My Optima build thread, (was Rear wing for Optima??)

[yellowdatsun]

This is the screw that's stripped on both sides. It's a really bad design. It would be nice to find a set of caster blocks with connections like the inner pivot point.

[Mr. ED]

Does the bolt pattern also fit when you flip them 90 degrees?

Why would you want them coming out sideways?

You bolted the wing on the end that is supposed to go on the shocktower and vice versa.

[Coelacanth]

Re: You mentioned issues with tie rod ends popping off...I'm not a fan of open ball-ends, they easily allow dirt inside which quickly wears the plastic ball-ends and they fit more and more loosely. The old Optima often had issues with those ball-ends popping off. With all my resto-mods, I got rid of all the open-ended ball-ends and replaced them with 4.8mm ball studs and ball cups. I even use ball-cups for my shock-ends.

[yellowdatsun]

Before I even read your post, I ended up with this:

[Coelacanth]

Much better. Be sure to do that for your tie-rods, too...I'm sure every Optima driver has had those pop off while racing or bashing and suddenly found their car only turned one way.

[tamiyadan]

.

[yellowdatsun]

I did the inner sides of the tie rods already, but not the outers. I'll do those next.

[yellowdatsun]

So this is what it looks like now. Being an Associated RC10 guy, it now has Associated threaded shocks. RC10T lengths front and rear. I made a shock tower extender for the front, and it made a HUGE difference on the track. No, I don't plan on racing it, or even trying to keep up with modern 4wd buggies, but I want something that handles well on the track. Before the shock swap it had a really nasty habit of landing on it's tail, and being very skittish, that I could not dial out. Now it flies level, and the suspension actually responds to changes.

[yellowdatsun]

Does the bolt pattern also fit when you flip them 90 degrees?

Why would you want them coming out sideways?

You bolted the wing on the end that is supposed to go on the shocktower and vice versa.

If that's the case, then the wing is held onto the mount by two screws on each side, and the mount held to the car by a cotter pin? What I'm using at the wing end has a cotter pin, not a bolt.

[yellowdatsun]

[TomEG]

I know I'm late to the party, and that you have found a very nice solution for a Optima wing. But I had a dive in my boxes today, as I knew I had some vintage wing mounts for the Optima, and I'll just post them here for reference (if someone at a later point are looking for info on Optima wing mounts).

On top we have Kyoshos original wing mounts (OT-65) for the Optima (the black ones). The silver ones I believe are for the Ultima Pro, but quite similar. Below them are a You-G wing mount for the Optima.

The OT-65 Wing Stay Set for the Optima.

The instructions for the You-G OP-31 Variable Duralmin Wing for Optima.

[yellowdatsun]

Even late, the info is welcome. Interesting to see how they did it.

[Mr. ED]

I would rather take a look at the ultima pro/turbo ultima for inspiration: much simpler design and most likely easier to find or make yourself.

Actually I have a bunch of spare mounts for the academy wyvern: I'll see if that would work on the optima shocktower (original as I don't have the re-re)

[TomEG]

The Ultima Pro/Turbo mount is, as I said above, pretty much the same as the OT-65.......

[Mr. ED]

Here's a picture of the academy wing mounts mounted to the stock tower. I only used one screw and reamed the hole for the stabilizer.