My 4th Turbo Optima Mid SE This Year?

[Basher67]

Could it be? Did I just find a 4th Turbo Optima Mid SE inside of 12 months? I thought these things were rare. Well at least I think it's an SE. I picked this up with 13 other cars in a collection the other day. Decided to give it a closer look today, and once I got past the homemade sheetmetal body mounts for the "truck conversion, I noticed the Platinum shocks and the sway bars. The original wheels are long gone, although there was a set of silver wheels from a Turbo Optima included with a decent set of vintage pro-line Apache's mounted. What's throwing me off is the chassis. It's got a carbon chassis that looks like it might just be in exceptionally nice condition thanks to the undertray. This doesn't really surprise me since this car has had all manner of "upgrades" over the years (such as the hpi super star wheels with the glow in the dark paint around the outer lips). I have seen versions of the Mid with carbon chassis. Not sure if they are called Mid Special or Custom Special. This chassis looks just like those, but is black graphite instead of woven carbon fiber like the other ones I've seen. Maybe an aftermarket chassis. I'll have to research it some more. I know what they say about polishing a turd---but this one might be worth cleaning up a little.

[XLR8]

Ya know, when you posted those group photos the other day, my eye went straight to this one. It definitely has some SE features but the composite main chassis suggests that it's a different model. Can't tell if it's LWB but the chassis plate certainly has under-tray mounting posts and slots for four cells on the left side so it might be a Kyosho piece. Unlike your last SE car, this one will require a lot of work to return it to original. I wonder what the gears look like.

[Basher67]

I was wondering the same thing. We'll find out soon enough.

[Basher67]

It looks like the undertray did it's job. Aside from being dirty, the chassis looks completely undamaged and should clean up nicely. I'm afraid whatever was gained by the custom one-off belt tensioner zip tied to the top, was probably lost to trans and diff damage from all the dirt and debris that was let in. But let's keep our fingers crossed.

[Basher67]

Nice clean surprise for a motor.

[Basher67]

Well, wadda you know! Even a blind dog finds a bone now and then! Upgraded gears. Hard to tell in the pic, but the center gear is a nice aluminum piece and the gears look to be in good shape. Front and rear diffs feel a little grindy but a clean up and some fresh balls can do wonders with those.

[XLR8]

You are lucky indeed!
Looks like a TOMS (LWB cf chassis and shock towers, ball diffs, turnbuckles, etc.) but with SE Platinum shocks and an idler gear upgrade. However, the main chassis is missing a couple holes so maybe it's not Kyosho (but it sure looks close).
Anyway, whatcha got planned for it?

[Basher67]

Not sure yet. I'm going to clean it up. Go through every nut and bolt. I'll see how much it needs and whether or not I want to keep it. To be honest, I prefer the old chaindrive rear motor Optimas. These old mids are horrible to maintenance.

[NomadRacer]

really nice find! I'm envious, to say the least. i found a really nice AE factory Team SC10.2 the other day and it's on the way. You take what you can find and "polish it up".

[XLR8]

Actually, I don't think there's been a chain or belt driven 4WD buggy that been easy to maintain; you have to practically disassemble the entire car to do bearing and diff maintenance.
Now, the more modern shaft drive cars are a different story with their modular construction and sealed gear cases at each and dogbones connecting them -- there's nothing to stretch or wear out and there's no need for separate covers to keep dirt out of the drivetrain. Still, and I think you'll agree, I find the vintage stuff so much more interesting than modern cars.

So, Nomad is getting an SC10. Are you planning something special or just shine and show? Will this be your first short course truck?

[NomadRacer]

Actually, I don't think there's been a chain or belt driven 4WD buggy that been easy to maintain; you have to practically disassemble the entire car to do bearing and diff maintenance.
Now, the more modern shaft drive cars are a different story with their modular construction and sealed gear cases at each and dogbones connecting them -- there's nothing to stretch or wear out and there's no need for separate covers to keep dirt out of the drivetrain. Still, and I think you'll agree, I find the vintage stuff so much more interesting than modern cars.

So, Nomad is getting an SC10. Are you planning something special or just shine and show? Will this be your first short course truck?

I really don't know what to do with it. I guess "shine and show", depending on what I have to replace... it is used. I ordered a new body for it. I've never had a short course truck before.

[DennisM]

Chassis is most likely a standard FRP LWB conversion chassis with the seventh slot filed.
Most likely the buggy started out as Optima Mid SE which received a LWB conversion at some point.
Based on platinum shocks, swaybars, balldiffs, aluminum MSC mount and absence of turnbuckles.

[Basher67]

I think you are correct, except for the filed 7th slot. On close inspection, there is no question it was milled the same time as the rest. I compared it this morning to my other mids and its wheelbase is around an inch longer. I did some research last night and from what I gathered, I also concluded that it is a Turbo mid SE with a lwb conversion.

[Basher67]

Chassis cleaned up nicely. It's damn near like new except for some very small and light scratches on the rear diff mounting tab where the under tray didn't cover. The top has some glue spots that I'm working on now. The front and rear diffs are back together and everything feels super smooth. Looks like a nice solid base for a build. I have a bunch of kyosho parts laying around so I might just restomod this one into something fun. We'll see how it goes.

[Basher67]

After a decent cleanup and removing all the unusable crap, this is what I ended up with. Robinson Racing adjustable rear toe was a neat little find. Transmission and both diffs are super smooth, shocks are in really good shape and cycle smoothly, and overall condition of everything looks pretty good. The bad---Obviously the wheels are not correct for this car and neither are the bitchin' old school Pro-Line Apache tires, the shock towers have the body mount tabs removed, and the front bumper condition is good for a runner but a little rashed for a shelf queen. It will need a body and belt cover set, which is all available, but it ain't free. So the choices before me are 1-restore it, 2- restomod it. Something to the tune of using these wheels and tires and fabbing some body mounts to run a different body like a baja bug or whatever, or 3- sell it to help finance other projects. Decisions decisions decisions