M.A.N.E. Eclipse Documentation & Instructions

[LTO_Dave]

After picking up three M.A.N.E. Eclipse kits and realizing that very little info is available on these cars and this company, I've decided to include all the information I could gather in this thread.


Here's a conversation through my thread and PM's on another forum with the former owner of M.A.N.E., ScottH:

ScottH: That brings back some memories. Me and Kelly Ireland had the company, IBF Racing that was the US Importer of that car. We took it to the Dirt Oval Nats in Dallas. My first race ever on a dirt oval and with cap tires none the less. It was not a good experience at the race, we were let down by our driver, but that is another story.

I used to have a ton of parts for those things but got rid of them years ago.


ScottH: I cannot remember when that was, it was a long time ago. TRC caps were the only caps out and they were not wrap arounds.

The cars we took to the nats that year were cut out by a local machine shop here in Birmingham, one at a time! My buddy who did the work swore he would never cut carbon fiber again.

It is a cool car with some pretty neat ideas. The weak part was the grommets used to pivot the lower A-Arms, we should have used some sort of capture ball. Also standoffs instead of the big screws.


Me: Did all the kits come with the white nylon/plastic parts, or were some black?

ScottH: Some came in black.

Me: Did you make your own diffs and sliders, or were they sourced from another manufacturer? Can a common pan car spur gear be used?

ScottH: As far as the Spur gear I do not remember, I think it is a pan car spur but not 100% sure.
The original sliders were from the Losi JrX-2, then I believe they were made by MANE Racing in production.

Me: Were the shock bodies plastic or aluminum? And did you offer different spring rates?

ScottH: They were all delrin.

Me: What type of rear wheels did the car use? The standard 4-hole pan car type?

ScottH: Standard Pan car wheels will fit. There are two locator pins on the hub.

Me: Do you have a rough estimate of how many kits were produced?

ScottH: Hmmmm, I want to say 70-100 but again the ole memory is fuzzy on some of the details.

Me: What bodies did you and others run on your Eclipse back then?

ScottH: I would have to say if it fits under a narrow body, I would have run a Bolink Pontiac Gran Prix body.



Here are some scans of the boxes, decals, setup tips and packaging:

[LTO_Dave]

Scans of the instruction manual:

[Rattlesnaker]

These cars were orginally built and designed by Andrew and Neil Sweeney in Guleph, Ontario, Canada. From what I gather, the business was then sold to a local guy and his partner an then sold to someone in the U.S. Definately an interesting car, I have several myself

[fastang]

Really cool cars!

If you guys ever want to part with one Id be interested.

[Mr. ED]

thanks for your effort scanning in all those pages!
I can't make out form the pictures how the rear arms pivot. Dot hey just bent?

[LTO_Dave]

thanks for your effort scanning in all those pages!
I can't make out form the pictures how the rear arms pivot. Dot hey just bent?

No problem! The front and rear arms have holes with rubber grommets, and they simply pivot on the screws running through the grommets. You can also adjust the suspension travel by turning a few nylon stopper nuts.

[Jirka]

This is a scan from RRC 1991-04:

Jirka