Mugen Super Sport '92 buggy

[K-Max]

Hello all,

I'd like to share my build of a Super Sport '92 buggy. The Super Sport ended with the final '93 version and was replaced by the Athlete in 1994. It won the 1990 IFMAR Worlds in Thailand and was in fact leading the 1992 IFMAR A-mains in Germany before radio issues struck.

I've always had a soft spot for this buggy. My first encounter in the 80s with a gas buggy was the predecessor Sport model.

Very fortunately, I was able to find an unbuilt survivor kit from Japan:

[K-Max]

The assembly started with both ends of the buggy. The front and rear differentials are large by modern standards, and use planetary gears inside rather than bevel gears. The diff bodies are all machined aluminium. In the SS'92 model, the conical gears of the front and rear diffs, and the main gear, are made from steel.

The 'center' diff is mounted just ahead of the rear diff and forms one module with the rear gearbox housing. Interestingly the rear brake disc has a larger diameter than the front. From the kit they are FRP material.

The rear section becomes complete with the double wishbone arms and uprights attached.

[K-Max]

The front end assembly would include also the steering bellcrank assembly.

I found an option part at this juncture while looking for the front pivot ball spares (one piece from the kit was oversized). It's an aluminium retainer for the lower pivot ball, presumably for added durability.

[K-Max]

Along the way, I started reading up on other Super Sport builds, and on the French vintage RC FB group I saw a mate's "Red Edition" build of a Super Sport 93, and was really inspired by that build.

By sheer coincidence, a limited edition, optional and numbered chassis from Mugen became available for sale. I thought this would be a great choice to replicate the "Red Edition".

Here's another picture next to the kit's milled 4 mm chassis in black. The red chassis is thinner at 3 mm.

[K-Max]

The Super Sport 92 comes with blue dampers, but Mugen did supply as option parts, damper bodies in red. With help from fellow enthusiasts, I found the red dampers all the way from Spain.

[K-Max]

Next I sourced for more option parts. Mugen made a ventilated brake disc for the Super Sport:

It's a 3 piece affair that requires super-gluing.

I found also aluminium center diff support and rear brake support from Racing Jack.

The Racing Jack center diff support couldn't line up the cam pivot properly, so I had the top plate supporting the center diff custom-machined accordingly. I made this top plate 3 mm instead of the kit's 2 mm thickness.

[K-Max]

The front and rear sections would now mate with the chassis. An aluminium center drive shaft connects power from the rear to the front. There's an option part, Mugen AU-8, that's a universal-jointed center shaft that I've not been able to find so far. Hopefully I can find that one day.

[K-Max]

On to the radio tray next - the Super Sport of Koji Sanada-san at the 1992 IFMAR Worlds had the Sanwa ERG-XB servo for steering and a Contest HC servo for throttle/braking. I could find the ERG-XB and the Contest HH instead for my build.

[K-Max]

Novarossi engines were commonly used with Mugen buggies at the time. I found a REX 350 buggy shaft engine. It had a purple heatsink head, so I had that swapped with the orange heatsink head from my other Mugen UNO 350 engine in my Athlete.

The muffler is the EFRA-011 from Mugen. It's shorter and despite so, typically extends past the chassis into the right rear arm area. In order to avoid this, I used a longer Novarossi 180 degrees manifold to bring the EFRA-011 further forwards.

Normally the long manifold is used with other slimmer, long mufflers from Novarossi. In my setup, the EFRA-011 would get in the way of the receiver battery heat shield plate, which eventually I had to trim for clearance.

I realised that if you were to use an engine with SG crankshaft, you couldn't use the extended length flywheel, and the carb would have very little clearance to the front brake discs. So a buggy shaft engine is more suitable. But it needs to be cut to length to fit the clutch bell. I can't bear to do this yet on this unused REX, so the clutch bell won't be fitted for now.

[K-Max]

Getting all the linkages sorted on a 1/8 gas buggy can be more tedious but for me at least, strangely satisfying.

[K-Max]

The buggy is more or less completed at this point. As I only have a pair of side guards, and the muffler side needs trimming, not knowing if I would eventually change back to the conventional muffler position, I decided simply not to install the side guards for now. The body has been sent off for paint, and I'm looking forward to the finished look.

I installed nylon wing from the Athlete in place of the lexan wing of the 92's, as this seemed to be the setup seen on 93's. For tyres, I opted too for those from the Athlete.

[RC10resto]

Very nice documentation of your build.
Well done, impressive Buggy!

[Lavigna]

Absolutely beautiful build! You have been producing so many incredible builds lately. Great work. Your pictures and documentation are always next level.

This really makes me want to finish my Super Sport build. That 3 piece disc and Racing Jack parts are great finds. I am fortunate enough to have them available for my build as well. I love the red theme you chose.

[mtbkym01]

A stunning buggy, very nicely done.

[K-Max]

Very nice documentation of your build.
Well done, impressive Buggy!

Thank you!