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Great ideas. I also run my front dampers a little more like the Optima Mid also. The lay down style doesn't offer great suspension action on my opinion.

Coelacanth wrote:That front end is coming along nicely, looking good Lars! I do like those Maxxum arms...2 of my Optimas have them. I like them because, with the exception of the C-carriers, they're practically a perfect swap for the stock Optima front arms. Nice work fabricating your shock tower, too.

It’s you I have to thank for this idea Marc! If I decide to go for this tower I need to mount it on the outside of the original, otherwise I think it will brake already during practice…

J.M. wrote:Great ideas. I also run my front dampers a little more like the Optima Mid also. The lay down style doesn't offer great suspension action on my opinion.

I agree about “the lay down style doesn't offer great suspension action”, but the car was designed when the track didn’t have that many jumps. It was in the second half of the 80’ when suspension got better and better the jumps got more frequent and higher. There was one exception, and that was the WC track in Sidney in 89. That track didn’t have many jumps, but it was rock hard and slippery!


So to meet the layout of modern track’s you have to have a bit more suspension travel. Maybe not so period correct, but as long the rules allow the alterations I will go along with them.
I haven’t decided what C-carrier to use, its bitch to have 4 different to choose from…

I had to sop working with the front end sins I was missing the right king pin, so I had to order a set of this.




I started with the rear and when I was looking for the rear hub's I found a set of king pins (LA63)... well, well..




I will use the original hub's for now, maybe I will test the Lazer hub's later when I order new longer CVD's. I will go for the longer shocks to gain longer travel to cope with the modern track's higher jumps.

Looking for 2.2” wheels front and rear, which have a few mm (2-3mm) more offset than the ZX5 wheels with 12mm hex. Any suggestions are welcome

The old HPI wheels would probably be perfect but they command a hefty price these days. They were the "old" offset for optimas and ultimas. Have you checked the back spacing on the JC wheels?

gomachv wrote:The old HPI wheels would probably be perfect but they command a hefty price these days. They were the "old" offset for optimas and ultimas. Have you checked the back spacing on the JC wheels?

HPI Super Stars would be great to have. I think the JC wheels for Kyosho is mad for the XZ5. I got another tip from a Swedish friend that the Precirotate PR S1 rear wheels have a few more mm of offset than Kyosho ZX5. He will do some measuring and get back to me with details. For the front you can always cut rear wheels to fit, and if I use the LA59 C-hubs I will be fine with ZX5 fronts.

On the other had it won’t be a disaster if the car is just 244mm instead of 250mm wide! It’s not that crucial with Tamiya Sport Tuned motor

Because the ZX5 has multiple different front a-arm designs there's also different front wheels with different offsets available.

EvolutionRevolution wrote:Because the ZX5 has multiple different front a-arm designs there's also different front wheels with different offsets available.

Do you know how to tell them apart?

Nice project lars, looking forward to hearing how the prolonged chassis handles.
How about gearing when You´re running 2,2 wheels? Will You be running stock gears?

DennisM wrote:Nice project lars, looking forward to hearing how the prolonged chassis handles.
How about gearing when You´re running 2,2 wheels? Will You be running stock gears?

Thanks Dennis! Yes I will run with 2.2” wheels and almost stock gearing, have some Thorp gears I will use. And I thinking about how to improve/convert an OT-74 (limiter gear set) to a slipper. I only have the one with the wave washers, but I would prefer the one with the spring instead. But you can’t have everything, nor can you?

Just take the ferry from Fredrikshaven to Olso, and then you can check out the performance firsthand at the NVC.

I´ve been giving the slipper thing some thought and came up with this.

Mid shaft and Tamiya gears cut to fit.

Looks interesting Dennis, what Tamiya gears is that? I’s it just a single slipper pad on the inside?

The gear on the topshaft is avante series for ball diff iirc.
I can´t remember the other gear, but It must be quite common in Tamiya cars from the eighties.

There´s Mid slipper pads on both sides. They could be replaced with teflon.
Another thing could be to resize some tlr22 or B4 slipper disc´s and sandwich a Mid pom idler gear with teflon.

Some cutdown ball diff outdrives with teflon in the recess instead of the diff rings, would be even better for the Mid Pom idler, I think.


In this first attempt my main focus was to keep the build height of the slipper lowest possible.
But with the newly found tamiya "spur" there´s good clearence against the nut.

The past weekend I got some parts made in CF while I was at our country house. Can't do this in the apartment, it's a dirty business...

I use a coping saw with a tile blade. I also have hacksaw with a tile blade. This is a very simple way to cut CF. When you are done sawing you can use sanding machine and then a Dremel to fine tune the parts.






I made a cassis plate for my saddle packs and radio plate. The radio plate need some more work before I'm done. To gain more steering I made new front side plates. I did a fast measuring, and I think I got 4-5mm more movement on each side.








Now we getting somewhere

Nice work Lars!