Old Optima and Ultima mods?

[Coelacanth]

Bill, like the others said, I wouldn't recommend NiMH batteries either, if you're going this far into a resto-mod...buh-bye NiMH's!

To explain why...NiMH batteries start losing their charge the moment you take them off the charger. Just leaving it sit for a few weeks will drain some or all of it. I remember buying a brand new 4600 mAh 7-cell 8.4V NiMH for my Optima when I first restored it...sheesh, must be more than a decade ago, now...I gave it a full charge, put it aside for a few weeks. I then plugged it into the car some weeks later and couldn't figure out why the new ESC was hardly working, the wheels and steering would twitch and not much more. Turns out that NiMH had almost completely lost its charge over that short period of time.

Another issue is that NiMH batteries start losing their power gradually as the battery discharges. With LiPo batteries, the voltage/power doesn't degrade so much as the battery is discharged, provided you don't let them discharge beyond about 3.4 volts per cell. Lastly, as with all rechargeable NiMH batteries, at some point they just stop taking a good charge and retaining their capacity. Sure, it'll take a full charge, but it'll crap out within minutes when the battery has degraded too much.

You have to be more careful with LiPo's of course, but maintain them properly, store them with a storage charge, don't overcharge or over-discharge and you should get years of use out of them.

[Merlin]

Thanks for the info on the Li-Po batteries!! I kind of read some of that the other day, then the part about them exploding?? Then I remember seeing that cell phone in the guy's pocket on TV somewhere
not to long ago!! The Li-Po batteries like that ????

I ordered a 300mm x 400mm x 4mm carbon fiber plate I wish the size was in USA INCHES!!!!!!
I am going to rebuild this Ultima all NEW the front Aluminum piece that the steering bolts onto I will have to find a metal shop that can do the plate offset bend and the nose up bend???
going to have to figure out how I can get a smooth and even cut on the new carbon fiber plate? I might have to get a router and some kind of bit that i can use the old Chassis as a jig!!
I thought this chassis was graphite! But I was wrong it is carbon fiber!!
I am recovering from surgery so I am Board, so this will give me something to do!! Just wish it did not cost so much I could have gotten a new Axial rock crawler kit with what I have spent on this ultima!

So I have a question this carbon fiber plate is like 15 3/4 inches long. the ultima is like (old carbon fiber plate) 10 7/16 inches long! Would a longer wheel base be better or worse???
At this point I could do just about anything when I go to cut the new carbon fiber plate??
So does anyone out there ever built a longer or shorter wheel base in there mods???

Bill

[Merlin]

Hello

I ordered a sheet of carbon fiber Dragon Plate 4mm thick and I should have gotten 3mm thick plate going to order that next.
What I plan on doing since this carbon fiber kit you can't get no more is build a new Kit?? Use the old plate as a template to cut the new one! the old one is fine,
but after drilling for servo mounts and mods back 30 years ago then all the new stuff today? I thought of painting the carbon fiber but how long will it stick before peeling??
I have a question has anyone ever worked with carbon fiber plat? Can it be heated and bent? As for cutting it I am on my way to home depot to see what they have? a router bit straight
shaft like the bits they use for cutting box plate hole in sheetrock?? Use the solid part of the bit to run as the template edge??
I am kind of picky !! It seems as the older I get the pickier I get, so looking at a new front end and then building a new rear end and tranny and new electronics this old carbon fiber plate
and the old red Aluminum nose front suspension plate look well old and very used.
I was thinking of getting some carbon fiber protector sheets?? but that is just a coverup

Or a wild old man brain storm ? Do a new custom build out of this carbon fiber plate with some of the latest parts out there?? But looking at what is new like with Axial and Traxxas that would
be impossible, but Old School parts ???

I should have just closed that trunk when I opened it, and covered it back up and walked away

Bill

[DennisM]

You can´t bend carbon - use a mask when You cut it, carbon dust in the lunges is more or less outdated these days.

[Merlin]

Well here I Go Rebuild time.

Got the carbon fiber dragon plate. My old plate was like 3.3mm thick! So I ordered 4mm? Thinking 3mm thick was smaller best to go a bit thicker ?
Got out to the shop and taped up the new carbon fiber plate both sides then looked at how I was going to cut it with the curves and all? I did not want to spend hours fine sanding this
dragon plate so a high speed router type tool and a bit.. Off to home depot, looking at the Dremel stuff, they did not have nothing that looked up to the job, then Roto Zip
had what I needed, 1/8 Carbide will tile bit!
I have a DeWalt roto tool for cutting out the holes in sheetrock for the outlet boxes, so I figured that would work for a router!

So-Sorry Moderator or Moderators!!! But working with Carbon Fiber as in cutting it is a Bitch and dangerous to anyone's Health!!
Kn95 Mask or a respirator is needed along with safety glasses and latex gloves!!!!

I also have a Dremel with a cut off hobby disk, this by far made the most DUST in the AIR!!
I set the bit in my dewalt so the smooth part of the bit would run along the edge of my old plate to us the old plate as the template to cut the new plates!
this worked very well !!! the cutting would just drop to the floor or just pile up, up on top! no dust in the air! when done just vacuum up what's piled up and done!!!
Then all is left is some fine sanding the edges then frilling out the hold to mount everything back up.
I did one mod to the plate from the old plate I countersunk all my mounting hole so the screw are countersunk when everything is mounted back up

As for the Aluminum piece up front where the steering bolts up to?? I think I will take this to a Sheet Metal shop and see it they can Bend/Make me two or three of them or see if they
can be made out of titanium if the cost is not that high!

Oh if you do this carbon fiber work at home?? DO NOT USE A AIR NOZZLE TO BLOW THINGS OFF!!!!!!!!
when done take off your work clothes and put them in the washer then shower!!!
When I was all done! I went to wash my hands and looked into the mirror and dam even using just the carbide bit black carbon was all over my face and neck!!!
Safety First!!!!

Bill

[Merlin]

Should Have added this front piece but here it is

[Merlin]

Hey Does anyone have a lipo battery in there Ultima??
If so what did you do to mount the battery??
My old setup was with the wide zip ty for the curved edge batteries.

I found a battery tray off of amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Acxico-Carbon-Battery-Mounting-Crawler/dp/B081YP9X15/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=rc+battery+tray&qid=1611104972&sr=8-2

but it is to long for the lipo battery I got, it is about 135mm long. The tray is over like a half an inch longer then the battery
Are all lipo batteries about the same in length??

Trying to figure out how to mount this battery tray, I think I can do or figure out a way
but I do not want to have to modify this battery if I do not have to?

[Merlin]

Hey Does anyone have a lipo battery in there Ultima??
If so what did you do to mount the battery??
My old setup was with the wide zip ty for the curved edge batteries.

I found a battery tray off of amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Acxico-Carbon-Battery-Mounting-Crawler/dp/B081YP9X15/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=rc+battery+tray&qid=1611104972&sr=8-2

but it is to long for the lipo battery I got, it is about 135mm long. The tray is over like a half an inch longer then the battery
Are all lipo batteries about the same in length??

Trying to figure out how to mount this battery tray, I think I can do or figure out a way
but I do not want to have to modify this battery if I do not have to?

[Snaab9-2]

You don't need to spend that much. Here's a complete brushless motor, ESC and controller card combo that's similar to the set I used with my OptiMutt build (that's an Optima Mid converted to a mid-motored RWD car). I used the 12T version for that as it's also really beefed up. This would be a milder 13T package, the whole thing sells for $63 USD:

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/SkyRC-Leopard-1-10-Brushless-Motor-ESC-Combo-Program-Card-60A-V2-3000KV-13T-USA/181816072961

I found this Leopard Toro combo was very smooth-running. You can adjust a lot of performance variables with the controller card, including how hard the car accelerates (punch).

Great info there. Do you know how much better that Leapord kit is than a GoolRC/Surpass Hobby kits (I can get the 3300kv kit for like $35 shipped on sale)? I hear the ESC can be an issue with those GoolRC/Surpass Hobby Kits. That Leapord system looks like it might be a sweet spot for what I want to spend!

I think I have a 17 turn brushed motor in my Ultima Pro XL and I want more speed. Do you think that 3000KV setup would give me a good amount more top end? I am not trying to go nuts and damage the car/make it too hard to drive but I need some more power for sure! I assume I would use the lowest torque limiting setting on that card.

Thanks

[Coelacanth]

You don't need to spend that much. Here's a complete brushless motor, ESC and controller card combo that's similar to the set I used with my OptiMutt build (that's an Optima Mid converted to a mid-motored RWD car). I used the 12T version for that as it's also really beefed up. This would be a milder 13T package, the whole thing sells for $63 USD:

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/SkyRC-Leopard-1-10-Brushless-Motor-ESC-Combo-Program-Card-60A-V2-3000KV-13T-USA/181816072961

I found this Leopard Toro combo was very smooth-running. You can adjust a lot of performance variables with the controller card, including how hard the car accelerates (punch).

Great info there. Do you know how much better that Leapord kit is than a GoolRC/Surpass Hobby kits (I can get the 3300kv kit for like $35 shipped on sale)? I hear the ESC can be an issue with those GoolRC/Surpass Hobby Kits. That Leapord system looks like it might be a sweet spot for what I want to spend!

I think I have a 17 turn brushed motor in my Ultima Pro XL and I want more speed. Do you think that 3000KV setup would give me a good amount more top end? I am not trying to go nuts and damage the car/make it too hard to drive but I need some more power for sure! I assume I would use the lowest torque limiting setting on that card.

Thanks

I don't have a full GoolRC combo for comparison, but I have a few of their motors. What surprised me with the full Leopard Toro combo was how smooth it was, especially considering it's an unsensored system. I recorded a short video of the electronics test when I installed this system in my OptiMutt RWD Mid project; on the road, the car just drove so smoothly...this car has the 12T combo. That one is 3300 kV, and would be a pretty powerful upgrade from your 17-turn brushed system. You'd probably want to tone down the punch with the program card.

[Sparbolt]

The "new" chassis can be found aslow as $25 if you look , Nitro Master on Ebay . I bought 2 , one is being made into an "Ultima Mid" ...