Turbo Optima mid SE

[XLR8]

Thanks Chuck. I might even have a partial can of the Dupicolor Silver - I need to look for that.
Anyway, they look great. Something tells me you won't be running the car with those wheels.

By the way, have you ever tried adhesion promoter on lexan? Curious if it will bond ordinary cheap rattle can paint to lexan.
You know me, I'm always looking to save a buck (or ten) when I can.

[radioactivity]

Man Chuck that is amazing! I know your opinion of Kyoshos back at "Right Stuff Hobbies" in the late 80's weren't that great.....but your about to find out 80s Kyosho's are as good as anything....if not better! Wait till you get the Le Mans bug in you

Derek
I am almost beginning to get the impression that you like the LeMans motors.

Here is what my experience was from BITD.

I almost exclusively ran Trinity Monster Horsepower 1985WC motors. I only ran stock motors, never taken apart, never ball bearings, no twisting the can for timing. Experimented with all brush and spring combos.
Every heat, every race, clean as a whistle. Submerged in carbon tetrachloride and spun. Com cleaned with a com brush, oiled and comm drops.
Sure I probably spent way more time on my trans and bearings than almost everyone else. Flushed the trans with WD40 every race.
But I don't ever remember ever being out-motored by any other stock motor. Out driven, out cornered almost every race.
When I raced carpet occasionally ran Twister.

Just my 2 cents. No offence to Kyosho, the LeMans motors are pretty.

So in my world Trinity Rules

Chuck

[radioactivity]

Doug, the only time I tried adhesion promoter on Lexan was when I dipped some bodies.
Not really sure of effectiveness as my dipping results were kind of mixed.
A couple of pretty nice successes and one or two failures. Pretty steep learning curve on hydrodipping for a novice.

Chuck

[coxbros1]

Chuck, Kyosho Le Mans never made a 27t stock motor. They did have 2 Super stock motors with 20 and 34 degree fixed timing , closed endbell, bushings....but that wasnt stock.

[radioactivity]

Chuck, Kyosho Le Mans never made a 27t stock motor. They did have 2 Super stock motors with 20 and 34 degree fixed timing , closed endbell, bushings....but that wasnt stock.

Ok you got me....
I will admit to owning more than one Kyosho motor. But only under the most dire circumstances. Please don't let any one else know!
I do also own a LeMans stock "05" motor. Not exactly the pride of a collection.

Chuck

[XLR8]

Chuck, Kyosho Le Mans never made a 27t stock motor. They did have 2 Super stock motors with 20 and 34 degree fixed timing , closed endbell, bushings....but that wasnt stock.

Curious.
So what did Kyosho team drivers run in ROAR stock races?
Was it really the 05 motor??

[radioactivity]

Back then, an RC10 with a bunch of Kyosho stickers all over it
And a Trinity motor
Chuck

[Coelacanth]

Back then, an RC10 with a bunch of Kyosho stickers all over it
And a Trinity motor
Chuck

Actually, it might more accurately be the opposite. Back then, RWD and 4WD cars competed together as few 4WD's could outrun the RC10...the Optima changed all that, and was arguably responsible for the separation of RWD and 4WD classes from that point on. Even the Ultima (highly modded no doubt, but so were the RC10's) gave the RC10 some healthy competition and won some championships.

As for motors I remember taking the wins here back in the day in 4WD, I remember they were the Trinity Monster Horsepower and Le Mans 240SB. (I wasn't fortunate enough to have either, at the time.) I had a 480 Gold. I had no hope against those guys. I since put in a mystery black can motor that a racer sold me, before getting out of RC cars and boxing up the old Optima for decades...that motor appears to be a 14-turn and I don't know it's history, but it's a beast.

[XLR8]

FWIW, I raced nearly every weekend between '87 and '94 throughout the midwest (mostly around Springfield and Decatur Illinois) and I don't recall any of my racer friends running Kyosho motors. Perhaps some did and I was unaware but we really didn't hide what we were running.
I had one Kyosho motor (a 480 Gold) and it was a slug. Raced it once, finished near the back of field and that was all for that motor.
I reckon I was more of a "motor of the week" racer. Race Prep, Twister, Slot Machine, etc. in stock classes (those are the brands I remember). I really liked Race Prep motors.
One of my racer friends was sponsored by Fantom so he kept me supplied with modified motors and I still have most of those.
I preferred to search for what was fast regardless of the brand. Many of the stock motors I bought were ran one time if they didn't perform, then I sold or traded them.
I used a LavCo Cell-Mate to maintain and match my packs. I think I still have that equipment in a box somewhere.

Those were the days! Great fun. Wish I had a time machine.

[radioactivity]

Thanks Chuck. I might even have a partial can of the Dupicolor Silver - I need to look for that.
Anyway, they look great. Something tells me you won't be running the car with those wheels.

By the way, have you ever tried adhesion promoter on lexan? Curious if it will bond ordinary cheap rattle can paint to lexan.
You know me, I'm always looking to save a buck (or ten) when I can.

Doug

Decided to experiment a little.
Duplicolor silver on some scrap lexan. Some of the silver over the clear primer and some without primer.
Some with white backer spray some without.
I was surprised at the adhesion.
My adhesion "test" is dragging a fingernail, mild scraping with a small straight slot screwdriver and vigorous scrubbing with alcohol soaked q-tip.
My results.... Passed the tests very well
The clear primer does bite the lexan. But it tended to dull the silver paint's pop.
Flexing the lexan showed no signs of cracking until almost completely folded to a sharp crease.
Disclaimer...
I would encourage other experimentation on scraps as this is really only a single test with this particular paint.

Chuck

[radioactivity]

A few replacement parts have made it.

More parts on the way.

Chuck

[radioactivity]

3 of the shock ends that were on the car are pretty torn up and one was missing altogether.
I've been trying to replicate the elusive ADj-1 lower shock mount.
At least without paying $40 plus for 4 new ones. May have to go that route, but for now I'll try to mod some ends.
First attempt, not so good. Nylon ends just don't thread very good.
The original end is on the left, my 3 feeble attempts are on the right.

Cheaper plastic ends on their way.

Chuck

[XLR8]

Thanks Chuck. I might even have a partial can of the Dupicolor Silver - I need to look for that.
Anyway, they look great. Something tells me you won't be running the car with those wheels.

By the way, have you ever tried adhesion promoter on lexan? Curious if it will bond ordinary cheap rattle can paint to lexan.
You know me, I'm always looking to save a buck (or ten) when I can.

Doug

Decided to experiment a little.
Duplicolor silver on some scrap lexan. Some of the silver over the clear primer and some without primer.
Some with white backer spray some without.
I was surprised at the adhesion.
My adhesion "test" is dragging a fingernail, mild scraping with a small straight slot screwdriver and vigorous scrubbing with alcohol soaked q-tip.
My results.... Passed the tests very well
The clear primer does bite the lexan. But it tended to dull the silver paint's pop.
Flexing the lexan showed no signs of cracking until almost completely folded to a sharp crease.
Disclaimer...
I would encourage other experimentation on scraps as this is really only a single test with this particular paint.

Chuck

Excellent info, thanks Chuck.

"Some of the silver over the clear primer and some without primer. ...Flexing the lexan showed no signs of cracking until almost completely folded to a sharp crease."
Can we assume the crease has crossed into the area without primer? Since this paint is lacquer based, it will become brittle over time so it could crack more easily after it cures completely - perhaps after a couple weeks or more. Acrylic enamel paint might be less prone to cracking.

Cracking is one issue but I think the real concern is about overall adhesion and that's where the promoter should be helpful. By chance, did you prep the lexan - maybe with a Scotchbrite pad?

Anyway, I think this is worth trying perhaps on an inexpensive re-pop buggy body. The shock from the buggy bouncing around on the track might be the ultimate adhesion test.

thanks again.

[XLR8]

3 of the shock ends that were on the car are pretty torn up and one was missing altogether.
I've been trying to replicate the elusive ADj-1 lower shock mount.
At least without paying $40 plus for 4 new ones. May have to go that route, but for now I'll try to mod some ends.
First attempt, not so good. Nylon ends just don't thread very good.
The original end is on the left, my 3 feeble attempts are on the right.
optima9.JPG
Cheaper plastic ends on their way.

Chuck

Maybe not so feeble. I think the external threads are not visible once the shock is fully assembled. As such, I can see no reason that the 3 you've made won't work.
I understand that Kyosho isn't making these but 10 bucks per end seems utterly ridiculous.

[Coelacanth]

3 of the shock ends that were on the car are pretty torn up and one was missing altogether.
I've been trying to replicate the elusive ADj-1 lower shock mount.
At least without paying $40 plus for 4 new ones. May have to go that route, but for now I'll try to mod some ends.
First attempt, not so good. Nylon ends just don't thread very good.
The original end is on the left, my 3 feeble attempts are on the right.
optima9.JPG
Cheaper plastic ends on their way.

I'm not a fan of those open ball-ends. On all of my builds, I've replaced most of those with 4.8 mm ball studs and ball cups. There's less slop and I figure less dirt will get into the joint when it's a cup instead of an open end. The only place I kept the open-ended ball-ends is for the Optima's steering servo and inner tie-rod ends because there's very little clearance there and they need to be as flat as possible...and for the stabilizer upper ball-ends because the stabilizer wires have to go through the ball-end holes.

Is it possible to do this with the Platinums? I have a full set in a Ziploc bag, I might have to take a closer look...if it's not possible to swap those bottom shock-ends with something more generic, it would give me yet another reason to dislike the Platinum shock design.