optima speed control resistor placement and shock towers

[slowboy]

Just wondering if anyone knows if the original optima had the resistors for the mechanical speed control moved to a different location as production of the kit kept going? i have one used optima that the original owner said is all original but the speed control resistors are in a cage above the motor in the back of the car.... i have seen this type on the turbo optima but not on the regular optima. also the shock towers are different between both cars.. one set is taller and has extra holes. I think i read somewhere that the towers were updated as production went on, but i never heard anything about the resistor protector/cage movement to the back? the cage thing for the resistors in the back is not in the directions anywhere......any one have any info????

[slowboy]

any ideas ??????anyone?????

[Charlie don't surf]

I have been thinking about this for exactly 2 hours and 56 mins and have come to the answer of most that say it came like that don't remember so well after 20 years.

[RichieRich]

There are two different shock towers for the Optima series cars. I don't remember why there was a change. I have both shock tower types buried in my closet. The resistors have always mounted on the rear over the motor in a little cage. This is true for both Optima and Ultima series cars.

[slowboy]

thats not true because the one I had that i built new from a kit had the resistors mounted on the left side in front of the rear suspension arm....what is going on?? im Scared!!!is it a fake!!

[rangerg]

The taller tower with extra holes I believe started with the Javelin. It lets you use gold shocks. I have always seen the resistors above in the cage.

[ROH73]

Per the original Optima and Javelin manuals, the resistor gets mounted on the left side of the chassis. See attached pic from the Optima manual. The Turbo Optima started the trend of mounting the resistor above the motor, which involved cutting an ugly hole in the Turbo Optima body (yes, I did it back in the day and it was a pain to "fix" when I switched to an ESC ).

slowboy: the resistor mounting point in the Optima and Javelin may have changed as production went on, or the original owner of your car saw the "Turbo way" of mounting it and decided to do it that way, which (cutting the body aside) is a better location as it probably gets much better airflow. I don't think you have a fake car. Although, can you posts some pics?

The Optima is the only one that came with short shock towers. All the others had taller towers for gold shock use. Again, this may have changed during the production run or added by the owner.

[slowboy]

yeh, in that pic above that is how mine looks, it is one piece with a circle cut in it. the resistor protector mounts on the side in front of the left rear wheel.....the other optima i have mounts in the back above the motor but the resistor protector is a totally different design...it has alot of smaller holes and it is two pieces that sandwich the two resistors inbetween. the body wont sit right unless it is cut out for this. that is why i want to know if it is a stock piece before i cut the body or is it from another type of kit. i have not seen the piece in my original kit, only in turbo optima and ultima kits....any one know for sure or have a regular optima kit (NOT TURBO OPTIMA) that came with this piece in a later production????

[Hotshotman]

I think they made a change midway thru production so the Optima shock towers each have two upper holes per shock.
The resistors did get moved to the rear of the car where yours are, likely to prevent burned fingers from guys picking up the car without being aware of the hidden hot resistors and to keep the resistors cooler.
There was a small piece of paper that was added in with the instruction manual that detailed this resistor procedure. Unfortunately I can't locate mine right now.

[slowboy]

this piece of paper came in the regular optima kit? is that what you have? a regualr optima or javelin or turbo optima?

[Hotshotman]

I think this is it...

[ROH73]

Very interesting; I've never seen that before.

[slowboy]

HOTSHOTMAN......you are the man!!!!! thank you, time to start cutting up the body then paint boxart ........thanks again

[rangerg]

That's interesting, thanks for posting the insert scan.