Midas touched the Optima
Posted: Fri Apr 28, 2017 12:16 am
Although I consider this car finished, and I've basically retired it to the shelf due to the all-original Gold Celebration chassis, I've been on the lookout for any gold aluminum hop-ups I can find to see how much gold I can put on this car. I knew Cross made gold aluminum front C-carriers because some guy on eBay was trying to sell them for $65 or something for the pair...which is ludicrous. I tried messaging him asking if he wanted to keep relisting his items for months and months or actually liquidate his stock, but he never replied. As luck had it, another set turned up for about $30 and I snapped them up. The dork still has his up on eBay, a year later. Go, guy. 
I also saw the gold axles recently but didn't want to just buy one set of fronts or rears, but I discovered crunchy had both sets...so I made him an offer and picked those up, too.
The long C-carriers require swapping the Optima front arms over to Kyosho Maxxum front arms.
I found that the Trinity gold kingpins were a hair too tight in the Cross carriers, so the holes had to be filed out a bit with a rat-tail file or the wheels wouldn't turn smoothly.
Swapping to the Maxxum arms requires some additional modding so that the front stabilizer can be reinstalled; I had to bend a custom stabilizer wire...the same width in the middle with about a 37 - 38 degree angle bend up from horizontal on both sides, then I bent the ends perpendicular to the middle part, measured precisely so they'd slot into the Maxxum arms' stabilizer mounting posts. I had to do the same mod for my Barney car so I knew what to expect. It's not often I get to use my high school protractor...who knew that thing would come in handy?
After the bends were made, I tweaked it until it would lay perfectly flat on the table before installing it.
Not much to say about the rear gold axles; just swapped 'em in for the stock black steel axles. You can't really see them but I just think it's cool that they're gold to match the rest of the car.
I took care of some details that were nagging at me, like replacing the nasty white AE shock collars with some black ones.
I still have more plans for the Zebra Midas Optima...I'll swap out the fugly grey pot-metal front knuckles and rear hubs for some black aluminum units. I have a modern ESC to replace that blue LRP unit because the blue is bugging my eyes. I also plan to buy and paint a new wing that better suits my original in-your-face 80's paint job.
I also saw the gold axles recently but didn't want to just buy one set of fronts or rears, but I discovered crunchy had both sets...so I made him an offer and picked those up, too.
The long C-carriers require swapping the Optima front arms over to Kyosho Maxxum front arms.
I found that the Trinity gold kingpins were a hair too tight in the Cross carriers, so the holes had to be filed out a bit with a rat-tail file or the wheels wouldn't turn smoothly.
Swapping to the Maxxum arms requires some additional modding so that the front stabilizer can be reinstalled; I had to bend a custom stabilizer wire...the same width in the middle with about a 37 - 38 degree angle bend up from horizontal on both sides, then I bent the ends perpendicular to the middle part, measured precisely so they'd slot into the Maxxum arms' stabilizer mounting posts. I had to do the same mod for my Barney car so I knew what to expect. It's not often I get to use my high school protractor...who knew that thing would come in handy?
After the bends were made, I tweaked it until it would lay perfectly flat on the table before installing it.Not much to say about the rear gold axles; just swapped 'em in for the stock black steel axles. You can't really see them but I just think it's cool that they're gold to match the rest of the car.
I took care of some details that were nagging at me, like replacing the nasty white AE shock collars with some black ones.
I still have more plans for the Zebra Midas Optima...I'll swap out the fugly grey pot-metal front knuckles and rear hubs for some black aluminum units. I have a modern ESC to replace that blue LRP unit because the blue is bugging my eyes. I also plan to buy and paint a new wing that better suits my original in-your-face 80's paint job.
seriously a very nice build , deeply impressive .