ap6318

Bump - Still got them.

Given up on the old shell after 4 goes with the oven cleaner and many hours of rubbing so just doing the re-re body instead... Nice layer of undercoat on the new body And on with the French Blue 2 light coats then one thick wet coat. Allow to dry and on with the decals - Probably should have bought repo originals but on a budget and these came with the body set. Now that's done I can put it aside and finish the rest off quickly.

Last 5 sets on eBay Buy It Now

Hey thanks for the info - makes sense now. So does the fact it is the first run SRB make it more special or valuable or just a conversational piece? As for the wing - it has unfortunately met wit an irreversable fate The original body has been totally stripped of all foreign objects including the plastic roof, F1 wing and brass reinforcements and given a healthy dose of oven cleaner. There are 6 layers of paint here - yellow house paint, black enamel, red car paint, bronze model paint, white then blue model paint. Anyway, new re-re roll bar and rear cage arrived and have installed an new 540 silver can - one thing I noticed is the new can was a really tight fit - like almost impossible. Its in now but hope I don't have to take it out anytime soon.

One thing I found unusual was it had 2 different styles of front arm - I'm assuming one of the other SRBs had different arms - everything still lines up but 1 set is a different material and much lighter. Anyway - gave the metal parts a bath then a nice polish with some Inox Gears cleaned, new bearings and fresh coat of ceramic grease Rear gearbox re-assembled

My pleasure - open it! I ran mine again today for another worry and trouble free day of fun

Cheers. I still have a few sets if ever you need them. Your fox looked great! Hope you get to run it more in the future. Good luck with the Wild One. It was my first ever attempt at a rebuild and still my favourite runner Wild One Basketcase Kids have sped up my build process because instead of running cars I get out in the man cave with the kids and build instead.

Onto my next project which is actually a car I'm building for a work mate. The story goes, he's had it in a box since the early 90s as he pulled out the radio gear to run in a modern car - the Stadium Blitzer We were talking one day and he said he had an old Tamiya style car but didn't think it could be saved - there was the first part of my interest. So I told him to bring it in and I'll take a look. Here is what I was given.... It was nearly complete so I take on the project - Make it a runner so he can join in our vintage meets at Boondall. Budget AU$200 for parts. All stripped down so it now looks like this A few broken bits like roll bar and rear cage - easy fix with re-re parts so this should be nice and straight forward

Well, the Fox arm sets have finally arrived I couldn't wait to try these babies out so here are some pics of how it looks: Step 1: Open packet and admire Srep 2: Pull the back end and wheels off the car Step 3: Remove all hinge pins and bottom suspension screw from 1 side of the car Step 4: Line up inside top and bottom arms with rear gearbox and install hinge pins Step 5: Cut thread for bottom shock mount with original 3mm screw then install bottom of rear shock Step 6: Line hub carrier with arms - now here is the only tricky bit - and install outside hinge pins from the same side as the insidehinge pins - see pic - original arms are on the left Step 7: stop and admire your work - get drink (optional) Pic shows top arm replaced - original on left Step 8: Repeat steps 3 to 6 Step 9: Attach rear end back onto car Step 10: Repeat step 7 as many times as you like Please take note - the original hub carriers may not be 100% straight and the new arms are so a little bit of ceramic grease will help guide the hinge pins through. The best part of all of this is there is no additional hardware required The car seems to drive exactly the same to me so I'm very happy - hopefully hitting the track tomorrow if the rain stops so will report again. Oh yeah, this whole process (including picture taking) took me 45 mins start to finish. I still have 7 sets of these arms left. Cost is AU$100 a set plus postage. There will not be another run for a long time - if ever so get in fast if you want a set. Cheers Mark

They've finally arrived! There were a few small issues which delayed us a month. For all that pre-ordered, I will be in touch within the next 48 hours with final costs including freight. Those in Brisvegas I'll be at Boondall on Saturday with these (weather permitting). Anyone who wants a set that hasn't pre-ordered. The cost is $100 + post and it's in order of PM's received. There will not be another run so if you want a set don't wait. A picture of my set - just installed to my Fox - Check my thread in the Vintage Section

THE REASULTS Absolutely fantastic!!!! This car was awsome around the track both in handling and speed. I was turning faster laps than a fully hopped up Top Force Spec Terra Conquorrer running a 5.5t Brushless (same batteries). He was faster on the straights but could not take the corners as well. Track was slightly muddy to dry - low grip Motor only just cracked 50 degrees C which means I could go up a tooth ot two on the pinion for more top speed but for now I couldn't be happier with the reasult. Factory ESC settings were spot on - again with the motor running just warm I could have advanced the timing for some more speed. Got 3 flat out runs of 5-10 mins each with the battery before I realised the factory ESC settings don't have lipo cut set - oops . Dropped one of the cells to 2.95V but straight on the charger and it is fine - you can drop a cell to 2.85 before any permanent damage happens. Other casualties were: - lost front wheel - I used the original wheel nuts which obviously weren't up to the task - 2 empty shocks - I re-used all shock seals so will go through and rebuild with new before the next run. Anyone that wants a fast 4wd vintage racer, the old Ray is a definate low cost alternative. I will do the math and list all the parts and costs to build a budget vintage brushless weapon Total cost of this build was $536.98 - BUT if you take out all the extras including car repairs and self medication it boils down to this: Bearings - $20.00 Plastic gear set - $15.00 Yeah alloy prop shaft - $20.00 Yeah alloy motor mount - $20.00 Hobbywing 9t Brushless Combo - $95.00 Eurgle 2.4ghz radio gear - $70.00 Robinson Racing 16t pinion - RRP1116 - $10.00 Deans style T plug $1.00 Real total: $251 - Seriously, 2 years ago you couldn't buy a brushless combo for much less! Again, this is AU$ so you northern hemisphere people will do it for alot less than that. Happy bashing!!!!

Last of all is the battery - Probably as critical as the ESC/motor choice. After researching a number of batteries - there are only so many lipos that fit in a Manta chassis hole - The best value for money I found was the Eurgle 4400mah 25c 2 cell lipo. These are a "wrapped" soft pack. Similar to the Venom packs but with and extra 10% capacity and cheaper too. They are a perfect fit into the oval hole with no modification required. Off with the Tamiya style plug an on with the deans style plug. All I have to do is proram the ESC. I have started with the factory settings to see how they go. Aditionl costs: Eurgle 4400 25c 7.4v lipo - $60 Deans style plug $0 - used the other half of the pair from the ESC

Thank you to everyone who pre-ordered! The material is ordered and arms will be completed as soon as possible. If you did not pre-order there are still a couple of sets available but is on a first in best dressed basis - PM if you are interested. Once these are sold there will be no more. Cheers guys

Just about finished and noticed I don't have a rear body mount or battery stop. Luckily my local hobby shop has some tamiya spares so I picked up an E parts tree. Mounted a new set of wide studs to the original speed discs. Not sure how these will go but really wanted to start wit an as close to stock car then make one change at a time to see what is absolutely critical for good performance. Gearing will be the first thing, wheels and tyres will be next. Here are a couple of pics of the finished product Now I just have to wait for the track to dry out to have a test run. Additional costs: E Parts - LHS - $18.00 Wide stud tyres - LHS $30.00 4 pack of Jack Daniels & Cola for a job well done - $19.00 - Man our alcohol tax here in Oz is nasty!

Yeah, looks like i bought the wrong pinion. That's ok I have a few 19 and 20s laying around so I wil experiment. Wheel size is going to be the original 2.0" Speed Discs with standard wide studs to start with and see whre we end up. Body is now back in one piece thanks to some sheet ally and "Shoe Goo" - best lexan repair product ever its not the prettiest shell but at the speeds I'm trying to achieve I have a feeling there are going to be some battle scars Additional Costs: Shoe Goo - Sports Store - $10

Not any more! I left it off to see how much flex was in the chassis but now have it back on as it was a bit floppy. Here are the photos with the ride height fixed, suspension the right way round and electrics fitted I've chosen a 9t Hobbywing combo for price, performance and proven reliability. Changed the Tamiya plug to a deans style plug. Unsure with the gearing yet so starting with the 16t pinion to not work the new motor too hard and work my way up if the top speed is lacking. Radio gear is 2.4ghz Eurgle - This has been my radio of choice for nearly a year and very happy with it - especially when extra receivers are under $10 Additional costs: Hobbywing 9t Brushless Combo - $95.00 Eurgle 2.4ghz radio gear - $70.00 Robinson Racing 16t pinion - RRP1116 - $10.00 Deans style T plug $1.00 (well they are $10.00 for a pack of 10) Aloe vera cream to sooth the solder burn on my finger $6.00 Off to try and make the body one piece again

Great stuff. Thanks for all these tips. I will glue the step screws as this is a low cost build. Chassis assembled ready for electrics I have put the stock vintage sanwa 101 servo in but it is seriously slow. Have since upgraded to a Bluebird BMS-621 High Speed Servo. Specs at are torque:6.4kg, Speed:0.13sec Weight: 41g Also noticed the back end sagged quite badly while the front end was way too high until it was pointed out the front and rear shocks are different and I had them on back to front in this picture. You'll notice the next time I post a picture the shocks with less turns are the stiffer springs for the rear. This and moving the bottom of the front shock to the outside hole, dropped the front ride height to a better level. Off to drop in some power!! Additional costs: Servo - Hobbyking - $25.00 Nail polish remover - to unglue my fingers after touching step screws - $6.00

Its on!! This Saturday from 9am - Think we're kicking off with a bit of maintenance then a big day of running. Cant wait!!!!

Front gearbox rebuilt same as rear. The original plastic end dog bones look ok so i'll re-use them until they break then upgrade to DF-03 ones. Rear end ready to bolt up as well. I've used original 10mm self tap screws as per the munual. I'm going to keep an eye on them after every run to see if they undo at all. If they do start to loosen I'll change over to metric threads. I'm trying to keep this as close to manual built stock as possible - apart from modern electrics Moving onto the shocks... Apart from the dirt and grime they are in pretty good nick. Were even full of whiffy old oil in them gave them a good clean and filled with 30 weight Team Associated silicone oil. Half done... Additional costs: Associated 30wt shock oil - LHS - $10.00 1 pair of soft ear plugs - to stick in my nose to block the smell of old shock oil - $2.00

Hey thanks for the responses guys. Heaps of helpful information! I did do a lot of research before I started this project but there are some I've missed. Next step gearbox. Bought a Tamiya #50529 4WD Touring & Rally Car Plastic Gear Set, Yeah Racing prop shaft and alloy motor mount. Rear box stripped Think the alloy idler may have had its day? and possibly a new pinion required All new gears and shaft end in. Bearings all round. Using bevel diff with AW grease instead of ball diff as most people recommend. Ceramic grease used everywhere else. Thanks TA-Mark for the idea of the plate to keep the stress away from the screw hole and yes mate you need to come back to Boondall again soon. We miss looking for your diff parts in the dirt Additional costs: Bearings - ebay - $20.00 Plastic gear set - Stella - $15.00 Yeah alloy prop shaft - ebay - $20.00 Yeah alloy motor mount - ebay $20.00 Pat Benetar CD to keep that 80s feeling while I build - Kmart - $12.00

Hey everyone! My next rebuild is gong to be a fast one - both in build time and top speed. As much as I love my vintage 2wd buggies, the time has come to build one to keep up with the other weapons at our track - all brushless Top Forces, Evos and Terras. My car of choice is a Manta Ray, the first chassis of the pedigree. I'm going to do this as a performance rebuild on a budget. First I sourced a local dog of a car on ebay for $50 as a base. Now it looks like this I was quite happy as car was complete with only a few broken parts - cracked chassis being the only dissapointment But I was happy at the spares that were in a plastic bag at the bottom of the box Sourced a chassis from a Blazing Star at my local shop so I'm ready to rebuild. The car will be running all low cost electronic parts from China to show they can keep up with the big boys. I will list all parts used as I go through the build over the coming weeks. So far the cost is: Manta Ray - ebay - $50.00 New Chassis - LHS - $29.00 Packet of biscuits - $2.99 Coffee - $5.00

Hey everyone! As you may or may not have seen we are doing a limited production of Fox rear arm sets These are the first prototype cut and will be basically the same dimentions as the originals. Hight quality finish with 45 degree chanfered edges. (No holes have been drilled yet but will be on the finished product) They will be made of derlin which is almost unbreakable. This was chosen because alloy would be too heavy an there were to many engineering changes required - i.e. hinge pins, bushings. These arms will fit exactly as the originals with no additional hardware required. I will be taking pre-orders now for the next week or so. At this stage there will be a one off production run of 30 sets. The cost will be approximately AU$100 delivered per set which consists of 2x top arms and 2x bottom arms. If there is enough interest to do a run of 40 sets the price will drop to around AU$90 per set. An AU$20 deposit will be required to pre-order and guarentees a set. PM me if you have any questions Cheers Mark

Hi Alistair No, you're not being awkward at all At this stage for a first run we are really going for practicallity and cost over trying to replicate the "look". Saying that, if 20 members all said they would rather pay more for a product that was identical to the original we would definately go down that road. I'm still taking pre-orders for the first run of arms so let me know this week if you would like a set as would like to get them done in the next fortnight. Feel free to ask any questions!

yep, that's my Fox rebuild. I've been working with Chris from Rogue Elements to machine some new high quality durable rear arm sets. These will be lighter and stronger than alloy with no changes to the original hardware (hinge pins, bushings etc) First production run will be in the next few weeks hopefully. Price is still to be confirmed should be around US$90 or AU $100 shipped for a complete set of upper and lower arms but depending on pre orders the price may drop if we get enough numbers. At this stage there will only be one production run. Pre ordering with deposit wil guarentee you a set otherwise it's first in best dressed. PM me to ask any questions Cheers Mark

Thanks Chris. Yes you can still use the term foxy - but ONLY when refering to The Fox or maybe a very attractive grandma Yes the arms are full speed ahead - here are the pics of the first cut Just working out some final measurements and hope to have a finished product within a month. Stay tuned for more details soon. PM any interest in pre-ordering