Whats an ultima like?

[bangstick]

Hi,

Looking forward to recieving an ultima in a trade, the 1st one. Anyone care to tell me what they perform like as i have never had one before, looks like its gonna be heavy, nice an retro tho[]

[RichieRich]

Ultimas are nice.  I've never driven a stock original Ultima but the Turbos and Pros were very good drivers for their time.  Chassis was pretty sturdy unless you hit something headon.  Then the chassis would bend. 

[backtomyroots]

I had the original Ultima about 16 years ago (yep I'm old).  If I recall correctly it wasn't too heavy, was pretty quick with the stock motor.  I seem to recall the shock collars broke a lot though.  Eventually I fitted it with an aftermarket graphite chassis but I didn't race so I didn't notice any difference.  I'm sure you'll enjoy it !

 

[bangstick]

Thanks guys appreciate the info. Apparantly this one has option house shocks on it so they should be stronger right?

[Shodog]

The original small volume dampers would leak over time.  The upgraded option house damper were much better and were considered a nice hop up.  stock to stock, I would put it on par with an original RC-10. 

[bangstick]

Cool,

They were considered ahead of their time, besides i won an auction off the bay for a b2 RC10 a coupla days ago. I just need some wheels and body/wing set. Talking of ebay bargains i won this moody korean AO7 monstosity for £32 with, cells, quick charger spare chassis, shocks, 2 sets of wheels etc etc. Im quite pleased anthow. check it item no. 6030828146

[terry.sc]

The original alloy channel car was pretty good, lighter than the RC10

and therefore faster, but was let down by the original red shocks which

weren't big enough for the job and regularly broke the shock collars.

Fitting the Option House shocks gave a huge improvement in handling, as

well as a lot more tuning options on the new shock mounts.

The later Ultima Pros and IIs had a more normal flat chassis, similar

to the design used to win the World Championships, although these used

a saddle pack battery layout which gave a better balance than the

original stick pack setup.

Good, solid cars that can stand up to loads of abuse. The only downside

can be wear in the suspension parts giving loads of play, but a lot of

the parts, including all the suspension parts, are still available from

Kyosho. Not bad for a car nearly 20 years old.

[Scorpn]

I raced my turbo replica against B4's and XXCR last year - didn't win : ( , didn't come last either : ) - as Terry said with the gold shocks they handle reasonably well but they are quite light so good performance and they handle some decent motors ok as well, uses 32 pitch pinions though, front bulkhead is the weak point in a big crash.  Fun to drive and good looking buggys - big thumbs up!!

Glenn

[bangstick]

Cheers glenn!

It arrived today but needs sorting as its got 4wd front wheels with hexes for bushes so its a bit saggy with loads of play so im looking for some new wheels/tyres and an original wing. Looks in pretty good shape other than that though.

[terry.sc]

Seen the pictures in your showroom - nice trade!

It's the Turbo Ultima version, the differences over the standard Ultima

are the different shocks and shock mounts and

the thicker bronze anodised chassis. One change to Turbo spec (apart

from the Mid wheels) are the set of Option House Platinum adjustable

shocks. The Platinum shocks are a unique size so the springs and spring

clamps

are going to be virtually impossible to find on their own. If you ever

want to restore it back to original spec I can swap those Platinum

shocks for a set of original Gold shocks for ya![]

Original Ultima wheels appear regularly on ebay, but if you want to use

it as a runner Tamiya 2wd buggy wheels will also fit using Tamiya

bearings which means you can use any modern 2wd buggy tyres. For the

rear modern Kyosho and Tamiya 2wd and 4wd wheels fit straight on so you

can use modern 2.2" tyres on it.

[RichieRich]

I don't know, looks like a regular Ultima with a few hop-ups and different wheels/tires. [] It's missing the stabilizer bars and turbo body.  If it is a Turbo Ultima, the original chrome wheels are really hard to find.  Trust me, I spent an eternity waiting for some on ebay to finish my restoration.  If it's a standard Ultima, yes, those wheels are on ebay all the time.

[terry.sc]

It has a standard Ultima body, but it has the Turbo Ultima anodised

chassis and Platinum shocks. Highly likely it started life as a

standard Ultima but it is nearer to a Turbo Ultima specification now.

True, the chrome wheels are very hard to find, but a set of standard

white wheels to go with the standard Ultima body appear regularly.

Although there is more chance of finding the Turbo body than an

original rear wing.

[bangstick]

more showroom pics to try and settle the turbo non-turbo debate are now avaliable

[Scorpn]

IMHO it's a Turbo that has had a bad day sometime in it's life, anodised chassis, fibre radio plate,  fibre rear mount, platinum shocks, but as Rich said, no sway bars, wheels or body(no motor guard either). The aerial mount looks like one of the Turbo wing mounts

To help the process, does it have a full set of ball bearings and a ball diff?

Kamtec make a repro Pro wing which looks pretty similar to the original, but just a bit bigger

I am slowly converting my second Ultima to a Turbo, basically only needs wheels and anodised chassis to finish (found a complete set of Platinum shocks, including springs, for $25US  )  Rich is right about the wheels, they are pretty hard to find, the other parts come up from time to time though

You can't run Tamiya fronts as the Ultima has a 4mm axle - you can buy a vintage adaptor on ebay though,  I think the older associated buggy uses the 840 size bearing, so those fronts would work - I have found that the star dish tamiya rears don't clear the wishbones enough - I tried them when I was racing mine - ended up using some older 5 spoke HPI rims (It's all about the offset!!) and modifying a spare front end to take tamiya uprights.

Cheers

Glenn

[bangstick]

Nice one Glenn,

You guys know your stuff! I agree with the offset comment as those 4wd fronts are fouling on the trackrod ends thus preventing them from spinning so im not even gonna attempt running it like this. I will try my best to restore it but lose patience quickly if i cant find the bits i need for too long. anyone got any pics of the steering servo set up as it will save me some trial and error setting mine up.

thanks Nathan

[bangstick]

Just one more thing while i remember, can anyone date this kyosho? or at least give a rough guesstimate?

[terry.sc]

You can't run Tamiya fronts as the Ultima has a

4mm axle - you can buy a vintage adaptor on ebay

though,  I think the older associated buggy uses the 840 size

bearing, so those fronts would work

Good point, got confused as I'm running Tamiya wheels on mine. To

fit Tamiya size wheels you need a set of adapters that HPI include in

their spare wheel sets, they let you use the 4 x 8mm bearings in Tamiya

wheels. They aren't a vintage spare they are still included with new

wheels, I'm sure there are plenty of unused sets in peoples spares

boxes.

Turbo Ultima was released in 1987

[RichieRich]

Yeah, it probably is a Turbo Ultima that's had a rough life.

Glenn, I *think* I saw a Turbo chassis buried deeeeep in the bowels of one of my local hobby haunts.  Shall I go back and double check?

[Scorpn]

That would be nice Rich, I bought an Academy to race so retired the ultima to backyard status!

let me know,

Cheers.

Glenn