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To be honest, I got it because Optimas were the biggest, baddest thing ever when I was a teenager, but they were made of unobtanium as far as my wallet was concerned. I still really want an optima or javelin, but I think this will be just as fun for a mild track day once in a while

perry wrote:wow! thanks guys.

so apparently I have a standard optima mid that's had a few pieces and parts changed around.

I had it up for sale, because i didn't think I'd be able to run it and find parts(and i have too many r/c projects already), but it looks like i'm gonna keep it and find some spare belts for it.

oh, and it doesn't have the one way diff in the front.

I'd agree that your Mid would be worthy of restoring and even driving. It was and still is a beautiful piece of engineering and an excellent-driving car.

Coelacanth wrote:

perry wrote:wow! thanks guys.

so apparently I have a standard optima mid that's had a few pieces and parts changed around.

I had it up for sale, because i didn't think I'd be able to run it and find parts(and i have too many r/c projects already), but it looks like i'm gonna keep it and find some spare belts for it.

oh, and it doesn't have the one way diff in the front.

I'd agree that your Mid would be worthy of restoring and even driving. It was and still is a beautiful piece of engineering and an excellent-driving car.

thanks, after seeing some of your builds (and some others on here) I can honestly say I'm a little out of my league here, but I don't want to restore, more along the lines of a resto-mod.

are there any modern cars that have interchangeable parts that you guys know of? like shock towers, or bellcrank steering? I really don't like the idea of single shear elevated bellcranks on a carbon chassis, that is pretty much irreplaceable.

for that matter, are there any suppliers for older kyosho parts still? I've bought from sabula tech for my Losi, but he doesn't carry much for the kyosho.

perry wrote:

Coelacanth wrote:

perry wrote:wow! thanks guys.

so apparently I have a standard optima mid that's had a few pieces and parts changed around.

I had it up for sale, because i didn't think I'd be able to run it and find parts(and i have too many r/c projects already), but it looks like i'm gonna keep it and find some spare belts for it.

oh, and it doesn't have the one way diff in the front.

I'd agree that your Mid would be worthy of restoring and even driving. It was and still is a beautiful piece of engineering and an excellent-driving car.

thanks, after seeing some of your builds (and some others on here) I can honestly say I'm a little out of my league here, but I don't want to restore, more along the lines of a resto-mod.

Thanks, resto-modding is my idea of fun and for me, more challenging than just following instructions and building something by the manual.

are there any modern cars that have interchangeable parts that you guys know of? like shock towers, or bellcrank steering? I really don't like the idea of single shear elevated bellcranks on a carbon chassis, that is pretty much irreplaceable.

You should have a closer look at my OptiMutt project, a lot of what you're looking for is right there. Low-profile alloy bellcrank? Check. Custom shock towers? Check. Alloy rear arms, front & rear hubs & knuckles, and a whole lot more...check it out.

I forgot about the arms and carriers in that thread.

I don't think the bellcrank will work while keeping 4wd though, unless I can get enough swing in there without hitting the belt and mounting flat aluminum bar center link on top, essentially reversing your center link/tie rod set up.

keithrc wrote: That said, I made up an alloy copy of the small FRP plate (without the MSC mounts) for my "mystery Turbo Mid" project that I'm planning.


Keith

Whats this mystery project you speak of, you really have me curious!

It wouldn't be a mystery if I told you would it? All will be reaveled in the near future.


Keith

Fair enough

I have a couple other mid projects in the works too

Me too... can't have too many Mid projects

Even though I have four Lazers (at present count) I have a soft spot for the Mids, current count is seven (not all built but the parts are here) who knows where it will end up though

perry wrote:I forgot about the arms and carriers in that thread.

I don't think the bellcrank will work while keeping 4wd though, unless I can get enough swing in there without hitting the belt and mounting flat aluminum bar center link on top, essentially reversing your center link/tie rod set up.

I'm pretty sure it could be done with a few spacers with the right thickness and maybe changing the orientation of the L-arms. I found with this unit, you could mount it several ways; I chose to keep the center-link underneath, I just added enough aluminum spacers to get the turnbuckle/ball ends to clear the bottom deck, especially where it has that slight up-turn on the sides. The A & L crank was also used with the Mids, I believe, and it's pretty much the same thing--only using Day-Glo yellow nylon instead of aluminum. I even had a close look at an alloy RC10 bellcrank but tossed that idea out the window because I didn't want to have a mix of Metric and Standard screws on the car.

well, I hate to do it, but I think I'm going to sell. I had a guy contact me on rctech from the ad i put up on there when i was going to sell. I'll see what he has to offer.

I just can't put the time or money into it right now, and I already have my Losi JrxPro SE I've been holding onto. Plus, I really want an original Optima. If I had that, it would be no question about holding onto it. I have 9 cars right now, and need to thin down.

Thinning is not an option - kind of like retreat
But You should get Yourself an Optima, I´ll support that idea

well, it turns out that I sold it to Wydraz

I am going to focus on my Losi project, then I'll be back to searching out an Optima, probably piece by piece.