El Gecko

I have a few in mind, but the 6" of snow we got last night combined with the upcoming -10 to -15C temps means I probably wouldn't get to drive on them much (if at all). Maybe I will play around with something in that boundary box and see what I can come up with. The challenge at this point is trying not to duplicate one of the previous layouts.

It's funny, a month ago, I would have agreed with you. I saw the Super Storm Dragon release on the Hornet chassis and thought "wow, really? That's an awful body for that chassis" but after seeing this thread, in particular the cars with Fox or Wild One wheels, I will admit that it's growing on me a bit. That said, I wouldn't buy one on purpose, but if someone gave one to me, or I got one in a lot with a bunch of other stuff, I wouldn't turn it down or try to sell it on. In fact, I'd probably spruce it up and make a runner out of it.

This is pretty much it for me. All my cars are old, so stuff breaks all the time. But I don't consider any of them pests because I like working on them. The biggest annoyance currently is the stupid brittle old plastic Traxxas ball/rod ends... I've broken a shock end twice in the last 4 drives from seemingly light impacts. I'll be going overkill with aluminum ends now

Was there supposed to be a question in there? All I see is a shopping list?

Yep that's the easiest way. Just get a little tripod for the phone to sit on and record the whole 5 minute race, then review the videos and count laps once you get home. I use the LapTrax app (free on Google Play) and it works well. Easy to set up and use. Many of the racers are using LapMonitor hardware.

You're building a rere? We're in the Vintage subforum, friend (not the Re-Release Discussion forum) Anyway, my original Hornet had the same B parts tree as the Grasshopper, literally identical. B10 and B11 got used on the Grasshopper, but were replaced on the Hornet by D11 and D12. Guess nowadays Tamiya is chopping B10/B11 off at the factory to sell separately as spare parts. For batteries, my 3000mAh NiMH fits tightly but ok, and my 5000mAh NiMH is a much tighter fit. Larger mAh cells tend to be ever so slightly longer.

I've been liking the Flysky FS-I4. It came with 1 receiver in the box, and packs of 4 receivers are available cheap on Amazon, so I was able to get 9 cars up and running with a single transmitter handset for around $100. The only problem was the left stick had no spring return since it's a drone controller, but fixing it was easy--just had to crack it open and swap over the spring return setup from the other stick. It has been a drop-in replacement for my old Futaba gear, and it runs perfectly with MSCs and 4AA batteries or an ESC.

@Ferruz & @mud4fun AHA. I was wondering if it was the batteries playing up, now I'm pretty certain it is. I'll be honest, this is my first time actually running RCs through the winter so it's been quite the learning experience. Also Ferruz I'm loving the color combo on your TS, looks like a proper race car!

B10 and B11 are the Grasshopper gearbox mounts, and they will indeed be left over (not used) on the Hornet since it has the other slider mounts. You can drill out the hole on the gearbox nub, and slide either a piece of strong wire or bicycle brake cable through, then just anchor it tight on either end and the gearbox won't slap, even without the side springs installed. I haven't tried the Ampro brace or 5th shock mod but this works great for me. Still plenty of articulation, and the rear shocks actually work how they're intended. Lower down on the thread, ddaenen has posted pics of a similar vintage upgrade kit from You-G.

Exactly! I would also submit that Tamiya got their self-tappers perfectly correct for the application. Other vintage screws (Traxxas) have much larger thread pitch, even though they're the same size screws, which makes them more prone to backing out and stripping out. I've been replacing that type of hardware on my Traxxas trucks with Tamiya self-tappers and they seem to be holding up a bit better. I can drive them for longer before I have to retighten everything.

Same, we've had either snow or blistering cold here lately, and the NiMH batteries don't seem to like it. I only managed to record one result with one car on this track but oh well, it's winter!

Today's fail: added a giant 4700uf cap (almost the same size as a sub-c cell!) and the car behaved exactly the same way. I'm starting to think it's the outside air temp keeping the battery too cold. Been doing even more reading on NiMHs and it seems they're worse in cold weather than NiCd (and Lipo are even worse than NiMH apparently). Still experimenting...

I only convert + to hex if it's already an M3 machine screw, otherwise I leave the self tappers alone. I prefer the heartier bite of the coarser thread, and if it starts to get a little loose, just add some super glue to the threads before putting the screw back in.

Been wondering this myself... everything I've seen has too large of a sidewall, and would probably be too soft and deformable for general use. Curious what others will say.

I'm coming at it from a similar point of view. I think it wasn't just older tech but older track design as well. 1993: you have cars jumping, what maybe 18" in the air, at the most? 2019: you can clearly watch the driver adjust the attitude of the car in the air, because there is so much airtime off each jump

I think you're onto something here. Limp mode on the 1060 is activated by low voltage whether it's on the Lipo setting or NiMH. I have been doing a lot of reading, and NiMHs in general might have the voltage drop problem no matter how old, or I just have two dodgy packs. I suspect that adding the capacitor (a nice big one) on the battery side may actually help, since it would smooth out the voltage drop from the NiMH under sustained load. Will experiment and report back.

These two may be a case of mistakenly inputting the Yen value rather than pounds, assuming the software would convert automatically?

I think you have me confused with someone else. My buggies are not modded like you say, and I don't really crash much because they aren't built to be stupidly fast. You can argue for "less weight" but a few hundred grams is not going to make that much of a difference in a car that was DESIGNED for a heavier battery anyway.

I use this charger for my NiMHs (have not tried with Lipo but appears to be ready and the reviews say it works fine): https://www.horizonhobby.com/product/prophet-sport-mini-50w-multichemistry-charger/DYNC2030.html?KPID=DYNC2030&CAWELAID=320011980001425425&CAGPSPN=pla&CAAGID=97846720982&CATCI=pla-899697836082&utm_campaign=shopping&utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=google&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIzbH059q87gIVT__jBx3NXAR7EAQYBCABEgIt5_D_BwE For NiCds, I still use the ancient 15-minute quick charger, but I hardly ever run NiCds anymore. You can't mix NiCd and NiMH batteries and chargers--that's probably why your NiMH died. For new NiMH batteries, there are a lot out there but Tenergy seems to be some of the best for performance. I have Traxxas and Gens Ace brand batteries at the moment. The biggest thing is to find one with the right specs. 6-cell, 7.2V is what you want for the old cars, to match the old NiCd ratings, and the capacity can vary from around 2000mAh up 8000mAh I think I've seen. More capacity = longer runtimes but generally anything from 3-5000mAh is a good target.

I switch between an old Traxxas 5000mAh NiMH and a brand new (a few months ago) Gens Ace 3000mAh NiMH, both 7.2v 6-cell. I have not tried with a NiCd, and I don't run Lipo. I thought it was the battery connectors, but all are now tight so it seems I've eliminated that possibility.

They're pretty fresh and both are quite fast. Both have good brushes, springs, and comms, and the hoods aren't misaligned. I rebuilt the Yokomo earlier this year. But you're right, I haven't tried a new motor yet. All of mine are old and rebuilt, which I never had any problems with before.

Based on this statement, you should be driving very lightly and using 7.2V 5000mAh NiMH to enjoy driving your old cars slowly for longer. It's not the miles that ruins the old cars, it's the wrecks. That lipo you use makes the car FASTER than in its original configuration, so you will be more prone to wrecking. It also wears things out faster since the RPMs are higher, higher power/more force, etc. Basically you are doing the exact opposite of what you intend.

Then why would you stop every 10 minutes to check the car if you haven't wrecked it? Your arguments make no sense. Unless you're simply trying to justify using inferior batteries? This is getting a bit quixotic.

ESC, motor and battery are all cool to the touch. It can happen as soon as I turn the car on, or not until the end of the pack, depending on how I drive. The cars so far are a vintage Grasshopper and a vintage Traxxas Hawk, with different, identical, authentic, Hobbywing branded 1060s. Vintage ROAR 91 stock motors in both (the Hawk is a Slot Machine, the GH has an unbranded silvercan with a Yokomo endbell). Full ball bearings in both and there's no binding whatsoever--I'd venture to say these are my two smoothest drivetrains even. Doesn't matter what surface--it can be smooth tarmac, lumpy grass, dirt, whatever. Same with different batteries too. It's not a "long period" at full throttle, more like a few seconds at the most. Like, driving around the street in front of my house, pin it to W.O.T. to see what the top speed might be, and it gets there, but literally as soon as it gets there, the throttle cuts to half and it slows down until the cap recharges. Or racing, when I hit the end of the back straight, or when the trans "diffs out" going around a turn under power, that kind of thing. It's really annoying. The first one I got for the Grasshopper didn't have any issues for the first week or so, but now it's every run. The Hawk's brand new ESC did it from the very beginning.

NiMH will work perfectly fine in the old cars, and often they come with Tamiya plugs so there is no modification needed. You just want to make sure you get "6-cell" and "7.2V" and as high of a mAh rating as you can afford. A 6-cell 7.2V pack is the standard size for most Tamiya cars and is basically a direct replacement for the old 7.2V 6-cell NiCD batteries. The mAh will determine how long of a runtime you get (older NiCds were 1200-1800mAh, for example, and new NiMH can be 5000mAh, which is why they run longer). Lipo batteries come in different shapes and with different connectors, and often require modification to fit in the old cars. Lipo batteries also require safe handling so they don't explode or catch fire. That charger you've linked should work for NiMH/NiCd, but if you're ever thinking about upgrading to Lipo in the future, you might want to get one that does NiMH and Lipo.