Back in Time - XLS For Vintage Racing

[Groomi]

Rear transmission assembled with high torque short belts and an unused Bando long belt and mounted to chassis.

[Groomi]

Front transmission assembled (once I'd read the instructions, found the right bearings, took the diff apart and reassembled it around the transmission housing) and clamped through the chassis with four long countersunk screws and nylocs.

Overall the transmission is very smooth although the belts are currently a bit tight. I'll sort out tensioning a bit further on.

[Peakey]

I did that with my rear diff assembled the back end and then realised I'd not tightend it up enough so had to strip the back end again

[Groomi]

Yeah, that's the problem with these cars. Until the rear wishbone mounts are in place the gearbox isn't rigidly braced, so it seems pointless trying to fine tune belt tension until then.

[Peakey]

I've just got my new rear diff out and I think you were right the one you have is the wasp one as it has the black thrust plates and the one I have in my cat has white ones. I didn't realise until I compared the two I now have one of each

[Groomi]

I've got alloy ones in mine. I've also got three different types of white nylon ones in my parts box, so no idea which is which really.

[DerbyDan]

Looking good - its amazing how fresh these old CATS can look with a bit of elbow grease & a clean up..... but can you please file off the stop-start 'pip' at the front of your top deck

Its interesting to see the 'diff'erences in the types of diffs that were available for these cars - I like the idea of the bearings in the outputs - they must help reduce the friction losses in the diff?

[Peakey]

I have just been looking at the booking in form for the Iconic RC / A1 RC - Revival Meeting and have seen someone booked In an xls by the name of Ian groom. Hmmmmmmmm I wonder who that could be

[Groomi]

[Peakey]

Looks like I'll be seeing you there as I've booked my Procat in tonight

[wydraz]

I'll be racing my XLS against Ian, can't wait

Although I think we'll be coasting round for photo opportunities more than 'racing'

[Groomi]

I'll be racing my XLS against Ian, can't wait

Although I think we'll be coasting round for photo opportunities more than 'racing'

Cool. Got any pics so I can see what I'm up against?

[Groomi]

Looks like I'll be seeing you there as I've booked my Procat in tonight

Excellent. Got to give the homegrown cars a good showing against all the Japanese stuff.

[Peakey]

And you'll have your mid against my Procat

[Groomi]

A little more progress to report.


I found a load of unused driveshaft joints in my parts box (on the right). I'm not sure if the worn one on the left is a different metal - IIRC there were upgrade versions available, so I wonder if that's what I have unused?


The front and rear suspension is coming together. All fairly standard at the moment as I just need to get the thing built and running.


This is my one 'cheat' from the later Procat. I don't have any of the rear lower wishbone pivot blocks, so am using the all-in-one Procat item instead. Quite simply it's the difference between running the car or not. TBH I think whilst it's stronger than the genuine XLS parts, I don't see it offering any performance advantage. Hopefully no complaints?


This is a work in progress. I want to try running double crashback uprights on the front to provide more choice of shock mounting positions. At the moment the panhead screws at the bottom foul the lower wishbone, so I've ordered some countersunk slotheads (gotta keep that period feel) which will solve the problem.

Along with those countersunk screws, I've also ordered some hardened steel caphead screws to pass through the rear transmission to clamp it all together. These have 18mm thread on the end, so I ordered them about 5mm too long so I can trim off the excess thread and make the most of the extra material for strength. These certainly shouldn't bend, although being hardened steel they be more inclined to snap so some testing will be required...