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Picked up an original Ultima on Ebay for $20 (another poorly listed bargain I found) and have been restoring it. So far here's what I've done to it:

-Robinson Racing adjustable rear toe suspension mount
-Andy's wide front A-arms and turnbuckles
-Duratrax ball bearing set (bought years ago for another Ultima for $40 (ouch).
-Adjustable rear camber turnbuckles from Traxxas Rustler (I think).
-New gear set
-LeMans 240ST motor
-I got the Chassis powder-coated "automotive chassis black" at my work.
-Ebay shocks for Kyosho Mini-Inferno...The lengths seem to be perfect (I bought them on a hunch.)
-Hot Trick front axles for Tamiya wheels.
-Tamiya Desert Gator wheel set
-Pro-Line Dirt Hawg III tire set.

hi Jim, looks like it'll be a runner again.
Make sure to get a 48dp spur for it (aftermarket or utlima-pro): that really helps.

Say what's that upper deck? what material is it made of?

Never knew Robinson made an adjustable toe-in, cool find.

cheers, erik

The upper deck is just the stock molded plastic piece...Nothing fancy. I will replace it when I find something to replace it with.

Jim,
I think there's nothing stock about that plastic molded part: not for a standard ultima, pro, pro2 or turbo, (was there a turbo2?)
All these had black glassfiber epoxy topplates as far as I know.

I think it's a standard Kyosho part of one of the Ultima derived models: California truck, sideways, ST, sandmaster, opel calibra,... too many to remember.

You should probably leave it on: it's high up and light.
Especially if you got the Turbo Ultima chassis (thicker and easy to recognize with the counter-sunk screw holes on the bottom side) it will be stiff enough with a plastic lid.

Now if you got the original thinner chassis, a stronger topplate may help against torsing your chassis. (aluminium tends to stay deformed so better to avoid )

Any ideas on which lid you want to mount? The sandviper should be cool and close enough to an ultima2 type. I was thinking of doing that, but couldn't find spare ones in the shops yet.

It's looking great and the shocks are a good find too, well done sir

Thanks for the comments guys.

I'm not sure yet what body I want to use. If I could find a new original body that would be great but it would probably cost an arm and a leg. I also like the Pro-Line Butterfly body that uses the original roll cage parts...There's many other possibilities, it's just a matter of finding something.

As for the top plate I do think it's original becuase it looks the same as what's shown in this excerpt from the manual (with the molded-in "nut holders"):



-James

The top deck is the standard original Ultima top deck, as can be seen above the MSC servo is mounted below the top deck behind the battery, with the receiver mounted above it in the middle. The only way to get everything under the narrow body.

Every other Ultima almost seemed to have a unique top deck, depending on model, there are at least 4 or 5 different designs.