New Optima Build: Project CYANide - Finished!

[Coelacanth]

One issue I had to deal with, as a result of the shortened front control arms & CVDs, was shock length. One option was to go to short, dinky little shocks, something I didn't really consider because I wanted off-road driveability without major disassembling. The 3racing shock kit I bought had front shocks a bit longer than the stock Kyosho Golds, which was fine--I just had to fabricate shock towers to make them work. I had to think exactly where to mount the shocks, because the wide shock bodies & adjustment rings prevented me from mounting the shocks the same way the Turbo Optima shocks would've normally mounted. I had to position them more upright and out-board to clear the shock tower itself.

I built the tower from a spare piece of carbon fiber from DW911, thank you Dave! I gave myself a pair of mounting holes; one allowing the CVDs to be close to horizontal, and one giving me a good amount of offroad clearance.

I'll do more filing to clean up the lines later, I just wanted to make sure everything fit and worked nicely...it looks like my '70 AAR 'Cuda body will fit like a glove, even though it seems like the shock tower is so high. I cut out the body but have yet to sand the edges smooth...this is going to look killer when it's done!

[Soncho Ponza]

wow amazing color blue on chassis

[Coelacanth]

Thanks, Soncho Ponza!

[DW911]

That is beautiful.

[Coelacanth]

Bah...this project hit another road-block. I thought I had spares for both upper & lower chain guides, but it turns out I have 2 lowers and no upper! After waiting 2 weeks for and finally receiving new chain guide covers, I find out I'm missing the upper chain guide!

On the positive side, I got the steering assembly and lower chain guide & cover installed. I sealed off the lower chain guide cover with Goop, as well as all the area surrounding that little external Lexan piece that's used to mount the tiny belt roller gear for the belt conversion. I had to cut down the upper 4.8mm balls to make room for the higher-profile 4.8mm ball cups, as they require more room going side-to-side than the stock 5.8mm ball-ends. It's finally steering smoothly without binding, but it sure is close! The cups should reduce the possibility of the tie-rod ends from popping off, that was a common problem with the stock 5.8mm balls & ball-ends.

[Coelacanth]

Some Christmas Eve updates:

-I cleaned up my front CF shock tower, and filed down some of the excess height where the shock bolts go.

-I custom-made mounts for body mount tubes using some spare Optima parts, the little angle pieces that attach the side-plates to the upper deck.

The last pic shows the range of suspension travel, which is pretty impressive even for the shortened control arms, and seems to show very little change in camber throughout the range of motion. I'll be setting up the fronts to have a more horizontal alignment than the pic shows, by using my shock tower's upper holes. The lower holes will work for the full off-road clearance.

[Coelacanth]

Here's a peek at the wheels I chose for offroading use. About a month ago when I first saw them after spending countless hours on eBay searching for 2.2 wheels, I discovered these 3Racing bead-locks, which are actually narrow wheels for crawlers. They came in all sorts of colors for the anodized lock rings and 2 styles of inner chrome piece, but do you think I could find a set in light blue? I knew they were made in that color, but I couldn't find a set anywhere! But eventually my diligence with eBay searches paid off and I found this set from a seller in the Philippines.

The moment I saw these wheels, I just knew I had to have 'em. The reason I love them so much is the design is actually reminiscent of the original Turbo Optima wheels, with a 10-hole design instead of 8.

All the questions about measurements paid off and they fit just perfectly 2.2 tires with a width of 35 to 40 mm or so. Though eBay seller dinball didn't have a set in stock, he really helped out by taking measurements of a similar set of wheels he had in stock. As for tires, I had a hard time finding good old-style knobby tires in the modern 2.2 size (that were affordable, anyway) but these Losi IFMAR tires were pretty good, and only $11/pair (including foams).

I didn't like the cheap look of the wheels' included black steel M2x8 cap-head screws so I checked into special-ordering 100 stainless steel ones from RCScrewz (after testing that size from my RCScrewz pack for the Optima to fit perfectly), and it was only $9.95 + shipping...I think the SS screws look much better. What do you guys think?

[walfre]

Killer wheels!
What was the name of the seller?

Looks really stunning!

[treehugger]

i like the rims a lot

but will you let us in on the cost of the rims

Paul

[Hcp22]

You are doing this so good Coelacanth, standing ovations from me

[Coelacanth]

Killer wheels!
What was the name of the seller?

Looks really stunning!

Thanks for the comments! You can find several examples of these wheels by searching eBay for "narrow ax10" or "narrow crawler". Several sellers have them now, but a month and a half ago, 3Racing itself was out of stock of this exact rim in light blue. Now I'm seeing more of them on eBay again.

The price for all 4 wheels is about $36 shipped. I thought that was a steal for the package which includes all screws, chrome rims & 2 alloy rings & a center-cap per wheel.

the-toyz, toadztoyz and rcplatform and several others have them.

http://cgi.ebay.ca/AX10-CR-01-Crawler-2-2-Red-Narrow-Bead-Loc-Lock-Rim-/400185708708?pt=Radio_Control_Parts_Accessories&hash=item5d2ced50a4

http://cgi.ebay.ca/3-Racing-2-2-Inch-Narrow-Crawler-Rim-Circle-4pcs-Green-/150519674973?pt=Radio_Control_Parts_Accessories&hash=item230babf85d

[Mr. ED]

nice for looks, nut are crawler wheels not kind of heavy for a fast offroader?

[Coelacanth]

nice for looks, nut are crawler wheels not kind of heavy for a fast offroader?

Definitely heavier than the stock wheels & tires are, even moreso because they're 2.2's instead of 2.0's (or is it 1.9"?) Even still, remember that these are "narrow" wheels, I'd never seen them before made by any other brand. There are 2 styles by 3Racing and that's it. All other crawler wheels are fat wheels meant for meaty-muffin tires. Just for the heck of it, I'll compare the weights tonight. At any rate, I won't be racing this car competitively. I have my offroad zebra-painted Optima for that, if I should ever go beyond bashing, and that car is almost too fast for me to handle, anyway.

CYANide will eventually run an EZRun motor, maybe 3900 kV.

I have a few more surprises coming up, just waiting to hop my next hurdle before continuing the build--a missing upper chain guide that treehugger will be supplying. Thanks Paul!

It's a bit frustrating having all these delays interrupting my progress...gotta love vintage RC!

[treehugger]

the guards are heading your way followed by the main pack

[GJW]

get those wheel's on for a viewing! this is killer looking matey.