RC10Talk - The Net's Largest Vintage R/C Community

I picked up this pile from a buddy on TC a while back. It's been sitting around collecting dust since it arrived with no gears and warped wheels. I found another rear pod and 4 wheels (the Buick Stocker version) for dirt cheap so I figured I'd try to make something out of this thing.







Whats up with the servo horns on the shocks and the hardware screws holding down the front arms? I gotta fix that. And that plastic chassis' gotta go too.

Well, that's certainly an odd looking car...I like it! I agree, the front end does raise some questions doesn't.

Yup. Someone made some mods. I wanna beef it up a little with what I got laying around.
First, these front axles are weak even for a 1/12. I put on some tamiya ones so I could use a wheel with bearings. I've got to make some kind of piece for where those rusty screws were on the front arms to hold them in.



These wheels on my wall might work. The red Parma ones are for Tamiya baja buggies but I've never seen a tire with such a small inside diameter on any Tamiya buggy so I dont know what they were originally for but they're going on my project now.

I think these are great, and the plastic chassis is half the charm

Yeah, I'm not sure which version this was. I know they had a Mini Cooper, Buick Stocker and a Porsche 962 too.
I'm going to modify the front suspension so out comes the Dremel.





I also had to shave off some ribbing on the underside of the front bulkhead. For what I'm bout to do next, I need some support. So I cut up a brace plate type of thing and placed it on top and drilled matching holes with a 7/64 bit so the 3m screws could thread into the metal plate.



All the metal will be polished up on the final build. Now for the shocks. In my spares I found some RPM spring retainers and some Tamiya short medium springs and mounted them upside down on the plate with titanium screws.

Sweet! I love build pics!

Mindwarp wrote:Sweet! I love build pics!

Me too!

I originally wanted to use this Futaba S132h high speed servo. It's nice and tiny and pretty quick. I've had it about 18 years and I just killed it. I had it installed in the Super Alta, just to test it out, plugged it into my receiver in my RB5 which was hooked up to a Tekin RS pushing 6v and my receiver in high mode (digital/ brushless) and I guess the lil servo couldnt take it cause it had a seizure and died on me.



Now it just moves back and forth real fast and doesn't respond. I'll have to look at it to see if it can be saved.
Oh well...

For the chassis, I'm using a Tamiya F103LM chassis I had laying around. No T plate so no rear suspension but I'll work on that. The front mounts to the chassis using the existing holes. The servo is even in the stock location.



I don't do pan cars so I know nothing really about foams but why are 1/12 tires in all different sizes. I have some rears I'd like to use but the inside diameter is about 6mm smaller... Could I cut out the inside to fit? Is there a trick to get em to stretch?

Either you stretch them by hand and slip them onto the wheel, or you use a tire horn. You glue them with Bison Kit or some other suitable glue (Google for the exact procedure)

EvolutionRevolution wrote:Either you stretch them by hand and slip them onto the wheel, or you use a tire horn. You glue them with Bison Kit or some other suitable glue (Google for the exact procedure)

Yeah, I stretched em on but they don't fit right. If I try to cut out the inside a little, will that ruin them? Is there a chemical or procedure that will loosen them up a little or do I just need to find a better fitting tire?

You fit them on, after which they're no onger nice and flat, so you true them.

Most foam tires have a far thicker wall lthicknes than a racer will ever use.

It would be cool if someone machined side plates for these. Looks like it could be done with some flat stock.

A quick mock up of where I'm at so far...





This little Nimh pack made for the Tamiya TLT is a nice fit. Still need to work on the steering geometry.

New direction-

I was going to use a nice 'vette body that was just a little too narrow...



till I tried this Porsche 935 Kremer K3 body I got from mrlexan on it.







I need to shorten the wheelbase a little but this body looks right on here.
I tried some 1/10 Tamiya F103 wheels on the front and they are a perfect fit giving enough offset to sit flush with the body. They use smaller 850 bearings and roll a lot smother than the previous wheels. The 1/12 tires fit but these will be replaced. Not sure if I will cut down the width of the wheel to match the tire. I always hated seeing wheels too wide for the tires.



I got something planned for the rear wheels too...

I found some Tamiya carbon reinforced uprights to replace the old school nylon ones I was using and reamed the hole out so I could use a 3m screw and 5mm ball. I felt like the Porsche needed some BBS style wheels to look official so I found some Tamiya F103 mesh wheels in gold.



For the rears, I cut about 8mm off the back of the rear wheel insert and stuffed em into the Kyosho wheel. A perfect fit. Even the ring on the inside fits perfectly around the mounting hole of the wheel.





I shortened the wheelbase simply by drilling new holes in the rear pod. Fits the Porsche body better now. I also added flanged bearings in the rear replacing the black plastic bushings. The gears might get dyed black and the big 360ST might make it in.

Nice work modding the wheels, narrowing the track & wheelbase.