Miggers

Excellent story with a brilliant outcome. I wish I could find my old Boomer and especially my Optima Mid Custom in that way. My Optima went to Crewe around seven years ago after sitting in my mate's model shop in Alsager for a few months. It was in box art colours with the yellow wheels on. So if that rings a bell,or you indeed still have it tucked away gathering dust and mold in your shed or attic then give me a shout. Mark

November 2007,Chris Wilko reckoned he could do an LWB Meteor shell in ABS,but not in lexan.He also had the moulds for the standard Meteor shells too. He'd not got moulds for any wheels though,suspecting they'd been skipped somewhere along the line. My man at work that races Ministocks and hotrods knows the guy that owned Mardave before Chris did and wonders if he's got any of the Meteor moulds. Wonder if Chris Wilko just can't bothered to make bits for Meteors because he wants to concentrate on the 1/12th hotrod/banger stuff???,they'd done some new Apache/Marauder drive rubbers the other week though,so folks must have asked enough for 'em. Anyway Mark,talking of vacforming,have a shufty at this: http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-a-goo...t-plastic-vacu/ Mark

There's only one bloke that could make the Imprezza dance and play the fiddle at the same time. Now he just could drive fast on the slippery stuff. I saw him win the World title in one.I really don't need to give a name do I. And the best looking Imprezza????,the 22B without a doubt. Mark

My cousin has given me this old ESC,he used to use it in one of his cars but only with a stock silver can 540. It's in very good clean condition. Anyone got any idea what it'll handle,motor turns,battery power,etc? Mark

Has any one got an RC 10B3 chassis tub that they could draw around the outline of at all please?? I could do with making a plywood mould to vac form an under tray for an RC 10B3 body that's not fitted to an RC 10B3. Cheers,Mark

Cheers sarg. Mark

Plenty of lookers but nobody got any then. OK,how about a pair of front suspension arms as close as poss. to these dimensions then. Overall length; 62 milimetres Gap at the outer end where the kingpin sits; 11.5 milimetres Gap at the inner end where they fit to the chassis blocks; 15.5 milimetres Holes for the pins to go through;3 milimetres Length is pretty critical,but gaps less so,they can be opened out or shimmed up to suit.Like wise with the holes for the pins. Cheers,Mark

My daily driver is a Pug '99 306 Hdi Dturbo. My toy is a 2000 306 GTI-6. The Dturbo is de-catted(no need for one on a diesel),EGR removed and pipes blanked off.Still does 48-50 mpg but the pick up is miles better. The GTI-6 has a Magnex pipe and a Piper X filter,man that thing shifts. They both handle superbly,both have Morette headlight conversions,Pug Cyclone 5 spoke alloys and they're both Icelandic Grey(like Moonstone Blue)so that folks don't know what they've been blown off by . I used to have a'79 RS2thou Mk2 with a Group 1 engine in it('bout 160 gee-gees),that was good fun. My mate has a '73 facelift Capri with a 4.2ltr V8(320 bhp) out of a wrecked TVR Cerbera in it and a 1968 big wing Mk1 Escort with a 140bhp Pinto in it. Another mate(lives on Anglesey)has a big turbo EssieCossie with 625bhp at the fly.Now that is a "flies on teeth"motor Mark

Errr,I clicked on the linky,but can't see where you join up. Do you have to be a fully paid up TC member to get in or what? Mark

Anyone got a pair of spare Cobra front suspension arms or the white plastic long front suspension arms for the LWB Meteor they want to part with??? They don't have to be mint,just serviceable for my Meteor LWB mud-slinger. Mark

Chris at Mardave reckoned he could do me an LWB Meteor shell but only in ABS as he'd gone the mold for it.

I'm looking for an LWB Mardave Meteor shell in lexan to complete my 20 year old's rebuild. Anyone got a spare they don't want?,used/painted is fine,I don't need an uncut minter for what'll be a well used runner . Cheers,Miggers

I got into buggies when I was 27 years old!!!!. I started work for Lucas Industries in 1987 and soon found out they had a buggy club.I'd already bought a Boomerang and learned how to drive it,so off we went racing. The track was in the works Sports and Social club,90% carpet with the polished wood dance floor at the stage end(where all the drivers stood)as turn 1 off the main start finish straight. We had wood jumps,"bot dots" and the obligatory sand filled fire hoses to mark out the track.They were a good crowd ranging from 10-12 y/o's whose parents worked at the factory upto 40y/o adults who raced and ran the club. Most folks ran Tamiya machinery of one sort or another,pretty much run what ya brung really,with a couple of Meteors and even a Ministock thrown into the mix. There was one kid whose father held a management position,and raced a standard Hotshot.One week he turns up with a Technigold motor in it and blows everyone away on the straights,but stacks it on every corner as he was still running the mech.speedo. The next week he turns up with a 100 Futaba ESC fitted in it.Everyone was thinking this isn't quite fair as no one could keep up with him. Anyway,I raced the Boomer for 2 years,by which time it was pretty knackered and needed a lot of money spending on it so I went for it and bought an Optima Mid Custom,an ESC and fully ballraced it. The Boomer was sold in 1991 for 15,not really a fitting end for such a worthy warrior I suppose and the Optima went in 2000 for 35. Man,how I wish I'd kept 'em both. Earlier this summer my son decides he want's another car and buys himself a Yokomo drift chassis off of E-Bay and takes it to work to play with. One evening he comes home,dumps a carrier bag on the table and tells me to have a look in it. Hiding in the bag is a very,very sorry looking, bashed,crashed and thrashed 20 y/o+ Mardave Meteor. I was absolutely thrilled to bits.Needless to say ,and thanks to a few of the lads on here,it's now 99% finished.Not quite a standard Meteor but it'll be a pretty good thrasher when it's done. I've fitted it with my old Futaba Attack R gear,HiTec SP1500 ESC,a Parma Cyclone Superstock 27 turn motor and some Schumacher minispikes. All good period stuff eh? Miggers

Thanks Steve,but I think I'll give it a miss. It's upto 15 now plus p&p. It looks like a copy of a Tamiya front end,that's what drew my attention to it. Miggers

What breed this one is ? The bloke that's flogging it on the Bay doesn't know. I think a Tamiya or Kyosho judging by the heatsink on the speedo's resistor. This is all you get,no electrics or shell but if the price is right(just need to persuade Mrs Miggers) and it's not a real rarity to get part for......... Miggers

I used to race my fully ballraced Boomerang with it's MSC fitted as there was enough"drag" to slow down for corners(couldn't afford an ESC back then anyway). I soon learnt though when I bought the Optima Mid Custom and fully ballraced that.Next purchase was an ESC. . Miggers

Cheers Terry. It's your LWB and chassis dimensions you e-mailed to me that's provided the impetus for this rebuild. I've got my eye on a set of springs/shocks for it.The originals aren't in bad shape,but one leaks like a sieve even though I've changed the O rings and it has odd front springs(a rear and a front on the front end). The gearbox and uprights are fully ballraced,though I've still the spurgear ballrace mod to do.I've got the parts to make the front end's camber adjustable(banjos,ball and threaded rod),and I'm looking at anti-roll bars at both ends plus a custom shock tower for the backend I think I can find a spot of 3in1 oil . Thanks for the diff info. Mark

Hi guys. I'm looking for a bit of knowledge and advice here. I used to race 1/10 4WD back in the dusts of time and so never had a lot to do with 1/10 2WD machinery. I'm looking for some tips ,i.e castor angles,trail angles,all that jazz for a set up for my ancient Meteor.You're probably going to say use your rough 4WD set up and work from there,problem is I can't remember how I used to set my Optima up . I could do with a sort of "Do-all" set up as I won't be racing it but I'd still like it to go and handle as well as it will. I'm using(at first)a Parma Cyclone 27 turn "Superstock",15t pinion,(I like wheelspin)standard wheels and CAT minispikes,standard shockers and springs but with an LWB chassis. My driving style is definitely "tail-out"(oo-er Mrs)as I prefer oversteer to understeer.That's probably all you can do with the Meteor any way with it's rear mounted motor. Surfaces I'll use it on will be grass,dirt and concrete/tarmac . How tight does the ball diff need to be?.Is it better to have it tight,so that I've got to slide through a turn,or bit softer so that it'll diff-out and turn in tighter without sliding the tail end out too much? If a few different folks could let me in on their set-ups(even for different machines),I'd be most grateful. Miggers

I've been wondering about CVD's for the Meteor myself. It already has a ball diff in it that I've cleaned,re-greased and adjusted and it seems to be working well.An easy mod(period mod too) I've heard of that apparently works well is to drill out the spur gear to take bearings instead of it running "just" on the shaft. Mardave also did a set of wider front bottom arms that were fitted to "works"Meteors,but these are very,very rare as around only 100 sets were ever made so RC10 ones are a good bet as they fit and work too. Also Cobra ones fit,but the pivot blocks need to be mounted further in otherwise you end up with a very wide front end. I've decided to keep it on standard Meteor wheels( though I'm still searching for a rear pair),so I'm not sure about whether any CVDs will actually fit,but as I work for an enginnering firm,I reckon something could be modified to suit. A period mod that's been done to the front wheels is to remove the outer axle bearing bit of plastic and put it on the inside to give more clearance from the bottom arms allowing wider front tyres to be fitted. Miggers

This sounds pretty interesting Mad Ax. I'm doing a sort of similar thing with the old Mardave Meteor I've been given.I'll get it running first and see where we go from there. My shocks are leaky and the front pair have odd springs on,a front on one and a rear on t'other.I've replaced the O rings but they're still leaking so I keep looking on the Bay for another set. I've already cut and drilled an LWB chassis and mounted the front and rear ends on it.I've also sourced a pukka Meteor LWB shell and wing(Mardave themselves actually). I've also seen a pic of one with a homegrown anti-roll bar fitted to the front end,so that's another mod I'll be looking at. The front upper arms are solid plastic bars,but the rears are adjustable,so an easy mod there too. Miggers

My old Boomerang and Optima Mid Custom back in the condition I sold 'em in and the prices I sold 'em for. The Boomer was well raced but pretty tidy,the Optima well raced and immaculate. The Boomer went for 15 in 1990(3 years old) and the Optima went for 25 in 2001(13 years old). Oh and the Mrs to turn a blind eye when I got 'em Miggers

Glad I didn't nab it then. I was very tempted,but I just didn't recognise it. Miggs

Any one know what it is though? It was described as "Tamiya/Kyosho/Mardave/Unknown chassis for spares or repair. It was on at 4.99 and no one bid for it.It looks as though it has a fair few bits missing too from around suspension arms. Miggers

I've never owned an RWD car,only 4WD in the past. As some of you know I'm rebuilding an old Mardave Meteor into a "hot" LWB version,so I'm looking forward to a bit of "tail-out" action with it. Due to it's motor position(right at the back of the car),is it better to position the electrics and Ni-cad further forward to give the front wheels some "bite" or better to set the car up with a good central "balance" to even out the weight distribution? As to driving an RWD car,I used to own RWD Ford Escorts years ago(Mk2 RS2000's-I'm showing my age now eh?),we used to set them up into a corner and then "steer" with the gas pedal,i.e,put your foot in it to get the tail out and lift off to bring it back into line,learnt by watching Roger Clark,Hannu Mikkola,Ari Vatanen,Russell Brookes,Jimmy McCrae and all the other rallying greats who were masters of RWD car control in the '60's and 70's. The Meteor has a ball diff in it(the 'box is fully ballraced too),so from reading the post I assume I can tighten or slacken the diff to vary the amount of "lock" and diffing out. More "lock",more tail out,less lock,more diffing out and less sliding. Miggers

Fitted new brakes to the 1-1 car. Took some tree cuttings to the recycling depot(local tip). Fitted a new battery to the bike(Yamaha,not Tamiya ). Trawled E-Bay and here for more Meteor/Cobra bits. I see someone has a real hybrid Mardave-ish buggy in their showroom,Cobra back end,dunnowhat chassis and what looks like an RC10 frontend. Thought about taking my Tiger 1 for a rumble around the flower beds but got a "Oh no you don't"look from the Mrs. Miggers