Top Force Racer 3 Posted October 16, 2010 I'm hooked on nostalgia-series racing and I've been running a Top Force in the 19T spec modified class. It's now time to race a 'new' car and after searching through boxes of old Tamiya parts, I found the front and rear gear boxes and suspension arms from a Vanquish I once owned. I'm not sure what happened to the chassis, but I figured this would be a good foundation for an Avante-class racer. Here's the semi-finished chassis. I purchased the Avante 2001 FRP top and bottom decks from fellow TC member Tamiyoman (Vintage-tamiyaparts on eBay) and went to work. To save money, I modified the car using parts I already had. Vehicular modifications are allowed as long as the parts were designed prior to 1991 (off-the-shelf items only, no custom makes). Some things to note on the chassis: 1) Shocks are from a Kyosho RB5. I'll have to change those in the near future. 2) Rear shock tower and wing mount from a Vanquish was used as Avante 2001/Egress N parts are expensive! 3) I removed the rear sway bar for 2 reasons: 1) the Vanquish-specific rear stabilizer holders will not fit the upper deck properly and the Avante 2001 parts are (you guessed it!) expensive, and 2) the rear sway bar is so thin that I doubt it does anything at all! 4) The rear idler gear is not installed because I'm waiting for some 830 bearings to completely ball-race the car. 5) I'm missing the reinforcing plates and associated (original) mounting hardware for the rear trailing arm so I devised a new mounting system. I'm still thinking about how to reinforce the chassis as the reinforcing plates cost nearly $50 US on eBay! 6) The front plastic shock tower from the Vanquish developed multiple stress fractures. An original FRP replacement was too expensive to buy, so I modified and installed an old aluminum rear shock tower from a Kyosho Optima Mid SE that I had. 7) Dish wheels are from a Kyosho RB5 and the tires are from Team Losi (pink compound). 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
94eg! 834 Posted October 16, 2010 Pretty cool looking car. Aren't those wheels from the ZX-5 (not RB-5 2WD)? They sure are a blast to drive. I've run mine round the track with the plastic tub, Hi-cap dampers and tripple ball diffs. You can gain more rear suspension compression if you flip the metal brackets at the lower shock mount upside down and mount them on the opposite side. This allowed the shocks to be built longer giving the rear end more compression and/or a lower ride height. Another good hopup would be the Egress/2001 steering bell cranks (L parts I think). They fit 8 850 bearings and make the steering system a lot more solid. You may need the special spacers that came with those cars to make it work... How did you adapt the Vanquish rear shock tower to the Avante 2001 upper deck? Did you drill the extra holes out? PS: The Vanquish body looks pretty darn cool on the Egress rear shock tower setup (if you ever find the parts at a reasonable cost). Gives the car a really nice stretched look. Here are some pics to help illustrate: http://s125.photobucket.com/albums/p53/94eg/rc/?start=60 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Top Force Racer 3 Posted October 16, 2010 Actually, the wheels really are from an RB5. I have a set of Optima Mid wheels, but I wanted the fronts to be narrower than the rears. I'll definitely take your advice about the steering and give your rear suspension mod a try thanks! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
94eg! 834 Posted October 16, 2010 If your planning on actually racing, it may be worth your while to invest in the 53034 ball-diff torque splitter set. The front & rear ball diffs really put a lot more power to the ground. And then you have 3 different options for the center diff (ball, one-way & locked) for different track conditions. It's a very nice kit, but rather tricky to build with smooth results. Feel free to e-mail me if you get one so I can give you some assembly tips... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
