Bringing a Danny Thompson Nitro Panda back to life.

[urban hype]

Hello All, This is the first time that I am going to chronicle a restoration of a project car. This car was a Kijiji find and it looks like it had a bit of a rough life. Here are some pictures from when I found it.

[urban hype]

I had read that any truck should be abused before it goes to the scrap yard so this guys is going to be a runner! I am going to set up as a beginners race car

Much to my good fortune the engine is not seized and the fuel tank is clean and not cracked or leaking

Here are some pictures of the suspension before I took it apart.

[urban hype]

Here is the car all disassembled and getting cleaned up.

I did find some problems:

The spur gear was missing some teeth.

One of the transmission gears was also missing a couple of teeth.

I would bet this was because of the worn bushings in the car.

Just as a side note this truck only had one bearing though out the kit. It is a thrust bearing in the transmission. Everything else was a bushing which was typical of the manufactures in the old days.

[GoMachV]

I have one of the early ones without the radio plate, cool old trucks to look at but be careful running! The rear gearbox was made of very poor plastics and was notorious for ripping the arms out of the arm mounts

The rear gearbox is a copy of a hotshot front. That's why it doesn't look like it belongs there

I am pretty sure a rampage spur is a close match if you can't find the right one.
There are gearboxes on eBay from crunchy550 at a very fair price
I think I saw internal gears on the bay as well

If you need pics of the manual or exploded views let me know

[Coelacanth]

The rear gearbox is a copy of a hotshot front. That's why it doesn't look like it belongs there

And the rear arms, hubs & suspension look like copies of Turbo Optima parts.

[hugger19]

check ebay theirs one guy selling like all the orginal stickers for that truck

[urban hype]

I have one of the early ones without the radio plate, cool old trucks to look at but be careful running! The rear gearbox was made of very poor plastics and was notorious for ripping the arms out of the arm mounts

The rear gearbox is a copy of a hotshot front. That's why it doesn't look like it belongs there

I am pretty sure a rampage spur is a close match if you can't find the right one.
There are gearboxes on eBay from crunchy550 at a very fair price
I think I saw internal gears on the bay as well

Thanks for the info gomachv. I do intend to beat on this truck but not as bad as what I do to my Durango SCT. The plastic on my version does not look that bad but I have not driven it yet.

I already have a spur gear from HPI. It is not an exact fit (44 teeth vs 41 teeth) but it is a far better choice that the 3d print from ebay. I would like the internal gears but I am yet to see them for sale.

[urban hype]

check ebay theirs one guy selling like all the orginal stickers for that truck

Thanks for the info hugger19. Unfortunately I never paint any of my cars as box art. Somehow I can never get box art right for some reason.

[urban hype]

Here is a update: I have been unable to find a new gear for my car. Since most of the gear was still there I have elected to repair the gear. Here is the result. The repair went well and it run smooth in the gear box.

[urban hype]

Now I can put the gear box back together and get going on this project again! Amazingly the rest of the gears look like they are in great condition.

[urban hype]

Now I need to clean up this engine. When ever I looked at these early Thunder Tiger Magnum engines I thought that they were O.S. clones. On the out side this engine looks a lot like an O.S. Now that I have taken one apart I can now say that both of the engines are rather similar in design but I cannot say that it is a outright copy. This engine seems to be in rather good condition with a considerable amount of compression left. The crankshaft is a funny looking animal. It is kind of like a SG shaft but longer.

[GoMachV]

Here are the part numbers for the gears you seek

I still would try the 50297 tamiya gear set for hotshot which are the 2nd and 3rd pics

[urban hype]

Thanks gomachv The tamiya gear set might work. Are the part numbers from the re release? The gear bag that I desire is the PD0170. All of the other gears look almost new.

[GoMachV]

I believe so

Here is one without a part number for $6 shipped
http://bit.ly/1ipNjaR

[urban hype]

Let's get the chassis back together. Check out my high performance braking system. For some reason there were no brakes when I got the car. I guess slowing down was an afterthought in the old days.