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Since my real subaru is down for repairs right now, I decided to start hunting for a new project. Within hours of posting in the wanted section for a DS, I was contacted by rc10johnny. I had a choice of 3 different DS cars and chose the one that looked the least new because it is going to be a runner.

What he had for sale


What I received from rc10johnny.


My plans for the build is my inspiration from my weekend warrior car


and I happened to find one of these on Tower by HPI


And so the build begins!
Once I had the car, I did a bunch of measurements as I could not get any solid numbers if a DS would fit a 200mm or 190mm body. Once I had the car I checked the measurements and appeared that the 200mm Subaru body would fit. John was nice enough to include a rebuilt Traxxas front end to accept modern wheel and tires.

I place an order at Tower for some rims, tires and other odds and ends and got to work. I am rebuilding the diff right now as not all the parts were included, but about 90% there. Just waiting for a couple washers for the diff to get it back together. The wheels are also a close match to what I have on my Subaru now.


Test fitting the body. It isnt an exact fit, but is pretty close. I will be able to carve the wheel wells a little bigger to make it work. I need to work out some kind of spacer for the front end as well to get the wheels flush with the body. The rear wheels fit beautifully though.




And a photoshop of what it will look close to. I have some other ideas in mine to spruce it up a bit, but this is the basic idea.


That is all I have for now. This build is going to be a slow one over the winter as I am no rush to get it done as it will be snowing here soon.

that should look pretty good...you going to have a flat black or a carbon fiber painted hood?

What a cool build, What do you need to run modern wheels on a DS?

My BAD on the diff rings Tha trans had bushings in it so I put bearings In ...cuz I had them...I have no Idea how I forgit the diff rings....JohnnySr
They are in the mail...

vintage AE wrote:that should look pretty good...you going to have a flat black or a carbon fiber painted hood?

Thank you! I think the hood is going to stay silver. I want to keep it as accurate as possible. The Subaru STI has an aluminum hood and there is no weight to be saved by switching the carbon fiber. If anything, I will do the trunk and roof panel in CF.

Also, my hood is silver, so I dont want to stray far from that.


I do have a list of other parts I plan to do in CF though. More on that when I get to that point.

nvxwax wrote:What a cool build, What do you need to run modern wheels on a DS?

Johnny included everything I needed to run the fronts for the most part. But i used this link:
http://www.hpiracing.com/wheels/wheels-ds.htm

I just searched Towerhobbies for all the part numbers and saved them in my wish list, so I can rebuild it anytime I want. I still have to figure out something for the fronts as they do not track as wide as the rears.

rc10johnny wrote:My BAD on the diff rings Tha trans had bushings in it so I put bearings In ...cuz I had them...I have no Idea how I forgit the diff rings....JohnnySr
They are in the mail...

No worries on that. Like I said, it isnt going to be run for a while, so I dont need them right away. Working on getting the body and wheels to work the way I want them to first.

Some lousy photos of some progress. I was able to align the front end. Got the body painted, but still need some more pics to make it fit including some taller from body posts as the front end is way too low. But here is the progress so far.

looking good

How come you changed to the very-narrow body mounts on the rear?

realoldschooldude wrote:How come you changed to the very-narrow body mounts on the rear?

The original body mounts would not work as they were too low on the shock tower to reach the body. I reused some old body mounts I had and placed them on the tranny brace. Trying to work with what parts I already have.

The body should do fine maounted like that. What is the width on that body 200mm? Looks good. I need a body for mine and want to make sure I get on that fits right. I have a real knack for buying the wrong thing...

THEYTOOKMYTHUMB wrote:The body should do fine maounted like that. What is the width on that body 200mm? Looks good. I need a body for mine and want to make sure I get on that fits right. I have a real knack for buying the wrong thing...

It is a 200mm. The back end fits well, but the front wheels need some spacers to fit correctly in the wheel well. It also appears as if the RC10 DS wheelbase is just slightly longer than the body, so I had to trim the rear wheel wells a bit larger and looks a bit funny. Im sure the wheel base could be modified to fit.

Four wrote:

THEYTOOKMYTHUMB wrote:The body should do fine maounted like that. What is the width on that body 200mm? Looks good. I need a body for mine and want to make sure I get on that fits right. I have a real knack for buying the wrong thing...

It is a 200mm. The back end fits well, but the front wheels need some spacers to fit correctly in the wheel well. It also appears as if the RC10 DS wheelbase is just slightly longer than the body, so I had to trim the rear wheel wells a bit larger and looks a bit funny. Im sure the wheel base could be modified to fit.

its been a while since i touched or even owened one ,but there are spacers on the front and rear arms you get about an 1/8 inch

Paul

Custom Works spacers????/

Little more progress. I got the washers for the diff, thanks John! Also finished up the body for now and working on some little things. Thumb screws and rebuilding the stealth tranny. I still need to get some taller front body posts to fit correctly and then place an order to fibre-lyte for some parts.



Decided to put the huge ricer wing on it as well. Front end is wayyy low..

Stopped by the hobby shop tonight and picked up some new body posts for the front. Then got to working making a cardboard template for my front splitter. Couple of pics getting a feel for how i will set it up. This template is very rough right now.