Sgt.Speirs‘ Nissan King Cab - TRF201 Transmission Conversion & Restoration

[wtcc5 5818]

Great work!

[Sgt.Speirs 1522]

And the drivetrain fitted into the main chassis:

Maybe it looks like you have seen the following pictures a few sites before in this build thread, but that is not the case...

From the top:

And with the opened spur gear cover for adjustments on the slipper clutch:

Now it’s time to finish the body…

[wtcc5 5818]

That looks like it is original. Great design and Modellbau!

[Sgt.Speirs 1522]

Finally I found time to finish the body…

 

The front bumper is also a new one and will complete the „out of the box“ look.

Summery of the body set (body is from TBG, the decals from MCI racing):
The quality of the decal sheet was fine (I selected „premium color option“). But the sheet is no 1:1 copy of the original. Two things struck me as negative.

1. The left headlight sticker is completely wrong. It seams that the right sticker was only mirrored. The „K“ is upside down and the geometry is also wrong (the sticker is on the bottom wider than on the top).
2. The black wheel house stickers are four times on the sheet. At the front they fits fine, but it was impossible to apply this on the rear wheel house. I have to split the stickers to fit the geometry of the wheel house.

To the body there is nothing negative…well done TBG

Overall my expectation was not to have the same body set quality as I expect from Tamiya. Nevertheless I’m happy there is an alternative solution to restorate a Hilux Monster Racer. And at the end I‘m really happy with the result

 

Stay tuned for the final pics of this project…

[Kol__ 3909]

On 9/8/2022 at 4:27 PM, Sgt.Speirs said:

Finally I found time to finish the body…

 

Awesome job mate! It's looking frickin' fantastic!!👍👍

[Elpulio 3]

Hi @Sgt.Speirs Have you run the stage 3 option yet? Will you be offering the gearbox for sale and parts list? A great project, well done.

[Sgt.Speirs 1522]

Hi @Elpulio,

I run stage 3 only some short rounds along my street, but not in the same way as I had run the first prototype / stage 1.
But due to the internal gearbox layout is a takeover of @ThunderDragonCy's “TA06 Gear diff transmission case for TRF201X and DN01 Zahhak", I have no concerns that this will not work.

And regarding your second question: Of course, the final step of this project would be that interested King Cab and Monster Racer fans can order this gearbox incl. parts list. Currently I’m thinking more about what would be the best way to offer this gearbox. In some cases, Shapeways is not the best/cheapest way depending where are you located  

[Elpulio 3]

Hi @Sgt.Speirs & @ThunderDragonCy. I’m interested in the transmission case if it’s available anytime soon. I have recently purchased a monster racer with a locked diff & busted transmission case and don’t fancy messing with the old transmission/diff based on what I’ve read. Thanks

[ThunderDragonCy 8622]

8 hours ago, Elpulio said:

Hi @Sgt.Speirs & @ThunderDragonCy. I’m interested in the transmission case if it’s available anytime soon. I have recently purchased a monster racer with a locked diff & busted transmission case and don’t fancy messing with the old transmission/diff based on what I’ve read. Thanks

I will put the cases on my Shapeways store when I get a chance, but you will need @Sgt.Speirs help with a parts list. 

[Sgt.Speirs 1522]

@Elpulio: You received the parts list via PM. Regarding the gearcases I will provide ThunderDragonCy soon a short manual as attachment for his Shapeways store.

Back to topic: 

Unfortunately I can’t show pics from the final truck, but I made a big step towards MINT condition of my Monster Racer.

I was looking for the rear tires and finally found some:

 

Unfortunately they were mounted on a complete King Cab.

 

But when I investigated the condition of the truck, I almost could not believe it. The chassis is in a condition…I would describe it as almost „new build out of the box“. Some minor scratches on the main chassis, but the rest it in perfect condition.

 

Ok, the body is not painted in box art. But there are no cracks, only some pressed in edges.

And the rims…painted in silver, but no scratches or damages.

 

I have to say that this chassis is in a better condition as my ones (and this is definitely not bad). So I decided to use the new chassis for my  Hilux Monster Racer.

Due to there were a lot of paint residues from the body inside the chassis, I decided to make a complete clean of the (plastic) parts. The metal parts are as good as new.

Good as I‘m waiting still for some spare parts (mechanical speed controller, MR body posts, metal parts bag,…).

[Elpulio 3]

Big thanks to @Sgt.Speirs & @ThunderDragonCy. Super helpful, thank you both.

[Sgt.Speirs 1522]

Today the postman brought me the last parts for the restauration portion:

• 14505174 - Mechanical Speed Controller: Due to the prices for original ones are insanely high, I found out that the twin motor MSC from the Wild Dagger looks the same. Some re-work has to be done, but the important thing is that the wires goes out on the right side.
• 9405534 - Press Parts Bag: Remaining parts for the MSC (resistor cover/plate and servo stay).
• 0115072 - J parts tree: Body mounts for the Monster Racer

And more silver motor plates for more transmission conversions:

But now it‘s time to re-build the chassis… 😊

[Sgt.Speirs 1522]

Hello,

today I will present you the final pics of the "TRF201 Transmission Conversion" portion of my Hi-Lux Monster Racer.
The chassis with gearbox I have already shown, now it's time for the chassis with body.

 

Update

I decided to separate the parts list, Shapeways link and manual of the transmission conversion in a separate thread in the „TC Designs“ section of the forum.
There I can support interested customers if there are questions regarding the gearbox, parts list, manual or assembly.

In this case please visit this new thread: 

TRF201 Transmission Conversion for Nissan King Cab, Hilux Monster Racer, (Super) Astute & Madcap

Now here will be mainly the restoration part of my Hilux Monster Racer.

But now the pictures...here we go...

 

The last step of this project will be now the restoration portion. The original gearbox will be installed and and the electronics shall be restored as out of the box (mechanical speed controller, resistor, second servo,...).

[Willy iine 18831]

Wow!  Excellent job @Sgt.Speirs!!   Absolutely love your truck.  

[Sgt.Speirs 1522]

@Willy iine: The truck would look even better in a garage with Willy 

[svenb 4458]

Looks stunning sir well done 👍🏻

The gearbox engineering is excellent 

[GeeWings 2861]

Great stuff @Sgt.Speirs a labour of love!

[Kol__ 3909]

Got to agree, great work @Sgt.Speirs! The finished truck looks awesome and the gear box is such a fantastic development improving on all aspects of the previous Astute designed one that just wasn't up to the task of spinning those larger rear wheels!

Now... what needs to be done to make this work on the Madcap?

[Sgt.Speirs 1522]

12 hours ago, Kol__ said:

Now... what needs to be done to make this work on the Madcap?

Bad news for your wallet, it will also work on the Madcap due to Madcap and King Cab shares the same gearbox. And in the (Super) Astute, the gearbox will/should also fit.

The pilot series (ok, only one gearbox) is currently in process at Shapeways. If there are no issues, the gearbox will be available on Shapeways from the beginning of November.

[Sgt.Speirs 1522]

The time has come, the gearbox is available on Shapeways.

King Cab TRF201 Gear Box - Complete

 

After the first print arrived yesterday and the gearbox for the first customer (thanks to @Elpulio) was build up without issues, the parts are now available for everyone one Shapeways.

I also updated the manual (rev. 1.1) with some minor corrections which comes up during the assembly of the gearbox.

 

Here parts when they arrived from Shapeways...

The gearbox ready assembled...

 

And the first customer's complete gearbox package...

 

And a complete video of the build is also planned

 

[Kol__ 3909]

Awesome mate!😎

Look forward to seeing the vid, will you be narrating?😉🙂

[Sgt.Speirs 1522]

@Kol__: You will see only my hands. I have no Studio like the big RC channels on YouTube to entertain you 😂

[BruiseWayn 42]

This is absolutely brilliant. 

[Kol__ 3909]

28 minutes ago, Sgt.Speirs said:

@Kol__: You will see only my hands. I have no Studio like the big Tamiya channels on YouTube to entertain you 😂

😂😂😂

[Sgt.Speirs 1522]

And now the final steps of the restoration part of my Monster Racer.

The TRF201 gearbox is deinstalled, so I have to rebuild the original gearbox.

Step 14 & 15 - Ball diff assembly

Step 16 & 17 - Completion of the gearbox

Step 19 - Spur gear and spur gear cover

Step 20 - Mount gearbox with sub-chassis plate

Instead of the plastic F3 parts I use the aluminum ones (TA-13455211) which are also used in the Dyna Storm/Blaster or Egress.

 

That's all from the chassis side, now we come to the mechanical speed controller.

I got an old one from a friend, but the speed controller itself has a lot of wear and also the copper wire was replaced by a normal isolated wire.
So I decided to use only the motor wires, the BEC wires and the wires to the resistor.

The speed controller itself is also shared with the WR-01 chassis (14505174 - twin motor MSC), so I used this MSC for my Monster Racer:

On the right side the parts from my friend, on the left side the parts from the twin motor MSC:

So I choose the best parts which I needed and add some spare parts...

After 15 minutes of soldering the MSC was ready. Mechanical speed controller + BEC ready for installation...

And then I got a present from...yes, I think I can say "friend" from Hampshire, UK
Thanks @Kol__

 

Now the electrical parts are prepared and only need to be installed in the chassis...next time.