Avante Restore Thread

[GTodd]

Well I just got the Avante. What a mess. I mean she is filthy. Here is a b4 pic and a pic after I took her apart. The plastics are in the dish washer thats why u cant see them in the pics. The metal parts are being polished, will post some of those tonight too.

[GTodd]

Well I just finished polishing all of the Avante's aluminum bits. I will do them one more time. They turned out pretty good. Pics dont do them justice.

PS if any of u guys want the top and down FRP plates let me know. I have new ones on the way.

[GTodd]

Today the official build began its like I have a NIB, love it, having a great time.

The parts b4 I began

Center diff complete, useing all new parts

Fr and RR gearboxes assembles and top deck on

Rear suspension and shock towers attatched, thats all for tonight, waiting for my titanium. rods and Hicap shocks to come in. I am having way too much fun!!!!!!

I know I know the "D" parts dont look the best, hopefuly I'll get some new ones soon.

[GTodd]

Well the titanium rods didnt show up, not too happy about that!!! But my front HICAPS did so I will put them together and attatch the shock mount. I know the shock mount needs to come off to put the body on, I am just doing it so I can see how it will look.

[GTodd]

Well tonight I skipped a few steps due to my titanium rods not ariving yet so here are the HICAPS built. Still not sure if I am going to keep them on, I dont know of they take away from the Avante charactre. What are your guys opinions? If you want you can make me an offer on the complete set of Gold Avante Hicaps to sway me. Here they are temporarily instaled. I also polished the ball ends again. It works better when they are the car. Keeps greesey fingers off of them. And lastly for tonight I instaled the steering system. Ok here are the pics. Let me know what u guys think so far.

Polished ball end, looks awesome!!!!

[Corpse Thrower]

With respect, a genuine, well restored Avante is not complete without the gold shocks. I would use them, and save the Hi-caps for something else.

[acorn]

Gold, has to be gold !!!!!

BTW, are you actually restoring the car, or building a new one from spare parts? I thought I was going to restore an Avante a while ago. But I couldn't bring myself to an the nice new shiney bits to the scratched old bits, so bit by bit I replaced everything!!! Ended up with two cars.....

[GTodd]

It stared out as a restoration, but now it is almost as if I jave built a new one from new parts. The only thing I realy reused were the ball ends. And I too now have enough parts to build another one. Which I might do, and then sell, or I might sell the parts. Gold huh? We shall see, I might keep on the Hicaps. More pics to fallow!!

[GTodd]

Well the Titanium rods didnt arive today which is realy buging me, but I just coulnt be patient so I polished up the Aluminum ones and assembled the rest of the Avante. This was great fun!!!. I did run into a problem as I am missing two nuts that go on the rods that keep the rod ends tight so if any of you have two you can spare please let me know. Ok on with the pics.

Steering assembled and the rest of the front end assembled with freshly polished ball ends.

Remainder of the rear end assembled with HICAPS installed too. Yes the ride height looks high, but once the wheels, motor and battery are put in the car will sit correctly

And here is the finished product, well most of it, I have ordered a new front gear box to replace the one which is broken and the body, wheels, and tires have just been ordered from ebay. When ever the titanium rods come I will install them too!!!! More pics to come!!!!

And next question for you guys, should I paint the body or leave it un painted so that you can see all the buety underneath?

[kontemax]

Hi,

in my honest opinion gold shocks are better for the Avante. Let me explain better: Grey Hi Caps are the best shock ever mede in the world, I love them too much and Tamiya must re-re them, they are beautifull, but on the Avante only the gold ones are the right ones.

And then please don't cut the body nose to fit it under the HiCap damper stay.

Kontemax

[94eg!]

And next question for you guys, should I paint the body or leave it un painted so that you can see all the buety underneath?

I'm a fan of clear as you can see:

[GTodd]

Well I am back from my field op and was happy to see that my Titanium rods and body came in. The bidy is from Kamtec and it is absolutely beutiful. Perfect repro!!!

I on the other hand forgot that it did not have the protective film that Tamiya now puts on their cars so the body has some overspray and is less than perfect. It will be good for a runner if I make one. But I put on some decals I had laying around. SO here she is. When I get the wheels and tires in the mail I will post up the pics. PS the Astute in the Background will be the recipient of the Hicaps that you guys convinced me to take off.

[kontemax]

That's the right coose for your Hi Caps.

Kontemax

[acorn]

That's the right coose for your Hi Caps.

Kontemax

Indeed, phew !!!

[GTodd]

I am still not sure. I realy like the HICAPS, might buy another set. So how do you guys thing she turned out? I think she turned out prety nice other than me screwing up the body last night. I'll have a new one next week and it will be perfect this time.

[Matt-RC-Racing]

great restoration there, i agree about the gold shocks though

[acorn]

I am still not sure. I realy like the HICAPS, might buy another set. So how do you guys thing she turned out? I think she turned out prety nice other than me screwing up the body last night. I'll have a new one next week and it will be perfect this time.

I really like hicaps too, but not on the Avante. Those gold shocks are completely unique. Its one of the things that makes the avante so collectible and gorgeous.

Whats your next project? If you love the Avante as much as I do, then surely the Egress has to be your next target, yes? Thats where the hicaps can go. (hope I haven't just ruined you financially) That said, they should look the part on the Astute.

Tell me, whats the repro shell like? I have a NIB shell,and cannot bring myself to cut it out. How good is the repro compared to the original? In percentage terms, how would you call it? Or put it another way, how sad / tamiya geek would one need to be to spot the difference ?

Oh, sorry for got to say: Your car is looking very nice BTW. Be proud!!

[M pro]

looking good m8 but on the new shell don't paint the window black, leave it clear

[GTodd]

Yeah I wasnt planning on painting the window black, I got some overspray on it, and the only way I could make it look ok was buy filling it in with black. I plan on leaving it clear so that when the elusive driver figure shows up I can use it. I would call the repro about 98% as good as the original, the only hole that wasnt correct was the front mounting hole.

[GTodd]

There are only two cars left that I think would finish off my colection of racing buggies from the 90's: the Egress and Dyna Storm as I already have: Top Force, Top Force EVO, Astute, Monster Racer, and Avante. Not sure ehich one to get. Im thinking the Dyna becasue its price isnt in the upper atmosphere just yet.

[GTodd]

Well here she is in all he glory. I limited the amount of pictures because I am a little ashamed of how the body came out. When I get the new one painted up I will post more.

By herself

With her sisters

[WillyChang]

Good taste in buggies, but buy some REAL beer will ya?

[GTodd]

Hahahha thanks, but Im from America so we dont have the real good stuff like you guys.

[TenzoR]

There are only two cars left that I think would finish off my colection of racing buggies from the 90's: the Egress and Dyna Storm as I already have: Top Force, Top Force EVO, Astute, Monster Racer, and Avante. Not sure ehich one to get. Im thinking the Dyna becasue its price isnt in the upper atmosphere just yet.

Better grab the Dyna Storm quickly! I've recently sold mine for $250 on Ebay For me, the only Tamiya Buggy I'll keep is the Avante

[GTodd]

Oh yeah some more info, the Avante still needs: A front sway bar (which I might try to make from some piano wire), a driver and a decal set so if any of you have these please let me know.

Will be selling a partialy assembled Avante, it will be a complete chassis minus the rear gearbox cover and suspension. Will post pics once I have assembled it.