yankee(2)

Stu, You wouldn't be interested in a Golf V5 (kit 58206), would you? yankee

I'm selling a recently-built VW Golf V5 (kit 58206). It's been run to the point where the tires are fairly worn, but the mechanicals are in like new condition (kit is only a few months old) and include a complete ball bearing kit. The body is included, although unfortunately, while it is usable, it is pretty well damaged in the front due to my sons learning the finer points of oversteer and understeer into curbs.[] Please e-mail me at randy@innerlink.com with questions. Thanks, Yankee

OOOOHHH. As I look back through the thread, I see you gents were talking about hard plastic (e.g., Sand Scorcher) bodies. (Picture me doing a big dope slap to the forehead right about now). So....Anyone have a body (part#1825165) for a Tamiya Golf V5 (kit 58206)that they would be willing to sell me?

HELP!!! I just painted my VW Golf V5 and it came out great. After a few days I applied a couple of coats of window tint and it bled right through the silver paint, leaving dark grey splotches on the roof and pillars. With the advice on this thread, I was able to just remove the paint on the roof, windows, and pillars using brake fluid, but now the areas are cloudy. Is there anything I can do to clear it up before I repaint? How do I apply the window tint successfully? (Note that it didn't even stick to the windows; it fisheyed and ran down into the roof, even with a light coat.)

I was also faced with an organizational challenge when building my first R/C car in nearly 20 years. The garage is full of projects for real cars (my 2002 VW GTI 1.8T, and a friend's 1969 SAAB 96 V-4 that I'm doing some work on), and my girlfriend didn't want me making a mess on the dining room table. So I found a great solution: I hauled out an old framed poster of Barry Manilow that she had in the basement, turned it face down, and presto! -- I nice, clean pressboard work surface that I move, parts and all, off the table at a moment's notice when it's time for dinner. As an added bonus, I don't have to suffer looking at Barry's mug whenever I go down the cellar anymore!

Razer, I'm also from the U.S., and you can definitely get Brasso here. (My grandfather used to use it to polish the chrome on every V-8 beast that graced his garage). You can get it in any auto parts store, hardware store, and even some supermarket cleaning supplies aisles. Regards, Yankee

Hey Grasshopperkid, Nice car. No, really! I had a 90 DX hatchback myself and wished I hadn't sold it, but I was afflicted with a pre-midlife crisis and had to get a convertible. If you ever have a problem with it, let me know. I'm a former technician and I have all the service bulletins and tech info for it. Regards, Randy

DJTheo (and others): I'm scanning back 15-20 years in my memory banks (Audi Quattro was my first R/C when I was about 12-14), but as I recall, here's what I did: Battery location: Plenty of room up front, using black wire tie straps (zip ties) to hold it (on a slight angle, as I recall) on top of the front bumper mount. Note that this was an old 7.2-volt with a hump, and it fit invisibly behind the body with no problem. Wires reached fine and connected neatly. This not only dramatically lowers the center of gravity, but better equalizes the weight distribution to improve steering on and off road. Springs: factory front springs are much too soft (even before moving the battery they bottomed out at the slightest jolt), and rears are much too stiff (car bounced like it didn't have a suspension in the rear when it hit a bump). Used adjustable rear spring stops to level the back end, and experiemented with hardware store springs (hey, there weren't all those hop-up parts available in those days, so you had to make your own) until I found a nice balance. Tires: Square edges led to rollovers. I put each tire on an axle and ran them on a table-mount belt sander at a slight angle. It sounds barbaric, but I only put enough pressure to slightly bevel the edge of the tire more like a real tire. It left a nice smooth finish that looked like it was made that way. (Of course, with all the tire selections available now, you could probably just buy better tires.) Result: Car handled beautifly, winding through a pavement slalom course with neutral handling, taking brutal changes in direction without rolling, and still having enough suspension travel for mild off-road excursions and courses with jumps in them. In short, a true multi-purpose vehicle! Hope this helps, Yankee

DJ Theo, good point - size is relative. For the U.S., the Golf is considered very small. All my office mates looked out the window when I got it and said "what a cute little car!" (Not the reaction I was looking for, by the way.) If it weren't for practical considerations with storage and threatening traffic, I'd be happy in my old Fiat. I looked at a new (BMW-produced) Mini, but decided the performance, equipment, versatility, and interior quality wasn't there to justify the dealer greed charge that's tacked on here. Also, I'm 6'1", so I can't comfortably go much smaller than the GTI. Just picked up it's mini-me on ebay, the Tamiya Golf V5 (kit 58206), which I will begin building just as soon as the ball bearing kit I ordered arrives.

I have a few tips on improving the Audi Quattro Rally that take care of all the "poor handling" complaints I was reading about on another site. I'm a newbie to this site, however, so if the Audi owners out there already have things figured out, or if this is not appropriate in this space, please let me know before I post. If tips are better left somewhere else, please let me know that as well. Regards from the other side of the pond, Yankee

I'm a newbie to your club, but I enjoyed reading all the posts about what you all drive in full-size cars. I just wanted to say that you gentleman (and ladies) may not realize how lucky you are to drive neat little cars like Minis and other Europe-only vehicles. Here in the U.S., I've had numerous Civics, a '77 MBG, an '81 Fiat X1/9, and most recently, a '95 Miata. I felt like I should just paint a target on the back of each of them to make it easier for all the lemmings buying SUVs to use me as a wheel chock. I recently bought a 2002 VW GTI (1.8L, 180-HP turbo) to get a bit more crash protection and still enjoy a small car and reasonably good fuel mileage. I love my country, but I'm embarrassed at our wastefulness in what we drive. Maybe if we end up paying what you do for gas we'll get our priorities in order.