The reason for the Meteor's low cost was partly due to efficient design but also its relative low spec - the original car's plastic shocks were very prone to leaking - relying on PTFE plumbers tape to seal the threaded seal cartridges into the bottom of the shocks, the car came without ballraces (except the main diff outdrives in the gearbox casing) & although the chunky plastic mouldings were strong they were not the last word in precision. One of the main limitations IMO was the lack of ability to run hotter modified motors - to start with the gearing mean't that a standard 27t motor needed one of the smallest 32dp pinions available (About a 12t IIRC) - Also the motor mounted directly into the plastic gearbox housing, which would warp given too much heat, causing the pinion to move out of mesh with the spur gear!
However the car had a strong following & many loyal racers set-about modifying their cars to address its failings - Mardave themselves offered a few upgrades - again at a very minimal cost, such upgrades included parts to allow the fitment of ball races & a LWB chassis, but many modifications were DIY items, the simple nature of the car allowing such home-brewed upgrades to be easily done with a little thought. The modified Meteor became the subject of three articles in the UK magazine Radio Race Car by the racer Greg Halliday - these articles spanned a couple of years & detailed the modifications that Greg had made on his car - the last of these (The MKIII Modified Meteor) is the inspiration for this build-up thread.
The project to build my own 'Ultimate' Meteor based on the MK3 article started with a request that I put out on Tamiyaclub which resulted in me aquiring the new-built example shown below... which came with the car's standard ABS bodyshell sprayed up (on the outside of the shell moulding) in the box art colours, this demonstrates the original spec of a standard car - including the supplied 'wiper' type mechanical speedo & Mabuchi RS540 motor.
I soon after aquired a Meteor parts lot which included this new LWB chassis kit (complete with wider front arms)... the 'lot' also included a few other usefull new parts (front wheels & rear hubs) which enables the fitment of ballraces - amongst a number of other new parts. The red spur gear which has the recesses required to accept some small ball races was also another purchase from ebay after a long-long search for that particular ellusive part.
So the plan was hatched to use the new-built car as a basis to build into it the upgrade parts an gradually develop my own modified Meteor.... the only part I was missing was the 'upgrade' Lexan bodyshell that is specific for use with the LWB chassis... but i've come to the conclusion that i'll never find a new one after a few years searching & putting out requests on various forums etc
The Meteor remained in production from the mid 80s until around 93 when it was replaced with the equally successfully (& simple in design) Cobra, which remained in production until the late 90s. The new owners keep threatening to re-release the Cobra - there are a few spares now available but so far not a full kit.
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I think we had up to 12 cars in the same heat. Fantastic fun and almost impossible to break.
I did put a request out in the wanted section some while ago but to no avail... I nearly brought a whole stash of PB parts off ebay just to get the wing mount - but the auction went way higher than I could justify at the time for just one part!