ap6318

Thanks for all the comments guys! Gee these things are fun! Got another comment for "If it ain' bouncin'... The cheap nasty yeah racing ball ends have snapped. They are super hard and super brittle. Broke two in two battery packs! Still looking for a third shock, you'd think I'd have something laying around....

After reading about how much fun everyone here has with their Lunchboxes I had to get one as well. Picked this one up locally for a fair price. Took it home and performed my usual reverse build to see how it works and was suprised how easy it was compared to my wild one. Obviously it wasn't to easy for the guy who assembled it... I found 9 mistakes in the build, the major one being a set of Yeah Racing oil dampers fitted - upside down, no oil and slots cut in the chasis where the stock shaft passes through front and back so the ball ends could pass through! Did my best with the rears and filled the slot with some nitro fuel line and installed the optional shock mounts. Filled shocks with 35wt oil and used softest springs. Front wasn't so easy. Ended up using the front brace idea and ran some 4-40 rod through the front and fastened the shocks to the rod. seems to work quite well. Shocks have 60wt oil and soft springs as well but think will try mediums as stability is good but steering still non-existant Installed bearings throughout and popped in a CO27 motor. Run 3 packs through it and had an absolute blast. You guys were right. This is the most fun you can have struggling to control an RC!! Next is the 3rd shock mod. Just got to find a shock somewhere...

Guess what arrived in the mail this week Huge thank you to BeetleLover! The quality and detail is fantastic. Plus fast post. Can't wait to get some spare time to sit and paint all this up. Found a battery plate and stopper thanks to alfettalimo. Agian, just waiting for the post man again. I am so glad I joined up here. Great bunch of people and so helpful.

Here is my old girl... A 1965 Chrysler Valiant AP6 originally with a 225ci 6cyl and 3spd. Now a mild 318ci V8 and 4 spd floor shift. Great cruiser and fit heaps of RC gear in the massive boot!!!

PM Sent

Sorry to hijack your thread Novastar... I would be intrersted in any old off road gear you may want to part with also (apart from the beetle of course). In Brisbane as well. Sending you an email also. Cheers Mark

^^ Hi Willy. Noticed you do decals in your sig. Can you make Wild One decals by any chance? BeetleLover has finished my body set and driver Just have to wait for the post man now.

Cool! thanks, the shop decals look the goods. Will grab a set when my body set arrives. lucasan - the metal bars for the cage are just 6mm outer diameter threaded rod. Should be able to get from hobby or hardware shop easily enough. - axle boots are the same as in a re-re frog kit. Again, should be plentiful. - the suspension arm will be the hard part, no ideas there sorry

OK bodyset and driver ordered through BeetleLover... Just have to wait for the next batch to be made. Two things left - Battery cover and decals. Found battery cover on ebay so guess I'll grab it unless someone here has a spare they want to part with. Decals... only ones I can find are on the 'bay as well but are printed on white not clear. I'm guessing they will look nasty so haven't bought them. Does anyone here do repro decals? Don't have to be perfect as it's for a runner but would definately like them on clear. Thanks will keep that in mind. Are they planned days or just whenever you can?

Thanks for all of the tips guys! I have sent Beetle Lover a message. Hope he gets back to me soon. Will have to go into the craft shop with the wife next time and look for the white Krylon Fusion paint. I can live with the orange wheels for now though as it is going to be a runner. Put in a Tamiya ESC and a 7.4v lipo and ran it up and down the road. Was a slug to start with but gradually loosened up to a reasonable run for a stock 20 year old motor. Dropped in a Sport Tuned and the fun was instant. Perfect for flat with the 18t pinion. Not the fastest thing I've driven but enough power to spin the wheels at full throttle. Tried a Trinity Monster Stock 27 turn motor next. Was a handful to control and the motor did get a little warm. Probably be better suited to the 15t pinoin. So the Sport Tuned black can stays until its totally finished and I give the car a real workout. I tell you though, you can't wipe the smile from my face after driving her for the first time Can't wait to be totally finished and get it in some dirt, hopefully with some others here in Brisbane. If you are in the area and want to have a run one day feel free to drop me a message as I would love to go for a run with some other old off roaders.

Did an impulse buy on ebay and am now the proud owner of a NIB re-re Grasshopper. Couldn't help myself... it was under $100 AU with 4 mins to go got it for AU$112.50. Collect it tomorrow.

Thanks for the compliment. There is no need to rush a rebuild. Mr Tamiya spent a lot of money in making step by step instructions so it only makes sense to follow them exactly. Milestone reached - I officially have a ROLLER Obviously the wheels are from a Super Hornet. That's all I could find for now. Hope the orange grows on me... Also had to take a few mm off the edge of the wheel adapters as the new wheels are reinforced with a 1mm ring round the inside. I've used the period Hitec HS-402 steering servo that came with the car - pulled it apart, cleaned and re-greased. I will be using the matching tx & rx as well. At a stand still for a little while now as I need to buy a few parts like battery cover and a driver set. Might put some electrics in it over the next few days and see how it runs but don't want to get her too dirty before I've totally finished.

Exactly! Don't worry about what it's "worth" unless you are going to sell it. Which it sounds like you aren't. The main thing is you want it and you got it. You always spend more than what any car is worth to restore it anyway. It's all part of the joy of RC! If you are building it to shelf queen, leave the all the original electronics. If you are going to run it (like I am with mine) put in an ESC as they are so much easier to set up and way more reliable. Ok.. Made some more progress.. Rear shocks rebuilt with 50wt oil same as front. Had the joy of that gut wrenching 20 year old shock oil smell again. At least I was ready for it this time!! Rear axles, rear shocks, original motor and 18t pinion installed. Build completed to step 19 of manual. Getting closer each day!

Yeah but this one was far from a shelf queen You could do a search. Most parts pop up on ebay at some stage. The part number is 3585008. You could easily make one yourself though. Buy some 6mm outer diameter threaded rod from your local hobby shop and cut it to 76.5mm long. A 20mm long screw at each end to hold it in place and you're done.

Too late, I've already cleaned and rebuilt the old shafts. I want to keep it as stock as possible to start with but yes the frog rear end set up is a possibility if the standard isn't up to the job. Here is a before and after of the half shafts and axles. They were disgusting but cleaned up nice I thought New boots and ball bearings - better than new Thanks for all the advice chaps. I'm really enjoying this rebuild. Can't wait to give it a run.

Stop it now.. Or I'm going to have to go and buy me a Lunchbox Those things are just too cool!

Hey thanks! Will keep that in mind. Gearbox opened, cleaned, new AW grease on metal gears, ceramic grease on plastic spurs, 850 bushes replaced with bearings and shimmed to standard... Feels quite good - Not "free" like a modern box but definately not crunchy or clicky so should be ok.

One was perfect - still had 20 year old oil in it - what a smell! The other leaked before I even attached it to the car so I pulled the seals out and replace with some 3mm seals I had laying around. Seals well now but shock seems to stick when at full down. Not sure if I've done some damage to the housing when I spread the opening to pull the seals out or not. I'll leave it until the end and see how it handles. At least it's not leaking. Spent a few hours on it yesterday and will upload some more pics soon.

Ok - First update... Rebuilt to step 10 on the manual - so far so good. Front shocks rebuilt with 50wt oil. Off to look at the gearbox now... wish me luck!! bjr250 - I'll PM you in the next few weeks when I'm done and maybe we can run them together - I'm at Capalaba.

Thanks for the encouragement! I've done a heap of reading on the site since I got it. Yeah can't wait to run it. Good to see there are others from Brisvegas here. Where do you run mostly? Ok, it's stripped. few bits missing/broken: 1. Chasis cracked - Repair done 2. Nails in front kingpins - Repaired with TT-01 arm pins cut to length 3. All wheels cracked - Replaced with Super Hornet rims 4. Missing driver set - on the look for repro set 5. Battery cover and stopper plate missing - Anyone got a spare they want to part with? Apart from that it looks good. Off to start the rebuild!

Hey guys! While trawling through real car parts at a local swap meet I spotted a familiar sight at the back of a stall in a box... Asked the guy how much? when he said $20 - I couldn't get my wallet out fast enough. Got her home and it looks complete minus driver set and broken rear wheels. I'm going to restore it to running condition. Will post progress and ask silly questions as I go.

I found a small amount of nitro fuel and lots of elbow effort with a soft cloth works well. Just give it a good bath in soapy water when you've finished.

Hi! I put a 65 turn motor in mine and works well with the 19t pinion. A little fast for hardcore crawling but great fun for trails and stuff.