Brimod Shocks get "the treatment"

[Coelacanth]

These shocks were installed on a parts car I received from flipwils11. I didn't recognize what they were when I bought the 3 parts cars and lot of mostly Kyosho parts, I just thought they were some unusual aluminum shocks. After some research, it turns out that they're rare and quite desireable Brimod shocks. They looked dull and listless and I stuck them in a Ziploc bag for a good while, my plan was to clean them up and possibly polish them. Since my other build is in limbo pending the shipping of some parts, and I had a free evening, I got myself motivated to work these shocks over.

They were all intact, in pretty good condition except for the white presumably stock ball-ends with captured balls. I found that Kyosho ball-ends were an almost perfect swap, but I kept the originals for future re-sale. I cleaned them by first spraying with WD-40 then brushing with a toothbrush, then dumped everything in a plastic yogurt container filled with Dawn & hot water, gave it a good shake (rather like James Bond's martinis) and rinsed everything off. Nothing I tried, however, would clean up some discoloration between the threads in some places.

I then wet-sanded the bodies and top caps with 600-grit until they were a nice and consistent-looking satin finish. I broke out the rotary tool with a couple polishing disks, some rubbing compound, and went to town. I was impressed with how quickly they polished up to a nice shiny gloss! I then gave the spring perches the same treatment. I didn't bother polishing the knurled adjuster rings, though.

I then reassembled them with 30-weight oil. The rears are leaky but the fronts are nice and tight. I didn't bother with replacing O-rings but that's probably what the rears will need, when their future owner receives them. I did all the hard work already.

These might just be the prettiest used Brimod shocks you'll ever see!

[Bormac]

Oo La La..... Really great job you have done on what could be the rarest (not to mention desirable) set of dampers out there Marc. I for one appreciate you going to the trouble and sharing this with us.

[V12]

It´s interesting Brimod shocks are getting into the public now again.
For a long time I have not read anything, I think most people won´t know this brand.
When I had my PB Mini Mustang I soon was after some better shocks and got a set of them trough a friend who was importing them from England. I think the Brimod had been also some of the first threaded shocks.
BTW maybe one month ago there was an auction on a set of such Brimod shocks, went for ...... 305$

[Coelacanth]

Thanks guys, they're definitely an interesting design, and work quite well. I learned you have to keep pressing your thumbnail up against the black O-rings while screwing down the caps, as they tend to want to push down outside of their little groove and risk getting squished in the lower adjuster ring threaded section. I still think Kyosho Golds and the internal diaphram design works better, though. If I acquire another full set of scuffed-up Golds, I'll deanodize them and polish them like this.

[ASC6000]

I had both sizes new back in the day, they had so much stiction I never used them and don't remember what I ever did with them. There are some short ones on ebay now.

[Lonestar]

they sure do look jolly good

in terms of technical design, what is so special about them, however?

Thanks for enlighting me
Paul

[jwscab]

judging by the fact that these are pretty old (comparatively), I'd say there weren't too many threaded adjustable shocks back when these were available for 1/10 scale. I could be wrong though. otherwise, they look pretty standard to me.

[Coelacanth]

Other than that and the bleed screws in the caps, they're pretty normal. But those features were quite unusual back in those days.

[Lonestar]

Other than that and the bleed screws in the caps, they're pretty normal. But those features were quite unusual back in those days.

Interesting, thanks

I've always wondered who was the first manufacturer to do threaded shocks... In 8th scale the earlier I found was Garbo, the Gepard already had them in 85. See pic of my new built one



Bleed shock caps are cool... did these come before the yokomo's???

Thanks for sharing!

Paul

[ron]

Other than that and the bleed screws in the caps, they're pretty normal. But those features were quite unusual back in those days.

Interesting, thanks

I've always wondered who was the first manufacturer to do threaded shocks... In 8th scale the earlier I found was Garbo, the Gepard already had them in 85. See pic of my new built one



Bleed shock caps are cool... did these come before the yokomo's???

Thanks for sharing!

Paul

Man those Garbo shocks are neat and so is the car/buggy? I love the ball joints and looks like they can be tightened or loosened. I really dig the brimod shocks, really scale like and must work great. I would think RC really started at 1/4 or 1/5 scale but took off at the 1/8 scale all around, since 1/8 scale is big enough to implement all those scale like functioning designs. With 1/10, you are overdoing it cause it is constraint by size, plus it is prone to a lot more damage than larger scale RCs, so simple and robust designs are called for. Thus is whats going on with todays RCs, I guess. That's why the vintage stuff is so higly sort after. I have collected an assortment of 1/8 scale stuff to build a 1/8 buggy and I am thinking along the same lines of the Garbo rear arms. Gonna use Tamiya avante aluminum rod ends, they are 1/8 scale compatible