KYOSHO Optima Mid LWB - "Manobet" inside

[Trass]

Hi there !

Here is an old project started on august 2014.

Some extra parts from MANOBET are installed for a better look and improvement.

The pics :


the beginning :





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Extra parts:







Pics with natural light









Six month to find this spring :






Some extra parts find on the net






Anti-rool-bar find and installation











Optional motor plate





Better condition rods










At this moment, i want to find :

- Belt drive superior protection
- original TOMS Front tires
- original TOMS rear tires

Please ... HELP



to be continued ....


Jerome

[Trass]

To be continued ...

Jerome

[DennisM]

This might end well
Very fine build

[NomadRacer]

I like the design of the buggy, cool looking at the least. Continue on my friend!

[XLR8]

Very nice indeed.
The whole lwb vs. swb thing has me a bit confused. Was the original Optima Mid swb or lwb - or was an option? TBG has a body listed on ebay but it says "lwb". Will this body fit a first gen OM? Is there an easy way to determine if a car is swb or lwb - some particular rule-of-thumb dimension perhaps?

[Coelacanth]

Very nice indeed.
The whole lwb vs. swb thing has me a bit confused. Was the original Optima Mid swb or lwb - or was an option? TBG has a body listed on ebay but it says "lwb". Will this body fit a first gen OM? Is there an easy way to determine if a car is swb or lwb - some particular rule-of-thumb dimension perhaps?

This should answer your question with a simple timeline of Optima releases; basically, the LWB (long wheelbase) variant was released at the very end of the Optima development. The original Mids were all SWB (short wheelbase) chassis'. Everything after the Turbo Optima Mid SE was LWB. As you can see, the naming prefixes & suffixes got a bit clunky and confusing.

http://theoptimahouse.blogspot.ca/2006/12/genealogy-of-optima-series.html#!/2006/12/genealogy-of-optima-series.html

[XLR8]

Ah yes, you've done an awesome job explaining the differences. Thank you sir! Actually, I can see the extended wb cars in the diagram (appears to be a bit more gap in front of the rear tires).
Henceforth, I'll prefer to read "SWB" as standard wheelbase since it came first.
Thanks again for setting me straight.
By chance, do you know how much the wheelbase was extended and if there's a back story? Just curious.

[Coelacanth]

By chance, do you know how much the wheelbase was extended and if there's a back story? Just curious.

You're welcome, but I can't take credit for that image, that goes to The Optima House blog, http://theoptimahouse.blogspot.ca. It's a good site for Optima fans.

My OptiMutt car is based on the SWB Turbo Optima Mid SE chassis, and I don't have one of the LWB Mids to compare with, or I'd measure it for you. I'm sure someone else here can share the details.

As for why they went with a long wheelbase, I'm guessing for racing, the biggest reason for increasing the chassis wheelbase was probably to make 7 battery cells fit in a better-performing arrangement...recall that the previous Mids and early Optimas were made for 6- and 7-cell stick packs that were installed sideways, perpendicular to the chassis length, which wasn't an optimal weight distribution.

[Trass]

This might end well
Very fine build

Thank you, more surprise soon

I like the design of the buggy, cool looking at the least. Continue on my friend!

Thank you, i hope to enjoy a lot of poeple with that project



Jerome

[Swosh]

The wheel base was extended by approximately 2 cm if I remember right. The reason was to improve stability. As a drawback though the turning circle was a bit wider so they used more narrow front wheels to improve steering.

Schumacher also came up with a long-wheel-based cat.

[XLR8]

Thank you Swosh.
I have the original Cat, the XL and the XLS and even with same springs, damping, tires, etc., handling overall is very different. The XLS is clearly the better handling car IMHO. The SWB Cat can be tricky especially on corner entry so it's probably best suited to a tight, twisty track.
I'm not able to determine this from any of the photos but If I wanted to upgrade a Mid to LWB, would I need longer chassis plates and belt or were the arms and/or their mounts simply altered somehow to achieve the longer wb?

[Trass]

Some test mount :










To be continued ...


Jerome