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God knows how long I have drooled over this car but after what seems half a life time I will finaly get to own an Avante. Yep crazy I know, the most over engineered r/c buggy of all time and I simply had to have one.
Whilst the Special Black model did have my interest earlier I am still a little smitten with the original car so the rere will fill that desire just fine.

Just payed for I had to take Bill from Clinehobbies up on his super great deal on one of his cars. No doubt I'll have it mid next to late next week.

Can't wait!!

Boy, are you in for a treat! The build on this is a trip Jason!
Still to run mine, but its worth the money just to look at!

Lee

Thanks mate. I have no real expectations of this car (performance wise) but I'm sure it's an ok runner. For me the attraction is in the finer details. I love the way it has been over engineered and has a unique style all of it's own.

Yeah, im not expecting much from my first runs, but then its only getting asphalt use as i don't intend to ruin it.
Its more a case of owing myself the chance to drive one, something i never got to do as a kid.

lee

Hi Lee. Mate I completely agree with you and that's my intention also. May even give mine a run on the track at a vintage festival in the future.
Definately want to get my GoPro up and sorted out by then

I'm in the same boat, I also pulled the trigger on one from the great deal Bill was offering!

I remember buying one when they first came out, built, painted, and shelved her. Never did use it, I traded my buddy, his nib cell phone ( that big brick one ), now I see those cars go up to a grand! I still have that phone somewhere, but I doubt I'll get anywhere near that kind of money

flipwils11 wrote:I'm in the same boat, I also pulled the trigger on one from the great deal Bill was offering!

Good to hear Mr Wills

Looking at the differences between the Avante and the Black Special it seems the standard Avante has geared diffs and the Black Special comes with 'torque splitters'. Does this just mean 'ball diffs'? I also see the TS set comes with a centre one way.

Anyone know more?

I believe the BS comes with two ball diffs, and a centre splitter Jason!

Lee

I have a 2011 and a Black Special...and an Egress All very pretty and I love them to bits. The Black Special comes with the racing steering rack and the torque splitter set (ball diffs front and rear, plus a center one-way bearing). Mechanically, that's the only difference.

So for the 2011 model, I bought the racing steering set and torque splitter units for it. Also got the re-released hi-cap dampers and did some other swizzles (titanium turnbuckles, aluminum ball studs, etc.).

I had set up the Avante 2011 as a runner for the 2012 VONATS (this was before I got the hi-cap dampers, so I used Associated shocks, since the stock shocks are too small and only the stock springs fit), and let's just say the chassis is better on smooth surfaces. It has quite a bit of bump steer, and the narrow suspension arms result in a lot of tire scrub, especially at the rear. You can reduce some of the tire scrub by adding spacers under the ball studs on the inner camber link mounts, which will reduce the camber gain, but even still, it's very hard to keep in a straight line on bumpy surfaces. I ended up with the hi-cap dampers (which are quite nice...would recommend combining them with RPM delrin shock bushings, which fit well with the re-released hi-cap damper caps...also Losi 25wt oil front and rear) and I used the downtravel limiters which come on the parts tree in the hi-cap damper kits. That helps a lot with tire scrub, since it effectively reduces the arc that the wheels cover as the arms move up and down. It also helps to re-center the ride height when using 2.2" rims, as the stock rims are smaller (that was another problem I had when I first ran the car with the optional 2.2" rims...the roll center was too high). By the time I got to that point, I ran it once more at my local track and it felt okay. But if you want to do vintage 4wd buggy, you're really better off with something else...even an 870C which is known to jump like garbage.

I think you will enjoy the build very much. If you do plan on running it, on top of what I did above, get yourself a spare body (duh) and especially a spare wing. The wing mount really eats into the wing (at the edges of the wing mount surface) if you flip the car over, and if you do that enough, the wing gets completely beaten up.

Not that you would need any help with the build, but in case you're interested, I have build series videos of both the Black Special and the standard 2011 on YouTube. The 2011 build was more "correct," since I went into that one having had experience with the Black Special build, which came first. Anyway...check them out if you're interested...maybe there's some stuff in there that will help.

Oh I also forgot to mention...

Regarding the adjustability on the car, I have found out the hard way that it is not as adjustable as it looks at first glance. Namely, the front and rear arms can be adjusted for width, while the rear arms can be adjusted further for toe-in. Doing any of this outside of the factory setting will pull the CVD dogbones out just far enough that the drive cups to the diffs can easily pop out. So if you want to adjust the width on the arms (or the rear toe), you **will** need to add downtravel limiters to the shocks to push the dogbones back in. This will of course drop the ride height, so it's a trade-off, but not a bad one if you're on a smooth surface with small jumps.

Very helpful, thanks. I wish I had pulled the trigger on a black special last year but I couldn't spend the money.

I will most likely seek out those upgrades like the steering and diffs just to have them, but mine will not be much more than a limited use runner.

For a cruiser/runner id just fit the steering set, a hi torque servo saver, and bag a set of BS wheels and decal set, its what i did, though im yet to begin the BS body set......those decals scare me lol, but i doubt you'll miss the ball diffs and centre splitter as a toy.

lee

The BS body set is difficult, but do-able. Easier if you use hot soapy water with the decals.