being suitable for this build.

[winner_evo]

Yeah, the dates are difficult to accurately pinpoint because the mag articles of the prototype cars and race reports of team drivers using the car were quite a bit earlier than when the car was actually available to the general public.

As I've mentioned before, it was widely believed the car would come with Brimod shocks and was some time before the production car was released with the Schumacher shocks.

I distinctly remember buying the 3 piece Demon when I got my CAT. I think the general release date of 1986 is a little misleading when it comes to people actually being able to buy the car. The parts list I have for the SWB is dated January 1987, so I would look at 1987 as being the true year.

I think Romsey was late 87 and Masami was using a SWB.

[dinglem]

The July/August '86 RRC edition says the SWB was available for general sale in early July for £175.

[winner_evo]

In your other post it says the August 86 issue showed the Brimod shocks. Those pictures were shown a long time before the car was released for general sale.

I don't believe that July date. When I bought my car, I was the only person in my club with a CAT and there was one guy at Chingford who had one and was the first time I saw the car. He had his car for a while before I got mine as there were waiting times before shops started to stock them.

I sent off for my car through an ad in Radio Race Car mag for £145.

My friend bought a mini mustang around the same time, if you know when they actually went on general sale then that will be a more realistic date for when the CAT was available.

I can say without a doubt that there were very few people running SWB CAT's at the 4 clubs I used to race at, most people ran Optima's and it was only when the Long cars came out that CAT's became more popular. It's why SWB's are rare today.

[dinglem]

The following edition (Aug 86) states available August so i guess the July date didn't work out. The Schumacher web page just says 'released 1986' which is suitably vague.

I had the only CAT at my club also, and that was an early grey bumper XL in 87!!