RC12LW back on the track?

[folkdeath95]

Hello,

This winter, when tidying my attic, I found back my old toys including a RC12LW I bought in 1993 when I was a teenager. This car almost never ran, maybe 100m of test drive in my parent's house driveway.
The box later suffered from a flood in my parent's cellar but, fortunately, the car was stocked higher than the water level, so it looks undamaged. It just looks like a near 30 years old RC car. I really like the look of those chassis.

I feel ashamed to show you the body, because the teenager I was really butchered it: cut with a chain saw, drilled with a jackhammer and painted with a trowel :

When I saw the car, I thought it could be cool to bring it on my local track.
At first, I thought about two options:
-1: building a period correct RC12, with vintage electronics.
-2: using today's technology (brushless motor, lipos, etc...)

All my vintage electronics disappeared twenty years ago in the flood, and I'm little afraid about the reliability of 30 years old electronics bought on internet, so I abandonned option 1.
Putting lipo batteries and a brushless combo looked at first attractive for regular use, but finally, I find it kinda weird... Too big age gap between chassis and electronics, perhaps.

So I thought about a middleway: use a modern brushed motor and NiMh batteries. Given the age of the car and the fact that spare part could be unobtainium, I think it's safer to use a "cool" motor. My goal is not to race against modern car, I just want to have some fun driving a vintage RC car, so I'm thinking about a 27T or 23T. What do you think about that?

I have a Savox 1251 servo I'm not using that could do the steering job and I'd like to use my 2.4GHz radio, because it's so convenient and the little size of the Rx is an advantage on a small chassis. I know it's a little bit herectic.

I'll cartainly have lots of question later (body, tires, things I haven't been thinking about yet...), but do you think it's a realistic project?

[coxbros1]

Hell yes it is! the nimh cells will fit better than a 1s anyway. I think a 23t Tamiya RZ will fit the bill nicely

[folkdeath95]

Hell yes it is! the nimh cells will fit better than a 1s anyway. I think a 23t Tamiya RZ will fit the bill nicely

Thanks for the motor idea.

[ELF-BMX]

Wow i dont think ive ever seen a fiberglass 12ls before. That was the chassis that cane out if box? Very cool

[folkdeath95]

Wow i dont think ive ever seen a fiberglass 12ls before. That was the chassis that cane out if box? Very cool

Yes, that's the chassis that was on the box. It has some kind of "ears" on the front, like the RC12LS, but it's a RC12LW.


Well, I realized first thing to do will be buying US hex screwdriver set because I can't find the allen wrench that cames with the car.
The aluminium screws on the left front suspension arms suffered, back in the days.

I will replace it with steel screws (weight is not a problem for my use). Is it UNC ou UNF thread?

[GeneralZod]

8x32 - that one that's chewed up may be a challenge to remove. They fit pretty tight in the nylon.

[Coelacanth]

Looks like you might be able to ease it out with a flat screwdriver with the same width as the screw head. Snug in the flat screwdriver, give it a few taps to jam it in, and hope.

[folkdeath95]

8x32 - that one that's chewed up may be a challenge to remove. They fit pretty tight in the nylon.

Thanks for the information on the screw. Lengths are 1" and 5/8", right?

Looks like you might be able to ease it out with a flat screwdriver with the same width as the screw head. Snug in the flat screwdriver, give it a few taps to jam it in, and hope.

I'll cross my fingers and hope it works. I also have a tool to remove screws with damaged heads (don't know the english name). If needed, I'll try that but I'd prefer not to have to.

[folkdeath95]

Finally, I changed my mind about the electronics and found a Reedy motor and a Novak ESC from the nineties to put in the RC12.
I also received US hex screwdrivers so I'll be able to begin the work.

[folkdeath95]

8x32 - that one that's chewed up may be a challenge to remove. They fit pretty tight in the nylon.

Finally, I had no problem to remove the ruined screws. Phew...
I ordered steel screws to replace them.

By the way, what is the size of the small screws used everywhere on the RC12?

[juicedcoupe]

Most likely 4-40.

[folkdeath95]

Most likely 4-40.

Thanks.
I'll try to find some, just in case.

[folkdeath95]

On this picture, you can see that the shaft end of the schock is not straight.

At first, I thought I made a mistake when assembling the car back in the days. But I watched closely this afternoon and discover that my shaft end seems to have a problem: the hole for the set screw is too deep and continue in the other side of the shaft end. So, when I tighten the set screw, the shaft tumble in the small cavity created by the hole.
Did anybody else have this problem.
I suppose it is not too important concerning shock operation, so I'm not sure if I'll try to fix thsi (how?) or just let as this...

[RC10th]

Nice 12LW..... looks new.

I would double check the depth of the shock shaft hole to see if the shaft is indeed fully inserted into the spring retainer. I checked a spare shock that I had and it should go in just past the grub screw. Check for a burr in the retainer hole and on the shock shaft

Failing that if the retainer is "messed up" I would drill out the other side and tap the hole for another grub screw, so you have one on each side.

[folkdeath95]

It seems that you had a good intuition. I did the same test and here's what I got:

In fact, my shaft is more or less like this (the bottom of the shaft's hole must be V-shaped):

Maybe I sould just drill a little bit the hole for the shaft so it will be like yours.