New Member With Old Cars.

[sunshine_norway]

Hi folks:)

I am Tommy from Norway. A friend of mine told that my old cars are "hard to find stuff"... Maybe it is

I got a Toyota Hilux 4x4 and a Hotshot II.

I got my first car in 1984, and the next in 1988/89.

I haven`t used them in many years... But now i think I have to fix them up, and take em for a spinn

I`m going to repaint my Toyota to it`s original color, I think... Order new decals and so on.

I also have to order some new parts. Going to take a look at the car and see.....

I bet I need a new battery... Is it still possible to buy the original 6V 400mah ?

And what about the charging? I really need some tips guys...

I will post pictures soon og both cars..

One more thing... Isn`t it normal to have AM transmitter? On my Toyota I use a 4ch FM acoms. (AP-435FM)

[sunshine_norway]

I just snapped some pictures of my Toyota It`s great to see it here on my desk:)

I need hints on how to check it after many years in dust... Help me guys!

What optional motor can I use in my car? It`s the original motor in it.

I also need some good internet places to get some parts. I understand it can be difficult to get some of them. One thing is for sure: I need new tires! How big are the tires and rims? And I could need the mechanism box lid. The pins on the lid for the cab holes are gone... I also need the black bumper stay (front)

My uncle had to fix me rear bumper. You can see it in the picture...

[Acto-Tuned]

Hi and welcome to the club. I'm also from Norway and there are also some other Norwegians here as well. Some have joined the Norwegian S.I.G (stands for Special Interest Group, right?). I haven't but I will as soon as I've taken some pictures and updated my showroom (It's practically empty at the moment).

http://www.tamiyaclub.com/sig_member.asp?id=100

I don't own a Hi-Lux so I can't give you any technical assistance with the restoration but I can give you some basic vintage Tamiya info.

Your friend is almost right. Some cars are difficult to find while others are "easy" to find but just very expensive to buy. The Hi-Lux is a very sought after Tamiya model so the prices are quite high. That also means all the parts you want for a restoration are also expensive. Ebay.com (or .co.uk, .de and so on) are the easiest place to find old Tamiya kits and parts but since it is a popular site the prices can be high on some items. What a friend or colleague might give you for a case of beer could cost you several hundred dollars on eBay so the cheapest way to find Tamiya cars is through people you know. Secondhand shops and flea markets could also be a good place to look. (Siden du bor i Norge burde du ogs fmlge med p finn.no, qxl.no og brukt sidene til forum.radiostyrt.no).

Buy the decals here on Tamiyaclub rather then on ebay. If you find original decals on ebay they will expensive and if you buy reproductions you dont know you get. The reproduction decals here on Tamiyaclub are supposed to be real good.

http://www.tamiyaclub.com/parts_shop_repro.asp

You could probably find the old battery but the 4000mah capacity isn't impressive any more (But I do remember when it was very impressive). And considering the age of the pack the condition of the cells might not be great either. 4300mah and above is normal now.

http://www.rcmart.com/catalog/rc-battery-c...r-c-52_786.html

Cant recommend a specific charger but keep in mind that LiPo cells are becoming more common and your charger should support LiPo (as well as NiCad and Ni-MH). That's my opinion at least. I bought a $120 charger without Ni-MH support about a year before Ni-MH became the next big thing. Not cool.

Your old transmitter is probably a 35 MHz FM meant to be used on planes. In Norway the 27 MHz and 40 MHz (AM or FM. Your choice) band is what you should use if drive RC cars (or the new 2.4 GHz systems).

Ole

[terry.sc]

Hi Tommy and welcome to the club.

Good to see the old Hilux, but your friend is right the parts are hard to find.

Reproduction decals are available from Tamiyaclub and they are very good

http://www.tamiyaclub.com/parts_shop_repro.asp

I bet I need a new battery... Is it still possible to buy the original 6V 400mah ?

And what about the charging? I really need some tips guys...

The original battery has long been discontinued, a modern normal stick pack has as much capacity as the great big old batteries in the Hilux. Not having a 3 speed I don't know the best choice of battery, but any modern charger will charge whatever battery you end up choosing.

One more thing... Isn`t it normal to have AM transmitter? On my Toyota I use a 4ch FM acoms. (AP-435FM)

It is perfectly normal, r/c radios operate on both FM and AM. You just have to make sure you have the correct crystals for the specific radio.

The only places to find parts are either in the traderooms here on Tamiyaclub, or ebay. Tyres are particularly hard to find. The bumper stay is easy, Twinset makes reproductions in aluminium so they don't break http://www.tamiyaclub.com/showroom_model.a...6939&id=169

[WillyChang]

standard stick pack too long, won't fit into radiobox - you need either

-hump pack of subC cells 7.2V or flat pack of 5c 6V

-shorty pack 7.2V like used in the Tyrell 6-wheeler

-get a custom pack of D cells in 2+3 (5c 6V) or 3+3 (7.2V)

[Matt_N]

You can still find the 6v 4000mah batteries on ebay occasionally, but they aren't all that cheap. Earlier this year I bought a large box of old shop stock which included one of these NIB. I didn't need it so it did go on ebay and I believe fetched around 25.

Matt

[TomEG]

Hi Tommy!

I've got one of those Toyotas myself, and I'm going to carefully open the case of my old battery and remove the old cells. I will then replace them with new NiMh's. It should be easy, as the new cells are of much smaller size than the old ones in the pack.

As for the radio. I've got an Acoms 4ch FM as well. I believe it's a 40MHz radio. At least it's the one "always" shown with the Toyota in commercials, with a stick insert with the gear-shift pattern.

Good luck with your "rebuild".

PS. I love the "hook" at the back! Did you ever pull anything with it?

Tom

[Badboy]

Hi Sunshine_Norway!!!

Welcome to TC.

Pic #2 is kinda scary, Looks like someone's been runned over!!!

(I see 2 feets in the background)

Only plase to find stuff for it is probably Ebay...(if you want to keep it original)

Badboy

[*Topcat*]

Welcome to the club. I got given a Bruiser which had only been used a handfull of times when it was new and then stored. I cycled the original 6v battery about 6/7 times and now it gives run times of around half an hour on a full charge so could be worth trying to charge it before giving in to buying another

[grizy]

Welcome to the club. I got given a Bruiser which had only been used a handfull of times when it was new and then stored. I cycled the original 6v battery about 6/7 times and now it gives run times of around half an hour on a full charge so could be worth trying to charge it before giving in to buying another

Topcat

BTW, the Bruiser battery mount has two mounting positions to accomodate the old 6v battery or 7.2v stick pack.

[Live Steam Mad]

As for the radio. I've got an Acoms 4ch FM as well. I believe it's a 40MHz radio. At least it's the one "always" shown with the Toyota in commercials, with a stick insert with the gear-shift pattern.

Hi, the radio TX in the Tamiya vintage promotional video of the Hilux is the AP435FM, 4 channel 35 MHz not 40. I don't recall ever seeing an AP440FM? I think that the parts with the TX shown were filmed in Japan as 35MHz is NOT a legal surface frequency (in general) in Europe (there are a few exceptions) or the USA, but it IS a legal surface frequency in Japan. Japan uses 40MHz as an aero frequency. Hence the great availability of RX's from Futaba on 40MHz like the FP-R146iP (normally to find complex RX's in 40MHz form is less usual than finding the same RX in 35MHz form which is more common).

I have seen the AP540FM (5 channels, 40 MHz).

Yeah the windscreen and tyres and batteries are a real problem since none of this stuff has been re-released in it's original form by Tamiya. I have a NIP Hilux original windscreen (consisting of both front and rear windows in one complete moulding, and clear, not 'black' like the re-release), 2 NIP original 4000mAh batteries (one has gold labels front and rear and seems to be for the Japanese domestic market, the other has silver labels top and bottom with red and blue writing, the gold one charged up from almost dead to give 2000mAh on discharge but when I came back to it the other day it seems to be nearly dead again and is being very reluctant to come back to life, and the silver labelled one with same coloured plastic has about 3,500mAh in it still on discharge and seems to be much more recent than the other one in age terms). The problem with the old batteries of NiCd is that crystals form in the Potassium Hydroxide (KOH) electrolyte which then comes out of the cells in dry form at the +ve cap and then the cell has 'dried out' (no electrolyte, won't hold a charge) and is dead.

You can slice EITHER the top OR the bottom case off the battery with a slitting saw machine / table saw and then do the same with another identical battery pack (you obviously cut the opposite part off) and then you can make one perfect battery out of them with fresh new cells put into the case. You need 2 complete batteries to do this. This is because you loose material equivalent to the thickness of the blade when you do this... Unfortunately I can't do this with my 2 batteries as they have got different labels on them!

I have 2 sets of wheels and tyres in really good condition thank goodness. Next is to acquire the body in perfect condition or nearly so and a set of decals... they are also a problem for the same reason. I like the Hilift but it is nearly all plastic which I find depressing. It's the reason that I prefer the Super Champ to the Fox, for example, since Fox is nice but all plastic whereas Super Champ is a LOT of metal just like the Hilux was

Cheers,

Alistair G.

[sunshine_norway]

I have MANY things to do during a week, and now I see that I`m in lack of time to fix up my car....

So now I`m selling it

Selling it as it is on the pictures.....

BID ?

[TomEG]

I don't recall ever seeing an AP440FM?

Cheers,

Alistair G.

Well Alistair, there must be a first for everything:

Tom

[sunshine_norway]

Yes. There it is I have orange FM72

[Live Steam Mad]

Well Alistair, there must be a first for everything:

Tom

Goodness that was indeed an eye opener to see that! Thanks for sharing! And if you ever want to sell it, I'd love to buy it from you.

Cheers,

Alistair G.

[sunshine_norway]

I am selling my car and my Acoms....

[sunshine_norway]

Sold

[ilmax]

Sold

Just for information, can you tell us at which price?

Thanks.

[sunshine_norway]

Just for information, can you tell us at which price?

Thanks.

5oo euros...

[Malakite]

Hi tommy, welcome to the forum