1986/87 Supercharge Hotshot

[Dadio]

From when I raced mine there were quite a few needed hop ups .
1 the front steering knuckle pivot balls were aluminium and wore out like cheese , steel upgrades were a must !
2 the 3 piece drive shafts fell apart where the steel ends were pressed into the aluminium tube shafts , sold ones were needed .
3 the prop shaft was made in many pieces , frog style hex ends , them a brass connecting collar to a piano wire shaft , these also disintegrated and solid metal ones were a must .
4 the spur gear is very narrow and just often strips teeth of it , nothing can be done about it but keep 1 or 2 spares .
5 when running in stock class with 27t fixed cans you simply ran out of revs on the straight ( I used to run a demon 27 HT ,great motors but didn't last long ) , the optimas , cats etc were able to fit taller gears but the hotshot had a shim system for setting gear mesh , you had 4 shims to adjust the pinion between 13teeth and 17 teeth but what you really needed was 18 teeth on the pinion so it was common to open out the slot at one end where the shims and screw went through the gearbox and add a 5th shim ( you'll understand by looking at it ) , this might not be needed in mod class or with modern power but made all the difference back then !
Those were the essentials , my car was fitted with 5 TMS shafts , TMS aluminium front knuckles , steel pivot balls and originally the magazine article chassis although I could not find fibreglass so mine was made from copper back circuit board , later I fitted the TMS chassis and that was stiffer .
One of the big problems with the car was its lack of steering , if you tried to improve the steering lock which was easy then the shafts popped out ! My solution was to fit the front suspension arms to the rear , connecting the steering arm with a track rod to the mono shock mount , this gave it roll induced steering like the mini mustang and gave it a far more agile cornering ability .
I had a Downsway Turbo Relay ESC ( REALLY HUGE) , never seen one for sale , so the fibre chassis was a must just to fit it ! That ESC was no end of trouble , I was forever having to clean the relay of carbon !
There's probably stuff I've forgotten but that's most of it , I'll dig the photos out of the loft next time I'm up there .

[dinglem]

Hi Dadio,

That is a really great reply. Thank you for taking the time to type all of that info up for me. I am wondering how many of those mods my car already has as it has obviously been well-raced judging by the underside, and also the fact that the rear gearbox case was actually smashed/cracked. I will have to check the pivot balls to see whether they have been upgraded when the previous racer swapped out the steering hubs for alloy versions.

Interesting about the gearing/pinion issue. I wasn't aware of that. I was actually considering going for a standard 27T motor in this to keep things relatively sedate, but i suppose with the gearing issue in mind I could always try a mild modified like a 21D or something which won't require quite such a tall gear.

Looking at the pictures of the Bill Jones car there was plenty of room for his electronics set up, and as i will be using the same I don't think space is going to be an issue.

The driveshaft issues and pivot ball wear sound like problems from extensive use and as I won't exactly be racing this regularly (most likely a couple of meetings!) I doubt they will be an issue but i certainly want to get it running properly before the summer. Good to know what spares I might need to hand before something fails though

[Dadio]

The gearing thing was a pain and exacerbated by the weak spur gear , I ran a Kyosho 240 in mine for a while to run mod but it just ate spur gears !
One memory of the TMS chassis was the L brackets and screws that held it together was that it had supper hard screws and plain nuts that were forever coming loose no matter how hard you did them up or any locktight used !

[dinglem]

The FTD chassis I have seems to have similar L-shaped brackets as you describe. The Supercharge has what look like acrylic blocks which i guess will hold the screws in without coming undone... perhaps why Bill used them?

[dinglem]

Judging by this old TMS advert from Aug '85 it looks like i might have the TMS steering hubs and possibly the same main prop shaft also.

[coxbros1]

I ran a Kyosho 240 in mine

240S? Did it have big power!?

[Dadio]

I ran a Kyosho 240 in mine

240S? Did it have big power!?

Oh yea it went like sh1t of a shiny shovel .
Dinglem that's not the prop I had , mine was a one piece shaft with a very basic hex end more like a bolt head than the Tamiya hex with the flowed in roll for higher angles of drive , it may not have been a TMS prop , it was a long time ago .
Those are the knuckles I had for sure and the dog bones look right too .
Looks like a touch of rust on the pivot balls so you may already have steel ones , I'd be surprised if it didn't with the rest of the car !

[coxbros1]

Cool resto....period! Custom Hotshots Rule

[dinglem]

Well i will drop a couple of pictures in here to show you where it is currently at.

Here's a front-on shot before cleaning as we were trying to work out how the upper front shock mounts might work. They are kind of odd as they have to be able to pivot in all directions due to the steep angle of the shocks combined with the wishbone swing, and as they are mounted by the shock cap loop it presents a bit of a challenge. It has been achieved by using three pieces of silicon tubing.... Two larger diameter pieces on either side to cushion the sides against the nut and tower, and then a smaller piece within the top of the cap loop itself. This lets the shock swing quite freely on the bolt in all directions without any play. Quite a cool solution. The rear upper shock positions will have to go on in the same manner but at least we now know it works really well like this. You can also see the CRP front A-Arm brace here, albeit in a bit of a mucky state. The odd spring clamps were just how it came and will obviously be replaced as it all goes back together.

It came with two pairs of rear Associated shocks to choose from, so i will probably build up the less worn pair and get those onto it shortly. I don't want to over-restore these parts too much really as they seem part of the history of the car.

After a complete strip down and a lot of wiping with my top secret cleaning system (baby wipes) plus a gentle sanding of the fibreglass surfaces and mainly the edges to remove years of ground in grime the plates have come up virtually like new! I have to say the chassis is a real thing of beauty - something very different to the norm for a Hotshot anyway. I think with the heavily angled rear shocks on too it is going to look fantastic. The wheels are rare Phoenix alloys which will go really well with the colour of the bodyshell design i have gone for, which will be coming shortly.

[Toaster]

Absolutely stunning! As a kid my best friend and I both raced around hotshots which we slowly upgraded to supershots, G10 battery plates, newer shocks and I could have sworn he had the same main drive in his...it was so long ago but brought back some amazing memories, thank you!!! Great, now I want to restore a hotshot lol

[Dadio]

That's a jealousy inspiring car for sure ! fabulous survivor.

[dinglem]

That's a jealousy inspiring car for sure ! fabulous survivor.

I will try to do it justice with the rest of the build. Hopefully this one won't take too long as it is virtually complete. I am quite looking forward to installing the period electrics into this one, and then I can hopefully get it onto the track.

[Dadio]

With reference to the front top shock mounts , I used supershot ones and they cant out from the chassis , they are also mounted outboard of the chassis , this gave the shock a more upright stance in one plane meaning it only had to pivot not articulate , now there is no way your going to saw of the shock mounts and replace them but fitting a spacer to stand off the mount more appears to be what people did with this chassis .

[dinglem]

I've just tried to copy the original angle that Bill Jones used. The rear is going to be the same i think, looking at it.

The front mounts on my Rory Cull Hotshot are different again, but are more like as you describe however.

[Dadio]

To be honest with this one I'd clean it , repair it , polish it and complete it but not change it at all !