My first car - Mardave Meteor

[dinglem]

Hoping for a first run-out today, although waking up to snow this morning. All electrics are in so we will see how we get on. First time out with these newfangled Lipo batteries, plus a new Futaba tranny also. Changed a lot since I last drove (1993)!

[dinglem]

Well that was fun. Shell was temporarily added for a quick spin. I think my plan of trying out a quick motor was a bit of a mistake on relection; 13 double in something weighing pretty much nothing after 25years out proved a bit of a handful! It was a missile, with the front end lifting off at any sign of throttle.

Loved it though ......until I damaged a rear wishbone and had to stop. Electrics all thoroughly tested, massive amounts of grip and pace, and nice handling for a first set up.

[naushad]

Any videos?

[dinglem]

Next time..... but it was very very swift!!

[Coelacanth]

Sweet...I'm loving the deep-dish look of the rear wheels. I am not a fan of wheels with high positive offset.

[dinglem]

Yeah we basically had a choice where we positioned the rim face - the stub axle extends quite a way through but we moved the face as far back in the wheel to create as much dish as possible.

We're currently working on a Coyote set and also a Pro Radiant set.

[dinglem]

Just realised I didn't update this thread with the completed car. We ended up relocating the rear shocker lower mounting point out to the hinge pin by machining come extended pins with threaded ends to allow for the fitting. It means the rear shockers can be located much further out at the base as opposed to the fairly upright original angle.

I have also managed to find another Meteor which had a pair of aluminium front wishbones on it - i basically purchased the car just for those handmade items from bitd. Too cool, and somebody has obviously put a lot of work into them. I haven't fitted them as i intend thoroughly polishing them up first.

[dinglem]

I managed to get some paint on the shell and those original Garbage Pail Kids stickers which i managed to affix to the inside of the shell so effectively really seemed to work well. The pearl red with subtle black fade is simple but effective i think. Pretty pleased with how it has turned out. Then i just grabbed one of my old wings from bitd to give it a bit of an old school look. It has turned out just as i had hoped.

I had it entered in a race meeting over the summer, my first since 1995(!), and qualified 6th in the B which i was pretty pleased with. Each qualifying round saw a steady move up the listing so not too bad for a first run-out, plus it made it into 'Racer' magazine

[dinglem]

First testing run-out can be found here:-

https://youtu.be/Wdihq-CfB44

[Moggie XL]

You've made a nice job of your Meteor and the sound it makes is completely different to modern cars. Hopefully mine will turn out as good.

[dinglem]

You've made a nice job of your Meteor and the sound it makes is completely different to modern cars. Hopefully mine will turn out as good.

Thanks. It goes pretty well, but then we raced one back in the late 80's so know them inside-out, not that there's much to them! There was/never will be anything that sounds quite like the Meteor scream!! They all sound exactly the same. I imagine most people on this forum have never even heard of them.

[Moggie XL]

Just wondering if you can help me, I bought a long wheelbase chassis but realized the gearbox doesn't fit because it is moulded to go down the back of the chassis. Have you modified the back part on yours.

[dinglem]

Mate i know exactly the bit you are talking about! It used to hang over the back of the original swb chassis, and when we made our rather crude first home-made LWB chassis before Mardave did theirs in the late 80's we just cut a small hole in the rear of the pan.

On the carbon fibre one we have had made we have lightly machined a layer of carbon fibre off the topside of the chassis - just enough to take the lip but not gone right through.

To be honest i am not 100% sure what the solution is for the gold chassis, but i do have one here with the gearbox mounted in reverse to make it mid-engined... kinda cool looking. That has no holes cut so there must be another solution?

[Moggie XL]

Thanks for sharing the pictures of your cars, could the latest models have been changed to prevent this problem. The mid motor Meteor was well ahead of its time have you driven it.

[dinglem]

No i haven't.... to be honest i only bought it a few weeks ago - if you look closely it has the metal front wishbones on it which i have posted a little further up in the thread. I only bought the car for those items and was thinking of putting a pair of the somewhat rare original Mardave long front wishbones on to the mid-mounter and selling it on, although i may now keep it and try getting it up and running. It certainly does look the part i must admit!