Differentiating the optimas

[mikedealer]

i have a yokomo mx4, its only 9-10 years old mind you. all the spares belts i have, and even the one that was originally on it, only broken on me once, and if memory serves, thats when i was running like a 9 turn motor in it, hit the wall full speed and gave it full power when i was planted against the wall, and it snapped the belt. i took the car out about 3 months ago, ran a few laps on it, and that belt has to be 8 years old, felt brand new and no problems at all.

i think those belts hold up pretty well over time to be honestly. i guess if they were stored in extreme heat or cold it could change the properties of the rubber

[AYKBOBCAT]

Well first I'd say nothing last for ever... The other things I guess is you can probably get belts for old buggies easily. I suppose they are the same as today's cars (?)... I may be wrong.

Thanks a lot to everyone for answering my questions... For now I'll put my Kyosho dreams on hold... I jsut moved back to Canada and bough a house... Lots $$$ needs to go in that thing.... I did dig out an old ProRadiant buggy that was in storage though... I'll play with that one for a while... It,s nearly ready to go.

[Bormac]

GO THE OPTIMA!!!! This was my first real R/C car and I raced it for a year or so with a few upgrades and I loved it. I now have a completely new built shelf car (which actualy lives in a box) and a runner which has the belt conversion set along with heaps of other period hop ups. I took it to the track a while back and gave it a run against the modern stuff and the car held its own quite well. It was a real HOOT to drive and all the old memories came flooding back. The car is a lot of fun and looks damn hot to boot!
Personaly I havent had very many troubles with my vintage buggy drivelines. I think the belts will suffer from age depending on the kind of climate they have been sitting in. To be honest though I reckon its more down to correct adjustment rather than age. Ive chewed a handful of belts in my 501X but I have been running a 5.5 turn with not enough slip and the the motor always ends up getting the better of the belts and this is still a new car.
One thing to remember is that many of these old cars were competition based and were designed to be put through their paces. I drive the cars I like so if it takes extra prep or more spares to keep em going its a cost Im happy to pay.

[Mr. ED]

except for the mid's and perhaps the hirobo's... most belts are a very common pitch sizes. If any belt would ever dry up (easy enough to prevent with some teflon spray) you could always go to some industrial supplier on search for the right teethcount.
The real worry is always gears: usually far from any standard apart from the pitch

[AYKBOBCAT]

Yeah gears may be a problem. I've got an AYK supertrail I want to rebuild and I'm missing some gears. I'm hoping to find some generic ones... That buggy had no tranny! Just a bunch of pinion type gears and a few bevel gears. Quite prehistoric but nevertheless cool...

[germanrc10gt]

thank you all,

i'll check the bay for one of that old 4wd legends. gonna post pics soon if i got one.

[bystickel]

I just remember the Turbo Optima being a real pain to work on. Those chassis side plates made it difficult to work on quickly. After I sold it to a friend, he added Trinity graphite chassis plates and it got even worse! I still have the Trinity rear shock tower, I think.

My real question is about belt lengths. I have 3 240XL belts and one 254, which I think might be from the belt drive conversion. The 240s may be from the Mid. I've got ball diffs, but neither has the rear diff sprocket. Sadly, I took one of those, turned the teeth off of it and made it into a belt drive tranny for a crummy baja bug scratch-built.

You wouldn't believe the valuable stuff I ruined back in the day.

[Mr. ED]

... made it into a belt drive tranny for a crummy baja bug scratch-built.

You wouldn't believe the valuable stuff I ruined back in the day.

Got any pics o that baja bug to make up for your 'ruining'?