New/Old Ultima PRO XL

[FPE155]

Hi everyone,

This is my first post on this forum, and I apologize if my english is not 100%

I recently had a look around my old RC cars and found some parts from my first real race car.
This got me the idea to try to build a replica.
Prior to the Ultima I had a shared Hotshot with my brother, then a Monster Beetle and an Avante.
I did some racing with the Avante, but that car was more show than go and needed to go on a diet(But I really liked it).

There are some Ultima PRO XL for sale but they are either very expensive or in bad shape.
Found a old Ultima 2 on Ebay that I am going to use as a donor car for the parts that is missing.
I do not know in which direction this build will take, but I will post pictures along the build.

These are the parts that I found.

Litesink and A&L Steering kit

Triumph Wheels

Suspension parts that I probably not going to use

New Triumph rear suspension arms and rear bulkhead

More suspension parts

Front and Rear Anti-Roll Bar Stabilizers

Balldiff that need a renovation

Started to wet sanding one of the pressure plates, and it came out very nice

I also found the original wing mouts, but they were modified to be use on a Corally SP10 back in the days.
To save weight the hex nut was filed down, incredibly the amount of work I used to put down back then to save maybe 0,5grams

Ultima999.PNG (379.68 KiB) Viewed 3650 times

Ultima999.PNG (379.68 KiB) Viewed 3650 times

[coxbros1]

Righteous build so far!

[FPE155]

Got my Donor car and started to disassemble it.
This car was very strange, visually all parts looked ok but there was so much play in all parts. I did a comparison with my old parts and they all have a much better precision.
I only needed the gearbox, but was hoping to be able to use more parts from this car.

The Balldiff renovation game out great but the Dome Washers (7) was in bad shape, I have not been able to find any new to replace them with.

To find a chassi seems to be impossible.
Started to make a drawing based on the Ultima 2 Chassi and Pictures found on the web.
Got most features in place, but not having anything to confirm the measurements with, I had to try to come up with another solution.
I contacted Fibre-Lyte and they had some discounted chassis for sale with minor imperfections. This chassis is based on the Ultima PRO and is 10mm shorter than the XL Chassis.
Going to use this chassis for now and will replace it when I can verify the measurement on my drawing to make a correct XL chassis.

Gearbox assembled and mounted on the chassis, had an old Scorpion Motor that had been renovated with new bearings, brushes and the commutator got trued.

Started with the front and ordered some 3D printed suspension arms. If anyone has an original set for sale to a decent price please let me know.

[Johanp]

I have seen this Fibre-lyte chassis. I can promise you that it is even more shiny irl!
Looking forward to seeing how this build will turn out.

[Sprocket]

I’m looking forward to this build too. I have a couple of Kyosho rebuild projects that need to get finished.

[FPE155]

A small update on my project.

Front suspension almost completed

Found the red plastic spacers to the top damper mount.

Need to make some sort of adapter between the top carbon part and the steering to stabilize it.

Rear suspension mounted and I found the red plastic spacer for the top hub mounting point.

Would like to run a W-0110 Kyosho spur gear (48P). Have not been able to source one, have to run with this standard spur gear for now.

Missing one M4x8 screw to the gearbox, just my luck.

Starting to look like a ULTIMA, next is to decide what manufacturer to use for the Lexan body.

[Johanp]

Coming along nicely!

Is there an undertay available to protect that chassis plate if you ever decide to run the car?

[FPE155]

Coming along nicely!

Is there an undertay available to protect that chassis plate if you ever decide to run the car?

There are some undertrays on eBay, but unsure if it fits my chassis.

[img]

[FPE155]

A small progress on the project.

Found another old part that I used on the Ultima, this is a spacer for the motor to increase the cooling.

Could not find any Vintage Gold Shocks for a reasonable price so I went for the new version.
Not that happy that the shock oil is added from the other side compared to the original.

Found some original Kyosho rear tires but opted for some Schumacher tires in the front that resembles the originals.

Having trouble with the front Anti-Roll Bar, when the suspension moves it either hits the underside of the shock absorber or make contact with the inner side of the Turnbuckle.
Maybe the problem is that the new shocks are a bit bigger, I have to see if I can solve this issue later.

Added an old Futaba S132 servo and Novak T4 speed control, the receiver cable on the speed control is too short and needs to be replaced.
The outer chase to the servo needs also be replaced but they are very inexpensive, one of the mounting points are damaged.

Missing an Electrolytic capacitor to the motor, need to fix this before the first test.

Some more pictures

[coxbros1]

Real decent build!

[USAPaulo]

That looks fantastic

[FPE155]

Some time since last update, but the project is still alive.

Bought an uncut carbon chassis from Fibre-Lyte and made my own XL chassis, I think it looks ok for an amateur like me.

More Carbon, Servo mount and battery brace.

Replaced the Triumph rear suspension arms with a set of new original XL arms, still looking for a set of front arms.

Found a Kyosho SCR 1200mAh battery saddle pack that still holds a charge. I don’t know how it is still alive, it holds 900mAh when I did a test.
Next is to paint the body.

[XLR8]

Wow, what a nice build!!

I agree with your comments regarding the shocks. The new re-release versions are great but they are bottom fill (no separate top cap with diaphragm). This makes them emulsion rather than pressure shocks like the vintage ones. This is disappointing. I'm guessing this was done to reduce manufacturing costs but Kyosho's re-release kits are already premium priced items so this really doesn't make sense to me.

Anyway, your Ultima looks fantastic so far. Thanks for detailing the build here.

[FPE155]

Tanks Doug,

Will replace the dampers when I find a set to a reasonable price.
Vintage parts goes for some crazy money these days.

[rwordenjr]

lovely car! been trying to find one of those litesinks for the ultima for some time