ProCat - Restoring to Race

[CVRrc]

This is my ProCat. It was my third RC car and my favorite by miles, I was 13 when I bought it second hand from my LHS(sadly closed now) I have never raced I just ran it around my back garden and local parks. I hung up my RC hat at 14 after my King Cab went out of range and drove itself full speed into the lake and my local park frying my first and newly acquired ESC in the process . I couldn't afford a new ESC and the thought of going back to using a mechanical speed controller was too much too bare so my cars were packed away and forgotten.

Fast Forward 24 years. While moving house I rediscovered my ProCat and a passion for RC cars, over the last two months my collection has expanded to 6 vintage Schumachers a collection of brushed motors and a comm lathe to keep them going and lots of ESCs

The reason for this post is to show you my restoration and hopefully get a few answers along the way I'm racing the ProCat and a Club 10 at The Brett Davis Vintage GP in January so have two months to get them ready and learn how to race. This forum has been an inspiration to me, a big thanks to everyone who has posted their projects here, they are a great source of information and inspiration.

My ProCat one week ago, looking a bit worse for wear.

It has a couple of upgrades already, they were on the car when I got it.
Any idea who made the alloy transmition housing?
I think the Slipper Clutch is a standard Bosscat upgrade.

Alloy Transmition Housing.jpg (11.63 KiB) Viewed 4371 times

Alloy Transmition Housing.jpg (11.63 KiB) Viewed 4371 times

[CVRrc]

I have found a few parts to repair and hopefully improve the car the first being an alloy rear diff apparently it was made by Schumacher? But I don't have any documentation to prove it. It looks in good condition and I will rebuild it with new bearings, but I do have a small concern in that it only woks with one set of the three pairs of transmission belts that I have. I hope it is visible in the picture below, the belt on the left will work with the standard plastic diffs and mesh perfectly but when put on the alloy diff rides up over the teeth as it spins. The belt on the right which seems to have a slightly lower profile and narrow shape to each tooth fits perfectly on alloy diff. Does anyone know if the one on the belt on the right is still available to order? Or if it has a name or part number I can look out for? also the belt seems a little thin compared to the other will it hold up to the modern brushless power I hope to put though it?
The third picture shows my other option for the diff which I can use if the alloy one doesn't work out, it has alloy washer carriers which I believe is an upgrade over the original diff which had to be glued together.

Alloy diff.jpg (8.3 KiB) Viewed 4365 times

Alloy diff.jpg (8.3 KiB) Viewed 4365 times

rear diff 2.jpg (11.71 KiB) Viewed 4365 times

rear diff 2.jpg (11.71 KiB) Viewed 4365 times

[Groomi]

Hi, that's an interesting Procat you have there.

The alloy transmission housings were made by a few companies. MMS, Wasp and a couple of others. I'm not sure which one yours is, but I've not seen one with a cut-out at the front like that before, so it may be one of the less common ones - or even a homemade item?

The slipper is a Bosscat item as you say.

The alloy diff I think is a Wasp diff. The belts issue is probably down to worn belts and worn teeth. I would get some new belts if I were you - they're available on Ebay usually.

The other diff was known as a Super Diff, which is a standard black plastic diff casing with alloy outdrives and hex diff rings. These were available from Schumacher either as upgrades or as standard on the last of the line Procat SE models.

Have you got any pics of the rest of the car?

[Danf1275]

Looks like you landed a gem all those years ago - some nice upgrades there.

As Ian says, it would be great to see some more pics.

I am also doing Brett Davis event with my CAT XL and Topcat - great to have others flying the Schumacher flag

[CVRrc]

Hi, that's an interesting Procat you have there.

The alloy transmission housings were made by a few companies. MMS, Wasp and a couple of others. I'm not sure which one yours is, but I've not seen one with a cut-out at the front like that before, so it may be one of the less common ones - or even a homemade item?

The slipper is a Bosscat item as you say.

The alloy diff I think is a Wasp diff. The belts issue is probably down to worn belts and worn teeth. I would get some new belts if I were you - they're available on Ebay usually.

The other diff was known as a Super Diff, which is a standard black plastic diff casing with alloy outdrives and hex diff rings. These were available from Schumacher either as upgrades or as standard on the last of the line Procat SE models.

Have you got any pics of the rest of the car?

Hi Groomi

Thanks for the info. I have had the car running on a brushless system, it brought back all the great memories of when I first got the car and how well it went compared to the other RC cars I had. I have since learnt, thanks to this forum, that the slipper was non standard for the ProCat so can can take more power than the 17.5T motor I have fitted so I plan on giving it a bit more grunt and lipo power in its next incarnation.

I will to do a complete rebuild replacing all worn or hacked up components, check out the cut up front upper wishbones I had always assumed they were standard until very recently I'm adding a few hop ups that I have recently found like the alloy diff and will add more when/if I can find them. I plan to post the rebuild as I make progress on the car, but here are a few before pics I took last month.

[CVRrc]

Looks like you landed a gem all those years ago - some nice upgrades there.

As Ian says, it would be great to see some more pics.

I am also doing Brett Davis event with my CAT XL and Topcat - great to have others flying the Schumacher flag

Hi Danf1275

I'm really looking forward to the Brett Davis event. Glad to hear you are bringing those cars I have never seen them in the flesh. One of my other projects is a Topcat but it seems a slow process finding all the parts.
I've also got a Club 10 to get ready for the big day I plan on adding a slipper clutch and keeping it old skool with brushed motor powered and as Schumacher as possible I have picked up three Schumacher motors a FH1000 ESC to power it and even a purple heatsink so the the ESC can handle more power if I can find a Schumacher branded servo I would use that too

[Danf1275]

Looks like an excellent example - looking forward to the rebuild.

My 2nd proper buggy was a Procat, which was a revelation after a Tamiya Hornet - like you, finding it again reignited the passion

[Groomi]

Looks like quite a clean car to start with - should be a good build.

I had some front wishbones cut out like that in a parts lot I bought a while ago. I assume it was a period thing people did to save weight and extend run time, along with drilling holes in just about everything...

Enjoy the build!

[CVRrc]

Progress report
I have have decided to go with the standard Super Diff for now. I want to use my Alloy Rear Diff but it requires a bit more work to get it going. I discovered the steel washers were just glued to the washer carrier, no friction paper in sight, and the join has failed. I tried using some spare alloy washer carriers but I will need to find a bearing that will sit inside of it and support it properly on the axle.
So for now here is my rear transmission assembly. With a nice picture of my alloy inner transmission housing, I don't no why but it is my favorite part of the car.

[CVRrc]

I have also sorted my front tansmission. And made another cool discovery, the Diff pulley from my original ProCat is an alloy upgrade part
Does anyone know who made it?
I have been amassing spares over the last couple of months and have four different font differentials.
I have have used parts from three of them to make what I think is the best combination. I did try using the alloy washer carriers but it had a bit of a wobble on the hubs and friction between the diff pulley and transmission housing, so I used the plastic hex washer carriers form the 4th diff and now it spins nice and true.

[CVRrc]

I made some progress on the car over Christmas.
Still plenty to do but I should have all done in time for the Brett Davis Vintage GP
The chassis had hard deposits of glue in several places but it cleaned up well with a fine grade sandpaper and solvents.
I picked up of few carbon goodies for the rear suspension and steering assembly.
The front hub carriers look to be original ProCat cut down to look like BossCat ones and I have used BossCat rear hub carriers and modern turnbuckles to complete the rear suspension and steering.
A ProCat I bought for spares came with Kyosho Gold Shocks, they are in good condition and a nice period upgrade over my original shocks, I just need to work out what grade shock oil and spring rate to use.
I am using a brushless system and lipo saddle packs to power the car so had to work out how to mount the batteries and settled on using mounts from an SX3, I had to drill four new holes in the chassis to fit them, but I think its worth the sacrifice.

I would like to get peoples opinions on using modern parts like turnbuckles to complete a car entering a vintage race is it OK? If its OK to use modern electrics surely modern turnbuckles are fine.

[Danf1275]

Based on my experience of The Iconic revival and other such events, modern turnbuckles will not be a problem - rules are generally relaxed towards upgrades in the interests of reliabilty or availabilty - for instance, you regularly see modern shocks and 3D printed parts used, so long as the buggy maintains the spirit and DNA of the original

[CVRrc]

Based on my experience of The Iconic revival and other such events, modern turnbuckles will not be a problem - rules are generally relaxed towards upgrades in the interests of reliabilty or availabilty - for instance, you regularly see modern shocks and 3D printed parts used, so long as the buggy maintains the spirit and DNA of the original

Thanks that puts my mind at ease.

[CVRrc]

The body and wing are painted and fitted Its a very fiddly job getting the shell cut and holes in the right place for the undertray but now it done incredibly satisfying. There are a few small jobs to do before race day but I couldn't resist taking a few pics.

[DennisM]

Great result - good luck racing