Introduction - questions about my JRX2

[Cpt.America]

Hey everybody... I was referred to this forum from rctech.net, as I have just acquired an original 88 jrx2 5link from a trade. I wanted one because the original 88 jrx2 was the very first RC car I ever owned as a kid, and I raced it religeously at the El Cajon RC raceway (outdoor loose dirt track) down in San Diego, every Tuesday night back in 88-89-90. Now that I am again back into RC (i race a xxxcr, and onraod TCs), restoring a 5-link has become something important to me... A nostalgia kind of thing I guess!

Unfortuantely the condition of the buggy I got isn't QUITE what I thought it would be from the pictures, and without even taking it apart, realise there will be some parts I will need to acquire. My question is,,, what is the best way to get parts besides eBay? It seems the ones I need I cannot find on eBay... right off the bat, and before I even get into the gearbox, I know I need the following:

1. all 4 shock shafts (they are gouged)
2. lower mounts for the rear shocks (the ones that mount the shock shaft to 3. the side traling arms... they are totally missing)
4. The shock body cap thingy that threads onto the shock bodies. The previous owner says they dont hold oil at all, so I assume whatever it inside is shot
5. factory wing mounts (the cap pieces, not the wire)
6. original orange 5 spoke wheels (the fronts are both broken)
7. hoping for some original kit tires too (not sure what is on the car now, look like AE tires)
8. new body/wing/gear cover (I already see there is a guy here to makes em...mrlexan, i will be ordering soon).

I think that's about all I can recall off the top of my head, I just picked it up last night.

Thanks for any help/direction you can send me in!!

-Brandon

[slapshot1979]

IN my experience and my 2c worth you may be better off finding another donar car to work off of . Just saying by the time you add all these parts up and add shipping etc you could be looking at another car and have lots of spares. you may be able to find parts at your local hobby shop but are getting rare. Welcome to the forum lots of info here and good ppl.

[jwscab]

try looking at vintagelosi.com for some parts lists for the components you need.

then, try looking up the parts at Horizon hobby by part number, losa*, losc*, etc. you should be able to find the shock seals, and shock shafts for sure.

finally, you will need some things that horizon doesn't carry, namely, the 5 links themselves, and the notoriously weak and hard to find rear lower shock mounts. To find them, you will need to scour ebay, and post enough meaningful posts in here so that you can get into the BUY/SELL/TRADE area, and some members may be able to help you out.

the wing mounts will be not too easy to find from what I've heard.

losi cars routinely go for a reasonable amount of money on ebay, so the suggestion of picking up one or 2 parts cars is not a bad idea.

[Cpt.America]

Thanks for the tips, guys.. much appreciated!! The car was originally only run on an oval track, so the chassis itself, is about flawless. However, a couple of the phillips screws undernieth are COMPLETELY rounded out... so im not sure how i will be able to get them out.

i will check out horizon hobby and see what I can come up with!

thanks again

brandon

[jwscab]

a well used dremel cutoff wheel that is barely smaller than the screw head, used to make a slot is your best best.

the screws are soft, so you could also just drill the heads out, and probably unscrew the nubs with pliers of some sort.

[aconsola]

welcome to the board. I agree with buying another car to get the parts you need, comes out much cheaper that way especially if you re-sell the leftovers.

as for the rounded out screws, you could get one of these http://www.lowes.com/pd_232606-1083-358241_4294927074_4294933768?productId=1065081&pl=1&currentURL=/pl_Screw%2BExtractors_4294927074_4294933768_
and drill a 3/32" hole down the center of the 8-32 screws to extract them.
I would be careful with the dremel and the drill off the head methods as it is easy to damage the chassis plate. (they both work well though)

[highwayracer]

hello Brandon...welcome.

There's a lot of good information on this board for a jrx2 restoration. First, I think you need to determine what you're going to do with the car? Are you going to run it or just restore it and place it on the shelf?

Normally, buying another car (for the parts) is a good idea, but in your case...most of the parts you need are common wear items. These parts will most likely be missing or broken on the parts car. So lets go down your list:

1. all 4 shock shafts (they are gouged). Losi used cheap metal for the shock shafts. All shock shafts wear out pretty quickly...especially if the original losi shock oil was used in them. The shock oil is water based....and water + metal = rust. If this is for display only, then put the shock shaft on a drill and polish using some steel wool.

2. lower mounts for the rear shocks (the ones that mount the shock shaft to. These are hard to find. Your best bet would be ebay or ask around on this board.

3. the side traling arms... they are totally missing). Again, the best place to get these is this board. They pop up on ebay once in a while, but they can get expensive if there's a bidding war.

4. The shock body cap thingy that threads onto the shock bodies. The previous owner says they dont hold oil at all, so I assume whatever it inside is shot. They don't hold oil because the shock shafts are all scratched. Also, the shock leaks because of the design. Losi used a single o-ring to keep the friction down. If possible, I would restore these. Remove the black rubber o-ring and then use motor spray to clean out the inside. The inside uses a metal spring to keep everything together and water will only cause it to rust. The motor spray will not harm the inside o-ring or the case.

5. factory wing mounts (the cap pieces, not the wire). Try this board

6. original orange 5 spoke wheels (the fronts are both broken). When you say broken, are you referring to the tiny cracks on the inside where the bearing goes? If that's the case, then that's normal. Losi used a very hard plastic (not nylon) on the first set of orange wheels. Unfortunately, the lube inside the bearings caused the plastic to crack. Losi corrected this by changing the type of plastic used on the newer 5 spoke wheels (red, white, wellow, dark orange). If possible, I would try to clean this up and reuse. The original orange wheels are one of the most difficult parts to find. You can probably find the darker ornage wheels, but the price seems to be all over the place with these. BTW, do not use acetone to clean the wheels...they will melt.

7. hoping for some original kit tires too (not sure what is on the car now, look like AE tires). Front ribbed tires aren't too hard to find. Sometimes, even a used set don't look too bad. Rears are a different story. There are 3 types of tires that will work. First are the original tires without the outside bead. The side wall is fully round. The second is masw of the same "kit" comound but the side has a small flange so it sits on the wheel better. The last is the same as the second, but in a different compund "HT"...high traction. When new, these have a silver mark on them.

8. new body/wing/gear cover (I already see there is a guy here to makes em...mrlexan, i will be ordering soon). This one's easy...and there's no one better.

Good luck on the project. Also, post the before and after pictures.

Regards,
highwayracer

[slapshot1979]

You could also do the H-arm conversion that would eliminate the shock link and the trailing bars.

[Cpt.America]

Thanks for all the tips guys... REALLY apprecaited.

What I want to do with the car: Well, I haven't quite figured that out yet. Im hoping to build a shelf queen, that I can ALSO run around my local track, really easy, just for fun (not on the track when busy, or with 8th scales, etc). I wont actually be racing it, but I HAVE to drive it here and there.

There is some confusion on the links... All the links are present on the car, and are mint. the only thing missing completley, are the lower shock mounts for the rear. But the guy I got the car from just emailed me and told me that he FOUND them! So hopefully he will ship those out to me as well.

Orange wheels: They are broken-broken. They ARE cracked where you say, right around the bearings, but half the plastic that goes around the bearings have broken off.... one of the rear wheels is broken too. So i only have 1 rear wheel.

Last night I disassembled the car completely, down to the screw, and started cleaning things up and soaking them in WD40. I was able to get the rounded out chassis screws out with a medium sized flat head screw driver.... I just pushed really hard and was able to wiggle them out. I think I only need 3 replacements.

Here are some initial findings:

1. The chassis is in 98% mint condition.. only a couple of tiny tiny scratches. It's in better shape than my 2 week old xxxCR chassis I just put on my buggy.
2. The gearbox and diff are flawless except for an easily replacable thrust bearing
3. All but 1 bearing are flawless (one of the outdrive bearings is crunchy)
4. Entire front end is flawless EXCEPT for the long skinny metal piece of the steering assmbley. One of the holes is kind of stripped, and the screw that threads in is simply cross threadded in. It holds, but I would like to replace that as well.
5. Didnt have time to get into the shocks last night, but im glad I should be able to just use the shock cartridges as-is... but I think I will look for replacement shafts as they are pretty ugly. Are there any shafts for a modern day losi that are the same size perhaps?
6. There isn't a spec of rust anywhere

That's about it for now... ill snap a couple pics when I get home today so you can check it out.

-Brandon

[jwscab]

you can get shock shafts from horizonhobby. you can also get new shock seals, and clamps. if you have the narrow clamps, be VERY careful with them, they are fragile.

sounds like you are pretty good on parts then. couple of small common parts, and I would just look to ebay for wheels. you won't find the early orange ones probably, but others are somewhat available.

you might want to look into going to 2.2" wheels so you can get tires reasonably easy.

[Cpt.America]

I was browsing around horizonhobby, but was unable to find ANYthing... what is the trick to searching for vintage parts there?

[mytimac]

The trick on Horizon is to do searches, as was posted earlier, that look like this.
losa10* losa20* losa30* losa40* losa50* The * tells the search engine to find anything that starts with the stuff entered before the *.
This will find all the early Losi parts, which is not much anymore. Like for the losa20*, which is rear suspension parts, there is really nothing.
I use to have these searches clickable on vintagelosi.com but haven't got that page moved to the new site yet.
Don't forget local resources, if you have any local racers you can connect with or a local hobbyshop. Some times those people have old parts laying around that they have tucked in a box some place.

[Cpt.America]

Are these the later model jrx2 shock collars? there's no description:

http://www.horizonhobby.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdId=LOSA5023

[jwscab]

yep, those will work fine.

[Cpt.America]

still can't find the rear shock shafts...