RC10Talk - The Net's Largest Vintage R/C Community

Hello, I found this forum searching for parts.
I have what I think is either an old javelin/optima left over that has been in storage for about 20 years from when my dad passed.
I've been at a total loss though to find parts for it.
I know I need the bushing/bearing for the spur gear, 1 rear dog bone, a rear inner hinge pin, wheel bearings, hardware, and various shock bits.
If anyone knows of anything else I need based on pics or where to find said bits, I would be eternally grateful.

Hi there

welcome aboard - it's great that you can work on your old man's (RIP) toys after these years

Kyosho just re-released the optima and Javelin recently, and I am not an expert on these models, but I believe not all internals are compatible. There is already a discussion on the topic here: https://www.rc10talk.com/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=42881&p=485833&hilit=optima#p485833

If not compatible, then you will have to turn to used parts boards and ebay to find what you need. there does appear to be quite some work needed on the car, so it could turn out expensive, but it's a family car and it still deserves to be restored! Maybe your best bet is to buy a used, complete donor car.

Either way, keep us posted about the progress

Paul

That damaged front nose brace (U-shaped piece attaching to the front "chin" skidplate) could be cause for concern. It's easily replaced and people make aluminum repros of it, but the skidplate itself could be bent up--something you often find with basher Optimas. It's actually quite rare to find a used car with a straight skidplate, and that part itself can be quite expensive to buy, separately. If your shock towers are both straight, that's a good thing--those are also often bent.

Hinge pins shouldn't be too hard to find. The rusty tie-rods/turnbuckles can be easily replaced by aftermarket ones in the correct lengths. They're just 3mm-threaded rods.

There's more that will need work, but you won't know until you do a full tear-down and look for stripped threads, bent or broken parts, etc...update this thread and you'll get a lot of good advice.

Sweet thank you guya, yeah a full tear dome is something I need to do for a full inventory of what I need, something that I am concerned about is that it's missing quite a few screws on the chasis

Racerx91 wrote: ↑Sun Mar 25, 2018 8:51 pm Sweet thank you guya, yeah a full tear dome is something I need to do for a full inventory of what I need, something that I am concerned about is that it's missing quite a few screws on the chasis

spare screws can be easily purchased, most of them won't be in the original shape and format, but it isn't much of an issue unless you're a purist, really.

If you're planning on a full restoration i would purchase a complete screw set from one of the usual suspects (RCscrews and the likes...) for like $30 so you don't waste too much time in the process, look'em up on ebay

Yeah I've seen them, they make a bearing set I planned on picking up as well, I'm not even sure if what I have is an optima to be honest, just has same profile and bumper so I plan on building it as an optima.

Aside from the build, I'm also trying to figure out what motor to go with.
I'm not too familiar with the Lemans 480 or how much power it had, but I'm a speed freak and trying to figure out how much the chain can handle.
Really rather not have the chain ever break because I feel it would be rather difficult to replace.

Racerx91 wrote: ↑Mon Mar 26, 2018 6:35 am Yeah I've seen them, they make a bearing set I planned on picking up as well, I'm not even sure if what I have is an optima to be honest, just has same profile and bumper so I plan on building it as an optima.

Aside from the build, I'm also trying to figure out what motor to go with.
I'm not too familiar with the Lemans 480 or how much power it had, but I'm a speed freak and trying to figure out how much the chain can handle.
Really rather not have the chain ever break because I feel it would be rather difficult to replace.

I think the chain and all the rest, really. I'm always feeling nervous when I read "vintage" and "speed freak" in the same sentence. Usually, they don't go well... but if you really want some speed and to hell with the original transmission parts, go for a modern cheapo brushless mill. The chain can't handle much no matter what, top speed you will be disappointed.

To get a feel for a decent top-speed of a vintage optima, you can check here:

https://youtu.be/daGFMPG30zA?t=1m5s

As much I want to I'm not going to make it brushless lol, I have a few oldschool can motors I plan on using that I just need an esc for, the resistors on my oldschool servo controlled escs caught fire from old age.

Would these be the correct dog bones for what I have?
https://www.amainhobbies.com/kyosho-rear-swing-shaft-2-kyoif144/p3919?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI-qa8svOJ2gIVA7nACh3wPwpiEAQYASABEgKnfPD_BwE

Racerx91 wrote: ↑Mon Mar 26, 2018 7:48 am As much I want to I'm not going to make it brushless lol, I have a few oldschool can motors I plan on using that I just need an esc for, the resistors on my oldschool servo controlled escs caught fire from old age.

Would these be the correct dog bones for what I have?
https://www.amainhobbies.com/kyosho-rear-swing-shaft-2-kyoif144/p3919?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI-qa8svOJ2gIVA7nACh3wPwpiEAQYASABEgKnfPD_BwE

I don't think so. Stock Optima/Javelin dogbones are 62.5mm from crosspin-to-crosspin. A modded Optima can handle up to about a 10T or so brushless motor, but 13.5T would be on safe side. Turbo Optimas handled Le Mans 240SB motors with over 30,000 rpm and that's no slouch of a brushed motor. However, to make an Optima handle that takes a fair bit of bulletproofing, like the belt conversion, limiter gear (Option House OT-74), hard final pinion gear (Option House OT-76, but also made by Thorp in steel) and decreasing the "punch" level in a modern ESC so you're not doing insta-backflips the minute you goose the throttle. The Optima tends to understeer on acceleration so you need to be careful unless you do other mods to address that, like widening the track width.

I did pretty much all of those mods with my Barney and CYANide project cars. Track width for the Barney car is about 1 cm wider than stock with 5mm longer aluminum suspension arms and 68.5 mm CVD joints, bigger 2.2" wheels & tires and the rest I mentioned...but I turned down the punch level quite a bit, that's with a 10.5T Tacon/Bullistorm 60A ESC combo/2S LiPo. I wouldn't dare run that on a stock Optima, especially chain-driven.

My Gold Celebration Zebra Optima is basically a Turbo Optima with chain drive but has the limiter gear and hard final pinion gear and it's running a 14T brushed motor that is just on the edge of my abillity to control...that's not saying much though, I'm no racer. It may be fun to do speed runs up and down the street, but if a car is too fast to control effectively, the fun will be short-lived when the car crashes into something.