Buggy Champ Woes.....

[bruiserbuilder 13]

Hey guys, I am soon to lose my religion because I cant seem to get the shocks of the new buggy champ to function correctly.

Am I alone on this or has anyone else run into this as well?

any tips on how these are supposed to function correctly?

[lee1980 71]

Hey guys, I am soon to lose my religion because I cant seem to get the shocks of the new buggy champ to function correctly.

Am I alone on this or has anyone else run into this as well?

any tips on how these are supposed to function correctly?

I have only assembled them once so far and find i either have to much or to little oil in them i think, and left to right one feels more damped than

the other! certainly dont seem as easy as newer plastic type!

I havent run mine yet either!

[Raman36 688]

I have only assembled them once so far and find i either have to much or to little oil in them i think, and left to right one feels more damped than

the other! certainly dont seem as easy as newer plastic type!

I havent run mine yet either!

I've experience the same. The nylon piston has a little notch on the side. I think it needs another one so the oil can move past it better. Otherwise it forces the oil out the shock retainer in bottom.

[bruiserbuilder 13]

do your shocks retract rather than push? my shocks work backwards for some reason that I can't figure out. perhaps I'm been building bruisers too long.....

[Rich T UK 8]

the problem is there's no compensation for the volume of the shaft entering the shock as it compresses. this is why the shocks are so stiff, or leaky, or both. if there's air in the shock, then the pressure change with the shaft going in and out can cause the "retraction" effect.

[bruiserbuilder 13]

so how does one eliminate the air in the shock assembly?

[Grandmasterflash 0]

Mate your not the only one having troubles with the shocks. I had an absoulute nightmare with them. They were either too hard or to soft. Got them right (well what I consider to be right) after about 6-7 attempts at each one of them.

[bruiserbuilder 13]

I hear you. I gave up after running out of damper oil.

[redzone 199]

just do a coilover conversion using GPM 60mm mini t shocks at the front with extended bottom eyelets, and touring car 55mm shocks at the rear..

[skinned 129]

the trick is to compress the piston shaft 1/3 down, then tightened.

it took a couple times for me.

after i tightened the cap i tested with my fingers,if it diden't feel right i repeated the step again till it felt right to me.but mine work fine

[Grandmasterflash 0]

the trick is to compress the piston shaft 1/3 down, then tightened.

it took a couple times for me.

after i tightened the cap i tested with my fingers,if it diden't feel right i repeated the step again till it felt right to me.but mine work fine

I did that but all that ended up happing was the shock being only able to compress from full extension to 3/4 of the way down.

[Shodog 1645]

In looking at the new shocks, they have the same problem the old ones do, leakage and binding. One thing I found that smoothes them out is a coil over kit. going to coil overs will allow the shocks to not bind sid to side and you can get rid of the stiff torsion springs

[lucasan 24]

I'm curious to know what a coil over kit is. It's probably glaringly obvious, but I'm basically a rookie, so I'm stumped.

Ok, so I figured out what it is, but how does it improve your shocks' performance?

[bruiserbuilder 13]

Lucasan, basically the spring (coil) on the outside of the shock body will be doing the compression and extension of the assembly rather than the oil.

[lee1980 71]

I'm curious to know what a coil over kit is. It's probably glaringly obvious, but I'm basically a rookie, so I'm stumped.

Ok, so I figured out what it is, but how does it improve your shocks' performance?

Coil springs are added over the top of the dampers with collar top and bottom, these replace the front hair pins and the rear torsion bar spring thing!

i would guess they still leak lol, can imagine they are smoother with coil springs!

[HunterZero 70]

What if you put a bit of friction shock grease in there instead and run them as friction shocks? What if you don't fill them entirely with oil and leave an air bubble?

As it stands, when the shock compresses, the only way the shaft can enter the damper is if the rubber O rings compess/expand.

I really wish Tamiya had solved this problem with the dampers on the Buggy Champ, eg with a free piston, while keeping them looking original. The stock dampers are good for display, and that's about it. Coilovers are the way to go for a runner.

Are there any parts of the right diameter that could be used to make a free piston, eg the Hornet ones? You'd push the piston with O-ring in first, not all the way but enough to leaeve a small space, then use a screw to 'seal' the free piston. Then fill the body with oil, so there's a bubble of air above the free piston in the top of the damper. Then use a bump stop to prevent the shaft bottoming out on the free piston.

Would be a complete pig to get the free piston out again though...

- J

[bruiserbuilder 13]

and I though that the shocks in the kit are tricky........... just joking.... cool concept

[loaded 2]

Come on guys, Tamiya give you a re issue of an iconic car and it comes complete with all the flaws of the original. Granted some of the flaws are newly cleverly redesigned ones, but hey, nostalgia is great :-)

Paul.

[Singapore_959 4]

LOL -

and you expected 30 year old shocks to work well?

these shocks were duds back then already!

[bruiserbuilder 13]

so, we are "back to the future"?

I do not understand why they would have changed the design from the original if the new design does not work either.

[hedge 151]

so, we are "back to the future"?

I do not understand why they would have changed the design from the original if the new design does not work either.

Baldrick had a hand in this....

Mr Tamiya I have a cunning plan ....

[bruiserbuilder 13]

I got blown off by Tamiya... didn't see that coming.

This is the answer that I received when I asked for help.

Dear Tamiya Customer,

Unfortunately there are no expanded instructions for the shock assembly. If

they're contracting, that's an indication of not enough oil in the shock,

they should be neutral or push out a bit.

Tamiya America

Customer Service

What does Neutral mean for a shock?

[hedge 151]

I got blown off by Tamiya... didn't see that coming.

This is the answer that I received when I asked for help.

Dear Tamiya Customer,

Unfortunately there are no expanded instructions for the shock assembly. If

they're contracting, that's an indication of not enough oil in the shock,

they should be neutral or push out a bit.

Tamiya America

Customer Service

What does Neutral mean for a shock?

They are talking about rebound. Its the amount the shaft comes back out of the shock when you push it in and let go. In touring car this is a tuning feature used by many.

[Singapore_959 4]

They are talking about rebound. Its the amount the shaft comes back out of the shock when you push it in and let go. In touring car this is a tuning feature used by many.

In all seriousness, this is a 30 year old re released car that bounces around at the rear and hardly moves at the front. No more should be expected.

On sand it's a hoot and jumps are only time for the front shocks to rebound.

If more is desired then one needs to look at hop ups / mods etc. No one should be under any illusion that this car has effective suspension save for bouncing at the rear.

[Rich T UK 8]

What if you put a bit of friction shock grease in there instead and run them as friction shocks? What if you don't fill them entirely with oil and leave an air bubble?

As it stands, when the shock compresses, the only way the shaft can enter the damper is if the rubber O rings compess/expand.

I really wish Tamiya had solved this problem with the dampers on the Buggy Champ, eg with a free piston, while keeping them looking original. The stock dampers are good for display, and that's about it. Coilovers are the way to go for a runner.

I have an idea on those lines that might work. picture a coil spring just slight smaller than in internal bore of the shock. stand it up on end on the table. on top of the spring put a rubber cap such as you get on the top of a CVA, with the "hump" sitting inside the spring. then we lower the main shock body over the cap and spring. turn the assembly upside down and the rest of the shock goes together as normal, basically the spring sits on top of the piston and acts as an invisible coilover, and maintains the seal on the aircap at the top of the shock. it's the only way I can think might allow an air pocket thing like on a CVA without introducing a break in the top of the shock which will spoil the vintage look.